Category: culture

Posted on

Connecting Word To World

Graham Stanton has written a great chapter – Connecting Word To World – in Youth Ministry on the Front Foot. The chapter is seeking to counter the errors “…that all we need to know is what the Bible says and culture is unimportant, or, that we must be culturally relevant above all else.” The challenge is to let the Word of God help you to understand the world in which we live and minister.

We used the chapter as a training paper at a recent SOULIES Team Meeting. Our leaders found it a really useful exercise. Here’s what we did:

  1. Read the chapter
  2. Discussed where our youth ministry is on the spectrum of word to world (0 = word only, 10 = world only)
  3. Shared ways in which we are engaging well culturally
  4. Using 3 cultural touch points (KONY 2012, The Hunger Games, Peer Pressure) we brainstormed ways in which the word helps us to understand each of them. This final step was really useful. You can see some of our ideas on the whiteboard, but it was more about the process rather than any conclusive answers.

Find out how to buy the book etc here

Read more youth ministry posts

Posted on

MISFIT AID

At Northern Beaches Men’s Conference on Tuesday night we heard from Jeff Ryan of MISFIT Aid. Super encouraging. Jeff’s short talk complemented my Isaiah 58 talk from the night in giving men a tangible way to be on about justice in our world. Misfit Aid are based on the beaches and doing some really good things. Check out this vid:

Check out their website. Here’s a blurb:

“Misfit Aid is a not-for-profit organisation that exists to design, implement and resource aid and development projects in communities around the world. Working primarily in the areas of disaster relief and community empowerment, we establish partnerships with socially conscious charities and organisations that assist communities affected by poverty, disaster or a humanitarian crisis.”

Posted on

Fiz the Flying Fox

Some talented friends have just had a kids book released with Youthworks. Fiz the Flying Fox is authored by Skye Parry-Jones and illustrated by Nicole Maloney.

Here’s a blurb:

Fiz is a young flying fox who loves adventure! One day, flying fast through the treetops of the rainforest, Fiz finds himself far from home, scared and alone. But is he truly alone? Through this delightful story, we learn that while we sometimes wander far from God, our loving heavenly Father is always watching over us.

Enjoy the first 13 pages (and buy copies) on the product page.

Posted on

John Piper on The Lottery + Gambling

There was some massive lottery draw that happened this week in the USA. John Piper has written 7 reasons that Christians shouldn’t gamble their money in this way. I think his reasons are applicable more generally for any gambling. Read the article.

Here are the 7 reasons:

1. It is spiritually suicidal.
2. It is a kind of embezzlement.
3. It’s a fool’s errand.
4. The system is built on the necessity of most people losing.
5. It preys on the poor.
6. There is a better alternative.
7. For the sake of quick money, government is undermining the virtue without which it cannot survive.

Read it in more detail here.