CONTENT

– From the Editor 

– Transforming YOUth - Help Wanted: Supermodels for Student Ministry  

– Login Leadership - Avoiding the Happiness Trap  

– Book Review  – Encountering New Religious Movements

– Classified Ads

From the Editor,

Dear Ministry in Motion Subscribers,

Thanksgiving is almost here and if you are like me, you look forward to a time of being with family.  However, sometimes life gets so tough we don't feel thankful at all because of all the hardships we are going through. Maybe you're on top of the world right now and things are going really well.  Give an added special thanks to God for the blessings you are experiencing. Or maybe the past few months or even year have been so horrible that you are on the point of despair.  Sometimes the challenges we face can beat us down. 

This may sound trite, but I have found that when life gets  most difficult, despite my miserable circumstances, if I pray and thank God for what I do have, no matter how humble, I suddenly feel much richer. Somehow it always helps put things in perspective. I pray God will bless each of our MIM subscribers as we enter the holiday season.

One added blessing I am thanking God for is the way he keeps providing MIM with people who have a heart for ministry. God really does exceedingly above all we ask or think.  I'd like to introduce another new columnist, Tom Hanover, who will be sharing his knowledge of leadership topics beginning in this issue. Welcome Tom. We look forward to learning along with you.

What's New at Ministry in Motion? We've added a page with resources for small group Bible study ministry on our small groups page. 

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, 

Teena Stewart

Consultant/Editor for Ministry in Motion

Remember, to to view current and past issues of the MIM ezine in its html web format click here

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Right now there is a special holiday promotion where you can order 5 different magazine subscriptions for $30.00 and have them delivered to different addresses! Gift cards are also available.  Learn more.  Visit our new subscriptions page at subscriptions_magazines.html  

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Tranforming YOUth - Help Wanted: Supermodels for Student Ministry

By Shane W. Parker

“Do as I say, not as I do.”  We’ve probably all said this to one or more of our students. We’re certainly not perfect, so why not draw a line between the finer points of our actions and the truths we want youth to understand and apply in their own lives?  The difficulty is that when you divorce the content of your teaching from you, the teacher, you can expect minimal, if any, life transformation to take place.  This is because a key component of successful teaching is modeling.  It is an unstated assumption that youth leaders should “set a good example” for students; however, the concept of modeling goes far beyond the need to be an exemplar.  A modeling approach to teaching is founded upon the idea that lasting learning is enabled by the relationship of the teacher to the student. 

What we need in youth ministry are “supermodels.”  Not outwardly beautiful people who spend their professional lives in front of a camera, at a fashion show, or vying for the next magazine cover.  We need committed leaders who inwardly love students and understand one key concept—the majority of a supermodel’s life isn’t spent on the runway.  There are definite times when all eyes are on the model as she strides down the catwalk, an example of poise and flawlessness.  There are also times when she wears no makeup, takes a vacation from the diet, and has a Big Mac.  The point is that the people who know her best, realize that she is real, because they see her entire life.  In his essential work, A Theology of Christian Education, educator-theologian Lawrence Richards argues that:

“For God’s Word to catch at our hearts and be most effectively applied for transformation, we also need an intimate relationship with the teacher.  We need to see ourselves (and desire ourselves to be) like the teacher.  We need to know the teacher well, to have access to his feelings and his values and his attitudes and his ways of responding in life.  We need to be with the teacher outside the formal learning setting, in life.  And the teacher needs to be a person who lives his faith, and who in his own personality reflects the meaning of truths Scripture communicates in words (85).”

In order for the students to “desire” to be like you, they have to know what you are like “in life.”  This means you must be intentional about allowing students to spend time with you in most, if not all, areas of your life.  If you are weary of students who have a “church” appearance and demeanor, it may be that the only exposure they have to you as a model is within the church.  They may hear you talking about a daily desire to follow Christ in every area of your life, but if they are not around to see how that practically works itself out, don’t expect their duplicity to change any time soon.

In order to see a Christ-like desire replicated in them, it has to be evidenced in you.  So, at the risk of sounding like an ad for a well-known sports drink, “Is it in you?” Are you nurtured by the Holy Spirit, through the study of the Bible (Personal, Group, and Corporate)?  Do you have a desire for a holy and passionate life for God? This is the starting point.  From here, there are a few simple things to get you started opening up your life to students.

