Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker, Part 2

This is part 2 of the review of Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker: A Theological Vision for Discipleship and Life Togetherby Pete Sutton.

Another insight from part 1 of Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker came out of Root’s examination of Bonhoeffer’s “Eight Thesis on Youth Work” written while serving as the youth secretary for the ecumenical movement in England. (I never knew this work existed before.) Here Bonhoeffer gives a modest and theological definition of youth ministry which is still relevant for today. His view does not over-emphasize the importance of young people (as is the temptation of many in youth ministry today) nor does it coopt youth ministry for the benefit of the church (as is the tendency of some senior pastors). Root writes,

Youth movements (whether the German youth movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century or the American youth movement of the late 1960s and after) are created because of, and then often exacerbate, the generational gap. Youth ministry is called upon (really created in the first place) to stand within the gap; youth ministry often exists only because there is a gap (this seems true in both Germany and America). The gap forces parents and church members to believe they need a special program or specialist to connect to the (odd and strange) youthful spirit of their children. Youth ministry is to stand in the gap, but youth ministry is only created (and perpetuated) because there is a gap. (Loc. 1768)

Later he summarizes…

So taking the theological turn, it may be that a huge part of the youth minister’s job is to work with the whole church-community, reminding the adults that they need not—that they theologically should not—define their children through the generation gap, but instead should see them as human beings needing a Stellvertreter (a place-sharer). The youth minister may need to point again and again to the biblical and theological truth that Jesus Christ, not the cultural generation gap, is the creator of childhood. This may actually be the central calling of the youth worker. (Loc. 1809)

A third insight I found extremely helpful as well as challenging came from Root’s examination of Bonhoeffer’s sermon preached to his last confirmation class. The sermon centered on the father’s request in Mark 9:24, “I do believe, help my unbelief.” Root’s emphasis was not on some triumphant arrival of the youth or the hope of heaven at the end of this life but on the very real, gritty grind of life and faith in which spiritual transformation takes shape. Root writes,

So much of youth ministry in North America lacks the soberness that Bonhoeffer gives these young people, this confirming into the weakness of faith. Youth ministry often serves as pep rallies for institutional church commitment rather than a place of honest articulation of the struggles of faith itself. In contemporary youth ministry we like to remind kids of what their faith can do, of what difference they can make with commitment. But here Bonhoeffer throws water on the ambitious fire of youthful faith bound in the spirit of youth itself, calling his young people instead to a weak and sober faith that follows the lead of the father in Mark. (Loc. 2118)

I spent much time reflecting on this thought and evaluating my own ministry. Do my kids (I prefer this term over student – so would Bonhoeffer and Root) have a sober view of life and faith or one jacked up on steroids of hype, activity, naivety or shallow platitudes? Am I filling them with a self-confidence or a dependence on Christ? Am I tuning their ears to the humanistic, self-esteem driven, independent call of the world or to the whisper of the Spirit of God calling them to selflessness, sacrifice and servanthood?

Part two of Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker examines just a few pieces of Bonhoeffer’s more popular works, Discipleship and Life Together. I anticipated Root would spend more time examining these works and providing some practical implications for ministry today but was disappointed. Nonetheless, his insights were helpful and provided me with many constructive questions.

In light of Bonhoeffer’s examination of costly and cheap grace Root writes,

Bonhoeffer may tell us if he were with us today that the problem with youth ministry is that it is addicted to cheap grace. It has been so captivated by the “idea” of Christianity, by the idea of getting young people committed and excited about the institutional church, that it has given itself over almost completely to principles and programs, (loc. 2480).

Are my kids more committed to our program or to Christ Himself?

Later Root writes,

The irony in North American youth ministry is that we continue to work to find the right idea to make faith stick, but it will never be possible until we shift from idea to person, for only then do we move from cheap to costly grace. (loc. 2602)

How do I shift from idea to person? How do I move away from programs, doctrine, tradition and institution to the person of Christ?

In regard to youth workers today Root writes,

For these young people and young youth workers, Bonhoeffer says boldly, ‘Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial”. (loc. 2791).

Do I love my safe and secure Christian community (youth group) more than I love seeing broken kids discover healing? What am I doing that may be destroying the possibility for true community, place sharing?

Root continues,

It may be that a major objective of youth ministry is to create these spaces in which adults and young people pray with one another, as one body speaks her needs to another body that responds with compassion and the words of intercession. The discord between young and old will never be evaporated—it will always exist—but through praying together, discord can be transformed to a bond of understanding and love. It may be that the only way to move our communities beyond the generation gap, as Bonhoeffer pled in his “Eight Theses on Youth Work,” is to invite the young and not so young to pray together in shared intercession. (loc. 2861).

I’m sold – how do I bring my church, my parents and families, my students to buy into this as well?

I imagine that for Root the answer to this last and final question might be simply “life together.” That’s the big take-away for me from this book. We can’t dream of doing ministry unless we’re first willing to do life together. That’s where it all begins, as well as ends. Along the way, reflecting on a good read like this sure helps to keep a youth worker moving in the right direction.