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Local Mission Sunday Sermon 1-29-06 R.E.A.C.H. by Lisa Hawe
Intro: Ice Chipping Story – Importance of purpose. Two years ago, on Good Friday, we had a big problem at my house. Every spring, water runs down the hill behind our house, through somewhat of a trench between us and the neighbors, and empties into the street. But that year, the trench was full of very thick ice, which I would compare to a glacier, and there was more water than ever. The water was rushing down the hill & going all over the place, even into our house, instead of in a neat stream down to the street. Larry and our kids were in SD for Easter and I was staying in RW because of the youth Easter breakfast. My job, while they were gone, was to keep the water from getting into the basement. So, I went out to the ice with a shovel and start pounding. Even hitting the thick ice as hard as I could barely made a dent. I became a human jack hammer. The glacier had to go. Determined to make a crack, I went something like this; bam, bam bam, bam…. as hard as I could. At one point, I kind of lost my concentration & started thinking “I could chop off my foot doing this!” At that point, I changed position a little bit to look at my foot, and beamed my face incredibly hard with the handle of the shovel. I was not a happy camper! I was working so hard and accomplishing little. I kept trying different spots, trying to loosen big chunks. All the while I was getting more overwhelmed and discouraged. Thankfully, I have a neighbor named, Larry, who was watching me beat myself up & get nothing accomplished. He came over with his own shovel and explained that I needed to have a plan. Instead of hoping to tackle the whole glacier by knocking myself out with a little of this and a little of that, I needed to make one deep groove all the way down the hill for the water to flow through. Our purpose was to create a path for the water to flow through the glacier. We chipped away a little path. At first the water trickled through, then the force of the stream widened our path for bigger volumes of water. Soon we had the regular river we usually do and the house was saved. That experience taught me a lot about having a plan and a purpose. As the leader of ULC youth ministry, I don’t want to be trying a little of this and a little of that for no particular reason, or for the wrong reason. I want us to dig deep in a Godly direction, creating a channel the Holy Spirit will flow through, touching our lives in significant ways.
In an effort to step back and evaluate the youth ministry and the way I was leading, I read the book, “Purpose Driven Youth Ministry,” by Doug Fields. He is my favorite youth ministry “guru,” as well as the youth director at Saddle Back Church where Rick Warren is a pastor. Rick Warren wrote “The Purpose Driven Church,” and “The Purpose Driven Life.” In searching the scriptures for the purpose of ministry he found these 5 purposes which are all found in the Great Commission or Great Commandment that we read in the gospel lesson. Please, refer to the hand out.
Five Purposes for ministry found in scripture:
WORSHIP: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart” Definition: Celebrating God’s presence and honoring Him with our life style.
Ro 12:1 You may be surprised that worship is not defined as “a one hour gathering of Christians on Sunday morning for song, prayer, preaching and communion.” Your life style is with you 24/7.
MINISTRY: “Love your neighbor as yourself” Definition: Meeting needs with love.
Some examples of things ULC youth have done are mission trips to Chicago, Denver and Lame Deer, Montana. At home, we have served at the Vasa children’s home, the abused children’s program, (Kids Count,) the Food Shelf, Faith In Action and Toys for Tots. Our youth sponsor a compassion child in Tanzania.
The book mentioned that our goal should be to graduate “student ministers,” not student “attendees.” The idea is that youth are equipped to grow in their faith well beyond youth group. They don’t depend on a person or program to connect them with God.
Last summer, 2 seniors boys, who have been active in the youth ministry, were unable to go on our mission trip. They had both been on the mission trip the summer before. I learned through the grapevine that during the summer, the 2 of them had volunteered to work on the Habitat for Humanity house in Red Wing. I was especially pleased because this wasn’t an event I had planned. They did it on their own. They were “student ministers.”
EVANGELISM: “Go make disciples” Definition: Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who don’t yet know or believe in Him.
