"The Real America"

What I tell people from time to time is that I'm a city boy that grew up and moved to the suburbs, yet all along has played in the woods (rural). That is true.

So what does this have to do with ministry, leadership, and even Royal Rangers? Everything! And this isn't the first time I've spoken on this topic. The real America is its cities, town, suburbs, and rural areas, all of it. Each needs each other. And the beauty of America is that you can pick which part you call your home and your community.

So the latest political bashing has to do with labelling the small town and rural areas as the real America. I know plenty of people who live in rural areas that will somewhat agree with that sentiment. If anything, statically and historically rural areas have a more conservitive base of people with a more long term base of traditions and practices. What I just stated should be obvious about rural people in rual areas.

Then there are the more liberal and somewhat progressive people in the metropolitan (city) areas of the country. They are getting tagged in this political stereotype as not being "the real America". Of course you have dense populations in these metro areas, commerse centers, a mix of racial demographics with a large cluster of minorities, etc, etc. Put a bunch of people together, especially from a broad range of cultures, you tend to be more progressive, left leaning, and democratic-socialist left leaning. (Key word "tend").

Then there are the suburbs, part city, part rural, almost the best of both worlds. They are less densely populated that metropolitan areas, actually a part of the lifeblood of the city. Of course there tends to be a good mix of conservative and liberal points of view. It is likely you can own overpriced property, enough to use a small John Deer riding mover/tractor. People here love it because you are close enough, yet far enough away from everything. You can drive 20-30 miels and go on a farm hay ride, while the same distance the other way and take reservations at your favorite restaurants in the city.

Humor time...

I love taking city slickers camping, especially those from Philly and DC! I tend to become Indian Jones or Mick Dundee to them. It is extremely entertaining seeing city slickers setup tents, use camp equipment and do all that rookie camping stuff, like smores. I can get away with such fun being a city slicker myself, yet I was born camping, canoeing, hiking, biking, backpacking... But endless fun exposing city people to the wild. In the end most love it and live to do the weekend warrior thing.

What is more fun than taking city folk to the wild country is taking country folk to the city, especially big metropolitan areas. Hicks are scared of big cities, even just cities in general. I know many people from the hick lands of PA and when I mention that I am from the Philly suburbs, then tend to hear Philly and not suburbs, then make some point about crime in Philly.
Too fun zipping around the city with those hicks! I blend in well, even in NYC, where I get asked for direstions, even by people who live in Mnahatten. Imagine a hick... They stick out like a sore thumb!

PA Population Stuff...

In Pennsylvania (PA) there are 12.4 million people, where in the USA there are 300 million. 1.5 million (12.9%) of the population of PA lives in the city of Philadelphia. 0.3 million (2.4%) of the population of PA live in Pittsbrugh. And you figure there might be 2-3 other cities in PA that have populations around 100,000. So that around 18% of people live in sizable cities in PA.

How many cities then are between 25k-99k in PA, like New Castle, PA, the city I grew up in? Or the boroughs, like Phoenixville, which I live just outside? I'm not sure if those stats are included at this census link, but you can figure it is another 10-20% of PA's population.

So of that 18% of people that live in cities with populations of 100k or more in PA, then what about the suburban populations that circle these cities? You can maybe equal or double those numbers. So if you include Philly and its PA suburbs (there are suburbs in Del & Jersey, which don't count), you have an easy 3-3.5 million people, which is 25-33% of the state's population. So if that huge chunk of PA's population isn't "real America", then something is off.

Obviously I need more hard population stats when it comes to the population distribution of PA. Sure most of the land mass of PA is rural. But most of the people in PA live in or near Philly, Pittsburgh, Harrisburgh/Lancaster/York, Allentown/Bethlehem, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. They count as PA citizens and real Americans as much as anyone else does.

NYC has 8 million poeple. Philly has 1.5. You figure Boston, Jersey, Balitmore, and DC, have similuar population. Then match that with the other coast lines and merto spot throughout the country. A large percentage of America's live in these metro/suburban areas. I'd conclude that they are "real America", just not the "real stereotype" that certain political people are trying to appeal to.

