Growing Souls – Ministry Roles
I am still processing Growing Souls the book form Mark Yaconelli about his work with the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project. One thing that has convicted me about this book is three approaches it outlines in youth ministry. It really shows the difference in what I do in ministry and what I would like to be. The book defines youth ministers as: Program Director (consumer model), Instructor (content model) and Spiritual Guide (contemplative model). I really want to be a spiritual guide, but I often wind up it seems as an instuctor and sometimes program director. What comes out of these three perspectives of youth ministry is youth that are: Religious Consumers (consumer model), Potential Instituional Members (content model) and Spiritual Seekers (contemplative model).
I can definitely see times when I do all three, but I really and working toward the third more and more. It is a bit unsettling thinking of myself as a spiritual guide and that is probably why I have avoided it for so long. It is always so much easier to just hide behind programs.
All of this is really exciting for me at the same time. My next retreat I am planning will be much more contemplative and somewhat monastic. I’ll check in after it and report the results.
