Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Teenagers and ministry as vocation

I have to speak to a group of teens about ministry and vocation soon. I've been given a 30-minute slot of time during which to talk. While they eat.

This kind of scheduling is not my idea of a good plan.

Any thoughts on how to make ministry as a vocation as engaging (or more so) as pizza and the banter to be enjoyed with dozens of others their own age? I need help, you all! I know I'm in trouble. I think pizza and teenage banter is going to be way more interesting that what I have to say!

4 comments:

Silent said...

I am by no means an expert on this and thoroughly agree this is not the best of planning, but...a few initial thoughts.

Use pizza as an example--we each like different kinds, our tastes might change from childhood to adulthood, we might like more than one kind and that's okay, it takes lots of ingredients to make the whole (each person contributes to the whole world), sometimes it's messy.

Have them talk to each other--have some engaging questions for them to do as table groups or small groups they are sitting with (presuming room arrangement allows this). Depending on how many youth to adults you have, maybe other adults could be strategically planted to help with this kind of conversation.

Don't know if either idea is really helpful or not. Good luck!

concretegodmother said...

yeah, my off-the-cuff response was going to be 'don't speak; ask.' design discussion questions that they discuss at their tables and then share out to the larger group. or allow them to q&a w/you. once they get past the initial pizza excitement, they can listen and participate.

Linda said...

Great ideas, Silent and CGM! Thanks! I think having them do some discussion at the table is dead on. That thought sparked a whole lot of possibilities for me.

Silent- I believe this is first time you've commented here. Welcome! Glad to have a new voice here.

Marie said...

Those are great ideas: discussing and reporting out. Try to think of some provocative questions that get to what ministry and vocation are. I have more ideas (since this is what I do AND I just spent a weekend with the little buggers) if you want to hear them. Are you talking just about "churchy" vocations. Like, "are you called to the ministry or something?"

Oh, and if it's a church group of kids, no matter how loud they are before you start, I think you may be pleasantly surprised at how attentive they are to you.