Youth & Spiritual Formation – Part 2
The conversation that has grown in the comment section of my last post “Spiritual Formation, Education & Youth” has been excellent. So much so, that I thought I would push in a little further. Before we do so, however, I want to clarify some things I was a little unclear on in the last post. While I used the level of education required in respect to the difference between pastors and youth/child ministers, I did so to reflect on the implicit value system/biases that the imbalance reveals.
I was not saying that youth pastors, for example, should be required the same level of education as pastors. In fact, I think there are people who are called and practicing a pastoral gifting with very little formal education, often doing it better than some seminary grads. Obviously, as a YWAMer, I deeply believe in the power of informal and non-formal spiritual formation and education. That being said, I believe that youth ministers should pursue (in whatever form) a great depth of theological and missional training.
From the comment section of the last post, it is clear that most of us believe that this imbalance is unhealthy and needs to be corrected. The question is this: How do we do this? I know that the issue is more complex than simply saying it is wrong and needs to be made right. There are good reasons for the differences, but I think we can agree those positive aspect do not need to be lost with the change we seek to make.
Therefore, the question I would like to discuss with you here is what this might look like. Both in the context of local church expressions and in our Christian education and so called “para-church” organizations, what might we do to systemically shift towards a more balanced and holistic approach? Be creative. Share ideas and/or things you’ve seen or tried. I think we have a lot to learn from each other.
