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Refined In Financial Fires – Youth Ministry in Hard Times
By Dr. Cheryl Fawcett
Times are rough. This is the worst downturn since the Great Depression. People are hurting. People have lost their jobs, their homes, their RV, their boat, and some have had to sell their summer home. I don’t know what I am going to do. The newspapers, evening news, news magazines, and internet cites all remind us of current challenges. The talk has been depressing. Something odd though, has been going on in my quiet musings. As our negative financial outlook persists, a thought continues to stew around in my mind. Could God be up to something good for His North American followers? Is it possible that He has not been caught by surprise regarding our money woes? Could He actually be orchestrating all of this suffering for our good and the good of His Kingdom as well?
As the children of Israel stood poised on the banks of the flood driven Jordan River, Moses reminded them of a very important concern. This motley crew of homeless wanderers was standing on the brink of inheriting the long awaited land of God’s promise. Within their sight was the land of milk, (evidence of cows grazing) and honey (the evidence of flowers and bees). Their new place of residence would contain unlimited blessings and Moses was concerned that in their plenty they might forget God who had made it all possible. In Deuteronomy 6: 10 -12 Moses reminds them “When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you--a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant--then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
I wonder if maybe during this current economic downturn God might be trying to get our attention? For over 80 years, America has been prospering. Each generation has had more than the one before. Yet each generation desires still more and is never satisfied with the status quo – which really means the mess we are in currently. We are a nation of workaholics addicted to our money and the perks money provides. As this has been happening, we have become a nation of weak, damaged souls. We measure our worth based on the assets we have in our bank accounts. We determine the value of individuals based on their home, their car, or their designer clothing. Our heroes are individuals who play cut throat “reality games” to win a million dollars. We have come to adore those that out play, out last, out maneuver the other contestants. When it comes to finding the companion for your life, our culture designs a game show with twenty beautiful men or women throwing themselves at one individual. And even then the bottom line we seem to be communicating to our youth is that it doesn’t matter what you do, just get what you think you deserve no matter what it takes.
So now, times are tough. We can’t have everything we have become accustomed to having. We might have to do with less. We might have to determine another way to get the same thing accomplished without just throwing more money at the problem. Our youth budget was small to begin with and now we are being asked to tighten our proverbial belt? How in the world can that happen? What good could possibly come out of this new reduction in budget? How could the youth pastor live on less than four Starbucks a week – he is already fasting one day a week to support a needy child in Africa. How can things get any worse? How will we raise the money we need for our $4000 a person missions trip this summer to remote regions of China? Do the deacons feel our pain?
Allow a personal anecdote in response. “Don’t pray for easy lives, pray to be strong people” The magnet on my refrigerator calls me in tough times to a clearer perspective. The tough times seem to provide opportunity for me to be purified. For over half of my life, the Lord has allowed health struggles to be part of my daily existence. At age 25, an auto collision in Chicago land crushed several sets of facets in my lower lumbar region of my back. Following an eighteen-month journey to find a diagnosis, my orthopedic surgeon determined that only through spinal fusion might I possibly get some relief. The surgery was risky and I knew that I could possibly be paralyzed for the remainder of my days. I couldn’t continue on the way things were, the pain was debilitating and I had toughed it out as long as I could possibly could. So we went ahead with fusion. In 1980, spinal fusion required nine months of recovery most of which was spent lying flat on your back, looking at the ceiling.Talk about time to think, time to reflect; time to do some soul searching. I had plenty of time for that. One Sunday morning after listening to my church’s morning service via telephone from the family’s home where I was living with during recovery, I decided to go for a walk. I intensely missed being involved as Director of Christian Education. I missed the youth in my group. I even missed those hard to teach public school kids that came to my Release Time Bible class at church every Thursday. I missed time with our growing collegiate group. At that time, I measured my worth based on my productivity not on the depth of my soul. As I walked that early Sunday afternoon, the hymn “I Surrender All” came to mind. I began humming it, and then progressed to singing out loud as I walked along a country road. When I reached the chorus, I chocked to get the words out. I wasn’t really ready to surrender ALL. I had given my life to the Lord in salvation. I had given Him my dreams and future. I thought I had given Him ALL but the struggle in my soul informed me that I had not yet given Him ALL. My tears that day were at first painful, then calming, and finally peace producing. Without that very hard time in my life I would never have known that kind of peace.
Deb and Dee Jackson, sisters and duet singers, wrote and sang a song not long after their college graduation from Cedarville College describing a tough time in their lives. In part the song says, “I’ve been through a fire that has deepened my desire, to know the living God more and more. It hasn’t been much fun but the work that it has done in my life has been worth all the hurt.” I have a hard time singing that song without tears for it is not just a song to me; those words summarize God’s deep work in my life.
So back to the financial crisis at hand in youth ministry, what are we to do? How can we be creative? We are being asked to do the impossible! Allow me to conclude with a series of questions about how to be creative in youth ministry in tough times. Could God be using our economic downturn to purify the way we do ministry? Could our expensive gimmicks be standing in the way of really connecting with hurting students? Could we teach the Bible more effectively without power point presentations and data projectors? Could we spend more time one-on-one, nose-to-nose time with students in vulnerable genuine conversations about life and godliness? Could we have less high tech and more high touch times with our volunteer staff? Could we spend more time praying in earnest for the needs of our students? Could we cry out to the God of creation about how to be more creative like He is all? Could this economic depression be an incredible blessing disguised as a terrible problem? Could you and I learn to love youth, their parents, and our volunteers with fewer gadgets in the way? Could this be a time for families to invest time rather than dollars in their youth? Could God be trying to get our attention so that we don’t forget Him? Have we forgotten God in the good times? Is He trying to regain our affection?
Note: This article is scheduled to appear in the Vision For Youth Magazine Spring 2009 edition.
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