Youth ministry in an e world

Youth Ministry in an

Ministry in an

The Theology

The Living God who speaks

The Living God who speaks

"And God said…”

Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24, 26

The living God’s living images“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Genesis 1:26

The living God’s living images“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”

Exodus 20:4

The communicating God: Word

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

John 1:1, 14

The communicating God: Image

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

Colossians 1:15

The communicating God: Multimedia

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…”

Hebrews 1:1-2

The communicating GodAccommodation

The multimedia GodIncarnation

The subverting GodCruciform

The subverting God“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:Who, being in very nature God,did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;”

The subverting God“rather, he made himself nothingby taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness.And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himselfby becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”

Philippians 2

The subverting God“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible… I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

1 Corinthians 9:19, 22

The subverting God“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

1 Corinthians 1:18

The subverting God“When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

The subverting God“I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.”

1 Corinthians 2:3-4

Speaking like GodAccommodating the audience (minding the gap)

Speaking like God“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us…”

Speaking like God“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.”

Speaking like God“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”

1 Cor 2:12-14

Speaking like GodAccommodating the audience (minding the gap)

Speaking for GodIncarnate, cross-shaped, image bearers accommodating others and proclaiming Jesus

Speaking for God“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts...”

Speaking for God“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:2-3, 18

Speaking for GodMay I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world… From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

Galatians 6

Ministry in an

The Reality

1980Digital Natives

People going online more than once a day, by age

Teenage use of online channels during December 2013

8 HoursOnline. Everyday.

10 Hours

Factoring in multi-tasking.

Mythbusting

“Media aren’t just channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.”

Nicholas Carr, The Shallows

Neuroplasticity, media ecology, and idolatry

No ‘neutral’ mediums

Neutral mediums?

“We shape our tools, thereafter they shape us.”

John Culkin


“Our conventional response to all media, namely that it is how they are used that counts, is the numb stance of the technological idiot.”

Marshall McLuhan


Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

Psalm 115:8

Mythbusting“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12:2

Ministry in an

The Theory

The Task“Discerning what characterizes the socially constructed worlds people around us inhabit places us in a better position to address the generation God calls us to serve.”

The Task“Doing so, however, necessitates that we conceptualize and articulate Christian beliefs—the gospel—in a manner that contemporary people can understand.”

The Task“That is, we must express the gospel through the “language” of the culture—through the cognitive tools, concepts, images, symbols, and thought forms—by means of which people today discover meaning, construct the world they inhabit, and form personal identity.

Grenz & Franke, cited in TheoMedia

Know the mediums

“The medium is the message”

Marshall McLuhan

Know the mediums“In Jesus Christ, there is no distance or separation between the medium and the message: it is the one case where we can say that the medium and the message are fully one and the same.”

Marshall McLuhan

Know the mediumsWhen we go online, we, too, are following scripts written by others—algorithmic instructions that few of us would be able to understand even if the hidden codes were revealed to us. When we search for information through Google or other search engines, we’re following a script.

Nicholas Carr, The Shallows

Know the mediums“What are the rules of the medium and what are the underlying messages and patterns that emerge from those rules?“

John Dyer, From the Garden To The City

FACEBOOK“That being said, if you don't have Facebook, that’s even more weird and annoying.”

A Teenager’s View on Social MediaAndrew Watts

FACEBOOK“Facebook is often used by us mainly for its group functionality. I know plenty of classmates who only go on Facebook to check the groups they are part of and then quickly log off… groups do not have the same complicated algorithms behind them that the Newsfeed does.”


FACEBOOK“Facebook is often the jumping-off point for many people to try to find you online, simply because everyone around us has it. If I met you one time at some party, I’m not going to try to check Twitter or Instagram to find out who you are.”


INSTAGRAM“Everything about the application makes it less commercialized and more focused on the content, meaning more teens are inclined to visit it. When we do visit the application it is a much more pleasant experience so we are more inclined to Like and interact with the posts more.”


INSTAGRAM“Instagram is by far the most used social media outlet for my age group.”


TWITTER“Twitter is a place to follow/be followed by a bunch of random strangers, yet still have your identity be attached to it.”


TUMBLR“Tumblr is where you are your true self and surround yourself (through who you follow) with people who have similar interests. It’s often seen as a “judgment-free zone” where, due to the lack of identity on the site, you can really be who you want to be.”


TUMBLR“Plus, it’s simple in Tumblr to just change your URL if anyone finds you. Your name isn't attached to that profile at all so without that URL it is pretty difficult to find you again, especially for the typical parent snooping around.”


SNAPCHAT“Snapchat is where we can really be ourselves while being attached to our social identity. Without the constant social pressure of a follower count or Facebook friends, I am not constantly having these random people shoved in front of me. Instead, Snapchat is a somewhat intimate network of friends who I don't care if they see me at a party having fun.”


SNAPCHAT“Snapchat has a lot less social pressure attached to it compared to every other popular social media network out there. This is what makes it so addicting and liberating. If I don’t get any likes on my Instagram photo or Facebook post within 15 minutes you can sure bet I'll delete it. Snapchat isn't like that at all... It’s the real you.”


Know the myths

Know the costs

If it’s free you’re the product, not the customer

If it’s free you’re the product, not the customer

Pick your platforms

Own your platform?

Ministry in an

The Practice

Logos alone?

Remember there are no non-verbal cues in typed text.

Remember there are no non-verbal cues in typed text.

Even with emoticons.

Subvert self-seeking myths by deliberate “decreasing”

“He must become greater; I must become less.”

John 3:30

Value presence (over absence)

“I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.”

2 John 1:12

But absent presence is valuable

The perils of clicktivismMatthew 6

The perils of clicktivism“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others.”

The perils of clicktivism“Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:1-4

All things to all people to win some…

Who is it for?

It’s public

Remember the ‘media’ in social media

It’s public

And permanent…

It’s media

Pick your audience.

It’s media

Pick your message.

It’s media

Stay on message

It’s Social

Put the ‘social’ into social media

New Media = everyone is an editor

Curate and create.

CREATE

SOCIAL & MEDIA

CREATE

PHOTOS & STORIES

CREATE

USER GENERATED

CURATE

SHARE & TAG.

CURATE

#EVERYTHINGFORJESUS

Be generous

Pursue costly relationships

Be generousThe medium communicates the value of the message. Up the cost.

Write with clarity, read with charity

Take it offline

FIND THE HAPPY MEDIUM

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SHIRLEY AND ABED

Ministry in an

Good Books

Spiritual

Youth ministry in an e world