Learning from the Nazis

Learning how NOT to do things that is.  

I've been reading a book lately – Teenage: The creation of youth culture (Jon Savage, Viking, 2007).  It's a social history of adolescents (and adolescence) from 1875 through to 1945.  The latest chapter I've read was on the Hitler youth.  This was his conclusion:

In keeping with its desire to create an entirely new kind of society, [Nazi Germany] privileged youth in its institutions, and indeed, for many adolescents this policy offered previously unthinkable freedoms.  Intoxicated by this revolution, however, they failed to notice the downside to this Faustian contract:  that what appeared to be freedom was slavery, that in the end they would be delivered, bound and gagged, into the hands of a sophisticated and pitiless war machine. (p.275)

I read that passage and reflected on how easily you could replace 'Nazi Germany' with any number of movements and world systems that have focussed their attention on winning young people – western capitalism, consumerism, 21^st century hedonism, liberal humanism etc etc.  One thing that western civilisation seems to have learned over the 20^th century is that  'He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future' – said by Adolf Hitler at the German National Party convention in 1935.

It's a reminder to me of the importance of Christian ministry among young people – to both harness the energy and enthusiasm that is so often associated with youth, by giving them the freedom that is really free.  It also reminds me of the ease with which our ministries could fall into manipulation and bondage when we replace the call of God in Christ with our own agendas and plans.

I'm back

okay... so if we're going to have a blog I guess we ought to blog on it.  apologies for visitors to this site who have been looking for something a bit more regular from us at Youthworks College.

Will endeavour to share pithy thoughts more often.  :-)

Learning from the Nazis

Learning how NOT to do things that is.

I've been reading a book lately – Teenage: The creation of youth culture (Jon Savage). It's a social history of adolescents (and adolescence) from 1875 through to 1945. The latest chapter I've read was on the Hitler youth. This was his conclusion:

In keeping with its desire to create an entirely new kind of society, [Nazi Germany] privileged youth in its institutions, and indeed, for many adolescents this policy offered previously unthinkable freedoms. Intoxicated by this revolution, however, they failed to notice the downside to this Faustian contract: that what appeared to be freedom was slavery, that in the end they would be delivered, bound and gagged, into the hands of a sophisticated and pitiless war machine. (p.275)

I read that passage and reflected on how easily you could replace 'Nazi Germany' with any number of movements and world systems that have focussed their attention on winning young people – western capitalism, consumerism, 21st century hedonism, liberal humanism etc etc. One thing that western civilisation seems to have learned over the 20th century is that 'He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future' – said by Adolf Hitler at the German National Party convention in 1935.

It's a reminder to me of the importance of Christian ministry among young people – to both harness the energy and enthusiasm that is so often associated with youth, by giving them the freedom that is really free. It also reminds me of the ease with which our ministries could fall into manipulation and bondage when we replace the call of God in Christ with our own agendas and plans.

I'm back

okay... so if we're going to have a blog I guess we ought to blog on it. apologies for visitors to this site who have been looking for something a bit more regular from us at Youthworks College.

Will endeavour to share pithy thoughts more often. :-)

Vote to keep the blog open!

Dear Faculty Blog readers,

Unfortunately, we're not sure how many of you are out there which is why we're considering closing the College blog and just using all our relevant and insightful ministry-related thoughts and articles for the Good Stuff section of our website: (www.youthworks.net/goodstuff) and in our e-newsletter The Buzz (www.youthworks.net/thebuzz).

What do you think? We would love to hear your thoughts if you think it's worth keeping the College blog open - please speak now or forever hold your peace.

Cheers,

Angela Williams
(Communications Coordinator - using Graham's profile!)

The Children's Crusade

When I think of the Crusades, the picture that comes to my mind is of hundreds of knights in armour painted with a red cross off on adventure anticipating their opportunity to reclaim the Holy Land. I think of blood, pillage, death and war. So with this picture in mind, I was extremely surprised to read that there was a children’s crusade. But what place do children have in religious war?

