Immerse | A Journal of Faith, Life, and Youth Ministry

Making room

by Lars Rood, D.Min. on August 12th, 2011 -- filed under

As a part of the Immerse Advisory board I have had the great pleasure this year of being engaged in some amazing conversations about youth ministry, which have proved to be challenging for my own growth as a youth worker.  Tony Jones wrote a great article a few issues back about the difference between “Systematic” and “Practical” theology.  His main point was that you couldn’t separate the two because they are deeply intertwined and reliant upon each other.  Personally, I fall into the “practical” camp in seemingly every area of my life but I am fortunate to have people who live in the “Systematic” realm surround me.

As an older long time youth worker I have the vantage point to recognize a new trend in the Youth Ministry world that I’m very excited about.  There seems to be a shift happening and more space is being created in youth ministries for young theologians.  I am incredibly lucky at my church to have a number of people like this who work with me.  Yesterday one of our amazing young youth staff gave me an outline for a talk series we are doing on our Houseboat trip this summer. It was well thought out, deeply theological, practical and inspiring.  I looked at it and realized that he was fulfilling a needed role in our youth ministry.  It was a moment of pride for his achievements and perhaps a moment of wounded pride for myself.  For what he was doing was not something that I naturally excelled in.  If we’re honest we have to admit that the act of creating space for these young, theologically based youth workers to learn and to grow will sometimes mean that we as veterans will be faced with our own limitations.  That can hurt.  But I believe that continually admitting we don’t have to be experts in all areas is the first great step towards true community and growth in the youth ministry world.

When I started out in this career of youth ministry I was lucky to have a couple people older than me who showed me the ropes and gave me the reigns.  It’s my hope that I have and continue to become that for others.  As a part of the Immerse Advisory Board and in a few other areas of youth ministry leadership that I am involved in I feel very convicted to “give away” as much leadership, platforms and pages to this younger generation of youth workers and give them space to have their voice.

My hope is that Immerse Journal can continue to be a place generous enough to foster inspiring and inter-generational theological reflection for years to come.

By the way the picture used is of “the sorcers apprentice” from Disney’s Fantasia and it came from http://www.flickr.com/photos/dawnzy/3489425421/sizes/m/in/photostream/.  Not that we think that our buddy Lars is a sorcer…but he does often put on a hat and wave his arms around to direct his youth staff.