Thursday, December 20, 2012

Millennial Mindset and the role of the church


Millennial Mindset and the role of a Youth Pastor

I was reminded today while researching teen culture that the Millennial (oftentimes referred to as postmodern) generation that is “trending” right now starts from people my age (mid 20’s) and sinks all the way down to current middle and elementary age students.  Yet this group of people is not held only in the US.  Instead thanks to the extremely easy access of Internet and social media the attributes of a millennial generation extend to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.  This theoretically could be the first world wide group of people with a similar worldview, mindset, and goals because of the connectedness that is inherent all around the world.
The repercussions that this worldview has on ministry are important to look at head on.  In this quote from an MTV sight we can see the heart of what a Millennial will value. 
"In my case, I find inspiration in artists such as Jay-Z, Mark Rothko and Jean Michel Basquiat. I may not share the same heritage as those mentioned, but we still share similar life experiences. By forming parallels it enables me to see myself in those prominent people and be confident in what I wish to become in the future. In other words, who I want to be makes up the fabric of who I am."-Joshua Okungbaiye; aged 24; Nigerian/British
This is an incredibly eye opening statement when examined carefully.  This young man (important to note he is NOT an American) who is my age is stating that even though he is of a completely different background he still desires to, and finds a way to attribute who he is with someone completely different from him.  By drawing those parallels he believes that he can become the people he idolizes.  At first glance this does not seem like a big deal.  When I was a kid I thought Cal Ripken and Brady Anderson where just the coolest people ever and I wanted to hit like them and to field like them and to be as good a baseball player as they were.   There is nothing wrong with having an inspiration to be better from another person.  However, I do not believe that this young man sees these artists to be an inspiration but his worldview literally says that he can be at the same level as the most well known hip hop and rap artist in history.  If the millennial mindset assumes that reality is relative to the individual then individuals could literally convince themselves that they are at the same level as somebody else.  In other words, even though my personality and attributes may be nothing like other people I can form parallels that make me feel like them and therefore I can be like them.
Let me try to bring this to light.  I called my mother (an early boomer child from the modernist movement) whose age I will NOT give away.  I asked her some questions about how children of her time decided what they wanted to do in life.  She said that kids today are extremely goal-oriented.  This apparently was not so back in the day.  My mother always wanted to be a nurse but “When it came time to sit down and choose my college major in high school I wasn’t good at any one subject.  So I did what I was good at. We were not brought up to be goal oriented...we were allowed to be kids, and it was a family concentrated life.  Parents today already have their children’s lives plans for them.”  I should note that my mother was an elementary school teacher for many years and thus has a great understanding of the parents roll her students lives.  It seems that my mother had a great understanding of who she was, the talents she had (music) and how she could use those.  From there she went to college and studied sacred music and then became a teacher. 
I would argue that my generation has a very different mindset.  We are goal oriented.  There are many reasons for this.  One would be that parents today seem to already have plans set up for their children from when they are so little.  Children naturally want to live up to those expectations and thus try to live up to those goals.  If a kid shows a little talent in basketball and the parents pressure the kid to be a star he or she will naturally want to be like a basketball star.  Kids are taught to make goals starting in the earliest years of school, we see the mistakes of the generations before us in the news, economy, socially and create goals to not be that way, and we also have a desire to be the best that we can be.  There is nothing wrong with that. The trick is that social networking and media allow us to look at others and we begin to form the idea that we are not as valuable as others and thus desire to be like them. 
Now some may argue that millennial have a high value for themselves.  In fact the “goal” of having a high “self-esteem” was driven into the millennial head in their early schooling.  But if it were true that we have a high sense of value then every preteen and teen girl on Facebook and Instagram would not have to post every day at least three pictures claiming that they are beautiful no matter what, are important even though the world may not think so, and have value despite what the boys may think.  Every high school boy wouldn’t have to post shirtless pictures of himself with his arms around three young ladies and he wouldn’t have to try and convince every girl he see’s that he has enough “swag” or status to be well liked.  If the average millennial thought that they had value then they wouldn’t have to declare it.  People who know they are good at something don’t run around saying it they show it in their actions. In reality these cliché and sickeningly depressing statements seen over and over are a cry that these kids are desperate to find out who they are and where their value or hope is.
