Doubt or a Transforming Conversation With God?

I think it is really important that our parents and our church know what is coming out of the Youth Wing. I am really big on encouraging our youth to ask questions. We encourage them to ask questions about everything in life but when it comes to the church and God we sometimes fail to encourage questions. So I have asked and will continue to ask our youth four basic questions about the things they struggle with, what competes for their time, life issues, faith ques-tions, and then very generally is there anything you would like to know about (stories, characters, books, issues, and so on). There is not a topic, issue, or life situation that is off limits for these questions, and the questions that your kids ask are amazing. They are very transparent and honest (the exact thing they are looking for us to be) with where they are in their rela-tionship with God.

There are truly no silly questions when it comes to figuring out who God is and how God works. The thing I have found most common is the fear to ask the questions that are truly on our hearts. Sometimes we see our questions as doubt ra-ther than transforming conversations with God. Sometimes we see ourselves as no better than that “Doubting Thomas” who walked with Jesus but because he doubted, he’s not as good as the other disci-ples. And because we doubt or have questions, we aren’t as good of a Christian as our friends. I disagree with this idea completely, Thomas was an amazing Disciple. He followed Jesus and was willing to follow Jesus, even if it meant death. But simply because he wanted to touch the holes in Jesus’ hands, remember-ing the last place he saw Jesus was on the cross, we label him “Doubting Thomas”. Just because we strug-gle with God and sometimes we doubt, that does not mean we are a not as good of a Christian as everyone else.

James 1:2-6
2 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for ask-ing. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.
I want to encourage you to stop considering
your struggles with faith, life issues, and your questions about God, doubt. I want you to begin to consider them the beginnings of a transforming conversation with God. God welcomes your questions, He welcomes your doubt, He welcomes you when you wrestle with tough issues. When we take ownership of our questions and struggles God works through those to show us where his Love and Grace are at work.
So I will ask you just as I have asked your youth. Where do you struggle? What are your doubts? Where have you seen God at work through these?

Love God, Love Others

Zach

Called to Pastor

Recently, My Wife, posted another great blog about being a mom, a christian, and the future of our church.  Pastor Darren (who is the Senior Pastor here at FUMC Hobbs) also used a video clip of someone asking people on the street why they don't go to church.  

 Here are some of the phrases I heard often from various generations, social groups, and religious backgrounds:  "Church isn't fun", "That Pastor doesn't entertain me", "The music isn't my style", "We don't play enough games", "I don't like Sanctuaries", "Ugh that room is where all the old people are", "People like me can't go in there!", and my favorite (masked in "I hate organized religion) "I can't stand pews, hymnals, community prayer, reflection, stained glass, robes, altars and participation" 

 I will admit I have said many of those same things in my lifetime.What I have come to realize when I was saying those things is, I was looking to be entertained.  I wanted the Pastor, the Worship leader, the Youth Pastor, the Ushers, the Little Old Ladies, and the chairs that I sat in to make me laugh, make me feel special, make me feel happy, make me feel like I was the only person in the room. The only person that mattered.  I didn't want to go deeper with Jesus, I wanted to feel happy, and like I was completely fine where I was at.  I was one of those "Religious" people Jesus talked about in Luke.  I found this to be true of myself as I led my first youth groups.  I thought if we played games and entertained kids they would come to know who Jesus is.  Soon after I burned out and hated the idea of a full time ministry role.  I slipped back into a comfortable assistant position.  This was God, working in my life, breaking down my very selfish christian mentality.  I began to build relationships with youth, young people, and, believe it or not, people my parents and grandparents age. I found out two things that may surprise you, they didn't hate me because I was a young person, and we were searching for the very same thing, authenticity.  The folks who were truly searching to deepen their relationship with God weren't concerned with being entertained, they wanted to be pushed deeper. They wanted to know how they could share the same Grace and Love Christ shared with them, with others.

