Before you write in, let’s be clear. We very much want to see our Spaces facilitators pass on the baton of faith to the next generation. Psalm 78:5-8 proclaims “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power and the wonders he has done.” The key word in the title of this blog is therefore ‘your.’ The Apostle Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 11:1) “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” Paul sets the bar high as a role model. Whilst there is much we can and should pass on to our young people from our own faith journey, our mission in Spaces groups is to help young people become more like Jesus, not to become more like us.
Have you ever felt, in maybe a service you attended with young people or at another Christian youth event, that you were being stretched outside of your comfort zone? That the style, presentation or content wasn’t ‘doing it’ for you? That feeling is OK because we all need to find the best way that we can connect to God but it’s not OK when if we try to apply our preferences to our young people. Obviously, we want to protect our young people from anything that is unsound or unbiblical but when it comes to style or depth of engagement , if they want to head out into deeper water, it’s not our job to keep them at the depth that we feel comfortable. They may not like the deeper water but how will they know if they are never given the opportunity to try?
In his book, Don’t Make History Change the Future, pastor and leadership coach Matt Summerfield writes “People who have committed to run their race and run it well understand that part of their responsibility is to set up the next generation for greater success. They lift the lid. The ceiling of their experience and achievement become the floor of those who follow. They’re not satisfied, however, with creating a low ceiling. They’re committed to setting the highest possible ceiling as their example, so that it will stretch and challenge the coming generation to go further.”
Athletes who move into coaching are never going to be satisfied with the athlete they are training only going as fast as they used to be able to go. They want their athletes to go higher, faster, longer. Don’t fear exposing your young people to experiences or practices that aren’t necessarily ‘your cup of tea.’ Equally, don’t fear exposing yourself to new spiritual experiences. One of the key elements of the Spaces ethos is ‘journeying together’ and implicit within that is a willingness to learn and grow and be open to God challenging us in our own journey of faith.
When I used to take my youth group to Alton Towers my favourite ‘ride’ (sadly no longer there) was on the on the lake where you could climb into giant fibreglass swans that would be sedately propelled through the water at not more than a walking pace. I could happily have sat there all day. Not so my youth group who wanted to go on the bigger, faster rides. Some were to regret this decision, as their lunch exited their body at approximately the same speed as the ride, but many, even the ones that had been most nervous, had the time of their lives. My job wasn’t to convince them that they (and their lunch) would be safer on the swans it was to let them have an adventure. Faith is an adventure and we do our young people a disservice if we, often with the best motives, try to keep them in the place where we feel most comfortable. We don’t want them to become more like us, we want them to become more like Jesus.