Elemental Children's Ministry

Yesterday, I came across this tweet from Larry Shallenberger:

I’m allergic to political commentators. It doesn’t matter if they’re conservative or liberal, I break out in a rash and begin to go into analpylactic shock with my airway closing up. So, I had no idea who this Glenn Beck person was whom Larry was talking about, and I didn’t bother checking. Over the next few hours, my Bloglines became populated with posts about Glenn Beck. When I read the posts, I got that itchy feeling and couldn’t breathe well…

In all seriousness, if you don’t know who Glenn Beck is, here is the Wikipedia page on him. In short, he’s a conservative political commentator with a show on Fox News.

You can listen to what he said on his radio show. Here is a transcript of what he said that is causing all the fuss:

“I’m begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!”

You can see similar comments where he links social justice to Communism and Nazis in the video below. (Apparently, Beck doesn’t care or know about Godwin’s Law.)

I don’t have anything else to add to what has already been said by people like Scot McKnight, Eugene Cho and Bob Robinson. What I wanted to do here on Elemental Children’s Ministry was throw out Beck’s comments and get your reactions. You have to admit that helping children love God and love others by reaching out to the under resourced, marginalized and outcast has gained momentum, which I think is a good thing. Do you agree? Disagree? What do you have to say about Beck’s comments? Don’t be shy!

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Back in December I was asked by Children’s Ministry Magazine to write an article about what apologetics might look like for kids today. This was a topic I was excited to tackle. For a while, I’ve been bothered by premise behind traditional apologetics that takes the standpoint that our faith needs some sort of defense so we guard ourselves and our children by arming them with “the truth.” We adopt a view that if we simply have enough information and can convince people that our information is truer than any other information out there then they will see the errors of their ways and enter into relationship with God. We live in a era where that no longer happens. In fact, the opposite is more true. People want a relationship first. They want to belong. Then if that relationship seems real and consistent and beneficial, they are open to belief. We handicap our children when we simply try to arm them with knowledge.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

When we unintentionally give children the message that their faith in God needs to be defended, we imply a faith that’s wimpy at best and devoid of truth or power at worst. Yes, we’re called to equip and empower children to stand firm in their faith, but the strength and confidence they need comes from a source more powerful than information and knowledge. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere–in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

You can check out the full article here.

If you don’t already do so, be sure to check out Children’s Ministry Magazine. It’s an amazing resource for those in ministry to children! And I’m not saying that because I have an article in there. It wouldn’t hurt, though, to buy multiple copies of the March/April issue and distribute it freely to friends, neighbors, and strangers you pass on the street :)

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Go ahead and watch the above video. It’s worth the 9 and a half minutes. It’s from a general session at the Northwest Ministry Conference in 2009 where Leonard Sweet addresses how we look at scripture. I found the clip via the Out of Ur blog.

I like his contrast between taking scripture apart like you would an orange and taking scripture in story-sized chunks. I’ve blogged about it recently, but I do think that there is value in not losing the story aspects of scripture. I do sympathize with concerns over the fictionalization of the Bible, but we do need to be careful. We need both a historical/facts approach and a story/wonder approach to scripture.

• How do you reconcile making sure kids know the Bible is true with capturing their imaginations?
  
• Do you find it important to see scripture as story in addition to chapter and verse? How does that look like in your context?

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(picture originally uploaded to Flickr by American Red Cross)

Many of you, like me, are heartbroken by the pictures of the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti a couple of days ago. It can be overwhelming and disheartening thinking of how we can help. Then you hear about something a public Christian figure says in response to the earthquake, and you want to bang your head on the wall… (BTW, I won’t waste any time here responding to those comments other than referring you to read posts by the following people: Don Miller, Susan Isaacs, Eugene Cho, and Larry Shallenberger. They do a much better job than I ever could of responding.)

At times like this, I always hear questions from kids about why things like this happen. Why do bad things happen? Why do so many people have to die? Each time I have no good answers for them. The world is broken. It’s not what God intended it to be. So what do we do? What do we say to children when stuff like this happens.