So on the minstry side of things...

I've noticed that in the A/G and in Royal Rangers, it is hard to get churches and Royal Ranger outposts going and maintained in these population centers. You'd think that there would be a concentrated effort at least in Royal Rangers to develop outpost in and around Philly. My outpost is too the far far west of the Philly suburbs and the nearest outpost that is alive is a good 45 mintue drive away.

SCE section is the biggest in the Penn-Del District as it comes to Royal Rangers. They are mostly rural, with city spots spread out fairly evenly. That's good for them. But East Central and South East sections need to be the largest, since they are in the largest population centers.

Can someone try to sell me that Royal Rangers isn't relevant in the city? I say hogwash, since I grew up in a city. Being a ghetto kid, the outdoors appealed to me and my friends a lot! Of course my church was outside the city and we had woods to play in. So I agree it is hard to do outdoors stuf in the city, but still doesn't stop Royal Rangers as a whole from happening. Most age groups spend a great deal of time in the church classrooms anyways.

Much more to say about all of this. In close, let's not excluse parts of America that are just as much part of America as the rest! And lets not be so dumb to include and exclude in the church world to. I think Jesus said go into all the world. So let's do that!

Labels: ministry, people, population, reflections

Why so panic?

Received an email today filled with words of panic, emergency, and other such urgency stuff. It disturbed me greatly, that there was such panic. I could have laughed and said "I told you so", yet instead I acted otherwise.

But first, a disclaimer...

This post might be a bot more religious-politically sensitive, yet I'll dab once again with stuff that has the potential to be very controversial. I do realize this rant can come back to bite me later. Yet hopefully for those who really know how to read, they will get the point I am trying to make, rather than seeing this as an attempt to bash people. I'm all for cooperation and unity within the church and usually anything that seems like a counter attempt is nothing more then a bunch of "weeding and yard work".

The Essence of the Email

The email was from my district DYD & assistant superint. I'd like to post the whole email here, yet won't. I'll be glad to forward it to whoever wants to read it, since it is a broadcasted email anyways.

In short, there was an explanation on how we are losing our teens after they graduate high school and go off to college. There was some explanation on how Penn State is the #3 party school, also the largest college on earth btw. And there was mention of an evangelistic campaign to connect them with Chi Alpha and other related evangelistic ministries. Seem to be use of tone of secular vs Christian colleges, which is a tangent I could go on, yet won't bother touching.

So the way I take it is that we have yet another case of people using computers, cars, or even ministry that just can't handle using any of those... And thus my rant on the ministry to young adults.

In my opinion the WW2 gen, Baby Boomers, and the older gen-X just drop the ball for the most part when it comes to ministry to either this particular age group and/or to the newer generations. Sure it is fun, family friendly, and all to minister to kids, even teens. Yet I'll argue that these adults from the past 20-30 years have done a poor job doing "complete ministry" to our children and youth, thus the so-called crisis that this disturbing email flashes in my face.

What really went wrong, if anything has gone wrong?

I will strongly argue to simultaneous and sorta opposing things: (1) nothing is wrong with our young adults; (2) our overall evangelical approach with kids-youth into young adults is for the most part way off.

Young Adults - You don't get it, do you?

How many young adults have come from a family home (or many dysfunctional representations of that) and finally reached the point where they venture off into adulthood, whether that be college, trade school, work force, or whatever. At a point shortly after finishing high school they gain freedom. And once they are on there own, to whatever degree that is, they start rediscovering the world, most likely discovering it their way. That means that they are no longer bound to their family's traditions, religion, politics, worldview.

Yes, that's the risky joy of entering into young adulthood!

So in this rediscovery of the world, they will encounter everything (or everything again), especially all those things that too many have sheltered and protected them from. I could list all the scary stuff they will be exposed to (likely again) like alcohol, sex, drugs, etc. They also will be exposed to other stuff like personal finances, work, school, relationships, etc. It all isn't negative, though it seems like it.

Now here is my question to all in ministry: How well have you equipped these youth to become young adults?

I'd say if the whole village of the church raised a child right to become a teen, then ultimately into a young adult, then we can rest assure that they will be grounded in God and God will be there with them when life does what life does to all adults.