This desperate cry leads to millennials looking for role models.  The world is incredibly happy to provide those.  Take a look at any celebrity.  Whether they know it or not what they wear and how they wear it will be exactly the way that the millennials you see will dress and act.  The words they say, the gestures they make, the way they treat the opposite sex, the music, the dance moves, the hairstyles, the gifts, the toys, the sunglasses, everything will be copied.  Why?  Because this generation sees that someone has success, status, and perceived value and therefore if my reality is defined by what I make it I can be that person even if I am really nothing like that person. 
Now to me this seems silly but that is simply due to the excellent raising up that my parents provided me (My mom will probably read this…gotta brown nose a little bit).  We didn’t have a ton of TV time (mostly just Saturday mornings and Jeopardy on weeknights…my mind is filled with useless facts now).  Our Internet usage was also heavily monitored.  The average child today however is literally surrounded and drowned in media of different types.  It’s impossible for them to avoid it. My mom remarked that when she first started teaching she never used media of any sort and now iPads are being used in many classrooms.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love my iPhone and use it for many different things, but the constant media means that a child learns to socialize through media better than they do in person.  We see this in several kids in our youth group.  When we read their posts on Facebook they are far more social and articulate than they are in person.  Millennials are great at solving technical/physical problems (such as cooperate resolution of problems) but when it comes to social and moral problems they seem to struggle at resolving those. 
So what does all this have to do with the church?  Does the church play a roll in the area of a student’s worldview.  My answer is YES!  First I should start by saying that I am not a proponent of trying to “fix” a worldview.  This is because a worldview is just that, a worldview.  It is the way people will process thought and work through things in their lives whether you agree with it or not.  I choose not to battle them because the gospel has worked in every worldview for over 2000 years.  Who am I to try and force someone to understand the gospel in a modernistic mindset? 
Instead I would argue that if the gospel can be clear and understood in any worldview then we the church have the responsibility to teach the gospel in such a way that students hear it, understand it, and are drawn to Christ.  If children today are going to desire to find their value in someone else then the greatest possible person for them to try and mimic is Christ.  However, there is a danger in just mimicking Christ if the student never comes to a realization of what Christ did for them.  If a student’s life if shaped by what they see in others and can parallel to themselves then it is the responsibility of church leaders to teach the gospel in such a way that the postmodern congregation of that church is drawn to that reality.  In the early 20th century logic and reason would have been an effective way of sharing Christ.  Today logic is slowly dying (much to my chagrin) and instead you must make the truth of the gospel personal to the individual.  That is a wonderful thing because the gospel is just that, extremely and abundantly personal.  God died for me.  Why?  Because He loves me with everlasting love.  Which means God must find some value in me.  Is that not a WONDERFUL thing that we can share with our students? 
The trickiest part I have found is helping students understand that they are, well, bad.  See in the millennials mind they are not bad.   They fail to see the need for Christ to die. We love to claim that we are who we are and thus have to comfort ourselves against the reality of our badness.  How many times do you hear on the news of a kid being punished and the parent saying,  “well he is a good kid he just made mistakes”?  If we are to be speaking truth into our students we cannot hide the fact that they are ultimately bad.  Helping them understand this will probably vary on the individual but until we can crush the pride (oh so sorry “self esteem”) that is in all of us we cannot show how valuable a student is to God.  In today’s day we can truly understand what Paul was trying to communicate when he said in Romans 1:24-25 “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”  Today’s culture glorifies the individual (creature) rather than the individual who gives us true value the (creator).
From here we have the privilege of showing our students how wonderful, awesome, great, dare I say…even COOL Jesus is.  Yes, if our students crave to be like someone then we can show them the greatest example they can have!  Students don’t need to try and find him to follow on twitter or instagram (although I believe Jesus has a Facebook account so many followers you have to “like” him).  No!  They can have a relationship with the one they can desire to be most like!  And not only can they find value in Jesus but when they learn that Jesus values them, well then their worldview will be wonderfully complete.  That’s way better than Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Justin Beiber, and even…even ONE DIRECTION!!! Once you have a relationship with the God of the universe than life change just happens to come along with teaching.
           