I see this most often with kids inviting other kids to ULC programs or camps. There are also examples like 2 jr. high girls who came to me concerned for a friend who was doubting God & Christianity. I was moved by the depth that they cared for the friend & their desire to share Christ with her in a way that wouldn’t push her further away.
FELLOWSHIP: “Baptizing them…” Definition: Being welcomed into the fellowship of believers. “True fellowship happens when students are known, cared for, held accountable, and encouraged in their spiritual journey.”
Where have you heard, “We welcome you into the family of God…?” (Baptismal service.) That is not a one time welcome! In a church this size, it’s a challenge to make sure each kid is simply “known,” let alone, “cared for,” “held accountable,” and “encouraged.”
On a recent ecumenical event a fellow youth director said, “You have a lot of chaperones.” I thought, “Of, course!” It’s a must, not for keeping law & order, (although that’s nice, too,) but to be sure everyone is “known & cared for.” I can’t possibly reach every kid alone. I can’t minister to most, or 1/2 , or even a ¼ of the youth alone. Having a team is essential.
The relationships between the kids are just as important for fellowship. There is a reason I do things like the pretzel game. Last, week I passed around a bag of pretzels to our middle schoolers with the instructions, “Take as many as you think you need.” Then I proceeded to number them off by 3’s to make smaller groups. Some kids caught on to my method and started arranging themselves in order to be in a group with their friends. I’m not picking on these kids, it happens a lot. In fact, I bet if I did the same thing with all of you, many would be tempted to beat the system in order to stay with someone you’re comfortable with. But that was defeating the purpose. Once in the small groups, they were to share one thing about themselves for each pretzel they took. I purposely mixed the kids up so they would build relationships with new people. I would hate for someone to leave youth group feeling unnoticed or left out. Sometimes we need a little push to break down the walls between us.
DISCIPLESHIP: “Teaching them to obey” Definition: The building up or strengthening of believers in their quest to be like Christ.
The most in depth examples of this at ULC are confirmation and Sunday school. Sometimes it happens during a program in the devotion or message time, but other times a tool is taught and the hope is that the youth develops this habit on their own. For example, at Wapo last summer, the kids went on a “Prayer Walk.” The kids went around camp to different stations where they learned a creative way to connect with God. Hopefully, kids found a method that was meaningful to them and continued to use it to connect with God back home.
Our purpose statement comes from these five areas. I’ll walk you through the process I used to craft it. I personalized the purposes by coming up with words that meant the same, but were a little more youth friendly.
Reach = Evangelism Equip = Discipleship Act = Ministry/service (Not acting as in pretending, but as in taking action.) Caring = Fellowship Honor = Worship
The purpose of ULC youth ministry is to EQUIP students to HONOR God by CARING for one another and ACTING as messengers of Christ’s Love, REACHING out to the world.
This process was bathed in prayer, and shared with several people. We need to continually evaluate the ministry to see that we are balanced and that we are really being who we say that we are, continuing in a Godly direction.
In closing, I’d like to share some of the youth ministry pictures that “Reach” is painting for me.
I attended the funeral of a mother with kids in the youth group. I sat in a row with all 18-19 year old boys. They were friends of the woman’s son. It was a very sad funeral. Every eye was crying. At one point, I looked down the row of boys and noticed that they were all holding hands. I was so moved by the way they reached out to one another for comfort and how they were totally unashamed to do that. I’ll never forget it.
It was after Dig, (middle school youth group,) and I was talking to a parent helper, Peggy Olson. I was going on about something I thought was a very important thing the kids needed to learn. I didn’t know if they were getting it or not. I don’t remember what it was now. Peggy listened patiently. When I asked her what she thought, she said, “I think the kiddos just need to know that God loves them.” What a powerful reminder that was to me. Everything I’ve shared today may seem very detailed and structured. But it’s really all about love. God’s love is the motivation behind it all.
I have this sign hanging in my office. It says, “Tell the kids I love them. God” This is the reason for United Lutheran Youth ministry. This is also my life’s passion. Tell the kids God loves them. I hope you’ll join me in getting the word out!
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