I was reading again tonight an article that highlighted some of the failings of youth ministry as it is practiced today in the context of the western world, suburban, affluent church. Okay, maybe not all those categories accurately describe all crisis areas, but it does seem to be the contextual area that most people are identifying from.
The whole Jesus Dojo idea isn’t mine, but I am taking it in a different direction than Mark Scandrette has. Just so everyone knows. I have met & know Mark through friends and am pretty sure he’s totally cool with this.
Just When I want to Shoot Myself in the Head
A few years back I was sitting in a cabin of 15 or so 6th grade boys wondering if I should end my life right then and there as they jumped from bunk beds, hit & screamed at each other, smelled of utter misery all while we were about to begin the holy pilgrimage my church calls “Confirmation.”
In the midst of the chaos I had a conversation with a long time friend and a dad of one of the said 6th graders that has stuck with me. Knowing me I probably started the conversation with some sarcastic comment of “the future of our church, right?” However we got there, he posed his question, “Why do we not teach like we teach Karate?”
He went on to say. ‘For some reason we’ve decided that is no longer necessary to continually teach the foundations of our faith. We get to this point and move on to the next step / stage. In karate, before you can advance to a new belt, you must first go through all the skills again that got you to the belt achievement you are currently at. The reason being, if you have forgotten the core skills and foundational moves, then there is no way you can advance in mastery of the craft.’
This resonates with me. In our ‘teach to the test’ and short-term results at any cost environments we have diminished the beauty of mastery. We care not to master anything, we just need enough to get by. To assume that this stops at the door of our spiritual practice is just plain denial.
What does it look like to “re-learn”
1. I believe you need to identify the foundations of the faith and teach those. This isn’t teaching the nuanced doctrine or some apologetics. That might be a purple belt. Our foundation items might be: hospitality, mission, worship and prayer.
2. Ask questions of youth as they progress through years of the youth program “What have you done lately that is hospitable to others?” My wife met with a highly successful business owner recently who said she asks two key questions while interviewing “When was the last time you witnessed some injustice, and what did you do about it?” and “What was the last thing you volunteered for?” To her, injustice happens all the time and she wants people who recognize it and do something about it as part of her business culture (wondering if we ask that question of our memberships?). If you have “I don’t know’s to those questions it is safe to assume you do not get that job. Successful answering of those type of questions on an ongoing basis gives weight that a youth can progress to deeper mastery of their craft.
3, Teach the nuanced reasoning. Isn’t it a great scene in Karate Kid when “Daniel-Son” gets so pissed off at Mister Myagi for making him paint the fence, wax the cars, and such. Then he throws some punches at him and he’s able to defend himself. A great teacher has led a student to learn the movements (hospitality, mission, worship, and prayer for me) before he’s able to be armed to go out and attack (or maybe in our case, some forms of evangelism). Here we teach the youth that, “you are hospitable because Christ welcomed everyone and you need a heart to welcome everyone.” Maybe we say, “Feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, sitting with the dying are things that Christ mandates is part of the Kingdom of God and the Way.” etc.
4. Let them teach others. Being an early childhood studies guy I had the privilege to study and observe some cool Montessori stuff. If a child was to progress from one toy to the next toy in a Montessori school then they had to teach the last level of toy to another student by showing how it is used. Often in a dojo the students become teachers to those of lower rankings, even teenagers to adults. To help instill those foundations and progress to total Ninja Christian status (think I’m totally going to buy that domain name!) allow youth to be leading those foundational pieces as a regular tenant of the ministry.
I don’t know if you need to create some ranking systems any more than what our schools create for us according to age. That might be enough damage. But a constant teaching of the foundations in practice of faith with the inspiration of the historic practice of teaching martial arts might just be what saves our youth ministries from being the next Barna research piece or ‘no youth left behind’ roll of the eyes joke.
About Gavin Richardson
