Children’s Ministry and Culture

Roger Fields solicited uncensored rants from children’s ministers. Roger and Jim Wideman and putting together a new teaching tour entitled UNCENSORED. Part of their preparation and promotion was to collect raw and uncensored rants from children’s pastors.

It’s worth a read, here: http://www.coldwatercafe.com/raw.htm

Please note, Roger and Jim aren’t endorsing all the views that they collected. What they are doing is learning by letting CM’s getting stuff off their chest. One of the rants was of particular interest to me as the ranter is apparently reacting to an article that I recently wrote for CMMAG on the use of economic incentives in the classroom. I disagree with the response, but it was good for me to read.

My boss, mentor, and friend, Derek send me this link:  http://churchrelevance.com/your-church-and-the-american-dream/

According to Barna research, the desire to become a committed Christian is still part of the fiber of the American Dream.

• 75% of American adults in 2008 want to have a close relationship with God in the future
  (5th most desired outcome in ‘08)
  >> 70% in 2000
  >> 74% in 1993
  >> 72% in 1991
• 59% of American adults in 2008 want to be deeply committed to the Christian faith in the future
  (11th most desired outcome in ‘08)
  >> 53% in 2000
• 45% of American adults in 2008 want to be personally active in a church in the future
  (14th most desired outcome in ‘08)
  >> 42% in 2000

Its interesting that while the desire to become a Christ-follower remains high (at least on the good intentions scale) that other stats (see our posts on unChristain) suggest that increasing numbers of Americans don’t value church as a place to make those intentions come to life.

My lovely wife surprised me with a 40th Birthday Party yesterday after church. It was awesome! The room was filled with family, co-workers, and volunteers. I’m amazed that my own children were able to keep the secret– for months.

God has given me an amazing wife, great kids, and a fantastic church community to lose myself in.

I also got this present for my workouts. I no longer have to rattle the rafters with my “old-school” heavy bag.

My kids showed me this and it’s unbelievable what the kid says!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itgcNy3L_Xc

There’s a new social networking website up that’s exclusively for children’s ministers. www.cmconnect.org might be the first web community organized more like facebook or myspace and less like a traditional message board.

It’s worth checking out.

Personally, my test of the value of a place like cmconnect.org, childrensministry.com, or kidology.org is the ability learn from peers. I love the ability to ask questions and get answers from seasoned veterans who have “been there, done that.”

http://blog.childrensministry.com/childrensministry/2008/06/the-new-classro.html

Swing by Chris’ blog and read this post. And check out the link she embedded on how Gen Y will change the web. Chris is advocating– and I think rightfully so– a revolution in how we present curriculum. I turned in an article to CM MAG that will see light in the Sept/Oct issue. I can’t let the cat out of the bag, but a teaser that dovetails with her thoughts. I wrote about how we’ve been quick to adopt non-linear video technology into our classrooms… but we didn’t adopt the metaphor  (that non-linear piece).

Our children are past the lure of the video. They literally experience the technology that allows video curriclums to be possible. The technology on video editing software allows a child to experience raw video footage in any order, edit it, enchance it and make it their own. We need to bring in the “non-linear” value into our ministries (and the videos, in limited doses).

Chris admitted in her blog that Group is toying with this next-gen curriculum. I’m getting curious. I’m old enough to have been schooled in the linear “outline” era of Christian Ed. Frankly, I haven’t been able to devote the countless hours needed to get my head into what this new curriculum will look like. Can’t wait to see it.

After a long break, I picked up Wright’s Surprised by Hope: Rethinking the Resurrection, Heaven, and the Mission of the Church and finished it on vacation. While a readable volume, this was a challenging read. Tom comes from a different tradition than I and much of his theology was alien to me. I’ll be rereading this one again soon. I’ve spend much of my life dodging eschatologicial questions. I find the topic divisive, and I’ve been uncomfortable with the framework(s) that my faith tradition offers. Wright offers a model of looking at the end times that avoids our times most troubling pitfalls– a theology of disengagement and universalism to name a few.

