Slideshow image

A couple of weeks ago, the people of St Clement’s very generously loaned their priest to Camp Artaban for 8 days to be the chaplain for the senior co-ed week and then to be a leader for the Diocesan Youth Movement weekend retreat. I want to spend a few moments now reflecting on that experience.

Going into the week, I was holding on to a number of beliefs about youth ministry that had me feeling pretty nervous, wondering whether or not it was worth my time or the youths’ time for me to be there. I felt insecure about what I had to offer; I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to relate to today’s teenagers or that they wouldn’t be interested in what I had to say. Behind these feelings were what I think are three common myths about youth ministry:

#1 - that you have to be young to do youth ministry

#2 - that you have to have all of the answers to work with teenagers

#3 - that young people today aren’t interested in the Bible or Christianity

Let’s start with myth #1, that you have to be young to do youth ministry. I was twenty years older than the campers at Camp Artaban, and a good ten years older than the staff. I can no longer stay up past midnight and expect to be in good shape the next day. I can no longer fold myself into a hollowed out tree stump in a game of “find the counsellor” and expect to get out as easily as I went in (or get out at all for that matter). I can no longer hum along to the songs topping today’s music charts—at least not with any accuracy. 

There was a song that was popular at camp this year. It’s called “Hot to go” by Chappell Roan. Have you heard it? It goes, “H-O-T-T-O-G-O! You can take me hot to go!”

Like pizza from 7-11. That’s what we’re talking about here, right?

Some of the campers were teaching the choreography that goes with it. I took great pride in attempting to learn the actions and then when I couldn’t remember the words, I’d add in my own. So “H-O-T-T-O-G-O” became “H-O-T-T-pinochio!” I found this really funny. The campers did not.

I went into the week feeling like I had to be young to minister effectively to young people. My abject failure to relate to the pop culture of today’s youth could have confirmed this belief for me. That is, if it weren’t for a lesson I learned from a camper about half way through the week. We were hanging out in the dining hall one day chatting about some of the relationships and the politics at camp that week. At one point, the camper piped up and said, “I feel like what you need to know is that everyone here is their own brand of weird. The sooner you realize that and just commit to your own way of being weird, then you’ll stop trying so hard to prove yourself.”

That’s some good advice. Perhaps more than any generation, authenticity is huge for today’s young people. It’s one of the gifts this generation of teens has given to the world: that you don’t have to be any one thing to fit in; that identity and what’s cool is varied, on a spectrum. Being who you are can show up in a multiplicity of ways. I didn’t have to be young to work with young people. I just had to be weird!

Myth #2: You have to have all of the answers to be in youth ministry. This is actually one that going in to my time at Artaban I thought I had down pat. I knew that for the senior co-ed week, I’d be leading chapel and Bible study with a group of youth who had very little knowledge or experience of Christianity. I felt pretty comfortable that I’d be able to answer any questions that might come my way. I had laid out a plan for the week where we were looking at Jesus’ “I am” statements in the gospel of John. You know, “I am the light of the world/I am the bread of life/I am the good Shepherd/I am the resurrection and the life” etc. We were looking at how Jesus relates to people in each of these statements and comparing them to some of the “I am” statements we wrestle with in life. Things like, “I am not like the rest of my peers” or “I am tired all the time (struggling with my mental health)” or “I am nothing if not . . .”.

By the middle of the week, I was starting to get accustomed to the youth marching into Bible study full of questions about the stories we’d been reading. One camper arrived and said, “So, what’s her name? The woman who was caught in adultery? And how about the woman at the well? How come Jesus always addresses the guys by their names but the women are always just “the woman”?”

It was a great question. One that I didn’t have an answer to. I had some half-formed ideas, but to be honest, I’d never really made that observation before. My instinct with the youth was to try and fumble my way through an answer, and a few times I did just that. But, on this occasion, I had the good sense to pause and say, “So, what do we think? What do we suppose might be a reason the women aren’t referred to by name?”

The responses from the youth spilled forth.

“Maybe because they weren’t used to naming women for significant roles? Or, maybe they deliberately chose not to name the women?”

“Maybe because the women don’t just represent one woman, but a larger social issue that women as a whole were facing at that time?”

“Maybe because we’re supposed to name the women, as an act of recognizing them.”

(They named the woman at the well “Sarah” and the woman caught in adultery “Janet”—with apologies to Janets everywhere).

This leads me to the third and final myth of youth ministry that I’d like to speak to today: that young people aren’t interested in the Bible or in Christianity. There is some reluctance at first, for sure, when young people are invited to take part in leading prayers or reading Bible passages in chapel or church. I practically bought out the canteen for the week because I needed chocolate bars to bribe the youth into taking on various leadership roles. But, here’s what happened: once they tried out a role, they asked to lead again (this time without the promise of candy). Or, they encouraged a friend to give it a go. They started taking ownership for the worship space; handing out song sheets to their friends as they arrived; leaping up to light the candle on the altar. 

At the retreat for the Diocesean Youth Movement, we celebrated the Eucharist outside on the wharf. I had invited the youth to help set up the space and for some reason they’d all chosen to sit in these two sections away from me and the altar. My first thought was that this was teenagers being teenagers, not wanting to engage. I got a little frustrated and said, “Hey, people, come on, please can we move in a little bit?”

Then, one of the youth said, “We’re sitting like this because we wanted to make the shape of the church, so that there is an aisle for the procession of the cross down the the middle.”

I was so touched. They were thinking about liturgical space that was familiar and sacred to them—what they’d experienced in their churches at home. Once I took time to appreciate their vision, I saw where they were hoping to take part. Sure enough, they leapt up to read, to help at the altar and in the distribution of communion. They passed the Peace to every single person present—all 44 of us.

As I was leaving a couple of Sundays ago to catch the water taxi from Horseshoe Bay, to make my way over to Camp Artaban, Robin H, a long-time member here and retired school principal, stopped me at the door to wish me luck. Then, he said something that has stuck with me ever since. He said, “teenagers are the most under-challenged and under-appreciated demographic in our society today.”  

I couldn’t agree more. I hope that by dispelling some of the myths about youth ministry that you, too, will be inspired towards a theology of youth ministry. To that end, I want to conclude today with an invitation. On Halloween of this year, Beth and I are hoping to plan a youth outreach event. With the help of our own youth from St Clement’s, we are thinking about a dance at the church, with foosball and maybe a pool table if we can swing it, and just generally opening a space for teens to hang out on Halloween.

Beth and I would love some help. We need decorators. We need people to hand out posters and help advertise. We need chaperones who have been or are willing to be screened for working with young people. We need a couple of people to run the coat check. We need people to pray. We need people to wear costumes and give out candy. 

Above all, we need you to remain optimistic, hopeful that teenagers today might just have an interest in checking out a spooky old church on Halloween. Finally, if some Lynn Valley teens do decide to drop by, we need you to be a group of Christians who don’t have to have all the answers, a group of Christians who are willing to take a risk on a youth ministry event that could be a huge success or a total flop. Simply put: we need you to be you, to take part and commit to being your own brand of weird because that’s what the youth of today are asking of us. Amen.