  

Now as I reflect on my time in ministry, and I minster to and build relationships not only with the my own generation but the generations before and after mine, I am finding many things to ring true.  We as people are looking for the love and grace of Jesus Christ.  We are looking for authentic people, who not only love God but truly love others.  Working with college students it was very easy to pick out the young people who had youth pastors who pushed them, and those who had youth pastors that entertained them.  Those who had youth pastors that pushed them didn't say the things I listed above.  They were hungry for something more than contemporary music or happy go lucky sermons.  They didn't care what kind of chairs they sat in. They wanted a Sanctuary, they wanted a place they could go and meet God, pray, cry, laugh, celebrate communion, sing, dance, feel awkward, but be welcomed and loved for who they were.  They wanted a place where the person standing in front of them, whether it was me or one of my colleagues, to be real. Those were the students who looked around our campus and said "How can we take Christ out there?".  The students who had entertaining youth pastors had a hard time with my leadership style.  They had a hard time when I would tell them no. They had a hard time when they sat in my office and asked "So what are you going to do for me?", "Change this for me.", "I would be happier if we did things like this.", "I would come more if you did this for me." 

I had a student sit in my office and tell me "I am mad because my friends are here!  I wanted this place to be for me and me only.".  The people who said those things, either found a ministry that would entertain them, or found other activities that entertained them.

This is too often our mentality as Christians.  We are so consumed with what WE want, to be even remotely concerned with the mom sitting across the sanctuary struggling with her children, thinking "Why doesn't she just take them to the nursery, so they wont distract me?" Rather than offering to help.  We are too concerned with ourselves to welcome to the new family of visitors, because they sat in our pew.  WE are too concerned with OURSELVES that we judge the young man who came to worship in shorts ( HOW DARE HE) to invite him to lunch and let him know we enjoyed seeing him in worship.  We are too concerned that the Pastor isn't telling funny jokes, or the fun stories in the Bible, or that there's a guitar for worship, or, my favorite, how dare they play that big organ and make beautiful music with such beautiful instruments. We are often to concerned about irrelevant things to see where God is calling us, and who God is calling us to.  

We teach this at a very early age that kids and youth are not welcome to worship with the adults by having alternative services or activities for children during the "Adult Worship Service". I am not saying having special Children's services are a bad thing, but not ever encouraging and welcoming youth into the main service is the problem.  I have served in churches that had "Children's Services" because the "Pastor" did not want kids in the sanctuary. (That's another blog for another time). I have served in churches that had the children's Sunday School hour during a worship service and advised parents to not let their children enter the sanctuary but move on immediately to their Sunday School class.  To be fair I currently serve a church that has a "Children's Service" during the worship hour.  Before you call me a hypocrite and never read my blog again, understand our order of worship.  During the summers and Holidays there is not "Children's Service" we encourage children and youth to worship with their parents.  The first Sunday of each month, which is Communion Sunday in our church, there is no "Children's Service".  The Sundays that we do have a "Children's Service" the children are present and active in the worship service, through singing, personal and communal prayer, affirming their faith, and their very own children's moment presented by the pastor.  After the children's moment those children who want to attend their service can exit the sanctuary with our Children's Pastor, those who wish to stay and hear the sermon are encouraged too.  I will add that the Children's Pastor does not take the children out and play games and entertain them, she takes the sermon the Pastor is preaching and presents it to the children, allowing them to ask questions and dig deeper into the message the Pastor is preaching in the other room.  We do our best to be consistent in this manner, acknowledging that our kids learn on a different level, but also acknowledging if we don't encourage them to worship in community, and show that they are truly valued in our church, they will not see a need to have a church and frankly they wont see a need to be present in their community.

  We as the church have dug our own grave.  By hiring and expecting that person to entertain our kids rather than take an interest in our child's faith development and care who is standing in front of them and what they are teaching them about God and the church.  We wonder why our churches are getting older.  It is our own fault and it is time that we take ownership.  It is not only the Pastors responsibility to teach about God's Love and Grace, its ours as parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors, and Disciples of Jesus Christ!  WE have to set the example, because if we don't guess who will, all those really entertaining things out in the world will.  

My job is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, who Love God, and Love Others, for the transformation of the world!  I take that job very seriously, so parents, grandparents, guardians, friends, and neighbors I encourage you to attend the church, attend the small group, attend the place the pushes you deeper into your faith, and strengthens your relationship with God, and not focus on how entertained you were. Find a place where you can laugh, cry, doubt, struggle, sing, dance, Celebrate Communion, and grow.  Find a Church that you can be the real you.  Find a Church that Loves you so much they are more concerned with pushing you deeper into a relationship with Jesus Christ, rather than putting on a good entertain show.

That's what Jesus would do.