Ramblings on the Way
DISCLAIMER: ALL RAMBLINGS ARE MY OWN. THEY IN NO WAY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF ANY CHURCH OR ORGANISATION THAT I HAVE WORKED FOR OR AM CURRENTLY ASSOCIATED WITH...
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Do I look like a flat-earther to my workmates?
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Do we wait better or worse than a generation ago?
At the end of any given teaching term there will inevitably be a time when you witness excruciating boredom upon the face of a student. Maybe even a dozen or more students simultaneously.
Why?
Because of timed exams.
If a class is told that they will have 50 minutes to complete a written in-class essay, then that is what they will get.
50 minutes.
3000 seconds.
But, of course, not every student will need the entire time allocation.
In fact, you’d hope that most students don’t require every last moment, but instead use their time wisely and productively to produce a good reflection of what you have taught them.
Alas, some will also finish early because they know very little.
Maybe they aren’t (yet!?!?) capable of producing a quality, structured, written response.
Nonetheless, as the time ticks down and you observe your assignment-taking class, you get to watch as the boredom unfolds.
First for one student.
Than a handful.
Than the majority of the class.
In short, until the end of the allotted time, if they’ve completed the exam then they need to sit and do… nothing.
At all.
And, this is hard.
Especially, if you’re not used to waiting.
Compounded, if you’re not used to being technology free.
But, as I sit there for 50 minutes… doing little more than observing… I wonder, has our waiting got better or worse in the last few decades?
Is a young person’s seeming inability to just…. Wait… point towards their need to always preoccupy themselves?
Have our young people lost the ability to just… sit?
To do… nothing?
Or does it show that, now, we need to be doing… something?
And, is that a good thing?
Of course, there is a balance which needs to be found.
Just because your have a device in your hand doesn’t mean that you’re being productive with it. Playing a mind game or reading the news is far better than doom-scrolling or mindlessly swiping for the next dopamine hit.
But, when I think of all the time as a technology-free-youngster which I had just waiting for a bus - shuffling my feet or staring into the distance aimlessly - maybe my time wasn’t better spent than youngsters today.
At least they have the option to be somewhat productive.
Their waiting time can have some form of purpose.
I had nothing.
Just time…
Just waiting…
No matter, with the seconds ticking down on exams, it’s clear that the ability to do nothing has almost disappeared.
Maybe, we should get rid of public transport timetables and reinstall the fine art of… having to wait and do nothing.
Monday, April 15, 2024
Am I a bigger failure as a teacher or a youth minister?
My last post asked if I was a greater success as a teacher or as a youth minister.
I ended that post by concluding that I’ve had more hits in the classroom than the pulpit.
But, a question which troubles me far more is the title of this post: What am I a bigger failure in, teaching on youth ministry?
Without doubt, at various times, both have left me feeling defeated.
I’ve had, even after only a few years (maybe even because of my inexperience), numerous lessons which have been train wrecks.
I’ve never left the classroom with the place on fire, students writhing in pain or an evacuation drill needing to be declared, but lessons have certainly not been executed as well as I’d hoped.
It’s understandable, in your first time teaching a topic or entire subject, that everything that you try won’t alway be a winner.
The same is true with youth ministry.
I had plenty of days when I’ve been driving home after a Friday or Sunday with a sense of defeat.
In both jobs I’ve felt like an imposter.
In both jobs I’ve felt unorganised.
In both jobs I’ve made administrative mistakes.
In both jobs I’ve clashed with colleagues.
In both jobs I’ve been underprepared.
In both jobs I’ve felt ineffective.
But I’ve got a nagging certainty, when it comes to this question - again - the church is on the losing side.
I failed far more in youth ministry than I, so far, have as a teacher.
Why?
Because I failed my own standards.
As I posted way back in 2008, one of the most important elements in effective ministry is longevity.
And I never stayed at a church longer than 4 years as the youth minister.
I didn’t, for a variety of reasons, stick around long enough to have generational impact.
I didn’t see one generation of kids grow into young adults.
Sure, I did see young people mature, but not truely transition beyond a single life stage.
And, in this, I failed.
As a teacher, it’s expected that you’ll cycle through a number of teachers during high school.
In some regards, it can be a positive.
You get different voices.
You get different classroom management techniques.
You get different teaching styles.
You get different personalities.
You get exposed to different passions.
But in ministry, consistency trumps novelty.
Relationships trumps knowledge.
Trust trumps technique.
