Social media is about people
This is the latest motion graphic on the role social media plays in our lives. This one is also from a UK perspective, which makes it especially helpful.
What role does social media play in your life? What role does it play in your faith?
5 reasons to practice silent contemplation and how to get started
Practicing silent contemplation is something a lot of Christ-followers would associate with old, worn-out, traditional Christianity. I’ve found it to be a hugely significant part of my spiritual life - here’s why I think you should give it a go and how you can get started.
Why faith-based youth work offers a solution to the London Riots
Youthwork Magazine editor, Martin Saunders, wrote this piece in the Guardian looking at the London Riots from the perspective of a Christian youth worker:
Faith-based youth work has something special, something inherently different to offer them, because it offers something distinctive: transformation. And we in the faith community must not be ashamed of where that transformation comes from: an engagement with young people’s yearning sense of spirituality – something which promises rewards even greater than financial gain.
For I tell you this; one blind loving desire for God alone is more valuable in itself, more pleasing to God and to the saints, more beneficial to your own growth, and more helpful to your friends, both living and dead, than anything else you could do.
(Found in Mark Yaconelli - Wonder, Fear and Longing)
Mark Yaconelli
Was at Mark Yaconelli’s day on ‘Tending the Adolescent Soul’ in Birmingham on Wednesday. Here’s some thoughts/notes.
Mark talked about the primary role of a youth worker (or perhaps any minister) as being a spiritual guide for young people - helping them to journey through the landscapes of their own spirituality. So much of what he said could apply to church leadership, pioneer ministry, community work - any role involving encounters with other people.
He also suggested that often our cultural responses to young people, as well as our youth work, is fueled by anxiety or fear, rather than love or trust.
Although the whole thing could have seemed a little ‘overspiritual’ at times (is it the film, Donnie Darko, which has the whole Fear vs. Love pseudo-Christian guy?), I quite liked his ideas, and in particular his kind of step-by-step model for interacting/developing relationship with young people:
- See - See the young person through the soft eyes of Jesus
- Be Seen - Allow yourself to be seen and accepted
- Hear - Mark suggested that ‘Heaven is a place where your voice is heard, fully and properly’
- Be Heard - Be heard and understood as a real human being, with weaknesses and flaws
- Moved with Compassion - The natural response to seeing and hearing someone for who they are, and being seen and heard
- Moved with Compassion - This compassion is then reciprocated by the young person in response
- Acts of Kindness - The natural response to being moved with compassion for someone
- Acts of Kindness - Reciprocated back by the young person
- Delight - Delight in the relationship, in the encounter and in the other person - the natural response to an act of kindness from another
Blue Like Jazz
Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz is one of those books I really should have read (based on it’s reputation) but hadn’t until now. Amy got me a copy a week or so ago, and it’s got me hooked. I love how honest and down-to-earth it is, and lacking in Christian jargon.
There’s something charming about the way he simply tells his story, without generalising or suggesting any life principles, or how to learn from his experiences.
I’ll be posting some quotes on the blog over the next few weeks.
