dick, dom and turkey twizzlers
i've just got home from having lunch with tim and ben (all in the name of sharing good practice of course) and wanted to share a thought i had whilst we were chatting.
as usual we were bitching, sorry chatting, about youth work and youth ministry, the pros cons and differences between each. i've recently heard bad youth ministry (it does exist) compared with both 'dick and dom' and 'turkey twizzlers' (made famous by jamie oliver's school dinners programme - see deep thought for discussions on that)
what interested me is that the type of youth ministry being described is the stuff that lacks any real depth - be it theology or good youth work practice (some have one and not the other and neither is better or worse). just like turkey twizzlers and dick & dom in da bungalow (which are equally full of crap and bad for your health) young people/kids love 'em! i watched kids on jamie's programme crying and vomiting when their turker twizzlers were replaced with balsamic roast chicken and dressed pasta salad, and i've seen a mum in halfords ripping her hair out because her two year old daughter was bellowing 'bogeys' at the top of her voice.
what's odd is that when in the past (a long time ago obviously) i've produced turkey twizzler youth ministry, kids and parents have loved it! it didn't matter that i did things with zero theological thought or any youth work goals and objectives, they were over the moon because i was keeping their little darlings happy on a friday night.
why do young people and their parents seem to enjoy the lowest common denominator when it comes to youth ministry? or more to the point why do we permit the same to become the norm?
i have no idea where this rant is going - it wasn't meant to start out as a rant even. but hopefully you can see my point, to be good quality, youth ministry, just like food, needs to be good for you, but also taste nice, in other words it needs to be a balance, good youth work but suffused and overflowing and flowing out of good theology. good theology with crap youth work ends up as all bran, really good for you but tastes (frankly) revolting, and the opposite great youth work with no mission or christology at the heart is like a burger king lunch, tastes great, but does you no good at all.
probably needs some more thought like most of my ideas. i'll have a kebab and finish off my easter eggs and get back to thinking this through.
as usual we were bitching, sorry chatting, about youth work and youth ministry, the pros cons and differences between each. i've recently heard bad youth ministry (it does exist) compared with both 'dick and dom' and 'turkey twizzlers' (made famous by jamie oliver's school dinners programme - see deep thought for discussions on that)
what interested me is that the type of youth ministry being described is the stuff that lacks any real depth - be it theology or good youth work practice (some have one and not the other and neither is better or worse). just like turkey twizzlers and dick & dom in da bungalow (which are equally full of crap and bad for your health) young people/kids love 'em! i watched kids on jamie's programme crying and vomiting when their turker twizzlers were replaced with balsamic roast chicken and dressed pasta salad, and i've seen a mum in halfords ripping her hair out because her two year old daughter was bellowing 'bogeys' at the top of her voice.
what's odd is that when in the past (a long time ago obviously) i've produced turkey twizzler youth ministry, kids and parents have loved it! it didn't matter that i did things with zero theological thought or any youth work goals and objectives, they were over the moon because i was keeping their little darlings happy on a friday night.
why do young people and their parents seem to enjoy the lowest common denominator when it comes to youth ministry? or more to the point why do we permit the same to become the norm?
i have no idea where this rant is going - it wasn't meant to start out as a rant even. but hopefully you can see my point, to be good quality, youth ministry, just like food, needs to be good for you, but also taste nice, in other words it needs to be a balance, good youth work but suffused and overflowing and flowing out of good theology. good theology with crap youth work ends up as all bran, really good for you but tastes (frankly) revolting, and the opposite great youth work with no mission or christology at the heart is like a burger king lunch, tastes great, but does you no good at all.
probably needs some more thought like most of my ideas. i'll have a kebab and finish off my easter eggs and get back to thinking this through.
posted by Pete Maidment at
3:43 pm
2 Comments:
Perhaps the whole notion of "real" youth ministry itself is actually about what the whole church should be doing. Good youth ministry is good ministry... period. Why should the rest of the dempographic curve be exempt from the expectations of doing things properly!
Entertaining young people to keep them in church makes consumers rather than disciples... and for what? It's not as if there is always something worth staying on for!
Can you actually imagine what the church will be like when those who have been through turkey twizzler ministries come of age?
By
Ben Mizen, at 6:50 pm
Perhaps your comments reflect "adult" ministry as much as youth - maybe we can lose the gospel in the name of relevance and trying to show Christians are "normal". Perhpas we should revel in being "abnormal" and Christ centred, even at the risk of losing numbers? But then if you're paid by your church that might be tricky...
By
Pete Lev, at 3:08 pm
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