            I pray these thoughts are helpful to anyone who reads as jarbled and unorganized they may be.

Love in Christ,
Nathaniel

Monday, December 10, 2012

Don't Commercialize Christmas in your Mind....please....

Ah Christmas season.  It is truly one of my favorite times of the year. People seem to be kinder, have a better focus and perspective on the gospel in our youth group and church.  Yet I heard a new song on the christians radio station that actually made me mad.  During this Christmas season it is SO SO SO easy to jump into the commercialized, materialistic, and self centered atmosphere that the world calls the Chrismtas season.  This new Christian song takes everything that the world focus' on and misses in my opinion the "reason for the season"

here are the lyrics

Christmas is music and family in town 
Christmas is snoopy and Charlie brown 
It's anticipating that snows going to fall 
And praying for someplace to park at the mall 
It’s mom going crazy cuz the turkey got burned 
It saying thanks for some gift you’ll return 
Christmas is caroling kids at your door 
It's paper and ribbon all over the floor 

Christmas is coming, Christmas is near 
I’ve been counting down the days all year 
Christmas is almost here 

Christmas is rooftops covered in lights 
It’s away in the manger, It’s a wonderful life 
Christmas is caring for those who got nothing 
It’s dropping your change in the bell ringers bucket 

Christmas is coming, Christmas is near 
I’ve been counting down the days all year 
Christmas is almost here 

Christmas is all of these fun things for sure 
But, Christmas is really, oh so much more 
It’s good news of hope for the whole world to because 
Christmas is Jesus 

Christmas is coming, Christmas is near 
I’ve been counting down the days 
I’ve been counting down the days 
I’ve been counting down the days all year 
Christmas is almost here

In 26 lines of music... 2....maybe 2.5 if one is generous actually touch on the gospel.  TWO!!!!!! What is wrong?!?!?! Why is a Christian artist playing to the mass assumption that Christmas is about stuff that has nothing to do with and is contradictory to the gospel.  Something is so so SO incredibly wrong here!

Christmas is the gospel
Christmas is God lowering himself to become man
Christmas is the coming of the KING of KINGS
Christmas is God with us
Christmas is a baby destined to die as a sacrifice
Christmas is grace given to the world
Christmas is the truth provided to man
Chrismas is overflowing mercy in a newborn body
Christmas is Magi being more sensitive to God's leading then God's own people
Christmas is an old man anxiously awaiting the coming of the Messiah
Christmas is a prophetess worshipping the son of God
Christmas is a virgin standing up for what is right
Christmas is the mystery as to how God can be both fully man and fully God
Christmas is the beginning of a permanent solution to depravity
Christmas is God's fulfillment of specific promise
Christmas is the provision of the one who will CRUSH Satan's head
Christmas is God's sovereignty even in the wicked plans of an evil king

I could go on.  Do you get the point.  Christmas has nothing...NOTHING to do with family.  Is family wrong.... no.  Christmas has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MALL...with giving gifts....with friends...with food...NOTHING Zero...zilch...nada.   Those are all great and wonderful things and I am thankful for the opportunity to have a break from work and spend time with friends and family.  But if presents, and family, and food, and shopping take the place of the gospel then what we call Christmas is truly just an idol taking the place of God.  Don't worship the idol of commercialized Christmas..please....

