What’s Coming Next Part 2: Knowing, Experiencing & Doing

We believe that God’s Holy Spirit is driving the process of re-creating our programs, and we are really excited about what these ministries are going to look like next year.  Our new building gives us a ton of new possibilities, and in light of that, some of our ministries are just being tweaked…while some are being chucked and re-created.

As the Children, Youth and Family Ministry staff began its work, we did so very intentionally.  We researched current best practices in other large congregations, and then as a team we re-wrote our “Scope and Sequence.”  That is, our document that details exactly what we want our young people to learn and understand, and by when.

We broke down these plans by “Milestone” event.  That is, the significant faith events that happen in the life of a young person and their family.  And for each of these events, we asked three questions:  What do we want the young person to know, what do we want them to have experienced, and what do we want them to be able to do because of their involvement.

A quick summary:

By the time a young person is baptized (usually under age 1):

• We want them to become a part of God’s family
• We want their family to be praying and doing devotions together

By the time a young person enters church school at age 3:

• We want them to know that God loves them and that they are a child of God
• We want them to have experienced regular worship
• We want their family to be praying, doing devotions and reading scripture together

By the time a young person receives their 3rd grade Bibles:

• We want them to know (in a developmentally appropriate way) what prayer, worship, service and giving are, as well as that God both loves and forgives them
• We want them to have experienced serving others, a relationship with a caring adult (church school teacher) other than their parent, and to have experienced confession and forgiveness
• We want them to be able to say the Lord’s Prayer and Apostle’s Creed, to be able to pray individually, to have given to others, to forgive others and to be able to show gratitude

By the time a young person receives first Communion (5th grade):

• We want them to understand some of our basic Lutheran beliefs (i.e. the trinity) and a basic set of bible stories
• We want them to have experienced reading the Bible on their own, and we believe it is important for them to have experienced Bible camp
• We want them to be able to recite the 10 Commandments, and to be able to be engaged in worship

By the time they enter confirmation (7th grade):

• We want them to understand the sacraments, as well as who Jesus was and what Jesus did on our behalf
• We want them to experience being a part of a large-group community, and to experience that community as a safe place to ask questions of life and faith
• We want them to be able to navigate the Bible with confidence, to serve others boldly and to demonstrate reverence

By the time they are confirmed (10th grade):

We want them to know their own faith story, including their Spiritual gifts, and to be able to articulate that faith story.  We also want them to understand some more complex faith concepts, including grace and law

• We want them have experienced significant faith relationships in a meaningful small group and being a full member of the congregation
• We want them to be able to worship regularly, pray out-loud in a group, make wise decisions and integrate their faith into their lives

By the time that they graduate (12th grade):

• We want them to understand God’s story in the world, as well as our role in that story.  We want them to understand vocation, discipleship and hope in God for the future
• We want them to have experienced a significant mission experience (mission trip) and leadership
• We want them to be able to live as a disciple, and make use of the resources God has given them to live lives of faith

Yes, it’s a long list.  But we have faith that, with the help of God, our young people can know, experience and do these things.  And our ministries: nursery care, early childhood, grades 1-4 & 5-6, church school, confirmation, Growing Families of Faith, and Jr and Sr High ministries are all being written through the lens of these goals.

God’s Holy Spirit is at work to build a foundation of faith in the lives of our young people.  It is an honor to be a part of that process.  These goals give us the direction to move as we build these ministries.  In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be outlining here the new programs for each age group.

In the meantime, please continue to pray for our process and our ministry leaders.  We are very excited for how God is working through this process.

God’s blessings!
Pastor Todd

Coming in the next couple of weeks:
What’s Coming Next: Part 3 – “Early Childhood Ministry”
What’s Coming Next: Part 4 –  ”Lower Elementary Ministry” (grades 1-4)
What’s Coming Next: Part 5 –  ”Upper Elementary Ministry” (grades 5-6)
What’s Coming Next: Part 6 –  ”Jr and Sr High Ministry”
What’s Coming Next: Part 7 –  ”Growing Families of Faith”

 

What’s Coming Next: Part 1

Club 56ers at Lord of Life

With new building space comes new possibilities.  And we are really excited about what is coming next.  Your Children, Youth and Family Ministry team has been working really hard at preparing for next fall’s ministries.  When the registration materials come out later in the spring, you’re going to notice some pretty significant changes…and a lot that stays the same.

First, let me tell you about what stays the same:

1. Our commitment to quality ministry with young people and their families.
2. Our commitment to a relational ministry with young people.
3. Our commitment that every young person (and their family) have a strong, vibrant faith that they can live and can articulate.

