Youth Ministry 101
Youth Ministry 101 (26)
In Youth Ministry 101, Adam Ericksen shares his experiences and insights from his work in Christian formation with middle school and high school students. His contemporary topics and engaging methods offer wisdom for all ages.
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Written by Adam Ericksen
Adam discusses a scene from Spiderman, where Uncle Ben says a proverb: "With great power comes great responsibility." This proverb guides Peter Parker as he fights crime in his role as Spiderman. The Bible has a book called Proverbs, in which parents are instructed to provide wisdom to their children. There are two paths, one of justice, compassion, and love, and another path of wickedness and violence. Which path will we go down? Paul picks this idea up when he talks about Jesus. According to Paul, God was reconciling the world to Godself through Jesus. We have the power to participate, or not participate, in God's work of reconciliation.
Birthday Parties and Biblical Hospitality
Written by Adam Ericksen
Adam discusses the biblical version of hospitality, emphasizing Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 11:17-22 - and birthday parties. Paul wants everyone to be included at Communion/the Lord's Supper. But there was division in Corinth. The early church worshiped in houses, usually owned by the rich. Well, according to Paul, the rich would show up early, party like it's 1999, and the poor people (who likely worked all day) showed up later and got seconds. Probably bad wine, too. Paul said they weren't doing Communion right - that they were dividing the church/body of Christ, which is supposed to be as one body. So, this leads to the question: Where in our lives are we excluding people? And how can we change that into a spirit of inclusion?
Adam discusses human interconnectedness. In this lesson, we put pictures of ourselves and the members of the youth group between two foam boards. Then we drew pictures of our enemies and posted it on the front board. We threw darts at our enemies, only to lift up the first board and realize that when we throw darts at others we also throw darts at ourselves. We are all interconnected in the web of life. Once we see that we throw darts, we can take responsibility for our own physical and verbal dart throwing. When we acknowledge that, we can become empowered to end a cycle of victimary thinking and move to healing, forgiveness, and love.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul claims that the church, or the body of Christ, is interconnected. So, when the toe hurts, the head feels it. When the arm hurts, the whole body feels it. How would the world be different if we acted this way with our fellow human beings?
The Prophets Eminem and Rihanna: Love the Way You Lie, Violence, and Hell
Written by Adam EricksenMirror Neurons, Glee, Accusations, and Forgiveness
Written by Adam Ericksen
Here's the Glee video on youtube:
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