Well as I sit in Starbucks, starting to collect my post trip thoughts, I'm realizing that one week ago I was sitting in northern Bangladesh, sharing the story of Joseph amidst a group of pastors. On a sidenote, as I write this I'm carrying on a conversation with a member of the 1989 Grey Cup Champion, Roughriders, talking about India, Bangladesh and the purpose of my visit there. Follows a good sabbatical theme - simply seeing what God has in store for me, each moment of each day. Not sure that I can collect all my thoughts together in one entry (you'd quit reading long before it was all done), so over the next number of weeks, maybe months, I'll simply jot down thoughts and reflections as they come to my mind.
Just over a month ago, I attended the Desiring God Pastors conference, and if you have read previous blog entries you know that I reflected upon the state of males in the culture and church today, with the thought of being men who would give our lives to something of eternal significance! It was at the pastors conference, I was faced with the reality (both from christian & secular writers) that men are beginning to disengage from life, marriage, family, leadership, church, education etc. In so many ways, men are checking out and it's having an impact on our culture, our families, our churches. I find I fight that battle myself. On one hand wanting to be a man that fights for my family, fights for the church, takes those wounds and scars for the sake of the gospel - thus finding pastoring and fatherhood so inspiring. On the other hand, realizing how easy it would be to entertain the idea of checking out and shirking the responsibility that God has laid on me (perhaps more thoughts will arise on that very battle that ensues!!)
One of the alarming stats I was confronted with (though not a new one, but simply hoping it could not really be true) is that 50% of men between the ages of 18-34 play 3 hours of video games a day. From what I understand in some denominations, is that churches are having a difficult time finding pastors, as young men are not entering the ministry, and many are avoiding leadership within the church. I find myself, based upon some reflecting from the conference, asking is this due to the nature of our churches? Are we possibly targeting the wrong crowd, the wrong demographic? Could it be that some of the programs and the ministries that we believe are so vital to a healthy church, are missing the mark slightly? Could this be why some of our young men are dropping out of church, not taking on the mantle of leadership within our churches, finding something else to pursue when they hit the ages of 21-22? Are they looking for something worth battling for and fighting for, and trying to find it our midst, but struggling to do so?
I raise these questions because they have been plaguing me since I heard some of the words and alarming realities in Minneapolis. Then last week as I sat in Bangladesh, with many very young men, who are entering into tough fields of ministry I asked myself - why are they willing to do this? Some of these guys are going to live in places that have no Christian witness, no church, no biblical fellowship period. And they are moving there for the purpose of seeing God's church grow as they seek to share the gospel. For some of these young men it will come with some opposition, perhaps violence (I sat by the memorial of a young man martyred for sharing his faith). They know it may be sometime before they have regular fellowship as they seek to see the church planted and grow. Yet they are doing this with an incredible joy and the delight and warmth in their spirits is so encouraging, and I felt a shame over my attitude and approach to ministry and life at times.
Found myself asking as I spent time in the presence of these young men, after hearing these words in Minneapolis - could it be that they have found a far more inspiring challenge than achieving a certian level in a game? They have entered into a real life battle that will require their all, may take their life or much of their comfort, and they've entered it with a zealousness that spoke and deeply challenged me.
On a sidenote, next time we think we are hard done by in life in some way, or that we need more books, or our schools should be better equipped. The above picture is the library of a seminary that I visited in India!
Just over a month ago, I attended the Desiring God Pastors conference, and if you have read previous blog entries you know that I reflected upon the state of males in the culture and church today, with the thought of being men who would give our lives to something of eternal significance! It was at the pastors conference, I was faced with the reality (both from christian & secular writers) that men are beginning to disengage from life, marriage, family, leadership, church, education etc. In so many ways, men are checking out and it's having an impact on our culture, our families, our churches. I find I fight that battle myself. On one hand wanting to be a man that fights for my family, fights for the church, takes those wounds and scars for the sake of the gospel - thus finding pastoring and fatherhood so inspiring. On the other hand, realizing how easy it would be to entertain the idea of checking out and shirking the responsibility that God has laid on me (perhaps more thoughts will arise on that very battle that ensues!!)
One of the alarming stats I was confronted with (though not a new one, but simply hoping it could not really be true) is that 50% of men between the ages of 18-34 play 3 hours of video games a day. From what I understand in some denominations, is that churches are having a difficult time finding pastors, as young men are not entering the ministry, and many are avoiding leadership within the church. I find myself, based upon some reflecting from the conference, asking is this due to the nature of our churches? Are we possibly targeting the wrong crowd, the wrong demographic? Could it be that some of the programs and the ministries that we believe are so vital to a healthy church, are missing the mark slightly? Could this be why some of our young men are dropping out of church, not taking on the mantle of leadership within our churches, finding something else to pursue when they hit the ages of 21-22? Are they looking for something worth battling for and fighting for, and trying to find it our midst, but struggling to do so?
I raise these questions because they have been plaguing me since I heard some of the words and alarming realities in Minneapolis. Then last week as I sat in Bangladesh, with many very young men, who are entering into tough fields of ministry I asked myself - why are they willing to do this? Some of these guys are going to live in places that have no Christian witness, no church, no biblical fellowship period. And they are moving there for the purpose of seeing God's church grow as they seek to share the gospel. For some of these young men it will come with some opposition, perhaps violence (I sat by the memorial of a young man martyred for sharing his faith). They know it may be sometime before they have regular fellowship as they seek to see the church planted and grow. Yet they are doing this with an incredible joy and the delight and warmth in their spirits is so encouraging, and I felt a shame over my attitude and approach to ministry and life at times.
Found myself asking as I spent time in the presence of these young men, after hearing these words in Minneapolis - could it be that they have found a far more inspiring challenge than achieving a certian level in a game? They have entered into a real life battle that will require their all, may take their life or much of their comfort, and they've entered it with a zealousness that spoke and deeply challenged me.
On a sidenote, next time we think we are hard done by in life in some way, or that we need more books, or our schools should be better equipped. The above picture is the library of a seminary that I visited in India!
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