Ministry Journey Blog

“For centuries, most Christians have been eager to adapt the ways of the world and tell it that it is right. So doing, we make ourselves redundant.” Rodney Clapp, A Peculiar People

The quote above is a powerful one, one of those quotes when you read it you think ‘they just put into words something I have been thinking for a while!” The world has changed the church, not the other way around. I think in our attempt to be gracious and to make faith more attractive we have compromised many of our views. Much of this comes from our treatment of the Scriptures. We have been eager to adapt to the world and give it permission for almost anything. This has made us redundant because we then are no different than the world. I would also add to what Clapp is saying here adding that we have also become irrelevant as well. In our attempts to be relevant we have become irrelevant. As a result our churches are in decline while the world continues to seek community and something bigger than themselves, but cannot find it in our religious institutions because we have lost sight of the source, of the movement, of Jesus Christ who is the one who can actually meet the needs of the church and the world. The Kingdom of God is like opposite day. The Kingdom of God is an upside down world, a different kingdom. May we become more like the kingdom.

I just got done reading a book on the missional leader by Alan Roxburgh. It was an amazing book and a must read for anyone in church ministry/leadership today. I walked away challenged, encouraged, supported and with some ideas. We are called to be missional leaders and we are also called to be a missional church. In some ways I feel like I am re-learning how to lead all over again, which is both good and bad. I look forward to reflecting on this book and sharing quotes in this blog as well.

Moving on to my topic for this week, worship and meetings. We work hard to keep our worship services to a certain time (usually an hour) which has always bugged me because it feels a bit consumeristic and we really should be worshipping as long as we want/need to. I then realized how much time I spend in meetings, or even one type of meeting. Some of these meetings can be 3-5 hours in length which means in a given month I spend more time in this meeting than in worship. Does this seem backwards? Does this speak to our priorities? Should we re-evaluate how we spend our time in order to be a missional church?

Just some things I am pondering.

Effective church leaders are not born, they are made.

Its that simple. Many people talk about being a ‘natural born leader’ or that someone was a ‘born leader.’ Neither of these statements are true. Certainly, leadership can come easier or more natural to some, and there are leaders who can learn leadership more easily or quickly. Leadership is something that you learn and the lessons come from education, experience, and every possible are of life if one is looking. The good news is that we can always become better leaders. Not only can we become better leaders, but we can learn to lead in different cultures and in different places. The bad news is that leadership is work and we never really ‘arrive.” True leaders are learners. To be a disciple means to be one who learns. To be a disciple means to have discipline. Leaders must be willing to be learners and be disciples. If you want to be a leader, know that you will never arrive and will always be challenged. No complacency allowed, no settling in, because if you stop learning, changing, and adjusting, you have effectively stopped leading. Leadership is hard. Leadership is hard for many reasons, but the biggest is that we have to continue to learn how to lead if we are to truly be leaders.

I have decided I need to rant about youth ministry. After over 12 years working in the field I have made some observations that I want to share. I spend a lot of time talking with other youth workers, hearing their stories. The thoughts that I share in this rant come from my work in youth ministry and the stories of my fellow youth workers.

I never thought I would say this, but those of us in full-time youth ministry can be lazy. Sure, we are the busiest of all ministers, pastors, and staff members putting in the “normal” office hours and then the evenings, retreats, mission trips and other weekends. There is no question that we put our time in, and most of us work hard while working. The problem is that we often find ourselves just getting by in youth ministry. The tasks of the ministry alone are overwhelming, then trying to do a semi-decent job adds to the time it takes to ‘do’ the work of ministry. Where laziness creeps in is using our instinct and personality rather than focusing on a mission and well thought out philosophy. Our biggest failure in the laziness department is that we fail to think theologically about what we are doing. Being busy does not mean that we are not cutting corners or being lazy. Youth ministry is hard work; it is the hardest work, but the call is high and we must have a reason and a theology for all that we do. This takes great thought and care and of course this great thought and care takes more time…

I have decided I need to rant about youth ministry. After over 12 years working in the field I have made some observations that I want to share. I spend a lot of time talking with other youth workers, hearing their stories. The thoughts that I share in this rant come from my work in youth ministry and the stories of my fellow youth workers.