According to historical accounts, in 1212 many children were swept along in the popular crusading enthusiasm, along with youths who left their families, shepherds and mothers with babies. Writers have claimed that this was the first popular youth movement, long before the hippy movement, the punk movement or the scouts. Young people left behind the humdrum of daily life for an impossible dream of Jerusalem regained. Albert of Sade mentions the rebellious nature of the movement, as youth left despite their parents’ opposition. The children’s enthusiasm is also a reproach to half-hearted adults, including the Pope!:

Around this time (1212) children without a master, without a leader, ran together with eager steps from all the towns and cities of every region to parts beyond the sea. When people asked them where they were running, they answered, “To Jerusalem, to seek the holy Land”. The parents of many of them confined them at home, but in vain; for they smashed their locks or walls and escaped. The Pope (Innocent III) heard rumours about them, and, sighing, said “These children reproach us, for while we sleep they race to recover the Holy Land”. Even now it is unknown what happened to them. But many of them returned home, and when they were asked for the reason for their journey, they said they did not know. Also, around the same time naked women ran through the towns and cities saying nothing.

(1232 Albert of Stade)

There were in fact two movements in 1212, one in France and the other in Germany. The French Movement was said to involve 15-30,000 people led by Stephen of Cloyes a Shepherd boy. The German Movement was led by another youth Nicholas of Cologne and involved around 8,000. (The statistics are very hard to estimate because medieval chronicles are often myth-history and unreliable). There is some indication that these two movements may have joined together in their march toward the sea.

What motivated these children to leave their homes and families and face death and starvation? It seems they were certainly swept up in the same religious enthusiasm that motivated other pilgrimages and popular crusades. They wished to show their dedication to Jesus and his kingdom by marching to Jerusalem. Many believed that God would open up a pathway through the sea as he did for Moses and the Israelites. Though adults had failed in Crusade, God would bless the attempts of innocent children.

The end of the story, unfortunately, is tragic, an absolute disaster. Many died along the way to the sea. Some arrived in Italy, but then the accounts are quiet. There are myths that some found their way onto ships and were later ship-wrecked or enslaved. Albert of Sade states that many went home, not knowing why they had left in the first place. He also states that “naked women were running around, out of their minds”, thereby associating this erratic behaviour with the religious enthusiasm of the children. Many believed later that the children had been gullible and led astray by evil adults and clergy.

What can we learn from this story as we consider ministry to children and youth? Young people are the same today – they are enthusiastic, and seeking to make an impact in the world on their own apart from their parents and families. We should be thinking of ways to harness their enthusiasm to serve and to make a contribution to growing God’s kingdom, working with their natural passion. This may involve risking the perfectionist quality of our ministries by allowing young people to lead and serve in community outreach events, music, leading services, praying etc. How are your young people involved in Connect 09? Are we leaving it all to the adults?

The story is also a warning to us. Children and young people are vulnerable to charismatic leaders and movements. Are you careful with the way you use your leadership with the precious children God has entrusted you with? We need to be giving them a good biblical foundation so they can make wise choices as they seek to follow Jesus. We must teach children and young people a discernment from God’s word so that they will be able to evaluate true and false teaching themselves.

1. G. Dickson The Children’s Crusade Palgrave Macmillan: New York, 2008.
2. Dickson (2008) p, 109

Why we ought to 'sin boldly'!

We have been preaching on prayer at Youthworks Chapel this semester. So far a theme has emerged that reflects the character and nature of God as a good Father to his children whose desire is to answer his children’s prayers in such a way as will be best for them. A paraphrase of this theme might be - God is not a mean-spirited Father.

