Sometimes starting a conversation with middle schoolers and high schoolers is much like trying to talk to a tree. It stands there and occasionally gives you a piece of fruit or maybe just a hint of the seeds of the fruit you may be able to notice around it. In youth ministry, it is hard to minister to students if you don’t know how to breakthrough and start a conversation with them!
It has been said that the only thing that fails more often than a new church plant is a new restaurant. Since 63% of statistics are made up on the spot I am not sure this statement is true. However, I am sure that church planting is a difficult calling. It can take a toll on your life.
I’ve long had the feeling that we as a society lost something valuable when we moved away from the model of apprenticeship at work. But it was in a recent conversation with some United Methodist pastors that it struck me how Church revitalization will never—and has never—occurred without incorporating elements of the apprenticeship model.
I hear sermons. I read books. My knowledge grows and grows among the faithful until I know more about you than ever before. But I fail to notice that you are walking with me, that you have been not only trying to teach me but to have a relationship with me. I miss you after Easter, Lord.
April 14, 2015 1 John 2:7-8 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have
