Is shacking-up the next step you should encourage for your young adults?

I grew up in and worked for the church in Australia with the oldest average demographic.

It wasn’t uncommon that I was the eldest of “the youth”, with the next oldest above me at least a decade older. Sometimes significantly more.

But, I was in churches where young adults grew to become members of the church - thus my 100+ posts on the topic.

Usually, the young adults I’ve w irked with have had three destinations. Get married. Move away, usually fuelled by financial pressures or job opportunities. Leave their home church in order to connect with more people of their own age, particularly if they have no romantic prospects at their current church. Or, unfortunately, fall away.

But, for those who stick around, what should a church recommend that they do post-young adult?

Should a church hope that those who are unwed move in together?

Frankly, I think, this is a wiser option than living alone.

Financially, it makes sense. Especially living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, as I do.

Spiritually, I’d hope that living with other believers is a beneficial decision.

But, can a church nudge their unattached young adults of the same gender together? Should they?

Unless the process happens organically, I suspect the whole process could get very messy.

The last thing that you want is for your church to become unsettled because of cliques which form or stresses from home bleeding into church.

But, if your young adults are looking fir a good way to step away from the nest, doing it with fellow believers is definitely something that the church should encourage.

Should you pray for the Holy Spirit to transform a disruptive student?

I’m currently working at a really good school. The staff great. My faculty is incredible. The students, in the main, are good to teach.

But, it is not a school connected with a faith system.

And I’m perfectly okay with that.

I wonder about my colleagues who work in Christian schools, especially when it comes to… unruly students.

While I have no doubt that they use many - if not all - the same disciplinary procedures that my current school instigates, what role does faith play?

Does the school expect better behaviour due to its spiritual context?

Do they expect better behaviour if a student has expressed a faith?

For a student who has expressed a faith, can you bring this up with a disruptive student?

What role does prayer and the Holy Spirit play in the behaviour in the classroom?

Do teachers pray for troublesome students? 

Is this an occurrence which happens before difficult classes?

Could you ask for prayer from your colleagues or head teacher?

Do you pray for the Holy Spirit to work in the live of “that” kid?

A fortnight of the alone lifestyle

Currently, my wife is in Europe until the end of the month. Aside from next weekend when I’ll have my girls, I’m living alone. 

Just me and the cat.

For the first time ever I’m living without another human.

In 40+ years.

My living arrangements of the past four decades have gone… living at home with my parents, to living with my first wife, back with my mum and now living with my current wife.

The next fortnight will be, in my memory, the longest that I’ll be living solo.

And, I’m aware that it comes with dangers.

If I sleep in, then no one will wake me.

If I choose to eat corn chips for dinner, no one can stop me.

If I decide to binge Netflix until the wee hours of the morning, there will be no dissenting voices.

I can watch porn.

I can stay in bed all weekend.

I can postpone the washing.

I can do… almost anything.

And no one will stop me.

At the moment, it’s just me. 

And the cat. 

And my conscience.

And the Holy Spirit.

And, this is the danger of living alone.

And why I caution Christian guys against it.

For, anonymity… boredom… and opportunity are the fertiliser of bad ideas.

Indeed, it is not good for a man to be alone.

And, for the next fortnight I’ll be on my lonesome.

Could we still be accused of incest and cannibalism?

In early Christianity there were two prevailing stories.

#1. Love feasts with their brothers and sisters whom share the body and blood.

#2. Incest and cannibalism.

Both could, potentially, be descriptions of the same thing.

Of course, the first description is of early church services involving the sharing of communion.

The second is how it looked, was twisted, or was slandered, by those outside the church.

I wonder, could a similar accusation be levelled today?

Could the practices of a mainline church be so confusing?

Could it be open to such a misinterpretation?

I want to say no. What we do isn’t that weird.

But it is.

I’ve been in the middle of church services and been utterly confused.

I’ve done some very strange things in youth groups and kids clubs and camps.

But could I be accused of incest? 

Cannibalism?

I suspect not.

But it does show that, to those on the outside looking in, they’ve been confused by the rituals Christians do since day one.

The balance has shifted but will never tip all the way

I just added a new topic tab to the side panel of the blog - Teaching.

This shouldn’t be a shock. Being a new teacher, I’ve been progressively writing more about teaching.

With this, primarily, being a blog about me and what’s going on in my life, teaching a gaining a large foothold.

Conversely, vocational youth ministry has taken a back-seat.

I used to do one.

I now do the other.

But, I imagine the former will never overtake the later in the totality of my blog.

Why?

Because I’ll always be writing, in the periphery, about youth ministry.

I still work with teenagers.

My daughters will soon be teenagers.

I’ll still recall lessons I learnt while in youth ministry.

If nothing else, as a topic, youth ministry has a lead of almost 400 posts.

But, teaching do it’s best to catch up.

We aren’t meant to walk on crutches 24/7

 We all use crutches.

Teachers use crutches. Especially at the end of the term or when they are getting snowed under by marking or report writing.

Videos. Worksheets. Textbook work. Recycled lessons. Online learning content.

Those in ministry also use crutches, especially in the crazier times of the liturgical calendar like Easter.

YouTube clips. sermon recordings. Lesson outlines. Packaged curriculum. 

We all need crutches.

They help us when we are burdened or have a limp.

But, we aren’t meant to live on them permanently.

Crutches must be tossed aside, stored away for times of need once we are in a time and space of health.

This is their purpose.

Any other use is a sign that you need to reevaluate how you’re doing things or take a season away and refresh.