In this, I failed spectacularly.
Monday, April 8, 2024
Am I a more successful teacher or youth minister?
Sunday, March 31, 2024
The importance of finding your patch in a church
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Every-changing contextual concerns
I really don’t care about your first-year-university 1500-word essay due in 10 days.
I just don’t.
I may care about you as a person and fellow believer, but my tolerance for your problems-of-a-twenty-year-old has, frankly, softened.
Now, I care far more about the effect that changing interest rates has had on your mortgage payments.
I care more about your teething, whinging offspring.
I care more about your trouble to conceive.
I care more about your in-laws visiting for a fortnight.
As I get older, the things I care about, pastorally, has shifted.
Now, I care about the things which align with my life stage.
Now, my concerns revolve around workplace relationships and squabbling siblings.
Now, my concerns revolve around unexpected car accidents and appliance breakdowns.
Now, my concerns revolve around aging parents and juggling the demands of a busy extracurricular calendar.
Now, I’m more concerned about rekindling romantic vacations and the stress of an inspection by your supervisor.
Most of all, I’m concerned about your relationship with Jesus.
But, the extent of my concern is contextually framed by my life stage.
I assume, as I get older, I’ll start being increasingly concerned about superannuation, dying parents and children’s future plans.
And, mirroring my concerns about university assignments, first cars and entry-level jobs, the midlife concerns will start to fall by the wayside.
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Your feelings about being a theologian don’t change the truth
“No Christian can avoid theology. Every Christian is a theologian. Perhaps not a theologian in the technical or professional sense, but a theologian nevertheless. The issue for Christians is not whether we are going to be theologians but whether we are going to be good theologians or bad ones.”
Saturday, March 2, 2024
When you work out that you’re an island
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
You only get a small dancing window
Last Sunday, during church, it occurred to me that my dancing window has now closed.
I was reminded of this as a couple of small children twirled around during the service.
Now - with my kids being 12 and 8 - the days of twirling around with my daughters, carefree during the church service, and behind me.
But I miss those shame-free days.
When the girls just liked the music.
When they just wanted to jump about.
This blasé dancing is a gift to the church.
As a parent, you’re able to catch a glimpse of the joy our a Heavenly Father must have when He watches His spiritual children.
As a church, you’re able to see what child-like faith - the kind which Jesus requires - looks like.
But, this time, like a lot of things retrospectively in parenting, was fleeting.
And, for me, the window of dancing has creaked closed.
Monday, February 19, 2024
Quality over quantity comes at a cost
I’m not massively attached to every word I write.
I do write a fair few of them.
I’d like to think that a decent slice of them are, at least, put together in an okay manner.
But, I’m not often pushed against a word or time limit.
I can, usually, ramble on until I’m done.
But, this isn’t the case if you’re submitting an academic response.
And it’s not the case if your sermon must conclude before the following service in the same worship space begins.
When backed against a fairly firm deadline, sometimes words need to be sacrificed.
Yesterday, I looked over an essay which could have used a good pruning.
It was fair in the content, but it always seems had a major way to be improvised.
Cut. One. Third.
The task involved a response to the driving question, but with the caveat that they needed to use two examples. This student had used three.
One should have been jettisoned and the allotted words used to strengthen the other two paragraphs.
But, this would come at a cost.
A cost that you need to delete your work.
A cost that your effort won’t see the light of day.
A cost that your your long diatribe can be improved with e shorter, tighter, response.
In the context of a sermon, this may come at the cost of words which you feel are “inspired.”
You may need to set aside words which you worked hard to craft and weave together.
But, sometimes, pruning is the best thing for your message and your audience.
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Teaching losers
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Transferring skills from the old gig
Being the start of the new school year, and teaching three subjects for the first time - including one completely from scratch, I’ve been quite busy.
One job I’ve unexpectedly picked up this year is that of transition coordinator (the one who oversees the integration of the incoming year seven’s and organising the peer support program which helps the new cohort).
Even though I’m only a week into the new task, there are many things familiar with the job.
Training leaders (who vary wildly in their capabilities).
Setting and enforcing leader expectations.
Juggling timetables and conflicting demands.
Organising small group input.
Communicating with schools.
Entertaining large groups of pre-teens.
All of these I used to do in youth ministry.
Many of them I also did last week during peer support.
The longer I teach, the more I find that my previous profession bleeds into my current job.
Group dynamics.
Pastoral care.
Meaningful banter.
Theological knowledge.
Communication strategies.