First, keep your home open to them.  There will be times when you will require privacy for your family; however, your home should generally be open to your students.  I have found that this not only allows them opportunity to see how you live, but it also offers you the opportunity to see how you live.  For example, you will give greater consideration to the movies and CD’s that you own when you know that your students are going to be perusing your collection.  This will, in turn, make you a more consistent model! 

Second, take them with you on everyday errands.  If you have to go the hardware or grocery store, ask one of your students to go.  What can they possibly learn by doing that?  They see how you drive, and how much you care, or don’t care, about the other drivers.  They see how you treat the store employees and other shoppers.  They see what you spend money on and whether or not you are a good steward.  If you have your children and/or spouse with you, they see how you love your family.  They also see how you act toward their family members when you drop them off and pick them up.  All of this is learned during what was just going to be a routine trip to the store! 

Finally, visit them in their homes and schools.  It is important for your youth to see that you care about them enough to know their family and their friends.  It is also important for them to see how you interact with these important people in their lives, as they look to you as a model.

You probably wouldn’t apply to a job listing for a “model” if you serve in youth ministry. However, that’s not a bad job description.  This generation is looking for authentic examples to emulate.  They are looking for a supermodel.   

Shane Parker has been involved in multiple areas of student ministry for close to a decade. He has served as a Student Minister in North and South Carolina, and as a student event and conference speaker in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Washington, Utah, Wyoming, and Southeast Asia. He is a graduate of Columbia International University (B.A.); Columbia Seminary (M.A.); and Southeastern Seminary (M.Div.). Shane and his wife, Lydia, reside in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is currently engaged in Ph.D. studies in the areas of Education and Student Ministry. He has a central passion to equip students, and student pastors, for the uncompromising glorification of God in intensive study and ministry. If you would like to schedule Shane for an event, or just talk about life and ministry, you may reach him by e-mail: swp76@msn.com. 

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Searching for a New Ministry Position?

One of the needs we have perceived at Ministry in Motion is a service to help connect qualified ministers and church workers to ministry related and church staff positions. In order to assist our subscribers with finding ministry positions and staff, we've added a new page.  If you are presently in job search mode, or if you have a ministry position you are looking to fill, be sure to visit this page. ministry openings

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Login  Leadership - Avoiding the Happiness Trap

By Tom Hanover

It is not your job to make people happy!  And it is not your job to fix every complaint!

Dr. Gil Rendle, Senior Consultant, The Alban Institute, calls it “the Happiness Trap.”  (The Illusion of Congregational Happiness, The Alban Journal, 1997).  It is the illusion that effectiveness is determined by keeping everyone happy.  Unfortunately, it is a trap that can severely limit the impact of leadership in the congregation.

The Happiness Trap is the use of congregational happiness as a criterion for making decisions.  We do thus-and-so, because Uncle Joe always likes that.  We will never allow that because Aunt Sarah would object.  Consequently, we make all of our decisions based on whom it pleases and whom it would displease.  There does not seem to be much room for the Spirit to work in such a system.  And generally as soon as we name it, we recognize we cannot please everyone.  

The second danger is that the happiness trap limits if not eliminates change.  Frequently, the people sitting around the table of any governing board already have a vested interest in the status quo.  Why would they want to change anything they have already created?  If it is not working well, they are more likely to change someone else they believe is responsible for the failures than to change something they designed.

The third danger of the happiness trap is that it tends to suck all the energy and attention of the leadership of the congregation into fixing complaints.  Ironically, the more effort leadership applies to fixing complaints, the more complaints develop.  The system is focusing on the wrong target.

The antidote to the happiness trap is a clear mission and vision.  Jesus made the mission of the Church very clear in Matthew 28:19-20: 

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

A clear vision would answer the question:  How will we live out this mission today and in my community?  When the leaders of a church have agreed on the direction of God’s call to them as a church, then it is easier to explain to Uncle Joe or Aunt Sarah why different decisions are made.

Some of the church’s leaders felt keenly about the number of people in the community who were living on the edge of hunger.  There were a few places people could get a free meal, but those resources were not available every day.  A few leaders asked the governing board, “Why can’t we provide a free meal one day a week?”

No one could answer their question.  If our mission is to “go out into the world” and to “do it unto the least of these,” then it was difficult to think of valid reasons not to pursue this ministry. 

