Sunday, January 20, 2008
Fired up for Jesus
I brought up fun and Jesus but that's not what a man (or young man) needs. Fun is only a symptom of the real deal: a goal with clear purpose (long term strategic objective) and interim milestones (tactical objectives). Fun happens as objectives are met and people (participants and observers) can see that the goal is few steps closer. As long as the leaders are fired up and passionate about this goal and the more immediate milestones then younger men will follow, I believe. Just as young men sign up for the military or various team sports (professional sports and local/community teams for those who don't make the cut), goal oriented Christian movement should draw men to a cause. And just like the network-effect, the more join, the bigger the movement can be -- which is what Jesus did after all!
Unfortunately, churches today are too feminized and too relationship or program oriented, rather than goal oriented. And I don't mean goals of number of people "saved" or baptized or memberized or how much money are collected. Goal oriented like the Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings).
The real goal is heaven but then it needs to be something catchy and clear: War on Sin (WOS)? War on Evil (WoE)? Unlike "War on Poverty" or "War on Terror" or "War on Drugs" (the never ending wars) there is a clear ending for WoE: the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The question is how to do the day-to-day tactical stuff: if I had the answer, I'd be doing it and lauding my successes!
With that said, it's good to see my former church talking about this very issue at their leadership meeting (listen to the audio [39MB] or video [196MB] at about 47 minutes into it as well as around 1hr and 5 minutes) in Nov 2007. The problem for mega-churches which tailor their worship experience for various age group (junior high, senior high, college, etc.) is how to transition the graduates to a new church near the college they attend or the new job they start their career. If they find something "tailored" then they stick around but if they don't find one, then they fade away, which seems to the majority of these in the 20's (listen to the talk @ 1hr 5 min). And I was disappointed to hear the pastor suggest that youths should be transitioned to the "normal" adult worship and have them suck up to the "boring worship" like it's another math or history or grammar class (something you might not enjoy but you have to take to graduate). (Here's the money quote: 1:06:25 [hypothetical father talking to his son who claims adult worship is boring] "You know what son, it's kind of boring to me sometimes too. But I need it. Um, math class, yawn, never thought twice about asking me if you can skip math son because that's something you need to get into your head. And you know what, they're aspects in life that is not always entertaining but they are healthy, they're important, and they're good".)
And it doesn't help that at 54 minutes, he talks about 2008 being a year of relationships! Ugh.
Copyright 2008, DannyHSDad, All Rights Reserved.
Unfortunately, churches today are too feminized and too relationship or program oriented, rather than goal oriented. And I don't mean goals of number of people "saved" or baptized or memberized or how much money are collected. Goal oriented like the Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings).
The real goal is heaven but then it needs to be something catchy and clear: War on Sin (WOS)? War on Evil (WoE)? Unlike "War on Poverty" or "War on Terror" or "War on Drugs" (the never ending wars) there is a clear ending for WoE: the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The question is how to do the day-to-day tactical stuff: if I had the answer, I'd be doing it and lauding my successes!
With that said, it's good to see my former church talking about this very issue at their leadership meeting (listen to the audio [39MB] or video [196MB] at about 47 minutes into it as well as around 1hr and 5 minutes) in Nov 2007. The problem for mega-churches which tailor their worship experience for various age group (junior high, senior high, college, etc.) is how to transition the graduates to a new church near the college they attend or the new job they start their career. If they find something "tailored" then they stick around but if they don't find one, then they fade away, which seems to the majority of these in the 20's (listen to the talk @ 1hr 5 min). And I was disappointed to hear the pastor suggest that youths should be transitioned to the "normal" adult worship and have them suck up to the "boring worship" like it's another math or history or grammar class (something you might not enjoy but you have to take to graduate). (Here's the money quote: 1:06:25 [hypothetical father talking to his son who claims adult worship is boring] "You know what son, it's kind of boring to me sometimes too. But I need it. Um, math class, yawn, never thought twice about asking me if you can skip math son because that's something you need to get into your head. And you know what, they're aspects in life that is not always entertaining but they are healthy, they're important, and they're good".)
And it doesn't help that at 54 minutes, he talks about 2008 being a year of relationships! Ugh.
Copyright 2008, DannyHSDad, All Rights Reserved.
Labels: men-focused church, passion, vision
