Yakkity yak yak
Right now my second experience with a Christian school lectureship is going on. While I am not a total stranger to these things and other conference atmospheres, I am always a little amazed (whether it is a lectureship, NCMS, Tulsa Workshop, etc) at the way people are able to get away from their own atmospheres and talk freely and openly about all the right answers for their particular situation, whether it be local ministry, inner city work, church planting, campus ministry, missions... you name it. I get sucked into this a lot. The truth is, I am a little tired of people coming together and throwing out all these grand visions and austere, theological and "missional" answers to these big things where others or the "church" at large is the enemy. But, that being said, I still fully participate in all the yakkity yak yak. I guess it's an addiction.
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I attended the lectureship meeting for campus ministers tonight (where, oddly enough, there were hardly any campus ministers because lectureship has now been moved to the start of the school year). Of course, this was another yak session about campus ministry where people throw out a lot of good-sounding stuff (me included) but you come away wondering what, if anything, just took place that was actually helpful. I suppose it was for some. I sure hope I never come off as someone who just loves to hear himself talk, because it sure is annoying when others come off that way. Interrupting Cow was our moderator tonight. It was good to meet some others who work in campus ministry that I hadn't met before, though. Good networking with people who have a multitude of experience is great great opportunity.
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One theological buzzword that has been floating around for a while is the idea of being "missional." I love this concept because it has provoked as innovative a lot of things that Christians should have been doing and thinking ever since the beginning. It carries with it the idea that the work of the kingdom is something that everyone carries in every context. Therefore, it is very concerned with awareness of culture, opportunity, etc. It is concerned with where people are right now and how God can come into that context, not to where you want to get them.
I say this because a grad student friend of mine used to attend Freed-Hardeman University and told me of some efforts that had been underway by some faculty and students there to create campus ministries at some state schools. Of course I fully support this idea, but it immediately raised flags in my mind because I couldn't help but wonder what was feeding the motivation. Let's face it, Freed-Hardeman University is not like any state school on earth. If we are talking missionality here, then what is the plan for students who have chosen to do their entire education at an extremely small, very conservative college in small town Tennessee to relate to the lives of students at a massive, free-flowing, to-each-his-own, liberal state school? I say, if God has planted the bug in you and others to take Jesus to a place like that, then go be students there. Don't go as a single-minded team of evangelizers. You will soon be a broken collection of ex-state school "missionaries."
That is all my yakkity yak yak for tonight.
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I attended the lectureship meeting for campus ministers tonight (where, oddly enough, there were hardly any campus ministers because lectureship has now been moved to the start of the school year). Of course, this was another yak session about campus ministry where people throw out a lot of good-sounding stuff (me included) but you come away wondering what, if anything, just took place that was actually helpful. I suppose it was for some. I sure hope I never come off as someone who just loves to hear himself talk, because it sure is annoying when others come off that way. Interrupting Cow was our moderator tonight. It was good to meet some others who work in campus ministry that I hadn't met before, though. Good networking with people who have a multitude of experience is great great opportunity.
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One theological buzzword that has been floating around for a while is the idea of being "missional." I love this concept because it has provoked as innovative a lot of things that Christians should have been doing and thinking ever since the beginning. It carries with it the idea that the work of the kingdom is something that everyone carries in every context. Therefore, it is very concerned with awareness of culture, opportunity, etc. It is concerned with where people are right now and how God can come into that context, not to where you want to get them.
I say this because a grad student friend of mine used to attend Freed-Hardeman University and told me of some efforts that had been underway by some faculty and students there to create campus ministries at some state schools. Of course I fully support this idea, but it immediately raised flags in my mind because I couldn't help but wonder what was feeding the motivation. Let's face it, Freed-Hardeman University is not like any state school on earth. If we are talking missionality here, then what is the plan for students who have chosen to do their entire education at an extremely small, very conservative college in small town Tennessee to relate to the lives of students at a massive, free-flowing, to-each-his-own, liberal state school? I say, if God has planted the bug in you and others to take Jesus to a place like that, then go be students there. Don't go as a single-minded team of evangelizers. You will soon be a broken collection of ex-state school "missionaries."
That is all my yakkity yak yak for tonight.
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