For 12 year now as a young adult, now becoming just an adult, I have ministered to kids and teens, as well as to young adults from time to time. My focus has been on discipleship, less on focused attempts at soul winning. That has paid off for the most part, where I now see young men & women of God who once were kids/teens, now young adults. And for the most part, they turned out fine, after re-discovering the world as young adults. Sure, there have been stories that have broken my heart. Yet not once do I regret getting myself dirty in the trenches with any of them.

Why patch work and forcing the same old ineffectiveness won't work with young adults?

For one thing, they no longer need to be told what to do. And if you tell them what to do, they will laugh in your face. (I know I have throughout my 20's).

For one thing, young adult either are seeking out their future or have found it and are seeking out the means to reach that future. Some are focused on way more than they have the capacity to focus on, thus the classic young adult phrase, "I am busy". Seems like when young adults are not "busy", they are bored. And whether bored or busy, they want to explore the world they are surrounded by. Some of that exploration scares older adults, since they themselves either have been there themselves or they have seen it firsthand as an outsider.

We all need to relax.

Ministry to young adults: you don't get it!

First off, let me get something off my mind. Most churches don't do crap for the young adults. And when you do, it is lame stuff I try to avoid, like singles and young adults groups. To me, a lot of those groups seem like dating services. (4 years at a Christian bridal college is enough of that non-sense to me). Very very few churches do something for young adults that is real to young adults. And most of those ministries tend to be with progressive A/G churches or related independent churches that work outside the box.

Forget about boxes, do something real with young adults. Don't put a leash on them. If you want to minister to young adults, start with their needs, since ministry always starts with their needs. And young adults are the neediest of all age groups, minus infants + new borns.

Meeting the needs of young adults is hard. Yet it takes a very real and personal approach. I won't list all the needs and methodologies, and such here + now.

Mistakes of Children's & Youth Ministries

There is an IT term that goes "garbage in, garbage out". I've witnessed for 21 years of my 29 year life a foolish evangelical ministry technique of using entertainment as a tool evangelize.

To me, "entertainment evangelism" is like freezing a thin surface of a lake, then sending people out on the ice. Eventually that ice is going to crack, until there is more thickness or substance to the ice on that lake. In other words, "entertainment evangelism" should be used very sparingly and we need to go full circle with all individuals. This means that there needs to be more of a discipleship effort, probably 4-10 times that of what we do in soul winning. (You'll find that "soul winning" will work better when there are more discipled people out there).

Royal Rangers has worked well, since it provides an opportunity to develop a boy full circle into a man of God. Of course, Royal Rangers alone can't do all the work in a boy's life, where I fully push for boys to be involved in the church as a whole. The church as a whole is that village that raises a child. And what joy is it for a functional church village to send off their young adults into the world and have peace that they will continue to live and serve God.

If you have doubts that such efforts are possible, I say you stop by my church and see the young men I've worked with since they were boys.

So in closing...

I am not knocking the effort the district is putting out to reach out to young adults in colleges, trying to connect them to churches and groups like Chi Alpha. We need to be providing open doors like that. So kudos. Yet what alarms me is that I am seeing patch work being done, because for the most part ministry hasn't come full circle with our children and teens who are now young adults. Many of us are to blame for such shallow faith in their lives.

I saw many of us in ministry need to rethink everything with ministry to our children and youth. How about we have more patience in ministry and work for the long term, rather than more immediate shallow results? How about we care about each person and do the discipleship thing? How about we truly teach them in the godly ways of living life so that on their own they make a choice on their own to serve God. How about we prepare our sons and daughters for real life, instead of over-sheltering them from what's out there? How about we stop the imbalance of "feel-goods" in our congregations and balance out our church villages? I think these wagons of micro techniques will truly minister to our young adults, even before they step outside our homes to head off for dorm life.

And having said all that, with much more to say, I'll end with, "We are Penn State!" I know, I went to VFCC, yet still, I am big time Penn State fan! Hopefully one day I'll go to grad school there. Who knows?

Labels: evangelism, ministry, people, strategy