Re-Thinking Mission in Youth Ministry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Through a variety of influences I have renewed my own commitment to the utter significance of youth ministry today -- and I mean by that from junior high\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/03\/05\/re-thinking-mission-in-youth-ministry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Re-Thinking Mission in Youth Ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Through a variety of influences I have renewed my own commitment to the utter significance of youth ministry today -- and I mean by that from junior high\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/03\/05\/re-thinking-mission-in-youth-ministry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-03-05T11:34:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/ChrisFolmsbee.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/03\/05\/re-thinking-mission-in-youth-ministry\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/03\/05\/re-thinking-mission-in-youth-ministry\/\",\"name\":\"Re-Thinking Mission in Youth Ministry\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-03-05T11:34:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-03-05T11:34:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Through a variety of influences I have renewed my own commitment to the utter significance of youth ministry today -- and I mean by that from junior high\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/03\/05\/re-thinking-mission-in-youth-ministry\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/03\/05\/re-thinking-mission-in-youth-ministry\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/03\/05\/re-thinking-mission-in-youth-ministry\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Re-Thinking Mission in Youth Ministry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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{"id":5329,"date":"2009-03-05T06:34:35","date_gmt":"2009-03-05T11:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2009\/03\/05\/re-thinking-mission-in-youth-ministry\/"},"modified":"2009-03-05T06:34:35","modified_gmt":"2009-03-05T11:34:35","slug":"re-thinking-mission-in-youth-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/03\/05\/re-thinking-mission-in-youth-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"Re-Thinking Mission in Youth Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"ChrisFolmsbee.jpg\"$ <\/span>I\u2019m certain that many of the people engaged in youth ministry think
\nregularly about the mission and work before them.\u00a0 Our unsettled
\nculture and its itinerant nature require ongoing strategic thought and
\npractice.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

In order to avoid being characterized by what Nietzsche referred to as
\nthe \u201cfundamental form of stupidity\u201d (forgetting what you were trying to
\ndo in the first place), I am sure that many of today\u2019s youth ministers
\nhave a variety of mechanisms to keep the mission of their
\nministry somewhere on the dashboard in bold, bright font. They are reminding
\nthemselves just what they are meaning to accomplish.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m wondering, however, just what the thing we are \u201ctrying to do in the
\nfirst place\u201d is, exactly. What is our mission?<\/b>\u00a0 It appears that the mission of most youth
\nministries just might be as unsettled and itinerant as the culture to
\nwhich it is attempting to impart the great good news. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
My recent experience has led me to believe that we are in many ways \u201con hold\u201d between a season of deconstruction<\/b> (with a residual number of feelings including angst, ambiguity and hesitation) and a future season of renovation<\/b> that I hope will largely be comprised of a new commitment to a narrative approach to ministry that will result in a greater devotion to God\u2019s mission.
\u00a0
Specifically, I\u2019m hopeful that many of us who\u2019ve been longing for a fresh wave of thought and practice to emerge might sincerely consider what Chris Wright in his book,The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible\u2019s Grand Narrative<\/a> $\"\"$
\n<\/strong><\/em>, refers to as our mission. There, Wright defines it as \u201cour committed participation as God\u2019s people, at God\u2019s invitation and command, in God\u2019s own mission within the history of God\u2019s world for the redemption of God\u2019s creation\u201d (page23). Perhaps this ought to be the bold, bright font placed strategically on our dashboard as the thing we are \u201ctrying to do in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I am curious to know: have we forgotten what we are \u201ctrying to do in the first place?\u201d\u00a0 Am I the only one feeling like we are on hold?\u00a0 Is the pendulum swinging from deconstruction to construction?\u00a0 As we move towards a fresh wave of thought and practice, will the \u201ccommitted participation as God\u2019s people, at God\u2019s invitation and command, in God\u2019s own mission within the history of God\u2019s world for the redemption of God\u2019s creation\u201d be the mission that we embrace?\u00a0 As it relates to youth ministry, what will be the strategic ways we embody the gospel in an unsettled and itinerant culture?
<\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"