As we began, last spring, to really think about fall of 2012 and what new building space would mean, we really started from the beginning and looked at the research that has been coming out.  Much of our conversation has been shaped by the work of the National Study on Youth and Religion and the Examplar Youth Ministry Study.    I have blogged about these before, so I’m not going to take much space here to talk about them other than to say that

• They learned that while the majority of young people generally have a faith in God, they can’t really define that faith other than to say that “God wants us to be good” and that “God exists to solve my problems” and that they really can’t articulate their faith at all.  This form of faith is called “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism“.
• These findings have profoundly influenced our conversations at Lord of Life.

There are other realities that have influenced our thinking as well:  For Lord of Life in general, and our CYF world in particular to continue to grow, we know that we need to be about equipping our congregation’s leaders to discover their ministry and to find significant ways for them to serve.  The analogy I use is borrowed from Mark Devries:  Our staff need to shift from the role of carpenter, to the role of contractor, preparing and equipping congregational members to be the carpenters, the ones doing the hands on ministry with young people.  If we do this, our effectiveness multiplies.

There are many ministries where we have already been successful in doing this.  We want to build on these successes, across all age groups.

As we look to the fall, we are planning on ways to engage ministry leaders in our church school, confirmation ministry, jr and sr high ministry and beyond.  Our goal is to help people discover their gifts and find ways to share them for the sake of God’s mission in the world.

And so while most of our ministry at Lord of Life is not changing, there will be some re-focusing that will provide new energy to match the new opportunities our building brings.  Our ministry and programs will remain; our goal is to take them to a much deeper level.

In the upcoming weeks, I’m going to share more about the specific programs and some of the things that will be happening within each of them.  In the meantime, please feel free to contact me at todd@lordoflife.org if you have questions, ideas or concerns.

Peace,
Pastor Todd 

Coming up:
What’s Coming Next: Part 2 – “Knowing, Experiencing and Doing”
What’s Coming Next: Part 3 – “Early Childhood Ministry”
What’s Coming Next: Part 4 –  “Lower Elementary Ministry” (grades 1-4)
What’s Coming Next: Part 5 –  “Upper Elementary Ministry” (grades 5-6)
What’s Coming Next: Part 6 –  “Jr and Sr High Ministry”
What’s Coming Next: Part 7 –  “Growing Families of Faith”

 

Forming Faith

Reprinted from the February, 2011 issue of the LifeTimes magazine:

The world we’re living in is changing rapidly, and the way that young people of all ages connect with their faith is changing as well.  Two new studies have recently been released about faith formation in the lives of young people.  The National Study on Youth and Religion is the largest, ecumenical study ever done that looks at the question of what young people believe.  The Exemplar Youth Ministry Study is a smaller study that looks at effective congregations, and what makes them that way.

Some of the research findings:

• Contrary to popular belief, young people do not reject the faith of their parents.  Mom and Dad remain the single most powerful influence on the beliefs and practices of their children.  The study also showed that the faith of the young person will likely not exceed the faith of their parents.
• Young people who are spiritually engaged are less likely to participate in at-risk behaviors.
• Generally, the faith that young people have developed is a weaker, watered-down version of Biblical Christianity.  The researchers called it “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”  That means that young people believe that while God may have created the world, God is distant and uninvolved; that God wants us to be ‘good’ and ‘happy’ and that religion is supposed to make us feel better.

Being good, happy and feeling better are good things.  But to put those values at the forefront of our faith is a bit of the tail wagging the dog.  Our faith calls us to a much more significant relationship with Jesus Christ, who died and was resurrected for each of us.

What are the implications?

• For a young person to engage their faith in the world, and to develop a meaningful belief in Jesus Christ, their parents need to engage their faith in the world and need to work at growing themselves.  For us to have effective ministry with young people, our adults need to be a part of our adult ministries.
• Our faith needs to be bold.  We need to say clearly that we are about the Jesus who brings life.
• Our call is to “Live Christ.”  In every day and every way, we are called to discipleship.  “For me to live, is Christ.”
• As a church, we need to constantly be evaluating our ministry with young people.  Our world is in a constant state of change.  Our ministry should always be evolving as well.  We need to be willing to embrace change and to grow for the sake of the Gospel, and for the sake of all of our people.

We will be talking and thinking about these things in the upcoming months.  If you have thoughts or ideas, or would like to participate in the conversation, please let me know.

Blessings,

Pastor Todd.

Sidebar:  For more information about the results of these studies, you can go to youthandreligion.org, and exemplarym.com.