All of these, either intentionally or coincidentally, were gleaned during my time in ministry.
Now, in the secular workforce, they are receiving another trundle.
If the direction of expertise went the other direction - secular to ministry - then I’m sure that it would be seen as “tilling the soil for the Lord’s work.”
Why can’t it work in the opposite direction?
Sunday, January 28, 2024
When a book you’re not inspired by can still be useful
Monday, January 15, 2024
The largest dating gamble in the church
The minister’s kid.
This is the largest dating gamble in the church.
Why?
Because, if it goes wrong…
You’re highly likely to lose the church in the breakup.
If you do stick around then, potentially, you lose one of your primary spiritual supports (your minister) if the breakup is messy.
If it goes well…
Your relationship is under a larger microscope.
There will be expectations on your future together.
This is the risk of dating the pastoral offspring…
Friday, January 12, 2024
The joy and trials of starting something new
The stereotype is that teachers do very little over the school holidays.
This six week break will be anything but lazy for me.
For, this upcoming year, I’ll be teaching something new.
New for me.
New for the school.
Since I’m teaching a brand new subject for my school, this means that there are a lot of things which are not in place.
Subject outlines.
Teaching programs for the semesters.
Assessment timetables.
Assessment tasks.
A subject specific student handbook.
Student handouts.
Currently, the subject folder for my upcoming subject is empty.
So far… I’ve created…
A 76 page student handbook.
Two 40 page teaching programs (basically outlines for the topics with teaching material)
A very colourful subject outline.
Student handouts for the entire first topic.
And I’ve still got a heap more to go over the next two-and-a-half weeks.
But, I’m also loving the task of creating something from scratch.
I’ve got freedom to find resources and choose how I’m going to use them.
I’ve got the freedom to decide what parts of the syllabus I’ll teach.
I’ve got the freedom to begin plotting assessment tasks.
Of course, I assume that I’ll still feel completely out of my depth no matter how much prep I put in during the holidays…
And that my head teacher will have a lot of useful suggestions which will significantly modify my current outlines…
But, this is the joy and toil of something new.
Late nights.
Lots of books.
Thoughts hitting you in the shower.
Ideas popping into your mind before you go to sleep.
Sunday, December 31, 2023
2023 Best of…
Monday, December 25, 2023
You should preach the well-worn path at Christmas
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Our leadership demands shape those who are actually able to volunteer
When you become an adult the way you get involved in church has to change.
You work full time.
You may be married.
You may have kids.
You’ve got financial duties.
You’ve only got limited holidays.
As a young adult, these pressures can be far less.
You can arrive at church by 3pm on a weekday.
You can stay late on a Sunday night.
You can commit to a weekly roster.
You can set aside a week for a mission trip.
Part of the reason that church volunteers, especially within their ministries to children and teens, are primarily young adults and retirees is due to the demands that we place upon our recruits.
These don’t work for many adults.
For, they need to work long into the evening.
They need to be up early on a Monday morning.
They need to juggle family and extended-family responsibilities.
They only have a limited or fixed amount of disposable income or holiday allotment.
In short, life isn’t as flexible.
So, this inhibits what they can be involved in.
Can this be used as a convenient excuse?
Sometimes.
Should it make churches even more appreciative of their adult volunteers?
Absolutely.
Most importantly, it shouldn’t come as a surprise - when they consider the demands or restrictions they place upon those who volunteer - the kind of people who are willing or able to step and and actively help out.
Friday, December 8, 2023
Why you need to do the busy work before finishing with the videos
Anyone who has ever been a student will know, as a school semester winds down - especially in the final term - the teaching units usually conclude with a string of videos.
My Ancient China units ends by watching the original Mulan film.
My Water in the World unit concludes by watching Finding Nemo.
But, before we launch into a slew of video lessons to finish the school year, there’s an important task that must be done first.
Busy work.
An important, but non assessable task (since reports are already completed).
A task where the students select from a list of choices and then create something touching on that topic - usually a poster or newspaper.
The reason this task is essential is because it incorporates a vital administrative function.
Every teaching unit has elements which, at minimum, you must touch on.
This final task ensures, through the smorgasbord of choices which you’ll need to describe, that you are honestly able to tick off everything in the unit outline.
For, while everything in a teaching outline is not equal and doesn’t deserve the same amount of focus, an open task at the end of the unit allows you to still include the red-herrings of the teaching units and give the students freedom to pursue the untouched elements if they so desire.