NYWC (ATL) Post Three

Mike King led a break out session that covered a lot of the same ground he covered in his book Presence Centered Youth Ministry on Saturday morning. Mike's calling to those in youth ministry (and to be honest Christians in general) is to take care of our souls and find ways and rhythms in which we connect to God and are fed. This is a much higher priority for the integrity of our ministry than any program or strategy no matter how "effective" they promise to be. So for a little over an hour we explored Christian disciplines that have been life-giving to the Church for thousands of years. There were no programmatic suggestions, or 7 highly-effective strategies to take home to our youth, just Mike's passion for youth workers to connect with God and to do so in a way that is true to themselves.

This means opening our eyes to the deep well of Christian spirituality. For so long we have been told that Christian spirituality was about 15minute quiet times and praying through a list of wants and needs. Mike explored with us different ways of reading scripture, especially meditatively, through practices like lectio divina or imaginative reading (visualizing the text as a world you can step into and explore). I am especially excited about the contemplative spirit Mike and his team at YouthFront have brought to camp ministry.

Labels: Discipleship, Youth Ministry