When I have a moment, I sometimes reminisce about the different churches I have served through the years. I see the faces of the adults and youth with whom I have shared life. From time to time, I occasionally fool myself into thinking the grass was greener on the other side of the fence, thinking youth ministry was easier when I first started. Easier isn’t really the word…less complicated is more accurate.
During college, when I accepted my first call to youth ministry, my only other responsibility was school. If a crisis popped up in an adolescent’s life, I didn’t think twice about picking up the phone and heading out the door to meet and have sodas. Crafting lessons and devotions weren’t a problem as I easily could schedule large quantities of time in my calendar. However, times have changed—for the better.
As a husband and father of two growing boys ages 5 and 3, and who have limitless energy (Google Fiber has nothing on them), I constantly find myself as a full-time associate pastor on a never-ending quest to discover how to maximize the use of my time and get the most out of my day. No longer can I simply walk out the door when the phone rings.
More than once I have caught myself coming to youth group and volunteer planning meetings with curriculum strait out of the bag, hot off the press, receipt still in hand. Reviewing the new curriculum with our volunteers, I was sure we would find success. Then…I witnessed many lessons with the youth crash and burn, leaving my adult volunteers and our youth feeling discouraged.
It became my routine at the end of these nights to return home and stay up long after the rest of my family had gone to bed pondering what went wrong. I thought maybe I just wasn’t trying hard enough. If I would just try harder…find the right expert, idea in a book, or come across the right video clip on one of the many great youth ministry blogs out there in cyberspace then things would change.
At a friend’s recommendation, I began reading the latest and greatest book promising better time management and creativity. The title said it all: Manage your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind, part of a new creative cutting-edge series written by some of the most successful and brightest people in today’s world, including renowned entrepreneur and author Seth Godin.
Initially, I thought this to be too simple. In reading what these experts had to say, I came across all-too-familiar words: solitude, renewal, purpose, rhythm, Shabbat, meditation…It was a moment I ended up filing under the category of most embarrassing. I, an associate pastor, felt like an idiot in having to be reminded of the value of these practices from a book whose primary targeted audience wasn’t faith communities.
I needed a little refresher lesson in history.
Something Trivial in a Time of Great Uncertainty
Similar to the great empires which had risen before it, the Roman Empire was beginning to unravel. Years of civil war and repeated invasions from barbarian hordes, among other factors, had taken a toll on what once was the greatest civilizations on earth.
The church was at a loss. How could Rome fall? This was the heart and soul of God’s kingdom.
It was in the twilight of the Roman Empire that a man by the name of Benedict of Nursia was born. Christian author Esther De Waal elegantly describes the state of consciousness during this time. In her work Seeking God: the Way of St. Benedict, she writes:
“The world into which St Benedict was born was a troubled, torn apart, uncertain world. It knew little of safety or of security, and the church was almost as troubled as the secular powers…It had this in common with the twentieth century; life was an urgent struggle to make sense of what was happening.” (p.15)
I can’t help wondering if her words don’t capture the heart of the 21st century, as well.
How did Benedict respond to the decline of the church and the uncertainty of what the next day might bring?
His creativity and trust in God led him to do something simple, yet revolutionary compared to the social upheaval taking place around him. He decided to start a community, bringing together a small group of men to practice the life of faith intentionally together.
This small, simple act was enough for him, a mustard seed that would spring into a movement. Started in the fifth century, it has continued to provide spiritual nourishment to followers of Jesus throughout history into our present society. In a time when many in the church were discouraged—who could blame them, Rome having been sacked repeatedly?—Benedict found a way to turn lemons into lemonade.
He faced the hard reality of the church’s current predicament, recognizing the church wouldn’t thrive in its current setting, completely identified with a crumbling Roman Empire. Rationally, it made no sense to live in a smaller, more vulnerable community when the sacking of cities was becoming a regular daily occurrence. Creativity isn’t always safe; it’s risky as it embraces the necessity for change.
Creativity also doesn’t always initially guarantee success either. The first community Benedict led ended up trying to poison him. Being creative involves a willingness to fail and continue to trust that God is working. Perhaps it’s time to take a page out of history.
A Partner in Inspiration
In our present circumstances in youth ministry we once again are “struggling to make sense of what is happening,” asking critical questions. It’s no secret that research is showing youth ministry isn’t necessarily effective in creating lifelong followers of Christ. A combination of my personal life’s growing complexities, eroding confidence with lessons crashing and burning, and fear of adding to the statistics led to my own need for a reminder from our Christian heritage.
In our consumer society, it’s tempting to treat creativity as a product we market and consume. Too often, this limits creativity to big ideas with which we knock the ball out of the park for a homerun. Better for us to understand it as a process, a discipline we are called to enter with God. Theologian Hans Küng writes, “The Church owes to the Spirit its origin, existence and continued life, and in this sense the Church is a creation of the Spirit” (p. 172, The Church). Creating space to rest in the Holy Spirit (i.e., solitude, shabbat, meditation) allows us to see new possibilities. Creativity isn’t a mandate against the use of curriculum in our ministries, but a calling to let the Holy Spirit guide its implementation.
Our Christian heritage is full of women and men who discovered the divine spark of a mustard seed inside of them, nurtured it in the Spirit, and let it grow into a beautiful faith. Creativity thrives in communities that identify and celebrate our individual giftedness.
Rev. Seth Vopat has served in youth ministry for more than a decade. A graduate of Central Baptist Theological Seminary, he currently is working toward a certificate in Youth and Theology through Princeton Theological Seminary. You can find him on Facebook and Twitter@svopat.
