Hey what's up. I have a question pertinent to the utapas de viva (is that right Mindy?) that I am in right now. This question is for some of the older members of Metro (if you don't go to Metro come back Tuesday :-) unless your just curious about our church) I guess I'm talking mostly to Jaime, Mom, Rachel, Jenn, Medana and whoever else from Metro that might stumble across my humble blog (if you people want to tell your friends to come and answer the question thats cool plus it'll give my site more hits :-)
Question: what are one or two of the biggest things that you would like to see change about our youth/young singles? Be it a concern, a burden, just something you've noticed etc. anything you've noticed about the young people of the Church. Now this isn't just to hear you vent (altho that's cool too) but I was sitting here in DC wondering "hey I wonder what some of the older people think of me/us but never tell me."
So fire away!
12 comments:
"utapas de viva"...____ of life... youth of life? season of life?
i don't know what "utapas" means...
but if you're trying to say youth group, you can just say
"reunion de jovenes"
De nada :)
-Melinda
so is Melinda related to you or is she a friend? I'm trying to get a handle on the dynamics here
well.....????
Anonymous,
She is a friend of the family; no relative of ours! :-)
i was trying to say "stages of life"...
I'm finding it humorous that no one has commented on the actual question yet. Is that because only youth and/or non-Metro people are reading this? : )
ohh then you meant.
"Etapas de vida"
*see ya in a few days!*
-Melinda
ps viva = live
vida = life
Utapas = a newly created word by Jake Phillips
Etapas = stages
*ahem* I would like to voice my concern that Jacob is referring to ME as older. Now Jacob, I know that someone who is out of high school must appear ancient to you...nevertheless, I am NOT old.
So, now that we've gotten that straightened out...here's my question. How do YOU (and I absolutely include myself :o) see culture/world creeping into our youth group? We are so effectively taught that it's easy to miss where the culture slithers in. But it must be because this is the nature of the world we live in. So where is it? Where must the world be stamped out of our lives? Where have we allowed ourselves to conform? And no answers like 'music' or 'movies'. I want serious answers...adult answers...essay length answers. You have 40 minutes. Go.
...and who on earth are 'rodrigo' and 'mefea'?!
Ok, as someone who is way out of High School but not old either, I would like to ask a question for the point of clarification--maybe all of the people who read this already know the answer, but since I've never actually met anyone here--I think it is helpful to define the "world" before we ask where it has crept in. Look at the Amish, they did all these things to avoid the "world" and now people travel thousands of miles to watch them farm.
So I'm curious, how would you define the "world?"
For us, I think the best way to define the world is Rom 12:2. We are IN the world but not OF it. We are salt and light. I heard someone say recently that in our attempts to be culturally relavent Christians, it seems we have swung WAY to far. He was saying, "If you've known someone for any length of time and they are surprised to find out you're a Christian, that's not good." This doesn't mean we self-righteously make sure we talk about Jesus quickly upon first meeting someone. However, within a short amount of time they should notice something different about us. They shouldn't be surprised to find out we are Christians!
Worldliness is a big concern. But my biggest concern for our youth is idolatry. As Calvin says, our hearts are a "factory of idols." At NA this weekend CJ preached on idolatry. You can read about it on Janelle's blog at http://janelle-marie-phillips.blogspot.com/.
Idolatry is my concern for my OWN heart. Do I crave peace? A good reputation? More "stuff"? These sinful cravings are serious to God who addresses idolatry more than any other subject in scripture.
Young people are prone to your own idolatry. I pray the Lord will give you a heart to detect and destroy the idols that cry out to you for affection reserved for God alone.
Jennifer,
"...and who on earth are 'rodrigo' and 'mefea'?!"
i don't know who rodrigo is but Mefea would be the nickname Gabriel Fonseca gave to me when i was in Cuba two years ago...this is Mindy Pino but sometimes i feel like being Mefea...it's my split personality coming out
-Melinda la linda
With respect Shiree, I'm not sure I agree with you (or the original person you are quoting) out of hand on the surprise about a Christian being a bad thing. Personally, there is much about the term I hate. The term has been hijacked by people fighting for things I don't find in Scripture, by means I definitely don't find in Scripture even when I agree with their agenda. I know when I was a pastor I'd always wait as long as I could to tell people because it would change the context of our relationship.
I think if they are surprised because I'm running to do things that are obviously against Scripture that would be sad. Sometimes, perhaps many times in our fast changing times they can be surprised for good reasons. I realize in each person's story and context this will look different but too often I hear people say my church has gone way too far when they've never been here. I knew a lady who told me I'd have to resign from being a pastor if I grew my goatie out long enough to braid it. I was "sacrificing" my testimony. That's just silliness.
I agree with you that people should see something different about us, and that is a good thing--but if they're not it doesn't mean we've compromised anything. A whole lot of religious people were surprised to discover that Jesus was the Messiah.
Peace.
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