Let me offer what I believe is a missional response… First, I listen to what kids are saying. I ask them why they think stuff like the Haiti earthquake happens. I listen. I don’t correct or steer. I listen. I then ask them what God might be wanting them to do in order to help. What can we do to bring God’s Kingdom to a dark and devastating situation? How can we pray for what’s going on there? How can we give to help those helping? How can we bring light to that situation?

I think we get so caught up sometimes in trying to explain why bad things happen. We forget that question is more of a distraction sometimes. The real question is, “How can we help God’s Kingdom come in the midst of pain and disaster and darkness?” We need to empower kids to take a look at the world around them and all that is broken around them and ask, “God, how can I be light? How can I be a part of your Story of redemption in this situation? How can I love you and love others in this?”

This weekend, we will be helping children to respond to the images they’ve more than likely seen on television and online. We will give them tangible ways to respond through prayer (by setting up stations where they can specifically pray for specific situations) and through giving (of money, encouraging cards, and art). Those are our ideas right now.

• What are you doing to help children respond?

BTW, if you are looking for some organizations to give to for the Haiti relief effort:

• Compassion International
• World Vision
• Red Cross

You can also check out your local denomination to see if they have a fund set up for donations towards relief in Haiti.

Here’s a video from Tony Kummer with tips on giving towards Haiti:

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A WAY TO IMMEDIATELY IMPACT LIVING CONDITIONS IN HAITI BY PROVIDING TENTS, CLICK HERE!

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(video taken from Buckhead Church blog HT: CatalystLeader)

Living in Canada now, I miss out on all the Black Friday craziness that ensues the day after Thanksgiving (um, that’s American Thanksgiving and not Canadian Thanksgiving, which for some odd reason happens the first Monday in October… but, hey! I get two excuses a year to eat turkey and pumpkin pie!). I remember getting up really early on Black Friday morning and joining the throngs of people to grab the best deals on stuff. Actually, I really didn’t care too much about the deals–I had more fun watching all the crazy people buying tons of stuff that wasn’t even on sale and running through stores to beat people to the cashier lines. Over the past few years, though, there’s been a greater awareness at the silliness of it all–the mass buying of stuff that we don’t need just because it’s on sale.

This year, why not consider doing something different. Now, I’m not saying you can’t go out on Black Friday. What I am saying is not to get caught up in the buy, buy, buy, get, get, get, more, more, more mentality that possesses people on this crazy-weird day. A friend of mine, Charles Lee, offers some great advice when it comes to Black Friday. Hop on over to his blog and read his post. Here are some highlights from it:

• Plan Ahead and Minimize Compulsive Shopping
• Consider Who You Are Buying From
• Consider Alternatives for Good

At my church, we are adapting curriculum from the Advent Conspiracy to help the children here put more thought into what they give for Christmas and why they give and what they are celebrating. We are encouraging families to spend less by making gifts or coming up with creative gifts that can be given. We are also giving families the chance to take the extra money they aren’t spending and peruse World Vision Gift Catalogue and purchase something that will go to help communities in underprivileged areas of the world.

There are lots of ways to make the upcoming Christmas season more meaningful. I encourage you to find those and follow through with them.

Are you doing something to help families and children make Christmas more meaningful this year? What is it? Share your ideas with the readers of Elemental Children’s Ministry!

Take a look at this video from Advent Conspiracy (BTW, Advent starts this weekend!):

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(photo originally uploaded to Flickr by fred_fred)

You hear it on TV all the time… especially on that home makeover one… you know the one I’m talking about… I hear it said all over the place: adults, kids, in the mall, on a walk, in church… I’ve even heard a parrot trained to say it.

I have to admit it. Every time I hear it, I cringe. I can deal with most other words (some make me blush and some make me shake my head), but hearing “Oh my God!” makes me cringe.

Why? Is it because that is a remnant of my conservative evangelical programming that refuses to let go? Is it because I want to adhere to the third commandment (and every other commandment for that matter) as a list of rules that I am subject to and bound to follow? Maybe it’s because I feel that I hold myself to some superior spiritual standing by not taking the Lord’s name in vain?

