Reading

I haven't posted a response to the reading that I have been doing in awhile. So I guess now would be a good time. I have been continuing to read through Mark Yaconelli's book "Contemplative Youth Ministry" and the last chapter was on the community surrounding the youth ministry.
Its interesting that I should be reading this chapter at this point in the week. I just had a meeting in which the importance of community and the importance of leadership was discussed and I think that it ties in with this chapter very well. There is a quote in the book that I really like (and not just because it has to do with Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
"Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote that there is no such thing as an individual Christian. If we seek to share the life of Jesus with young people, we can't do it alone. Christians believe its only as we gather together that we truly embody the Spirit of Jesus. Together we become his eyes, hands, mind, and heart" (141) This plays out to be so true. How many times do we (and I am speaking from a congregational sense) expect our leaders to do everything? We want the youth leader to do all of the youth things herself/himself because thats just their job. But then you read a quote like this and its completely the opposite. Completely. We are called to embody the Spirit of Christ as a body of believers and if thats how we embody the Spirit then we should to be able to share the love of Jesus in the same way.
Ministering to youth cannot happen it alone. It's impossible. I guess I see this as both a call for the youth minister and the congregation of a Church that together they should seek to serve their youth. The minister cannot do it alone. The congregation should see this and support and help in many ways. But in the same breath I think that there is a call on the minister as well. He or she must be able to see that they cannot do it alone. Its not just a "suck it up and deal with it" thing, they must be able to see the need for community. For sharing the responsibilities and allowing other people to help. Only in doing this can we truly call ourselves the body of Christ.

And he has called us to community. He has called us to be the body and to serve together.