“Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture: Bridging Teen Worldviews and Christian Truth” by Walt Mueller

We don’t have to go far to find a growing mission field! Author Walt Mueller spells it out for us, the changing youth leaders:

· We – the church – must recognize the mission field that is right under our noses! “The Great Commission applies to the crosscultural mission field of the emerging postmodern generations. We are called to live out our faith in the postmodern world as crosscultural missionaries. We must not only understand the unchanging Word of God but also those to whom we are called to minister.” (45)

· Mueller explains three steps needed for Christian mission to go forth with power: (46-49)

“Step 1: Know the unchanging Word.” “…the first step is to know the message – inside out and upside down. We must know the Incarnate Word, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Knowing Christ means that we view all of life through the framework and lens of God’s Word.”
“Step 2: Know young people and their rapidly changing culture. The basic principle of effective communication is that the message sender must know the receiver, particularly how and what the receiver thinks. The basic message of God’s Word doesn’t vary from culture to culture. But the words used in communicating the unchanging Word must always be chosen with deep sensitivity to the receiving culture.” “First, we must know them individually, in terms of both their unique personally and abilities (nature), and their lifetime of experiences….” “Second, we must know them developmentally.” “Third, we must know their changing cultural context.”
“Step 3: Take the unchanging Word to young people growing up in a rapidly changing culture. Once we know the message and the “address” of those awaiting the delivery, we need to get on our way and deliver the good news.

“Shaping the Spiritual Life of Students: A Guide for Youth Workers, Pastors, Teacher and Campus Ministers” by Richard R. Dunn

Author Richard R. Dunn of “Shaping the Spiritual Life of Students: A Guide for Youth Workers, Pastors, Teacher and Campus Ministers” offers the following questions for us, as spiritual guides, that we can ask ourselves in preparation for loving well the students under our care. It is suggested we pray that God will speak truth and grace into our lives: (69)

· How effective am I as an empathic listener? In what key areas do my skills need development? Where may my heart need to be changed?
· How does God want to shape or perhaps reshape my prayer life as a pacing-then-leading spiritual caregiver?
· How effective am I as one who leads with the truth? In what key areas do my skills need development? Where may my heart need to be changed?
· How effective am I when I am called upon to confront or to resolve conflict? In what key areas do my skills need development? Where may my heart need to be changed?
· How will I become different if I yield more fully to God’s process of transforming me into a pacing-then-leading spiritual caregiver?
· How do I equip adolescents to live with moral purpose and purity in the midst of a sensate culture? What does pacing and then leading look like in relationship to the moral selves of postmodern adolescents?
· How do I provide an environment for the nurture of adolescent spiritual maturation in the midst of a sensate culture? What will have to change for me to provide spiritual caregiving in view of the adolescents’ generation rather than my own?

“Presence-Centered Youth Ministry: Guiding Students into Spiritual Formation” by Mike King

According to author Mike King, there are some questions we can ask ourselves as spiritual guides of youth: (p. 76-79)

· How do we nurture a presence-centered youth ministry that values ushering youth into the presence of God?
· How do we walk faithfully as women and men of God who are serving as spiritual guides to youth?
· How do we encourage youth to join us as spiritual traveling companions?
· How can we be effective as a pastor to youth unless we minister to youth out of the overflow of a life with God?
· What is God showing me today-not ten years ago-but today?
· What is God teaching me this week?
· What has God been convicting me of recently?
· How is God at work in my life now?

We must continually refresh ourselves as spiritual guides. Meditate and pray over these questions! You will feel re-energized!!

“Shaping the Spiritual Life of Students: A Guide for Youth Workers, Pastors, Teacher and Campus Ministers” by Richard R. Dunn

Dunn suggests that instead of “telling” youth, we “pace” with youth:

· He describes pacing as a language of love. “Pacing requires me to listen to the heart of an adolescent, seeing beyond words and behaviors.” This will require “time” of leaders, more than just surface conversations. “Pacing builds trust. Trust produces relationship. Relationship conceives spiritual life exchanges. Such exchanges are the sacred places where the Holy Spirit reaches through the life of a Christian spiritual caregiver to change forever the life of a student.” (16)

· He describes the notion that we must overcome the urge to tell. “Telling can be contrasted with pacing in the following ways” (18):

o “Telling enters the relationship with an agenda: communicating what an adolescent should be experiencing, thinking or doing. Pacing’s agenda is to understand what the adolescent is experiencing, thinking, or doing.”
o “Telling emphasizes the teaching and advice-giving abilities of an adult. Pacing emphasizes the listening and care-giving abilities of an adult.”
o “Telling emphasizes the adult’s expertise and knowledge about God’s will for adolescent lives. Pacing emphasizes the adult’s heart for hearing God’s will at work in the life of a particular adolescent.”
o “Telling has as its initial goals the student’s assent to and application of godly advice. Pacing has as its initial goals a student’s authenticity in relationship to God and the adult.”

· He describes Jesus as a pacer. Like Jesus, “Leading requires speaking truth, in love, into another person’s life.” (19) “Jesus not only considered what needed to be said but also how it needed to be heard. Jesus’ model of disciplemaking was simple: listen and learn (pace with), and then lead.” (20)

“Presence-Centered Youth Ministry: Guiding Students into Spiritual Formation” by Mike King

Mike King calls us to be different youth leaders:

· “As youth workers we must allow the passion of kids to feed on the passion of Jesus’ radical life and message. Adolescents will resonate with it if it is properly communicated to them. Early followers of Jesus turned the world upside down by proclaiming the radical message that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar, our nationalistic idealism, our political party or the American dream ideology. The call to follow this true God is not safe or convenient, unlike much of the feel-good, carefree god-think being modeled to our young people today. The presence of Jesus Christ in the lives of adolescents who are nurtured by the power of Scripture is not safe, but it’s the essence of presence-centered youth ministry. (46-47)

He sees youth workers as spiritual guides:

· “Sharing the good news isn’t a declaration from people who have all the answers and have appropriated all that the gospel conveys. Rather we share as much about God as we have come to understand, and we invite others to join us in our pilgrimage through life.” (68)
· Youth want leaders who are authentic and who demonstrate God-inspired service to others. They are not afraid to see doubt and faith in their leaders, learning from us as we deconstruct our faith, allowing all of us to figure out what we believe about Jesus Christ.
· “Youth ministry is about being with youth, not just as a role model or friend bus also as a spiritual guide and a traveling companion.” (68)
· This will take the effort of the whole congregation of a church!