I pray that what we call Christian music would re-think what they are proclaiming to millions of people because it would be so easy to hear this song and completely miss the point...please don't miss the point...the opportunity to worship...


Monday, December 3, 2012

I am thankful to have finished reading the book of Exodus.  It is an intriguing book that starts out with Moses being led by God to lead the people out of Israel and start their own nation and people.  The end of the book is filled with specifics about how exactly the tabernacle, priests garments, and what is inside the tabernacle should be made.  I am intrigued to think about how God is a God who is VERY clear about what is to be.  God gave clear promises to Israel.  If they followed Him they would prosper and if   they didn't there would be consequences.  God was also specific in the New Testament about Jesus, his work, and they way to an eternal relationship with God.

We should thank God that He has saved us and is so incredibly specific and clear as to how to have that relationship.   In the 1000's of different religions around the world most are filled with confusion, wonder, and false hope that a person will have eternal life, or peace, or tranquility.  How scary it must be to worship a god that could be happy with you one minute and then angry the next.  How do people know which god to pray to?  Or if their god can hear them?  I think of Elijah in 1 Kings 18 in his "competition" to see which God was greater Baal or YAHWEH.  Elijah makes fun of their false god by asking them prophets if Baal is "musing" (thinking) "reliving himself" (no clarification needed there) "sleeping" or "out on a journey" (vacation).  Our LORD is never eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.

We can be so thankful that God and is attributes are so so clear in scripture and worship him accordingly.

Love in Christ,
Nathaniel

Monday, November 12, 2012

Been a long time. Thought from my first trip by myself in ministry

It has been far too long but I am excited to be back on.  I recently took my first trip with middle schoolers in which I was the head and boss and one in charge and one accountable for their safety (notice the silly titles).  It was terrifying!  Yet I loved it.  The retreat was a purity retreat an our students learned many helpful things yet I may have learned a lesson that had nothing to do with purity.

This is more a message to students in college training for ministry or the jobs where they would like to work.  Applying what you study, argue over, adamantly agree with, and are blown away that people don't do is a LOT HARDER than it sounds.  For 4 years teacher professed to me the importance of looking for opportunities to have conversations, killing personal sin, discipling students, loving students, having fun with students, not being the crazy rule enforcer all the time.  All of that..ALL of that I struggled with this weekend. Two and a half days with 22 middle school students pushed me farther than I have been pushed in a long long time.  I say this not to complain or sound like I don't enjoy working with the middle school age.  No I LOVE this age..they are hilarious, awkward (which is hilarious to me), and they have the craziest attention span and ability to TALK!  I say all that to remind myself and you that applying what we are taught and agree with takes WORK.

Phillipians 4:8-9 says this

  1. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and wreceived and heard and seenxin me—practice these things, and ythe God of peace will be with you.

  1. These verses were read to our students in the context of thinking on pure thoughts.  Yet verse 9 strikes me in the heart as it is a reminder to apply (practice) that which I have received and heard and seen in God.  A large part of that is the truths that I was taught in college about ministry.  This internship is the perfect time to learn how to apply these truths and i must confess that I need to work harder at that.  When I am staring at a middle schooler who is drawing on his face with a permanent marker it is hard so that he can claim to have 5'o clock shadow it is hard to think on lovely, excellent, pure, or praiseworthy things.  Yet if I were to stop and remember that God loves and cares about this student and that as crazy as he is, he is still made in the image of God I can then realize that this is hilarious and can then laugh as God probably (hopefully) was.  The true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent thought that is worthy of praise is that this student is loved and cared for by God and that God desires this...possibly insane yet fun child to grow in a greater relationship with Him.  Therefore, the responsibility of the youth worker (me and 3 others) is not to get frustrated because one of our students is running around with a marker goatee and beard but rather to laugh with the student so that he does not feel stupid but can rather have a few minutes of feeling like he is appreciated and cared for.  There is a big difference.  Many a deep breath was breathed this weekend yet not much ministry happened on my part after those breaths.  It will be a forever memorable first trip as I strive to never have an outlook like I had this weekend again. Instead, I must strive to apply the truths that I have been taught and practice them daily from now on.  Applying what we are taught (practicing these things) is harder than it looks but the importance of working at it is so incredibly clear now.

