Bonhoeffer and Youth Ministry

I've been using a book by Dr. Andrew Root in the Practical Issues youth ministry course I teach on Monday nights. Revisting Relational Youth Ministry is the title...wonderful book! (At least I think so...students may have another opinion) Dr. Root casts a vision of youth ministry rooted (no pun intended) in the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer - youth ministry as "place sharing". I won't get into everything he says...I recommend reading the book. What struck me about Root's engagement of Bonhoeffer's theology is something so simple it's profound. Entering into relationships with young people is not a tool...it's not a technique...it is not a strategy. We do not enter into relationships with young people to "lead them to Jesus"...or get them into a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ". We enter into relationships with them...for the sake of the relationship. Period.

Once we stop seeing relationships as a tool or a means of influence...we begin to see the young person as a human. A real live human being...one who is greatly influenced by their specific cultural situation, but also one who cannot be defined solely by historical and cultural circumstances. They are not projects, they are not a product, they are not a means to gauge the success or failure of our ministry. They are human beings...flesh and blood...with hopes and fears, dreams and failures. When we begin to recognize this...and enter into relationship with them in order to share their experience of the world...the incarnate Christ is present.

This speaks to a theology of presence...rooted in the God who's very name, Yahweh, revealed His presence to an enslaved people. A name which fully manifests itself in the incarantion...the Word made flesh who dewlt among us. A theology which proclaims God is for the world, for the other, and calls his people to be for the world in the same manner. A theology which leads to ministry that embraces the absurdity of the gospel - God has entered into the misery and brokeness of his people on the cross of Jesus Christ. And He calls us to do the same...to take up our cross...and enter into the suffering and misery of the world for the sake of the world. Or as Root describes - entering into the suffering and misery of young people for their sake.

No manipulation...no quick, glib, "I"ll pray for you..." or "God loves you", which so often really means "Good luck with all that...". Instead, we take the plunge. By way of the cross we enter into suffering and sorrow - we come alongside, we advocate, we share the burden. By way of the resurrection we proclaim and partcipate in new creation - new humanity - calling those we encounter to put away the old self and become who they were created to be.

For sure this isn't easy...but Jesus never said discipleship would be. But what relief! Relief from the artificial, the surfacy, the showmanship, the "big deal". Relief from the expectation that being spiritual means transcending our humanity. Relief from simplistic moralism and rigid doctrinal boundaries. Relief from fads and gimmicks...from "stuck in adolscence" youth ministers who do incredible harm to both young people and the reputation of those called to youth ministry. Could it be that this is what Jesus meant when he said "Come to me, and I will give you rest"? Maybe so...