Ed Young, Jr. at Fellowship Church mentioned over the weekend some astonishing statistics that they’ve “revealed” from their own church.

8,200 Individual Children Attended in the past 10 weeks

160 Kids attended EVERY week

30% of those who attended in 10 weeks attended less than 5 weeks

His emphasis in his “talk” (his words, as opposed to “sermon”) was that PARENTS need to “wake up” and place church on a higher priority than sports or cheer or fishing. He also said that “if you don’t give” you’re not a member of Fellowship, and “if you don’t serve” you’re really not a member.

I’m thrilled that churches are evaluating their programs (look at the survey FBC Denton, TX is doing at www.fbcd.net for insights into WHAT to ask!) and purposes!

But what they DO TO FIX the problem demands the same measure of attention. For instance, in explaining these statistics last night, Ed Young, Jr. did so via video. In other words, he encouraged his hearers to DO (attend church) what he himself was only virtually doing…ironic if you think about it!

Thank Them! SERIOUSLY!!! “Between 80% and 90% of women who find out they are carrying a child with the chromosomal abnormality (which can be tested using amniocentesis) choose to abort!” This is in contrast with the fact that the life expectancy has INCREASED from 25 years to 45 years!!! I learned this today from an excellent essay from Christine Rosen, Senior Editor of The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology and Society (http://www.thenewatlantis.com/authors/christine-rosen) in the Wall Street Journal (”A Life Worth Living” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121452087577408831.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_journal)

Today the Supreme Court of the United States, in a sharply divided 5-4 decision, weighed in on a case that everyone who is a minister to children will find deeply significant for what it does and does not do. The decision “bars” states from imposing the death penalty for child rape (5 states allow it) in every instance.

I read the decision early this morning (Summary is a 5 pager and easily comprehensible for any reader, the majority opinion is 36 pages including footnotes and the dissent is 24 pages and is a sensible response written by justice Alito and joined by three others) and I encourage you to read the original particularly the dissent with it’s enlightening statistics on the prevalence of this type of crime (over 5,000 cases in 2003 alone). It is a telling example of reading contemporary American culture that is as important as it is instructive for the minister.

The court held today that the “extension” of the death penalty for crimes that do “not result, and [are] not intended to result, in the victim’s death” are unconstitutional. The Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause “draws its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” This is the bottom line reason for the decision. The fact that ONLY 5 states have penalties this severe is one strong proof that society is not open to this extreme response to what all 9 justices agree is a reprehensible and horrific crime. BUT, as Alito states, previous court cases have made state legislators hesitant to pass laws that will more than likely be overturned…it is a set up for failure. Alito also mentions that this sweeping decision is for EVERY child rape “no matter how young the child, no matter how many times the child is raped, no matter how many children the perpetrator rapes, no matter how sadistic the crime, no matter how much physical or psychological trauma is inflicted and no matter how heinous the perpetrator’s prior criminal record may be.”

I have a couple of comments. First, I’m glad I’m not a judge! Seriously! This is a terrible case to review. A 300 pound man wakes up an 8 year old one morning and a life is deeply disfigured. Imagine sitting through that case! Imagine that this same case occurred 10 years ago and is just now being decided. That 8 year old is now 18. Now recognize that from 1976 to 1986, the number of reported cases of child sexual abuse grew from 6,000 to 132,000, an increase of 2,100% (footnote 2 on page 9 of the dissent). By 1991, the number of cases totaled 432,000, an increase of another 227%! Nearly 30% of those child victims were between the ages of four and seven.

Second, I am glad that there is neither glee nor despair among most commentators on this decision. I read the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and very liberal blogs like the Daily Kos and found them all sober and probably numb. No matter what your political view there exists for the Christian a hope in the midst of despair, a God who knows, is enraged and is acting now. For some, they find God’s response quizzical and impotent for this little girl and so many others, but I find that to be highly limiting and time-bound. God HAS acted! He is NOT bound by time and our prayers every night for our children and the adults we minister to even in a culture that is “maturing” is to soberly seek God, lay pain at the foot of the cross and not be silent.