A few of us have begun the dreaming, planning, and development process for 7 Summers (see video and article). But, the first step in any good plan is to frame the questions. Here are a few of mine (please post or email me your ideas):
1. Can we identify the best catalysts for change... strengthening of family and neighborhood, dream incubators, dream teams, youth cells and empowering networks, business support, school and community partnerships?
2. How do we create the support structure in the church for this kind of vision?
3. How could parents and mentors be motivated to play their key part?
4. Are there many adults whose own calling and dreams would be fulfilled in this kind of movement?
5. What kinds of dialog, brainstorming, and planning models would facilitate rapid development and implementation?
6. How do we engage children and youth themselves into the imagining and planning process early and give this enough force to drive action?
7. How do we enlarge the online conversation and idea-generating process?
8. How can we REALLY get churches to work together in our cities... please don't say it can't be done, what is it going to take?
Watch the 7 Summers video.
Seth Barnes made this post on 7 Summmers. See the full post here
ReplyDeleteMichael wrote me in response to a blog I posted on the pro's and con's of VBS ladies:
What if budget were not a a big issue, a church actually prioritized reaching the next generation, and was committed to complete holistic solutions?
I suggested that he check out the Youth Ministry section on my blog and some ideas I have for youth pastors in discipling their young people, which includes a six-week church-planting trip. It sounds radical, but people are doing this stuff, those that really have a heart for long-lasting discipleship. Of course, it's costly, parents, but this is a cost we need to be prepared to pay.
Michael responded:
I think one of the problems is that the adult leadership in the church does not recognize the spiritual capacity and the leadership potential of kids 7-17. Many of these kids have large disposable incomes, drive the trends and pop culture of our day, warrant millions in ad budgets by US corporations, are media-savvy and life-savvy like no previous generation, yet we still relegate them to one-hour a week canned Bible stories, craft times, pizza parties, and a five-day, once-a-year backyard VBS, and wonder why 18 to 30 year-olds are so hard to reach, or keep in the church.
We need a Marshall Plan or a Manhattan Project mindset. When a community of people recognize how important it is to reach a goal, history has shown that people are willing to make sacrifices.
He sent the following video as a call to action and a link to their website - Breakthroughchurch.com
I love the immediacy of it, coupled with the desire for strategy planning. It alarms me that the Church doesn't really trust young people and won't empower them to be leaders. It's no wonder most of them check out in their twenties, curious about God, but disenchanted with the church. We need to do something about this. For some ideas, look here.