2.11.2006

Theological Awareness

Last weekend, I took my students on a Winter Retreat. At the retreat, the main speaker was great. She helped the students grasp how they are ambassadors/representatives of Christ everday in life especially in the way the treat the people around them. Although we talk about these things on a regular basis with our students, this speaker was really good at making it real to students. My students sat around and reflected for a while on what this means for their life. As my students reflected, they also critically assessed a seminar they went to entitled "Are my friends going to Hell?" I was amazed at their theological awareness as they looked at this seminar and saw that it did not line up very well with us being representatives of God's kingdom and how this kingdom exists now versus the seminar speaker's ideas regarding salvation being a primarily future thing. My students did a wonderful job articulating the kingdom of God in the here and now, and how that is the primary emphasis of the gospel message in the Scriptures. They were able to see the fallacy of the fire insurance ideas regarding Heaven and Hell that is so popular in our Christian subculture.

7 comments:

  1. not just in our christian subculture but I would argue also ideas very much alive in our mainstream culture.

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  2. This is so key, Justin. This would not have happened a couple years ago in the youth ministries. This is definitely reflective of the culture being developed at our congregation.

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  3. It happened in the youth ministries of UPC Micah and I grew up in...

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  4. Diane McNealy did a wonderful job with James' and Micah's group. The problem was that the years in between Diane and me were filled with many different leaders and inconsistency in theological education. This is evident when I look at students James' age from UPC. Many of them are still in healthy church communities. Many students in the between years are taking a break in the spiritual journey.

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  5. I partly agree, but I came from a youth ministry that was stable and had sound and good teaching AND I still have many friends that came through that group that are taking a break...or maybe thats to harsh...their just living out Jesus the best they feel they can.

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  6. Swweeet! Isn't it awesome to get a fresh revelation, that the Kingdom is near and now. As bearers of His incarnational presence, he beckons and calls us to be " active " articipants in the redemption, and restoration of His creation.It's great to see a generation of Caleb's and Joshua's that have Kingdom eyes fro the building and expansion of His Kingdom. Pax...Ron+

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  7. Eric brings up a great point. Not everyone who hears the right message follows it. Indeed, this is very correct. Nevertheless, it is better that people here the right message and decide to follow or decide to turn away rather than follow a wrong message.
    Many who grew up in church did not turn away from a right message, just away from a wrong one. However, by turning away from the wrong message and living perhaps in sin, I think they are often closer to the kingdom that those who have accepted the fire insurance gospel.

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