The 2014 Blue Ocean National Summit - For Youth Workers (Part 1)

Where to start?  There were SO MANY things from last week's Blue Ocean National Summit in Ann Arbor that we could talk about!  I'm torn between all the fascinating thoughts that could be explored as a result but I'm deciding to focus on two elements of the conference: how the overall conference themes are deeply relevant and important to youth ministries today and a brief summary of the BOYM breakout session.  I would imagine those two components would be the more meaningful ones for youth workers?

The 2014 BONS - For Youth Workers

A recent lament of mine has recently been the realization that there is a lot of treasure left buried in the fields of church conferences.  What do I mean?  Well I have to confess that in recent years, despite being a trained and experienced youth worker, most youth ministry conferences have been experienced as less than helpful.  Most don't focus on the issues our church focuses on.  Half of the conference theme is to either get youth workers on life support or to keep them on life support because of the stressful, if not sometimes brutal nature of their jobs.  The other half is typically inspirational in its mission - get the youth workers rallied up to slug it out in the trenches for another year because their kids need them!  

Now, neither of those things are bad, per say.  I feel like the bar is too low.

What if, instead of providing an oasis of entertainment, we provided an oasis of imagination?  What if, instead of seeking to inspire, we sought to empower youth workers? Wouldn't that change the dynamic?  Therein lies the great potential for the Blue Ocean faith network: changing the paradigm.  

If you missed the summit, you missed some incredible thoughts on salon style small groups (weird name, I agree.  Just give it a second…) wherein a ministry model shifts to running a SEEK class in the context of our local communities.  Now this isn't a 'invite everyone over to watch a DVD idea', though it can be; instead the salon focuses on creating space to ask questions about life.  More of those 'big idea' questions like, "Why are we here?", "Does life have a purpose?", and "If I know Taco Bell is so bad for me, why do I keep eating there every Sunday?"  The possibility for launching conversations with kids are great!

Did anyone mention how EPIC the wine and snacks were?! : )

You may have also missed terrific talks on faith and science and a brilliantly led day-dream session on neo-monasticism!  And Phyllis Tickle tackled Protestant Inerrancy head-on in a profound and important way.  Where the rubber hits the road for these talks (and others that I don't have time to cover!) is that the formational processes of re-imagining discipleship, re-engaging scripture, and re-thinking the ways in which we 'do' life are foundational to our success as people working with teenagers.  

Considering that the Blue Ocean movement launched as a way to address the rising tide of the unaffiliated, areligious Millenials, what better place to start than where the church began to go awry - with youth ministry.  I'd wager to say that if we (the Church) had spent more time in previous decades forming our youth workers to be more than doctrinal inseminaters, we may have avoided this predicament.  Now, please make sure you're hearing me clearly - I will NEVER disparage the great and tender care that so many youth workers have put into their kids to grow them into the lovers of Jesus that they are today.  By no means am I suggesting that youth ministry has completely failed.  What I am saying, however, is that failure may lie on behalf of the larger Church for not giving youth workers greater roles that even that.  

I've attended more 'pastoral' or 'seminarian' conferences in recent years than I have youth ministry conferences.  It's yielded mixed feelings.  On one hand, I'm regularly invigorated and challenged by the level of thought and imagination that plays out as leaders of our churches work to discover both where God is and where God is moving.  On the other hand, I'm discouraged that many conferences, like this year's summit, lack a holistic approach that would equip blue ocean churches to have more effective youth and children's ministries.  That's where the empowerment still lacks as a movement.  

This leads me to question what the role of youth and children will look like in blue ocean church circles.  Will our primary role be to educate? To disciple? To pastor?  To lead?  To follow?  Will it be the contemporary 'all of the above' answer?  Or will it be something else entirely?  

The non-youth ministry conferences always raise the larger questions for me.  The 2014 BONS raised many, and for that, I'm grateful.  I'll leave Part 1 a little short and will focus more on the YM conversations that did and did not transpire and what that may mean for us in the coming year(s) in Part 2.