Under a new Hudson River Presbytery policy that requires ministers to present a statement of faith every time they enter a new ministry, I stood forth yesterday to share my statement of faith. (If you'd like to read it, click here.) The only question I got was from a colleague who liked my statement that the sacraments "need to be shared indiscriminately...as Jesus shared himself." I had a chance to expand on that thought. I said I believe the way I express the invitation to the Lord's Table: "Every one who will say 'Yes!" to Jesus' invitation is welcome to receive..." is perfectly in line with Jesus' table fellowship.
We heard an inspiring message in worship on how to do youth ministry (and to be the church) by Kenda Dean, Professor of Youth Ministry at Princeton Seminary and author of Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American Church.
She included a number of video quotes that are quite interesting, and look better here online than the did in the bright sanctuary of First Pres., Port Jervis. Be sure to click the links!
She started by giving us the insights from The National Study of Youth and Religion funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc. The purpose of the project is to research the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of U.S. adolescents; to identify effective practices in the religious, moral and social formation of the lives of youth; to describe the extent to which youth participate in and benefit from the programs and opportunities that religious communities are offering to their youth; and to foster an informed national discussion about the influence of religion in youth's lives to encourage sustained reflection about and rethinking of our cultural and institutional practices with regard to youth and religion.
She played an ad for PlayStation2 that featured a message about Training Fleas. She challenged the church to stop perpetuating "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" and instead find ways to translate our Christian faith in ways that our children can apprehend. She invited us to talk with neighbors about a number of topics, including the question: "Is your youth group engaged in training fleas?"
She quoted from a study on "Exemplary Youth Ministry," a national study of congregations in seven denominations funded by the Lily foundation and completed in 2003.
We saw a video on Youth Ministry as "Cat Herding." (This one is really fun to watch!)
And she described the work of Improv Everywhere. (I'd call it quasi-ecclesial, since it uses "flash-mob" strategy to bring people together for a shared mission that is intended to build community and make strangers feel good about themselves.)
A number of videos describing their projects are available here:
Grand Central: http://improveverywhere.com/2008/01/31/frozen-grand-central/
Wedding Reception http://improveverywhere.com/2009/06/02/surprise-wedding-reception/
Little League http://improveverywhere.com/2008/04/07/best-game-ever/
Loads of resources and ideas here! And there was a lot more excitement at Presbytery. Hard to imagine--presbytery meetings that are actually enjoyable and worthwhile. Only thing missing: time to talk with others on a less formal basis.
--Jack Lohr, Interim Pastor
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