  2. Love in Christ,
  3. Nathaniel

Monday, December 5, 2011

Make War

I haven't posted in a while.  But I got to jot a few things down.  I have forgotten that there is an enemy who greatly desires to suck my passion for God away from me.  He enjoys my failures, he enjoys putting up smokescreens that make me think I have no relationship with God.  Satan HATES GOD...he HATES ME...and HE HATES THAT I AM GOD'S....therefore, I must remember that I have a LOVING GOD...who LOVES ME....and who LOVES THAT I AM HIS...I have forgotten this the past few weeks and the evidences of Satans small victories is showing....enough...I am making war...


Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2)

Monday, October 24, 2011

Not in Control

For a long time it has been my belief that the root of all sin is pride.  It is in our human nature to want to be the biggest, feel the best about ourselves.  Pride is fed and developed as curriculum in many school systems.  "Self-esteem" as many would call it is feeling good about oneself.  This is taught on a weekly basis in many schools.  Pride envelops every aspect of human nature.  As believers we know that we are "to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV).  Yet this is still a daily battle.  Sadly a battle I am learning that is being fought within me is rooted in pride.  It is the battle to be in control of my life and circumstances.  In communicating with a brother in Christ I realize I am not the only one fighting this.  To be in control.  Why?

Here is the definition of control as referenced by dictionary.com
Controlling
verb (used with object)
1.to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate; command.
2.to hold in check; curb: to control a horse; to control one'semotions.
3.to test or verify (a scientific experiment) by a parallelexperiment or other standard of comparison.
4.to eliminate or prevent the flourishing or spread of: to control a forest fire.
5.Obsolete. to check or regulate (transactions), originally bymeans of a duplicate register.
noun
6.the act or power of controlling; regulation; domination orcommand: Who's in control here?
7.the situation of being under the regulation, domination, orcommand of another: The car is out of control.
8.check or restraint: Her anger is under control.
9.a legal or official means of regulation or restraint: to institute wage and price controls.

I believe that we who have this battle in our lives ask the profound question given in the sixth definition.  It is a noun.  WHO IS IN CONTROL HERE?  The answer is simple and easy to give.  God.  God, the one who gave his only son, Christ, to be a sacrifice for our sin is in control.  He has been since before the beginning of time.  I wrote a blog on the complete span of control He is in within our universe.  Yet I still ask this silly question over and over again.  And come to the same answer and yet still fight it.  I fight for control in hundreds of ways.  I fight for control over my sin, my job, my life circumstances, I could go on forever.  It seems this battle against my human nature has such an enormous impact on my life that I don't even realize I am fighting for it until I communicate with a friend who is learning the same thing.  I am like the character I used to love in a children's book I used to read.  Little Critter (he was one of my favorites) had this same issue (maybe not so spiritual).  In one of his books he proclaimed in every situation that he "can do it himself!"  Yet he never seemed to make it through.  I can conquer hard issues in my life myself.  I can control my friendships myself.  I can deal with awful hurt myself.  I can beat sin myself.  All of these are just a fight for control.  

My friend Chris (the one who is learning all this as well)  Reminded me of David and how often he relinquished control (or his perception of being in control) to God.  Because of this I decided for my Bible reading that I would read through the Psalms.  Although they are not in chronological order I do not find it to be coincidence that David shows his reliance on God within the first three chapters.  In Psalm 3 David is being chased by his OWN SON Absalom and this is what he says


I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
(Psalm 3:5-6 ESV)

If only I could learn to trust God so much that I can sleep even when 1000's of enemies surround me.