I recently read this post by Scot McKnight about the third commandment… that’s the one about taking the Lord’s name in vain… Oh don’t pretend you didn’t forget!

I encourage you to read McKnight’s post for yourself. He does a really good job of reconciling the fact that we are no longer slave to the law with the other fact that we are told by Jesus that if we are true followers of himself then we love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength. The issue comes down to that of loving God and respect for his name out of that love. The third commandment to not take the Lord’s name in vain, then takes on a much deeper dimension than simply not saying, “Oh my God.” It goes further. It means we do or say nothing that would bring dishonor to God or anything that touches God.

I believe that being able to refocus our walk with God and how we conduct ourselves through the missional lens of loving God and loving others is crucial to how we help children and families live the way God wants us to.

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I found the above video on Tony Morgan’s blog (HT: Tony Kummer) It’s a video put out by Granger Community Church when they asked the kids at the church to write down prayers to God.

I didn’t know what to expect when I hit play. It’s only been a few minutes since I watched it, but I had to post it here on Elemental CM.

Over the past couple of years I’ve been wrestling with what children’s ministry might look like if presented within a missional paradigm. One of the things that I keep coming back to is trying to help kids enter into the Story of God’s redemption of mankind and the world. We do an amazing job of helping kids learn about the story and even how to imitate what is taught in the story. It’s harder when it comes to actually helping children enter that story. To do so is risky. To do so is messy.

As evidenced by the prayers of the children in the video (which I believe is an accurate snapshot of where many children are today, in the Western world at least), their lives are already messy. They are craving for a new story to be a part of. A story that realizes and admits the realities of a fallen world and helps them partner with the Holy Spirit in bringing redemption to this world. Am I saying the children do the redeeming? Of course not… that’s God’s job. But we (adults and children alike) can enter into that work of God’s redemption. We can be a part of bringing glimpses of God’s Kingdom to this world. We can be a part of the redemption Story that God is writing all around us. We can help children be a part of that Story.

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(photo originally uploaded to Flickr by Loren Javier)

On Thanksgiving Day my family went to see the Toy Story 3D double feature event. BTW, I live in Canada, so Thanksgiving happens on the second Monday of October (which coincidentally is also the opening of moose hunting season). Just two bits of random trivia for you!

Anyway, we made a last minute decision to see the movies. We were’t sure if we really wanted to fork out the money to do it, since we own the first two Toy Story movies. We were very glad we did it. Even our two year old son sat through both movies without complaint! (He was ready to go, though, when the second movie ended. He even grabbed my wife’s purse and said, “Here mom! The movies are over. Time to go!”)

With the movie being in 3D, you were able to notice details that went by the wayside before. The animation was richer. I caught many more subtle jokes and movie references. It was a totally different movie watching experience. I mean these were two movies I’ve seen over and over again. They received new life for me in 3D.

Now, I’m going to do one of those things that my wife hates… and, to be honest, I hate it when other people do it, too. I couldn’t help but wonder how that applies to how we approach the Bible and spiritual formation with kids.

Recently, I went through and reworked our philosophy and praxis statements for Redwood Kids. I still have some editing and tweaking to do, but here is the most succinct statement about what we are trying to “create:”

At Redwood Kids, we want children to know God’s Story as revealed through God’s Word and actively become a part of God’s Story.

I do go on to break that down further and flesh it out, but the key to this statement is in the second part… becoming a part of God’s Story. I think most of us in CM want children to know the Bible and know who Jesus is and know how to get into heaven and know how to best follow God. We need to go beyond knowing, though, and help kids engage in the Story and become a part of the Story. Otherwise we create children who gloss over what they read in the Bible instead of engaging it. We need children to experience faith in 3D. I know that sounds corny, but we need to get children to do more than just pray and read their Bibles and come to church and be good Christian boys and girls. We need to get them to realize that they can be a part of God’s Story of redemption: redemption of our relationship to him, redemption or our relationships to each other, and redemption of our relationship to creation.

Helping children become a part of God’s Story is risky, but I believe that it is far riskier for us to assume that life transformation is a natural byproduct of giving children enough Biblical knowledge.

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