A few weeks ago Andy Stirrup, our Old Testament lecturer, opened up 1 Chronicles 4 and the Prayer of Jabez. In critiquing Bruce Wilkinson’s reading of this passage he drew our attention to his T-shirt. It had a picture of Martin Luther, underneath which was written these words in Latin – ‘simul justus et peccator’. Translated this means that as Christians we are at the same time both justified in Christ and yet continue to sin until the final resurrection. In the context of the sermon it was an illustration of our need to recognise that though we may not have it all right, we do need to speak out against teaching that is not in line with the teachings of Scripture. Martin Luther would have agreed.

With this phrase rattling around and two new units that Youthworks College is offering this year – CH205 Reformation Church History that Ruth Lukabyo is teaching and DM250 Foundations in Young Adults Ministry that I will be teaching in second semester, I have been reflecting on Martin Luther and what he would say to young adults, especially those who may be earnestly aware of their own sin and as a result hesitant to step up and out in order to lead.

Martin Luther said some outrageous things, no more so than “sin boldly” in a letter to his mate Phillip Melanchthon during the 16th Century. Luther’s stand against the Church of Rome kicked off the Protestant Reformation, after which the world would never quite be the same. Because of Luther’s stand, all that people had known through the teachings of Rome was suddenly ‘up for grabs’.

This troubled Melanchthon, Luther’s conservative friend. He was concerned with questions such as: “Should monks, priests and nuns break their vow to the Church?”; “What if they are sinning?” and “How do we do the Lord’s Supper – maybe it is best to abstain from taking the Lord’s Supper until a priest can hand it out…?”. He wrote to Luther asking for advice on to how to proceed with these issues.

In response to Luther’s outrageous comments, Melanchthon asks of Luther: “What if you’re wrong?, or “What if you have misunderstood the Bible?” Melanchthon advises Luther to be cautious – “if you could be wrong then don’t do anything”.

In reply Luther writes to Philip Melanchthon on August 1, 1521:

If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here [in this world] we have to sin. This life is not the dwelling place of righteousness, but, as Peter says, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. It is enough that by the riches of God's glory we have come to know the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. No sin will separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day. Do you think that the purchase price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb is too small? Pray boldly you too are a mighty sinner.

Luther’s statement “Sin Boldly” disturbs many people. His enemies picked up on it and claimed that Luther was saying that people should go ahead and sin a lot because God forgives us anyway. But this is not what Luther meant. His enemies, critics and others misunderstood him.

What Luther meant can be seen in another of his famous quotes (featured on Andy’s T-shirt) about the status of a Christian until they die – ‘simultaneously justified and a sinner’. What Luther meant was if you are alive you will be a sinner. To quote from his letter “As long as we are here [in this world] we have to sin.”

So how do you live? Lock yourself away in a monastery or nunnery and try not to do anything for fear of sinning. Luther says No! Christians must live out in the real world. And as long as a Christian is alive they will sin.

Luther’s advice to a young adult, might be to live as a Christian (simultaneously justified and a sinner) and live boldly! “Believing and rejoicing in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death and the world”. That is what Luther meant when he said “Sin Boldly”. In other words “Live boldly”, acknowledging that you are at the same time right with God in Christ and always going to sin in this world.

Some practical outcomes of this theology for leaders of young adults begin with an awareness that for some young adults there may be a deep sense of sin in their life that may prevent them from feeling adequate for leadership. It will therefore be important to teach ‘the doctrines of grace’ Luther unpacked in order for young adults to grasp who they are in Christ ‘simultaneously justified and a sinner’ and to live that out boldly in their lives.

Young adults, because of their earnestness in regards to sin and righteousness may be hesitant to take on leadership positions, feeling that they are not good enough for the task. As leaders and teachers we also need to have an understanding of our standing before God in Christ as ‘simultaneously justified and a sinner’. We need to model this to young adults and share our lives with them, enabling them to see that we too are sinners but at the same time made right with God in Jesus. Leaders of young adults need to be transparent, up to a point, in their struggles with sin so the young adult does not give them a standing above that which we all have in Christ.

