Brittany has been saying that a lot here lately. Losing her kids because, "Oops, I was stupid again!" Being caught by the paparazzi in compromising positions because, "Oops, I got drunk, again!"
There is a lot of negativity in the "oops" portion of megastars and the ordinary teenagers that we work with on a weekly basis. Nevertheless, there are also great discoveries in the repetitions that we take the kids under our watch through.
FADS
A fad is classified by something that comes along, everyone starts doing "it", and the next thing you know, it has passed on....sounds like a lot of ministry that I have witnessed in the 12 years that I have been pursuing my call....not just student ministry either.
Why do we get caught up in the next greatest things that always seem to never leave us satisfied or growing, but rather, they leave us looking for the the next big thing.
I believe that much of that practice comes from not having a basis for our ministry philosophy.
PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY
Philosophy of ministry is a concept that I learned from my mentor and best friend, Mike Landrum, the youth minister that I learned ministry under. He is a professor of youth ministry at North Greenville University now. The first thing that he deals with in his intro to youth ministry classes is the issue of philosophy. Why? Because it undergirds everything that you do.
The basis that I work from is that it is our calling is to see students saved, see the saved discipled, and the discipled to become disciple makers. We do that through relationship and by integrating ministry to the students families.
ONE-TO-ONE
Paul and Timothy. You and ___________. Who would you put in that blank? Timothy and Paul had a special relationship. Paul mentored Timothy. He gave him things to do. Sometimes those things were the same things that he had already done before. Does accomplishment automatically mean forward progress or moving past doing something over?
I remember the first small group that I led with 4 teenage guys. One guy in particular always semed to talk about struggling with the same thing, and it seemed to be the simplest of things. When he did it once, twice, or even 30 times, did we move on and forget that task?
We did not move on just because he did it....
REPETITION
Do overs in ministry are needed even when someone that we are discipling has done something good or even exceptionally well. Fads come and go for a reason, and I believe that reason is men and women don't master the basics of the faith.
We are starved for the next 10 ways to get closer to God or see his hand move in miraculous ways. Jesus spent 3 years with his guys. He ate with them, walked with them, went away from the to pray, minsitered to people, and taught them. He did that everyday. Everyday......
Jesus was repetitious. Was he an old stooge? Did the guys wonder what was up and want to move on? Yea. They wanted to know who was going to be greatest in heaven. He responded in Matthew 18:2-3,
"And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."
The basics. Come to Him simply as a child. Children do things over and over before they get it right. Why do we want to get good at things. So that we can do them the rest of our lives.....
So, lets put down the fads and pull up a chair at the workbench beside that one that God has given us to menton and do it again. Maybe someone can find an extra chair for Brittany.
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