Where have we been? An historical view of cyf ministry

Terri Martinson Elton

the coming together of three streams

Catechesis Parachurch

OrganizationSunday School

Movement

Children and Youth Ministry

Stream #1 - Catechesis

Catechesis – “to indoctrinate” Early Church – conversion to baptism

education Roman Catholic – trained catechist to teach

others Reformation – back to the home

No conversion, everyone Christian, seen as equipping

Development of large and small catechism North America – shifting

Separate first communion and confirmation Refocus on Reaffirmation of baptism Generally an adolescent process,

but some “long and later”

Catechesis – “to indoctrinate” What’s the goal of catechesis? How might it be incorporated into our life

together today? Where the contextual realities that

accompanied catechesis in the past? What are the contextual realities today?

Stream #2 – Sunday School Movement

Sunday School Movement Started in England, 1780, William Raikes offered

Sunday School for the children of the working poor that were running wild on Sunday mornings.

It was for the poor and the primary objective was literacy training, with some Christian education.

In 1785, William Elliot adapted the model in Virginia, which begun the SS movement in the US.

In 1824 the American Sunday School Union was formed with the goal of planting Sunday Schools throughout the Mississippi Valley.

Taught to read and write with Christian materials as well as moral ethics.

Sunday School Movement As public schools were developed, Sunday

School shifted from primarily teaching reading and writing to “Christian education.”

With that the Sunday School movement began to be divided by denominational lines. This lead to the development of denominational publishing houses.

In the early 1900s there was also a move toward children as spiritual beings (Christian Nurture movement) and with that a move toward Christian Education being developmentally appropriate. This opened up new avenues for Sunday School.

Sunday School Movement What has been the goal of Sunday School? What

is it today? What shifts have taken place within the “Sunday

School Movement”? Where are we today? What were the contextual realities that

accompanied Sunday School in the past? What contextual realities exist today regarding Sunday School as a practice of the church?

Stream #3 – Parachurch Organizations

Parachurch Organizations – “outside the church”

YMCA – YWCA - 1858 – “to help young people retain their Christian commitments after they had moved into the urban jungles where jobs were available.” (Starting Right, 80)

Evangelical ministry – revivals (1857-1859) won 1 million converts in this period.

Young Life – first in England (1911) and NA (1941) Jim Rayburn – first rallies then clubs and

camps. Still working today.

Parachurch Organizations – “outside the church”

Youth For Christ Movement – 1940s – 1945 officially organized, Torry Johnson, president – four-fold mission To promote and help win youth for Christ everywhere To encourage evangelism everywhere To emphasize radiant, victorious Christian living To foster international service for youth through existing

agencies. (88) Billy Graham was the first paid field

representative (1945) for youth for Christ. The development of evangelicalism and Youth for Christ cannot be separated.

Parachurch Organizations – “outside the church”

What’s the goal of such parachurch organizations, particularly with regard to ministry with young people?

What were the contextual realities when each of these ministries were “birthed”? How have these organizations changed over time? What are the contextual realities that impact parachurch organizations today?

What does this mean?

Where have these three streams gotten us? Are they sufficient to engage ministry with

young people? Where are we now?

Language Matters

How does language link theology and culture? The grammar of faith…How do we help

those in the first third of life understand the grammar of faith?

Don Ritcher talks about language as the bridge between theology and culture.

Language defines culture and gives meaning to it.

How does this belief shape our work with those in the first third of life?

How does language link theology and culture?

Theology is a living language, as way of communicating meaning to ourselves and to others.

Language does not define God, but does provide a frame to talk about God, not only in the present time, but across centuries.

6 implications of how language can link theology and culture…

1. Theological doctrines do not arrive prepackaged from on high, but are always constructed using the available tools of a particular culture.

2. Theology is profoundly shaped the host culture, but it is also has claims and concepts that profoundly shape the culture.

3. Theology is an activity of a living faith tradition and has the capacity to transcend (or point beyond) the host culture.

6 implications of how language can link theology and culture…

4. Born with a linguistic and spiritual capacity…activated through practices.

5. Thinking about culture functioning like language provides frame for living faithfully in this postmodern context.

6. Familiarity with vocabulary of other faith traditions help people appreciate the diversity of God’s creation and the mystery of God’s gracious love for all people.

(Starting Right, chapter 3)

Language What is the role of helping those in the first

third of life discover and become proficient in the language of the Christian faith?

Adolescence – what is it?

Adolescence - Historically Adolescence – is derived from the Latin root

word adolescere which means “to grow up.” this time period describes the period between

childhood and adulthood or maturity. As a life span, adolescence is a fairly new

idea – with attention to it in the social sciences only in the past 100 years and it is often deemed as an invention of the urban society.

Adolescence - Historically These changes over the past 100 years,

include moving from primarily focusing on high school youth to now including young people from ages 10 to upwards of 22.

When adolescence began, it was only 3-4 years long…now it is almost 10 years long.

Adolescence - Historically What marks adolescence?

Adolescence is a combination of physiology, or physical factors, and psychosocial matters that are happening at the same time. “The timing of and entrance into

adolescence, then, is marked by a physicological (having to do with the functioning of the body) event (puberty), but it generally described and discussed as a psychosocial (having to do with the mind and behavior) as well as sociological (having to do with relationships and human interaction) event.” (Starting Right, 46)

Adolescence begins in biology and ends in culture – or with maturation.

What shifts have you seen in adolescence in your lifetime?

What do you believe the “work” of adolescence to be?

What is the work of adolescence?Three phases -

Early (10-14) – middle (15-16) - and late (17-21)

The Work Physical/sexuality/body image Moral/ethical Cognitive/Intellectual Self-concept/Autonomy/Move toward

independence Psychological and emotional Relational/individual and in community

Major Questions Who am I? (sexuality, social roles, identity) Am I normal? (do I fit in?) Am I competent? (am I good at something that is

valued by others?) Am I loveable and loving? (can someone outside my

family love me?)OR Who am I? (identity) – given not found! It’s a God-

thing Do I matter? (autonomy – achieving) – giftedness -

vocation How do I relate to others? (reconnecting) – baptized

community – network of relationship, rooted in the Triune God.

Where are we today?