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Adoptive Youth Ministry:
Integrating Emerging
Generations into the
Family of Faith
Chap Clark
Professor of Youth, Family and Culture
Fuller Seminary
A few preliminary
thoughts…
Some believe we need a
new way of thinking…
3 intersecting crises in YM:
1. We’re losing kids (Sticky Faith)
2. Rise of the “Nones”
3. Kids are Hurt (2.0)
It is the trajectory we’ve
all been on for years…
I. The History and Trajectory of Youth Ministry
Where it all started
I. The History and Trajectory of Youth Ministry
Adults and kids
What’s changed?
An erosion of the
necessary Social
Capital from those
who are vital in the
lives of our kids
II. Why ADOPTIVE?
“Let the little children
come to me…”
Mark 10:13-16
II. Why ADOPTIVE?
A. Where are kids?
Today it
starts
young…
What we learned through Sticky
Faith research:
Significance of parents
“Liked” worship
Didn’t know Gospel
They were allowed to
express doubt
• Believed someone cared
usually outside of youth
ministry
•
•
•
•
The Background Behind STICKY FAITH
Individuation:
Individuation
and the
The process
of Adolescence
becoming a
Three
Tasks of
unique person
• Identity – Who am I?
• Autonomy – POWER
Do I matter?
• Belonging – Does anybody care?
Changing Stages
Independent
12
14-15
2000-Today
mid
19-21
mid-20s
early-30s?
Dependent
Emerging
Adulthood
J. J. Arnett
Sorta
Interdependent
Independent
Youth Ministry
2000-Today
mid
12
14-15
19-21
MS
ministry
Dependent
HS
ministry
mid-20s
early-30s?
Loss of
social
capital
Sorta
Independent
How kids have responded to ABANDONMENT
More freedoms, more danger
Why Adoptive YM?
Longings of kids:
1. Longing to be nurtured (Hurt)
2. Longing to be empowered (Nones)
3. Longing to be included (Gones)
Why “Adoptive”?
A. Where are kids?
B. Assimilation
The GOAL of Youth Ministry
To catechize:
- Convince (convert?)
- Inform (teach)
- (maybe) Acculturate
The Church’s Ministry to
Families
The fragmentation
of
the
church
F.M.
L.D.
Y.M.
Church
W.M.
C.M.
W.M.
M.M.
Why “Adoptive”?
A. Where are kids?
B. Assimilation?
C. Theology of our life
together
D. We’re one “family”
Why Adoptive YM?
1. The inadequacy of assimilation
2. Prominent Biblical metaphor: Family
“In Christ”: right to become a child
3. When church in disarray: Adopted
•
•
•
Romans 8:15-16, 23-24a; 9:3-4
Galatians 4:4-7
Ephesians 1:4-6
II. Why ADOPTIVE?
“ToADOPTIVE
those who believed
in his name…”
MINISTRY:
“He gave the right to
become children of God…”
John 1:12
What kids need
need:from youth ministry:
To live into their Adoption in Christ
12
14-15
19-21
mid-20s
Social Capital (5:1)
III. The Theological Framework
for Adoptive Ministry
The Biblical GOAL
of Youth Ministry
Adoptive (Youth) Ministry
To encourage students to live
into their mutual adoption as
siblings in God’s family as
agents of the kingdom
The Church must become a
“family of families”
"The church of the first century were called to leave
their earthly familial allegiances and to bond to one
another as the new family of God. The revolutionary
impact of the first-century church was their love for
one another as Christ had commanded them. The
need for the church in the twentieth century is to
respond as they responded. We are the church and
we are family. Let us get on with our business."
Dennis Guernsey
New Design for Family Ministry, 112.
Youth Ministry as Ecclesiology
“also members of his household…”
1. We proactively nurture kids
2. We proactively empower and
give voice to kids
3. We proactively include kids
The Biblical GOAL
of Youth Ministry
Growing Young
Prime character: WARM
Why Adoptive YM?
A STICKY church:
1 Thessalonians 2
“Like a mother…gentle”
1 Thess 2:7-8
“Like a father…encouraging,
comforting and a fan!”
1 Thess 2:11-12
The Biblical GOAL
of Youth Ministry
What does adoptive
ministry look like?
“VICTOR BECOMES A BRAVERMAN” CLIP FROM YOUTUBE
III. The Theological Framework
for Adoptive Ministry
What adoptive youth ministry is NOT:
1. “Adopting” the young
2. Maintaining traditional separation
and generational hierarchy
3. Ignoring the need for unique
relational strategy and nurture
III. The Theological Framework
for Adoptive Ministry
What adoptive youth ministry IS:
1. Living into our MUTUAL adoption
in Christ
2. Adults intentionalizing voice,
empowerment and inclusion
3. Leadership ROLES are vital while affirming
equal status for all
The Theological Framework for
Adoptive Ministry
A. Adoption recognizes in
every church/organization
we have insiders and
outsiders
The Theological Framework for
Adoptive Ministry
A. Outsiders and Insiders
B. I am adopted into
God’s family as a child
with other children
The Theological Framework for
Adoptive Ministry
A. Outsiders and Insiders
B. We are siblings
C. Jesus has his eye
especially on the
vulnerable
The Theological Framework for
Adoptive Ministry
A. Outsiders and Insiders
B. We are siblings
C. Jesus watches the
vulnerable
D. Adoption is for all
Youth Ministry as Ecclesiology
A Practical Theology of
Integration and Adoption
1. Biblically, leaders are called to:
- Maintain the continuity of the Gospel
- Ensure that the body is empowered
2. All are siblings (John 1:12)
3. The vulnerable must know that they matter in the
“family of God” (adults called to initiate)
IV. Application:
MICRO (What do I do?):
•
•
•
•
Our own attitudes
Modeling
With leaders, parents, church
With kids
IV. Application:
MACRO (What does Church do):
• Sr./key leadership buy-in
• Pervasive rhetoric
• Narrative highlighting when
and where adoptive life is
present
Adoptive Youth Ministry:
Integrating Emerging
Generations into the
Family of Faith
Chap Clark
Professor of Youth, Family and Culture
Fuller Seminary