This is the first of who knows how many rants. I love youth ministry. I have given my life to it. 12 years of work in the field, 7 plus years of study, and many many stories. I am in a place of ministry where I am reflecting a lot on the state of youth ministry. I also find myself in a lot of relationships with other youth pastors in their joys and struggles. My passion is training and as I work with volunteers and interns, a whole new set of observations arise. There is nothing better than youth ministry, but there are things in youth ministry that need to be addressed, so this is my personal rant…

One of the things that is very frustrating to me in the area of youth ministry is that few paid youth workers think theologically about youth ministry at all. Youth ministry is done out of personality or skill and is based on programs or reaction to a situation or setting. We say things in our youth ministry messages that are theologically disturbing. We sing songs that have a theology that is narrow at best. We fail to think theologically. Theology, and therefore God are often an afterthought in our ministries. We must start with theology—with the source. We must have a reason, a good theological reason for doing what we do. We must think about what we doing and why we are doing it—what does it have to do with the core beliefs of the Christian faith, of the Kingdom vision? If we do not think theologically, then our ministries become about something other than God, and when that happens, we are better off not having done anything in the first place.

More later…

Published in Connections Magazine (Nov/Dec 2010)

Learn about Connections here

Spiritual Practices in the Home

By Rev. Marcus J Carlson

The spiritual formation and development of children and youth is a high calling and a complicated undertaking. Developing a deep and authentic Christ-centered faith in our children requires more of us than weekly worship and church program participation. Having written about the need for a partnership in the spiritual formation and development of youth and children between the church and families, I would like to offer some suggestions and ideas that families can implement in their own homes. These suggestions are not exhaustive; as parents, we are best able to discern what tools we can use to enhance our children’s relationship with Jesus Christ. I have organized the suggestions into categories in hopes that you might find a practice in each that will be helpful to your family.

Prayer

•Emergency Prayer—Every time we hear or see an ambulance, police or fire vehicle our children point it out and have us pray. We tried this when they were very young and it has stuck with them. They lead the prayer and it is often something as simple as “God, help the people who need the sirens.” Of course, for older children the prayers would be a bit different. It has helped our children to recognize that everyone needs God and that our faith is to be exercised everywhere.

•Mealtime Prayer—We all know at least one of the commonly used mealtime prayers. Those prayers are great to use, but also can become stale. We take turns having our children lead prayers at every

meal. Since our children are young, we do repeating prayers where we will repeat after whomever is leading prayers. This simple exercise does not always lead to eloquent or divine prayers. We often end up praying for “Spiderman” or “snowballs”, but it instills in our children the idea that we can and should pray for everything and that prayer is simply talking to God.

•Morning and Evening Prayers—We cannot forget the power of regular prayer to begin and end our day. This can be something you do as a family, or something that you ask your children and youth to do on their own when they go to bed. At some point in our lives, things like showering and brushing our teeth become habits for which we do not usually need a reminder. What if the same were true of prayer?

• Prayer After School—Often when parents ask children about their day at school, they get little to no response. Taking time to pray after school helps our children and youth reflect on their day, and helps them to be more in tune with how God is working around them. It also can increase their sensitivity to the need of others. We believe that prayer can transform any school or community.

The Bible

•Bible Reading Time—Establish a Bible reading time as a family. This can be done in a variety of ways. For younger children, you can read the story to them. There are many great age-appropriate Bibles with pictures. You can also ask your older children and youth to spend just 5 minutes every day reading something in the Bible. Remember, the stories in the Bible speak for themselves, and we as parents should not be afraid to expect our children to engage with the Bible.

•Listening to Scripture—Many free Bible podcasts and audio versions of the Bible are available. Take some time to listen to the Scriptures with your kids. You can do this in the car, just before or after a meal, or during any other five-minute period of time. This helps our children and youth engage with the Bible, and can teach them to use time that would otherwise be wasted to focus on God. The use of technology also can help engage our children and youth with the Word of God.

•Devotionals—Another way to engage with the Bible as a family is to use a devotional. There are many different age-appropriate devotionals that can be used as individuals or as a family. There are also online devotionals and podcasts. I write a devotion almost every week for our youth and parents—while only a few read it on a regular basis, I like providing a resource that could lead to discussion about faith between youth and their peers or parents. We have had some devotionals that youth have shared with their unchurched friends. Our devotional can be found on the “resources” page of our website atwww.bethellutheranyouth.net.

