5 Questions asked yesterday... Here are my responses:
1. Want to play HORSE sometime?(Thought I'd start you out with an easy one)
2. Are family devotions (Bible reading & prayer) important enough that the wife/mother should take the lead in doing them if the Christian father does not lead the family in this?
1. Want to play HORSE sometime?(Thought I'd start you out with an easy one)
First of all Dan, thanks for the easy one, they definitely got tougher. I'm in. Maybe we take a lunch sometime and duke it out in the old Aux Gym.
2. Are family devotions (Bible reading & prayer) important enough that the wife/mother should take the lead in doing them if the Christian father does not lead the family in this?
I'm trying to keep responses when doing this brief. This is a tough one to keep brief because there are multiple layers to look at in this question.
A few thoughts on several of those layers...Definition of Family Devotions... Is it just bible reading & prayer, or is there more implied (frequency, form, etc) in the term "Family Devotions"? Although valuable, I do not see a biblical mandate for the family to sit down daily at the kitchen table/in the family room, and open the Bible, read, pray, etc. Spiritual family dynamics (including Bible reading & prayer) can happen both intentionally and unintentionally in the car, working on the car, in the yard, at a ball game, eating dinner, at bedtime,
Taking lead... Questions about sex roles; Does it really matter who takes lead? How does Ephesians 5:22-33 (look at question 5).Marriage dynamics... To me, the most significant (and base) issue to address in this question is the discussion, attitudes, and motives leading into whatever is decided in this situation. I don't think this is a "you" or "me" discussion. If both father and mother are Christians, I think it's a "we" discussion.
Bottom line, I don't feel I can give a clear cut answer to this one. Sorry.
3. What responsibility does a youth pastor (or director of student ministries, or whatever guys like you are called) in the Missionary Church have to teach and train students in the theological and historical distinctives (what makes us unique; why we're the Nappanee "Missionary" Church and not something else; who are we?) of the denomination?
Once again, seeking to be brief on this is tough. I think that a youth pastor has a responsibility to do so. I think a key question is more in the whens, hows and to what levels?
At what age? Should we walk a 5th grader through the historical distinctives of the anabaptist movemnt? Should a 10th grader read the constitution of the Missionary Church? Should we hand out our doctrinal papers on "The Assurance of the Believer" on Wednesday Nights to High School students? (please note hyperbole)
A few thoughts...At the same time, I regularly will do this in more mentoring situations or discipling circles. A few examples.
- My (our) primary responsibility is first and foremost to seek and advance the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33), or the Church (big C).
- My (our) responsibility to denominational lines is secondary, and I would even go so far as to say honorary in it's nature (oh, I just stepped in a big pile of something there). We seek to honor and uphold the historical and theological distinctives in all programming. At the same time, we are rare to stop and literally say, "this is a key point of being a part of the Missionary Church."
A couple on the larger scale:
- Talking War. Most often when this conversation takes place with 16-18 year old guys. I will regularly bring up the Missionary Church's historical stance of pacifism that took a strange twist during World War II.
- Believer's Baptism. I regularly will be in discussion with a student who comes out of a background where infant or childhood baptism took place. I'm able to explain what a significant role "re-baptism" has played in Missionary Church History.
- Charasmatic Wack jobs. Speaking in Tongues, healings, etc. When students run into a more supernatural world than their traditional, fundamental upbringing has allowed them to be exposed to, I love to explain to them how the supernatural work and gifting of the Holy Spirit is one of the main reasons (along with 4 part harmony, and translation from German to English) our denomination is who it is and where it is.
- Driving down CR 11. At various times, I will be driving toward Dunlap or Elkhart, with friends or students and we come up to the intersection at CR 38 and CR 11 where two churches sit (neither a Missionary Church). I love to tell them about how much of the history of the Missionary Church can be traced back to that very intersection, and another church (this one a Missioanry chruch) that is about 2 1/2 miles away from there. I tell them about Daniel Brenneman, and the rocky point of church splits that took place in the early 20th Century.
- Filling of the Spirit/Sanctification/ Baptism by Fire. Whatever you call it. We regularly preach it, push it, pray with students to receive it (continually receive it).
- "Missionary". It's the denomination name we chose, and a significant cornerstone of her focus. I believe the body I am involved with lives, breathes, teaches and involves itself significantly in the act of "missions" work locally, regionally, and globally.
4. What is the most impactful book for your ministry that you've ever read? (I mean, what book has made the greatest impact on your ministry....good thing I'm not a writer...sheesh...)
Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Fields gave me a great programmatic framework for youth ministry.
Red Moon Rising by Pete Grieg was a book that I read and truly believe God spoke to me directly about steps for our youth ministry to take in 2007.
5. What's your feeling about the assumption regarding sex roles that underlies the second question?
Thanks to my brothers (source of questions 3 & 5) for continuing to play the role they did so well while growing up... couldn't just ask me if I'd prefer to watch Football over playing Softball, or if thought the Cubs could win the World Series. (geesh!)
