I am a meteorologist and a former youth leader at church…I have a lot to say on both subjects…and then some
Thought I would pass this one along. We all struggle with this. I do. The problem is that we begin to see the people we despise as not human, so we think we can treat them as something other than what they are…a child of God.
I usually read this stuff through XXXChurch.com, but I ran into this through another blog site. This secular view of the trends is what we have been saying has been happening. This is a secular site so I’ll give a warning for some of the language in the article.
HOW INTERNET PORN IS CHANGING TEEN SEX: DETAILS Article on men.style.com.
Youth Specialties has a web site that is meant to help parents of teenagers called Real World Parents. As a step parent of a couple of teens and a couple of young adults, I try to read up on these things. I also look into this, so that I can pass along information to other parents, since I am also a leader in our churches youth ministry. I think this article can be used by not only parents, youth leaders alike.
763 « The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus.
I found this amusing yet so true. Why do you go to church? Why do you worship God?
Rick Warren Interview: On Gay Marriage and Divorce – Beliefnet.com
Rick Warren nails my views on gay marriage. My thought has been that gay and lesbians can have civil unions, but as a church, we do not have to bless them, just as we need to deal with two heterosexual people living together before being married, or deal with someone who is doing x. Sin is sin we should not bless it. We should love the person, respect them, and pray that the Holy Spirit will convict them of their sin.
I saw this on the NY Times page today, thanks to BW3:
Dr. Beckworth, a macroeconomist, posited another theory: though expanding demographically since becoming the nation’s largest religious group in the 1990s, evangelicals as a whole still tend to be less affluent than members of mainline churches, and therefore depend on their church communities more during tough times, for material as well as spiritual support. In good times, he said, they are more likely to work on Sundays, which may explain a slower rate of growth among evangelical churches in nonrecession years.
Bad Times Draw Bigger Crowds to Churches – NYTimes.com
The first part is great. I see that in our own church. We help those that have a need. However, there are two things about the part I highlighted. Either it is good, because we are finding people who come to know Christ after trying to do it their way and working 7 days a week, with no rest; or it s bad because we are forgetting who truly provides for us, and become swept up in the consumeristic hype of prosperity. This would almost signal a cycle that the nation of Israel had in the Old Testament.
however, I can’t. There have been some things that go on with youth pastors and churches that I can’t elaborate on at this point. Part of the problem is that I have a heart for the hurting youth pastors, who have been used and abused by churches. I once attended a NYWC in Pittsburgh in 2002. There I saw a seminar entitled “The Church has Fangs,” or how some churches don’t always act very Christian-like, with Len Evans. My church at the moment is pretty good. We have some typical things, but most of those things seem to have smoothed out as grace has been applied. I need to remember that grace when I get angry about situations where the church has shown its fangs.
Since that seminar, and then later during a guided prayer session in Dallas (2004) at another NYWC, I saw youth workers crying and in my heart, I felt God whispering in my spirit of me being a pastor/spiritual director to youth pastors. In the meantime, I read everything about youth ministry. I talk to kids. I look for ways to speak into their lives. In short as “Tiger” McLuen once said, “Be a Bob.” (I won’t tell the whole story, but it has to do with building a relationship with kids.)
This has taken my faith into radically new directions at times as I question what the Christian church really wants.
I question those that think that their buildings are more important than their kids.
I question those that don’t look at the youth as worth the effort. They question why the need for a youth program.
I question those that seem to stay in their comfortable country club and think that their tradition is the only correct theology. There is a difference, and I have to constantly go back to God to question whether I am letting that interfere with my relationship with Christ.
That last one was a poke at some denominationalism that I have run into as of late.
I like to think that when I get mad at a church that it is a holy anger. I’m just not sure that I always channel it constructively like Christ did when He healed on the sabbath in the book of Mark.
On a twitter post I said something about the Republican party hijacked Christianity. I don’t agree with the Republican party because they have some unholy planks that most ignore. The Democrats are no different. I look for who agrees most with me.
Instead of spreading the wealth that Obama would like, if Christians were just generous to the poor and oppressed, Show mercy and do Justice, their wouldn’t be a need to spread the wealth.
While I agree with a couple of big issues that the political parties talk about, most ignore the mercy and justice that needs to be done at their own home.
I wrestle with these things.
Someday, I’ll write what I am trying to not rant about, but it is too soon for the things to have happened, and I can’t even speak in generalities at this point without tipping my hand.
However, as I think about it, all of this has to do with pride, and being self centered. I admit that I struggle with that. I know that I am not always right.
I commented on Pastor Brian Zahnd’s blog recently when he talked about a reformation. I agreed with him. I have been looking at the fact that those who want to be othrodox don’t always do anything after the initial salvation.
Here’s a great quote:
As one commenter said on his blog was that there are people from all denominations trying to put the orthodox and the othropraxis. In this case, the article comes from Christianity Today via the UMC Reporter’s Blog.
Now that the Republican party has hijacked what being a Christian is, and with stories like this, I predict that despite the Christians in the Democratic party, that there will be larger backlashes that what we have seen for people of faith.