Finally we need to encourage Christian young adults to take up leadership roles in our church family. They have the earnestness and zeal, that if channelled well and coupled with a right understanding of our relationship with God them, will make them suitable for leadership in our churches. The barrier of being immobilised by feelings of inadequacy because of sin can be overcome through Luther’s theology of ‘simultaneously justified and a sinner’.

Therefore we ought to encourage our young adults to ‘sin boldly’, the other option is to do nothing. Stay paralysed. Join a monastery and cloister yourself away from the world. But you’ll still be sinning! So better to live and live boldly under the mercy and grace of God. In modern language “Sin boldly” is to say “Go for it!”, step up and out, take responsibility in leadership if it is presented to you, get out and live a full life with full assurance in service and devotion to Jesus.

Finding Help In Unlikely Places

I’ve been thinking about Balaam for some time now. He is a character who appears in the Old Testament, in the book of Numbers. He claims to see clearly and to have heard the word of God. The trouble is that he is a diviner, practising divination, the ‘art’ (if that’s not too generous) of telling the future through looking at the stars, or sheep entrails or the flight pattern of birds and other such methods. What is more he comes from a place that we associate with ‘pagans’. It makes me uncomfortable. How can a person like this, with credentials like that, who comes from there have anything good to say?

If ever I watch Survivor I can’t help but be reminded how tribal we are. Put seven or eight strangers together, give them the same coloured bandana to wear, pit them against another group of strangers wearing a different coloured bandana and almost immediately they are plotting and scheming how to look after ‘us’ and to make sure that ‘they’ don’t make it.

I wonder if my reluctance to value Balaam is reflected in a reluctance to value others who are more ‘them’ than ‘us’. They did not train in the right place, they belong to the wrong diocese or the wrong denomination. They are the wrong age, or the wrong sex or dress in the wrong way and listen to the wrong music. If I think about it too long I’ll have to admit that it is.

But if I won’t listen to Balaam how will I be encouraged by his words? How will I be reminded that God is not a man that he should lie, when I am plagued by doubts about his promises? How can I be encouraged and motivated by the promise that a star will come out of Jacob; a sceptre rise out of Israel … a ruler will come out of Jacob, when I’m confused and troubled by the thought that ‘your will’ will never be done?

I’m reminded too that Jesus faced rejection because he came from the wrong town, his father particpated in the wrong trade and because of that he was given the wrong start in life. But they were wrong. And yet they must have felt so right: from Nazareth? A carpenter? They weren’t even married!

One of the lessons from Balaam that I need constantly to remind myself of is that help and encouragement can sometimes come from the most unlikely sources – if you don’t cut yourself off from it.

Cambridge (again)

For long term followers of this blog you may recall posts from January 2007 from me at the international conference of the iasym (international association for the study of youth ministry) in Cambridge in the UK. Being a biennial conference here I am back in chilly England (where it was snowing this morning - quite beautiful, very cold).

perhaps there'll be some longer reflections on the conference from me in the future, but for now I'll just say that it has been an experience for me, and one that I've heard expressed by others, of Proverbs 27:17, 'as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens the wits of another'.

This is a truly international conference - with delegates from the UK, USA, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, India, Singapore and Australia among others. Truly amazing is the ability of those with English as their second language to engage in academic discussion in English! Their English is much better than my Norwegian.

The delegates are also from a whole range of Christian confessional and denominational backgrounds. It's a challenge to listen carefully and to understand how one persons understanding is shaped by their context and how my response is shaped by my own context.

The danger of course is to decend into relativism - where we all have a valid experience to share but that's all.

My paper in part was making a bid for calling us all to a clearer place for the ministries of the Word in our youth ministry so that it would be clear that we're being directed by God. The challenge is to hear others in a way that helps me read the Scriptures and hear the voice of God more clearly.

There's also great value in being face to face with people, particularly with the people we disagree with. And so it's a privilege to be able to travel across the other side of the world to have this time together.

Still half a day to go of the conference - I'm praying that our time together will continue to be effective and that God would guide the thinking and reflection of those who are here.