Again in chapter 4 David proclaims his trust in God

In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
(Psalm 4:8 ESV)

My prayer is that in the next few weeks I will be giving up ares of my life in which I am still trying to be in control.  This is the beginning and I pray those who read it will be blessed and will give up control in their lives as well.

Love In Christ, 
Nathaniel 


Saturday, October 8, 2011

Science...another reminder that God is enough...He is sovereign...and He is in complete control!

Dark Matter and Dark Energy...There have been movies made about it, books written with it as its center (Angels and Demons), and countless debate and research done on it....I LOVE science...it provides clear truth that their is a God over and over again.  The Dark Matter is another proof that God is real.  Dark matter as best I can understand is some sort of focused gravitational force that pulls objects together and keeps them in place within the universe.  (It is believed that unstable dark matter is what forms black holes- Places in space where gravity is so strong that even light is pulled in and cannot exist!)  Dark energy is the opposite of dark matter in that this force pushes objects apart in the universe.  Pretty interesting stuff if you enjoy looking up at the stars and thinking about science!   See...if it were not for this matter then the beautiful constellations we can see like the big dipper and orions belt theoretically would not exist...the starts in the constellations would just drift any which way they chose.  Yet they don't!  Without fail I can look up on a clear night and easily find the big dipper, the little dipper, and may other constellations, in their perfect place...just as they have been since the first book of the Bible was written.  That's right!  Many people believe the book of Job was the first book of the Bible to be written chronologically...and the writer of Job refers to God's total control of the universe...it seems that God is the one who hold the constellations together.  Read this from Job 38


Job 38:31-33"Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?

Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth [fn] in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?

Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
What do you think Pleiades, Orion, Mazzaroth, and the Bear are referring too?  Constellations!!!  In this chapter of Job, God is rebuking Job for questioning His sovereignty/directions/choices.  So he asks Job who binds/looses the constellations?  INSERT DARK MATTER/ENERGY!!!!  God is the one who is holding the universe together (Cf Colossians 1- God holds all things together)!  He is the designer of extreme gravitational forces that keep our home the milky way from running into the Galaxy Andromeda!  Not only does God control the universe but he also cares for us in the smallest ways.  I take Colossians 1 quite literally!  You see ..you body is made up of oodles of googles of atoms ( a google is a 1 with 100 zero's behind it...random fact...now you understand the inspiration behind the search engine :)  Anyway...these atoms are always working and atoms do 2 big things.  First of all Atoms bond to other Atoms creating molecules.  They also split away from molecules binding to other molecules.  (there are also fusion and fission reactions, fusion is the permanent binding of atoms I believe and fission is the splitting of atoms)  So God has designed 2 hydrogen atoms to perfectly fit with 1 oxygen thus making...WATER!  But see the atoms in our skin SHOULD either bond with things we touch...or...EXPLODE when we touch things.  Anything...water, wood, jello, butter, rock.. ANYTHING. So how come our bodies don't split apart? And how come when I touch a remote it does not stick to my hand?  Because God is truly holding all things together... 


God has created atoms to work in such a way that the electrons create an electro-static field so when they come in contact with other atoms they simply repel from that object because of the field.  Now the one thing keeping the universe from blowing apart is the fact that atoms will actually share electrons as well.  Every keystroke I make should result in a catastrophic reaction and yet God has created electrons to repel from each other or to share with one another in order to be held together.  Colossians 1.


So why...WHY do I struggle so often to trust that God is enough for my life?  WHY is it hard to trust, to have faith, to submit all things to the one who keep the flaming, boiling, MASSIVE stars of the universe holding in their place?  Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall make your paths straight."   Is this too much to ask?  No not really.


There are some things in my life the HURT so bad and are so hard to trust God with, yet...as much as they hurt, are confusing, don't make sense, anger me, sadden me, puzzle me....Well I can trust that God is enough and He is in control of my life!


Love in Christ, 
Nathaniel