It was an amazing ministry led primarily by lay volunteers and including many who were not members of the church.  However, one of the speed bumps in this new outreach was over the use of the kitchen and the fellowship hall.  For many years the women ‘s group had governed the use of the kitchen.  They stocked it with dishes and appliances.  They kept it clean.  They organized it around their use.

A few of the key women were part of this new ministry, but many were not.  They were displeased that outsiders were using their dishes and utensils.  They were frustrated that others were adding new items such as freezers.  They were worried that the room would not be cleaned appropriately.

It became a crisis when the fellowship hall was not available at its usual time for a rummage sale.  But it was an easy decision to make and implement, because the mission and vision were clear.  While there were some complaints to the pastor, they soon disappeared because of the commitment of key lay leaders to the mission and ministry of this free meal.  The vision was clear in their minds and hearts. 

Churches caught in the happiness trap can work their way out by sharpening and clarifying their vision.  What is it God is calling them to do?  Why does God want them in “the Kingdom for such as time as this?”

Leaders cannot simply begin to ignore complaints, but they can seek to interpret to the congregation why and how the mission begins to govern the decisions of the church.  A clear and compelling vision can help church members understand and anticipate the decisions of the leadership.  Furthermore, it will focus the attention of the leaders where their efforts will be most productive for the mission of Jesus Christ.  

Tom Hanover has served in a variety of pastoral leadership roles for over 30 years, the last four as a District Superintendent supervising the ministries of more than 100 pastors and churches in southwest Ohio. He has a BA (cum laude) from Taylor University, the MDiv and DMin degrees from United Theological Seminary in Dayton.

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Book Review - Encountering New Religious Movements.

By Irving Hexham, Stephen Rost, and John W. Morehead II, General Editors, Kregel,  2004, ISBN # 0825428939,  # 322 pages

Reviewed by Teena M. Stewart

It is estimated that the number of new religions in North America is somewhere between seven hundred and one thousand.  These groups are defined as “primary religious groups [or] movements that operate apart from the dominant religious culture.”  This book is concerned with reaching these new religions.  In the past, some have labeled these groups “cults” including groups such as the Latter Day Saints, but the term cults is condescending and derogatory and immediately sets up a barrier.  To those on the outside, Christians, appear judgmental and self-righteous.  Is it any wonder we can’t get through?

If we can rethink our terms and see these groups as more of a culture, then we increase our understanding and concern for participants.  The key is contextualization. Contextualization, can be defined as taking the “divine word of revelation in Scripture” and making it relevant in context with changing human cultures without skewing the message or shutting out the culture.

The book is divided up into three sections. The first looks at the historical and biblical perspectives including the ministry approach to Christian service based on principles derived from the life of Jesus in his relationships.

The second section looks at many methods that have been used to reach non-Christians including Paul’s approach at the Areopogus.  Some have been more effective than others.

The final section looks at actual methods being used to reach new religious cultures.  Some are pretty radical and may draw critical fire, but I admired those who have made the attempt to connect.  New religious movements that are covered in this section include ministry to Latter-day Saints, Christadelphians, New Spirituality Seekers, Wiccan and Mother Goddess Devotees, New Age and Do-It-Yourself Seekers, Nietzschean Individualists, and Alternative Healers (Oils, Aromatherapists).

Insisting on the uniqueness of the Christian gospel and the need for everyone to come to a relationship with Christ is not an effective means of evangelizing. Christians must make an effort to understand the new religions as distinct religious or spiritual cultures rather than heresies or cults. Confrontational approaches to evangelism, apologetics (defending the faith), and dogma with exclusive theology rarely succeed. This does nothing but put a barrier between Christians and those in “other” religions.  If we follow the Biblical examples as shown in the gospels by Jesus and Paul, then we’ll have more success building genuine friendships, learning about their worldview, showing a desire to understand, and finding connecting points as an open doorway to sharing.

Churches must move away from a reactionary way of approaching and become more missionary minded.  Missionaries have long understood that in order to reach a new culture they must study it and adapt themselves in order to build relationship. This doesn’t mean we throw out apologetics (defending our faith) with evangelism but it becomes a part of the bigger picture. Christian Churches will be most effective when they pool their resources and develop new strategies together.

Church leaders, pastors, and those concerned with evangelism in their church will find this book invaluable. This book has earned a Moderate to Complex difficulty ranking. Most of the content is usable for any church leader but some chapters and/or sections have a more academic bent and concepts in them may be harder to grasp. It would be a great teaching tool for equipping church members for evangelism.