Thoughts from Starting Right: Thinking theologically about youth ministry

I am reading a book on Youth Ministry for my training for YL Staff.  I read two very interesting things the last two days, so I wanted to share them.

This is a great prayer that I want to continually pray for the ministry work:


Lord, I am trusting you. Help me overcome my doubts of you and myself. Give me the enduring confidence that you truly are at work, especially when from my perspective it looks like virtually nothing is happening int he lives of the kids to whom I've been called by your Spirit.  Transform my heartfelt fears into the courage to reach out to disinterested kids whom you love with a compassion that transcends my comprehension.  I believe there is no more important calling than to invest myself in the lives of the precious kids whom you have placed upon my heart and put in the way of my life's journey. Lord, when the question is asked of me, "And how are the children?"  I want to be able to say, "All the children are well."  Only as I am empowered by your Holy Spirit is that possible. Amen


And this just is a startling realization of the impact that our interactions with people, specifically youth, can have on them. "It is the caring attentiveness of the older generation to the younger that is likely to make the most significant difference in the lives of the teenagers we touch"
     "I recently heard the story of an alter boy in a small village, who, as he was carrying the chalice before the priest, dropped the goblet, spilling the consecrated wine all over the floor.  The priest responded by backhanding the boy, striking him in the face and shouting, "Never come back here again!" The child obeyed.
     In a very similar situation, another alter boy in a different church committed the very same mistake, serving before the bishop himself.  But the bishop reacted very differently.  He winked at the boy and whispered, " You're going to be a priest someday."  
     The first boy grew up to become Marshall Tito, the abusive, tyrannical head of the communist party in Yugoslavia, who reigned with an iron fist for decades.  The second grew to become Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the Roman Catholic bishop who, in the 1950s received an Emmy for his work on television, a role in which he positively affected hundreds of thousands."


Colossians 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.