ken castor

Warm-hearted Warriors: Raising Boys to Know God

 

 My sons run. They jump too. And wrestle. They play super-hero games, fighting injustice with mighty powers. They laugh with their bellies, cry with their lungs, and smile with their entire soul. They swoon for girls and stand-up for their Mom. Something as simple as a marker can create artful hunter-styled masterpieces on their faces. Something as valuable as time from their Dad can create heart-full adoration in their souls.

Boys love life with innate zeal. They long for maximum joy. Throwing a rock in the river can be the epitome of adventure. Even reading a book can be a fraternal celebration of happiness and companionship.

But all across North America the delight of boyhood is discouraged in our churches. Countless young men have given up on God at a young age. They have found in our modern religion the killer of their appetite. Emotionless fellowships have frustrated many of our starving warriors. By repelling their hearts, we have lost thousands, if not millions of men. We have isolated their minds from their souls. We have taught them church data but failed to teach them passionate biblical faith. A warrior will not serve someone who does not inspire him. And, unless dramatic action is taken, the transference of faith to successive generations will be halted in defeat.

Our boys need a warrior environment. Our warm-hearted soldiers will grow to serve God if we enable them to continue craving life. One day, armed with authentic love, these warm-hearted warriors could engage this entire world with transformational power. Imagine an army raised up around this planet passionately and unswervingly committed to the cause of peace and life, relief and restoration, joy and confidence.

Here's how it could happen:

• PLAY HARD WITH YOUR SONS: It is vital that we make our families and churches houses of fun. When a boy thinks of their home or their church, let them be excited! Nothing pushes away our youth more than to suck the life out of the adventure of knowing God.

• PRAY STRONG WITH YOUR SONS: Essential to the commitment of every warrior is the inspiration of their commander. A warrior will follow the leader who connects with them in the deepest place of their soul. We must teach our boys a life of action-talk with God. A warrior who knows and trusts God as their leader will follow him to the ends of the earth.

• STAY LONG WITH YOUR SONS: When a parent or mentor abandons a boy, the warrior's heart turns cold. Too many boys are being taught to plunder and pillage because too many of us are injuring their hearts. If we truly want to grow warm-hearted warriors we need more people in our families and churches to give long-term commitment to our sons.  

Let's do this together. Let's raise our boys to actively know a God who cares for them, who leads them with faithfulness and inspiration, who gives them courage and strength to face any foe. Let's raise warm-hearted and warrior-spirited boys by raising them with a playful, prayerful, faithful life.

Generational Transference: It's a Two Way Street

The following article on Generational Transference was written by Jason Ostrander for Envision Culture. Good words!!

Go to article: http://www.alliancelife.org/article.php?id=674

GENERATIONAL TRANSFERENCE

It’s a two-way street

By Jason Ostrander

The role of Envision Culture in the C&MA is to mobilize the next generation for Kingdom change. Members of the Millennial Generation—those who are 18–30 years old (or who just think they are!)—desire very much to see change. Whereas Baby Boomers are motivated under the mantra of “serve the world,” the Millennials’ mantra is “change the world.”

This presents the Church with an opportunity that is dangerous, not only if we ignore the mindset, vision and dreams of the next generation but also if we focus too much on these aspirations. Ultimately, what needs to happen is transference—our denomination being handed from one generation to the next in a biblical manner.

We want this to happen in the way that Moses transferred leadership to Joshua. In that process, the younger man understood that for any generation’s vision to be fulfilled, its mem... {Go to article: http://www.alliancelife.org/article.php?id=674}

 

What causes you to leave church?

I'd like your thoughts about this: 

• What reasons would cause you to consider leaving your church?
• What reasons would cause you to stay?

Look at this sobering statement:

"According to Rainer Research 70 percent of youth leave church by the time they are twenty-two years old.  Barna Group estimates that 80 percent of those reared in the church will be 'disengaged' by the time they are twenty-nine years old.  Unlike older church dropouts, these young 'leavers' are unlikely to seek out alternative forms of Christian community, such as home churches and small groups.  When they leave church, many leave the faith as well."

- Drew Dyck in Generation EX-Christian: Why Young Adults are Leaving the Faith... and How to Bring Them Back (Moody, 2010), p17.

 

The Pursuit of Youth Ministry

This graphic is basically the outline for my "Introduction to Youth and Family Ministry" course at Crown College this fall.  It's a work in progress (and the 50+ students who took the course last year have helped me improve it a bit for this year)... and I'm fairly happy with this current diagram.  What do you think? 

Next Gen Mentoring at Church of the Open Door

One of my highlights of this last year was a Wednesday night visit at the beginning of May to the next generation ministry of Church of the Open Door in Maple Grove, MN.   For the last number of years I have been searching for communities that understand and practice a concept that I call "Generational Transference".  This is a huge need.  Many of our generations are better at keeping church for themselves than sharing the onus and direction and embrace of church with others.  Segmentation models of the generations can be anti-biblical in my opinion as they can tend to reinforce a consumeristic paradigm of what is supposed to be the united and sacrificial body of Christ (See Dt 6; Mt 18)

It takes courage and endurance for a church community to actually believe in the biblical idea of transfering faith and leadership to the next generation... Investment comes with a cost... and to purposefully mentor 150+ youth means that 150+ "adults" need to give up their time, energy and emotions in order to equip and encourage a teenager.  This is much bigger and better than the traditional "super-hero youth pastor" model... partially because it is much harder and more enduring.  Thank you Open Door for taking the lead in this!!   I saw among you a Psalm 78 movement, complete with intentionality of mission and an environment of encouragement.  [Thanks go to Crown student Josh Morneau and Next-Gen director Stefan Van Voorst for the invite and the post-mentoring food.]  Check out this video to learn more...