Growth: Part 1

This Sunday I presented to our students (Jr. & Sr. High) this model for personal spiritual growth; and, explained that as a youth ministry we are going to give them opportunities to work through this model. Yet, in the end it's up to them to be engaged with those opportunities.

Honestly, as a youth pastor I have come to think of my job really as presenting students with opportunities for spiritual growth. I cannot make them believe the teachings of Jesus, let alone follow them with their lives. That is God's work. And, I am thankful for that! Don't get me wrong, I believe God has called me (us) to present opportunities that are good, well thought out, and focused on Him. But, growth is not up to me, and ultimately it's not linear. Leaning doesn't, and shouldn't stop. Especially, if we're learning about Jesus. And, learning doesn't result in growth by happening in a vacuum or without experience. Here's the thinking behind the model:

1. Jesus is the center: If you want to learn about Jesus, you have to keep him in the center. Simple, right?
2. Learn: This is academic learning... worshiping God with your mind. And, you don't have to be an academic person to do this. Regular Bible study and reading, memorization, and engaging with others in conversations on spiritual things are all academic pursuits.
3. Serve: Once you've gained knowledge about Jesus, you have to apply it to help it stick. Essentially, what you believe is how you'll behave. So if you have a head knowledge that God is love and wants me to be loving, but act like a huge jerk, it is safe to say, that knowledge has not resulted in growth or lasting belief. Serving is worshiping God with your hands. But, it can't happen with out learning. 
4. Grow: This is us worshiping God with our soul. We are becoming transformed into His image. It is important to not see this as the final stop in the process. Growth should prompt us to learn more, and then serve more, and keep being transformed.

If you remove one part of the model, the whole things falls apart. If you learn without serving, then you have treated God as a concept to intellectually master. And, will be disappointed and become disillusioned with Him. If you serve without learning, you'll treat it as a narcissistic (self-focused) pursuit. It's good for a while, but eventually the weight of evil and your inability to change it will become too fractured, and there will be no reason left to serve. And, if you remove growth, you never really change and you're never prompted to pursue Jesus further. Essentially, you stay the same, never thinking differently, never being challenged, or refined. Contentment gives way to complacency, and complacency kills the heart of a learner.

If we treat spiritual growth as a liner pursuit, there is an end. But, how can there be an end when we are pursuing an infinite and eternal God? And, ultimately, how does this apply to parenting teens?

Teens are looking for something to hold on to, and are eager to learn. Yet, we often present them a faith with concepts to be mastered, not experienced. And, teens thrive on experiencing things. Partly, it's because of where they are at developmentally. And, part of it is that we are all wired to be engaged in experience. Essentially, the model is the total experience. And, if we want our teens to be transformed in Jesus' image, we need to present them with the total experience. 

So, as parents, are we offering and encouraging opportunities for our teens to be engaged in the total experience of spiritual growth? Are we (personally) engaged in that as well? Ie. Are we modeling it?