Worship

•Family Altar—Create a sacred space in your home. I once had a colleague who converted the small closet under his stairs into a sacred space for prayer, reading and worship. You can take a small table and put a Bible, cross, candle and other things on it to make it a sacred space where family members can go to focus on God. Creating a closet, room or other small space can also help our children and youth learn how to practice solitude while teaching them that God can be worshiped at home as well.

• Celebration of Church Seasons—The church seasons are an important part of our history and faith expression that unfortunately are being lost in our consumer culture. The church seasons are sometimes seen as irrelevant, yet they have such power and relevancy if we try to engage them in fresh ways. Celebrating Lent together as a family and learning about sacrifice can be a very powerful experience. The youth group of one church made Advent wreaths as a fundraiser each year for families to use. When our family has used it, we have found that it has grounded our attitude toward Christmas in the birth of the Christ. Get a calendar of church seasons, and talk about the purpose and meaning of each of the seasons. The church seasons can help us understand and better engage with the seasons of life and faith while remembering the story of our own faith.

•Participation in Worship-—Perhaps it goes without saying, but our participation as a family in church is critical. One of my favorite things about my own church is that children are in services with their families. My children are ages three and five—while there is no question that being in worship can be challenging for us, for them and for those around us, I love seeing the whole community of faith together. In many families, church participation is limited to certain family members, and this is a great tragedy. Participating in worship and other church activities together leads to the transformation of the whole family. Taking time to talk about what you have learned and experienced in church together can only strengthen the faith of the family and each of its members.

There are an infinite number of ideas and ways to help point your children to Jesus Christ, and hopefully this list has helped to spur some ideas of your own. Please feel free to try out these ideas and modify them to fit your family—and share your ideas with me as well. May we all work together to point our children and youth a deeper relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Marcus Carlson is a Spiritual Director & certified LCMC pastor who has worked in youth and children’s ministry for over 10 years. He is Youth Minister of Bethel Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO. He and his wife, Jessica, have two children.

Published in Connections Magazine (Sept/Oct 2010)

Learn about Connections here

Evangelism and the Spiritual Formation of Children and Youth

By Rev. Marcus J Carlson

Lutherans have not always been considered to be strong in the area of evangelism, and every church in America could use some renewal when it comes to evangelism. Some people believe children and youth are not capable of having a faith of their own. I once heard a pastor state that youth are not capable of having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

We sometimes assume that our children and youth cannot and do not understand matters of faith, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is during childhood and teenage years that a vast majority of people come to know Jesus Christ. Confirmation is geared toward youth because we believe they can begin to own their faith and truly own and affirm their baptism. The evangelism of children and youth is critical but intimidating.

There are a couple things we need to remember when it comes to the evangelism of children and youth. First, it is God’s work, not ours. Duffy Robbins, one of my youth ministry professors in college, was fond of saying “God makes believers; people make disciples.” The goals of evangelism are to connect people with the life-giving grace of God that has always existed, and to help them participate in the relationship with God that has always been there.

Unfortunately, we become comfortable that it is God’s work and not our own, and are prevented from seeing the need for evangelism. This is particularly true with children and our rites of passage. Although powerful and important, the church community has relied on those processes to do evangelism for us. We bring our children to God for baptism, embracing the already-existing grace and salvation that God has offered. We participate in confirmation to help our children affirm their faith. Once confirmation is over, many feel that they are finished. Perhaps this is part of the reason that we as Lutherans have not always been good at evangelism.

Another thing that my youth ministry professor always used to say was, “What you win them with is what you win them to.” When it comes to our youth, there is a great temptation in youth ministries to evangelize youth by entertaining them to a relationship with Jesus. We cannot “out entertain” the

world, nor can we sell Jesus to youth by turning Him into a commodity that can be used to meet needs. Doing so denies the Kingdom vision that Jesus brought to the world.

Often we see ourselves incapable of evangelism because we do not think we can do it right. We assume that our own beliefs must be flawless in order to share them with others. Evangelism is not about right belief—it is about right relationship. So how do parents and the church “do” evangelism with children and youth?

First, we need to tell the story. We need to talk to our children about the story of God as it is revealed in the Scriptures and in the world around us. We do not need to explain the story or need to understand everything about the story. Again, God is the one who does the work and the one who makes believers. Let God’s story speak for itself.

