The church needs to grow UP

PC(USA) has a new curriculum out called "Deep and Wide" that focuses on four main areas (Evangelism, Discipleship, Servanthood, and Diversity) that the church can and needs to explore more in a variety of ways. Rev. Emily Odom has been leading a discussion about Deep and Wide at my church over the last few weeks and today we focused on the idea of servanthood, very convenient since that is basically the focus of my call. I found it very interesting that we spent just a few minutes talking about all of the things that Starmount is doing in the way of service (The Lost Boys, a community garden, GIHN, Mexico Missions, missions at home... the list goes on for a while), but we spent almost 45 minutes talking about how to get youth involved in service (even more the focus of my call).

I find it very interesting how seven people can sit around a table and talk about how important it is for youth to be involved in the church and service, but as much as I love my church, it will take a long while for most of what we were saying to happen. This isn't anything against my church, it just seems to be a trend I am seeing lately in all churches- they like to sit around and plan to plan to plan to plan... but never IMPLEMENT. Problem #1 with a very simple solution.

I told the group about an incident at Summer in the City this past year when I was cutting packs of toilet paper in half at a food pantry here in Raleigh. I remember standing there with two eighth grade girls and asking them a question I asked every year, "Why are you here when you could be home sitting by the pool or playing video games? Why did you pay money to work when I am sure your parents have plenty of work you can do at home?". As always, their answer almost brought me to tears when one of the girls responded "Because I have so much, and they have so little". WOW. Here is the thing though- these kids DON'T KNOW that this is the case until they SEE it! We can tell them all we want, but it means nothing until it becomes reality (and this aint The Hills reality...). The hardest part of making this a reality for them is that parents and other adults in the church think the kids won't want to work. NEWSFLASH: the kids at my church have REQUESTED to do more service... the kids at Summer in the City REQUESTED that we knock out a day at the lake so they could do more service. Sure, initially they may say no because of the unfamiliarity of the situation, not to mention the fact that the "cool kids" aren't doing it. That is the point when the adults need to take initiative and make it happen- just like getting into cold water, you aren't going to slowly get in- you are going to JUMP IN.

So here is what I mean by the church needing to grow UP-

We need to put more focus on helping the youth serve and here is how it works for the church:
1) Youth want to serve, so we find somewhere for them to serve
2) Parents chaperon on said service project
3) Parents go back to their circle, Sunday school class, friends, etc. and tell them about the trip
4) HOPEFULLY they get excited and chaperon the next one and spread the word again, all while the kids are bringing their friends
5) The excitement of service moves UP through generations!!

It isn't terribly exciting for the youth to see "old people" serving- that is "just what they do" as far as all the kids are concerned, but when "old people" see the kids excited about serving it can renew a spark in them and get them involved as well.

I SAW this happen first hand when I directed Summer in the City and know that it can happen at any church if we just stop planning and actually IMPLEMENT. The youth are the future of our church and unless we start getting them involved in stuff they are REQUESTING and need spiritually, we won't have much of a future.