I utterly despise the way I have seen Ephesians 5:22-33 and other passages of scripture concerning sex roles misinterpreted in a variety of manners. Without going into a historical, exegetical, and contextual critique of this passage and others, I will simply state...
- I believe there is a call for men (husband/father) to take a spiritual lead in their house. I do not see that as negating women (wife/mother) from taking a lead.
- I believe there are fundamental physical, emotional, and spiritual differences in how God created woman and man.
- I believe there are roles that a man can often play better than a woman, and the reverse is just as true.
- I can't think of a leadership role where I would be uncomfortable with a female.
- I'd be fine having a female as my senior pastor.
- I see no problem with a wife/mom taking lead in "family devotions", nor do I see that as a failure of a husband/dad to fulfill his "Christian Role."
Thanks, Dan for asking me to play HORSE.
5 comments:
Loved reading the responses. Well done, Derry.
My experience -- having spent 18 years going to a Missionary Church at least three times a week, having gone to a Church of God college for four years, and having attended a Presbyterian Church now for four years -- is as follows (and I totally get it that individual mileage can vary on this sort of thing): I know next to nothing about theological and historic distinctives of the Missionary Church, know quite a bit about such issues in the Church of God, and knew more about Presbyterian theology and history in the first six months of attending my current church than I knew about either of the first two in multiple years.
I see this as a significant failing of my christian education growing up. Not because its the most important aspect of it, but because it provides a context and grounding for "why we are what we are," which is an incredible help when it comes to working through new information and challenges in a spiritual life. Even what you call the primary responsibility of your youth ministry is affected and influenced by your faith tradition/denomination. (I'd think it's particularly true in your case, when you've never been an active member of any other tradition.) I guess that seems important to me to acknowledge and attempt to pass along.
Finally, I was struck by the conclusion of your first paragraph to answer #3 (i.e., teaching fifth graders about the anabaptist tradition, having 10th graders read the constitution, etc.), which I didn't think sounded like hyperbole at all, but rather probably a good idea.
Oh, and just to be clear that it's not hyperbole for me to say "I know next to nothing" about MC theology and history, I literally haven't a clue as to what you're talking about in two of the four examples you give of what you do in your informal education of your youth (i.e., C.R.s 11 and 38; charismatic wack jobs). I understand what you're talking about with regard to the "re-baptism" only because of my experience with two denominations that do infant baptism. So, I understand it only from the opposite side of the fence. With regard to the war issues, it's one of the few Missionary points of view that was half-heartedly explained to me when growing up, but only because one of my youth pastors came directly from military service. A nuanced discussion of the waffling you discuss was totally out of the picture.
The only issue I felt somewhat informed about, because I thought it was so stupid that I asked about it pretty much incessantly, is the MC's refusal to have women as pastors.
As a result, I was really instructed only on two issues about which the I gather the MC itself is pretty schizophrenic.
The "the MC's refusal to have women as pastors" and anyone in the MC who defends such a position is, in fact, out of touch with the historical and theological distinctives of the MC. In fact, that some (i.e. our president) interpret our constitution as prohibiting women from serving as "senior pastor" except in a situation of crisis illustrates my point--we've forgotten who we are. (btw... even if the constitution says that, a generous interpretation of those words would open the door for unrestricted openness to women ministers. As one former interim pastor at Wakarusa has said, "Is someone unsaved? Then we have a crisis."
Rooted in the holiness movement, the influence of this theological stream on us (as a bunch of Mennonites who went Methodist) encouraged the credentialing of many, many, many women ministers. Alas, this legacy is sadly too often forgotten and lost on us who tend to care little about what happened last month, let alone a hundred years ago. One of the other things for which the founders of the MC got booted out of the Mennonite Church (in addition to preaching in English and encouraging personal conversion)was for allowing women to "testify" in church. We were on the cutting edge of many issues in our early history, and for the right reasons (because we took the Bible seriously, not simply because--as in many other denominations--we were influenced by the spirit of the age). Again, tragically, we have forgotten.
Anyhow, I too think we should teach fifth graders about the anabaptist tradition, and as an approach I would recommend reading and discussing stories from "The Martyr's Mirror." Those men and women are heroes, and they're OUR heritage--but I'd bet 90% of the people in MC pews on any given Sunday wouldn't know anything about them.
I had to read the constitution and position papers in membership class when I was a junior in high school. Not the most exciting reading--but I remember thinking, "man, all my best friends go to that church (Yellow Creek Mennonite) that Daniel Brenneman got booted out of."
I think I got a much better understanding of MC history and theology in college, and I'm still trying to make sense of a lot of it. We have a wonderully rich heritage and some incredible stories of faithfulness that we ought to tell often. I'm glad you're doing your part.
We have a great legacy, and we should celebrate it. Never underestimate the power of remembering--of looking backward at where we've come from--as a means of forming identity and making disciples of Christ.
Jamie and Robby, I invite you guys to play HORSE with Derry and me next time you're both around. And you can only talk about sports!
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