We tell our kids stories all the time, and we all love a good story. We watch movies and television shows, pick up books and listen to the stories all around us. We desperately want to tell our story to someone and to have our story heard. The best thing that parents can do to evangelize their own children is to tell the story. Tell the story of God, tell your story, let your children tell their story. We all want to know that our story has meaning and that it connects to a bigger story—God’s story.

When leading children’s time in worship services, I often give the children a question to ask their parents or grandparents. I do this to create faith conversation in homes and to give parents a way to talk to their children about their faith.

Marcus Carlson

is a Spiritual Director & certified LCMC pastor who has worked in youth and children’s ministry for over 10 years. He is Youth Minister of Bethel Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO. He and his wife, Jessica, have two children.

20Allow your children to ask questions, and accept it when you do not have the answers. In relationships, authenticity and questioning will always be more important and effective than any answers you can ever give.

Evangelism with youth is a topic that is written about, debated and wrestled with in the mind of almost every youth worker in the world. Entire organizations and ministries form around the subject of teenage evangelism. It is true that most people come to Christ during their teenage years, and these years can certainly be the most formative for one’s faith— both in a positive and a negative way. Evangelism with youth is simple and yet very complicated. True, healthy, effective evangelism with youth can only happen in relationship and community.

The good news: we don’t have to be entertaining or perfect to do youth evangelism. The challenge: we must be authentic. Authenticity is not the normal mode of operation in our world, and although it means to simply be ourselves, it can be scary and risky. Teenagers have an incredible ability to sense when we are not being authentic. Youth come to know Christ when they see us authentically following Christ: in our doubt, in our fears, in our questions, in our victories and in our celebrations. Youth want to see our story and how we connect to God’s story so they can also find ways their own story connects to the story God is writing in the world.

My son Micah was four when we left the Methodist church to become Lutheran. As a child in the UMC, Micah took communion, but most children in our new Lutheran church did not and waited until after their first communion. For a couple of weeks, we did not have Micah participate in communion. One week just before communion Micah looked at us and said, “I want to have the bread and the juice because Jesus is in my heart.”

My wife and I looked at each other with surprise. He had never heard that message or language from us yet, nor were we aware that he had heard it in Sunday school—and yet this little four year old was able to articulate the meaning and power of communion. The story spoke for itself. Micah takes communion each week, hands held out like the posture of a beggar as he walks up to the altar, and I re-learn and re-live the story of God as he teaches me.

Evangelism of youth and children is critical to my own life and ministry. I did not grow up in the church at all. I did not know Jesus, and in middle and high school was heading down a very dangerous path. I encountered God, met my future wife and found my call because of a couple of teenagers who helped me hear and see the story of God. Their willingness to share the story of God saved my life.

I read an interesting quote today about church structure. I found myself shouting Amen! It is very true, and its a good summary of a painful reality. The world has changed the church, the church has not changed the world. We have become too corporate, too democratic, too constitutional. What if we ran our meetings like Jesus ran his conversations with the disciples? What if we drew straws instead of voting? What if we became responsible and efficient without all of the corporate practices that are of this world and not of the Kingdom dream that Jesus brought? How can we do church structure better for sake of the church, the world, the mission, and the Kingdom of God?

Well, the ministry journey is always an amazing one. Last week I had coffee with a colleague in ministry, and our conversation was a real blessing for us both. I was reminded about how powerful God is…and how overwhelming wonderful it is to be called to ministry—to be called to be a part of experiencing and bringing about the kingdom here on earth. I would not trade it for the world, but the longer I do it the more I realize that God will always overwhelm me. Its a good overwhelming, but not always an easy one. I think about my current ministry setting. Its the healthiest and best I have experienced in many years. I have such great hope that all of the dreams and desires of my heart; the ones that have come from God may actually come to fruition. The floodgates have been open. The dam has been cracked. I am happy and the answer to prayer, but I also find myself overwhelmed as I see it all coming, as I try to balance it all. Then I stop and remember that this is what I asked for…and more importantly it is not about me. So God, I have my raft and I look down the river and think…what a ride this is going to be. Keep me safe. Keep me focused on the source and not the dangers and fears of the journey.

Thanks God for the call.