Dang it!

I just wrote a fairly lengthy entry and then it got lost. So I'm a little upset about that. Oh well.

Instead, here's some quotes from Kenda Creasy Dean in the latest round of articles from youthspecialties.com. Interesting stuff. It's worth reading the whole article.

"In other words, instead of winning teenagers' trust for the sake of presenting a Christian message (think, playing crazy games with teenagers for an hour before hitting them with a God-talk at the end, or hanging out at a skate park to gain enough street cred to invite skaters to church), we befriend teenagers for the sake of Christian friendship, because this is a time-honored way Christ chooses to reveal himself to us (Matthew 18:19)."

"Is our theology lithe enough to stretch across many different frames for ministry and many different forms of Christian life? Do young people experience God as synonymous with particular people (like their small group) or a particular practice of ministry (like singing with a praise band) or a particular context (like camp)? Or have we helped them develop a repertoire of faith practices supple enough to take Christianity beyond any single faith experience?"