I don't know if it's just my church, but we have a hard time trying to find committed Sunday School teachers for our youth group. Most of the time, they do it for a year or so and quit. I think it's because most don't realize how challenging it can be.
And I think that in our desperation to find teachers, sometimes we took just about anyone who volunteered, without really knowing anything about them, or what they were really teaching. Lately my church has gotten better at this because we have weekly meetings where we actually talk about what happened in class that day, but before this I was a bit troubled by some of the things I saw.
I remember when I was in youth group, I took whatever the teacher said as "gospel" and never questioned what he said because he was a "grown-up." I never realized that he probably never had any formal Bible training or theological background.
Looking back, it explained a lot. I remember one teacher who would just buy us plastic airplane models that we would assemble each week in class. I didn't question it because it was fun, but now I realize that he was probably doing that because he had no clue on actually teaching anything biblical. Another one of my teachers wasn't even a member of our church...he was the janitor, who we found out later wasn't even a Christian. Another one just made us read these Christian comic books every week for the whole hour.
Previously, in my current church, I saw similar things. A lot of the teachers really had no desire to actually teach from the materials. Each week they would say, "Yeah, I 'departed' from the book this week and just asked how my guys were doing and we talked about their problems." First of all, you actually have to have used the materials to say that you "departed" from it. Second, you can ask about your students' problems any other time. The hour you have with them is reserved for teaching from God's word.
One time, we discovered that one of the teachers was teaching his class that he believes in earthly reincarnation... meaning that when you die, you come back to Earth as someone or something else. I think he had a buddhist background. I couldn't believe that this happened.
I realize that finding a dozen or so people in any given church who are dedicated to teaching and have sound doctrine is difficult, but I think that teaching our kids the truth about God's word is of paramount importance. They are very impressionable, and that means we have to be extra vigilant in finding good teachers to teach them about the most important things in Christian life.
The word "screening" has a very negative connotation when it comes to volunteer work, but I think it's necessary. If we claim that teaching our youth is important, we have to back it up by caring about what we teach (or don't teach) them. Could this mean that this scares away some potential teachers from volunteering? For some teachers, yeah, I actually hope so.
Does your church have problems finding good Sunday School teachers? Do you think they should be "screened"?
Would you ever name your child Adolf Hitler? How about accepting advertising from a website that promotes extramarital affairs? Probably not, but would you deny the right for someone else to do so? Ah, there's the rub.
If you haven't heard the stories, I'll summarize.
In New Jersey, the Division of Youth and Family Services took custody of three children named Adolf Hitler, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation, and Honszlynn Hinler (Himmler?) from their home. The family made headlines a month ago when a local supermarket refused to put young Adolf's name on a birthday cake. The DYFS claims that they did not remove the children because of their names. But there has since been a tidal wave of uproar over the parents' choice of names.
The other story is about how the NFL refused to run an ad in their stadium program for a website (purposely left out site address) that is a resource for married people who want to have affairs to meet up. Their tagline is "life is short, have an affair." The site has since gotten plenty of free airtime on various talk shows and news organizations.
In this country one of the most sacred of rights is the right to free speech... no matter whom it offends. I'm sure there are things that offend a whole lot of people like the things above, but they are protected by the Bill of Rights.
There are many times when Christians are offended by how some people choose to exercise this right. For example, I remember quite a few years back there was someone who made a piece of "art" that he entitled "Piss Christ" that was a photograph depicting a crucifix in a cup of his urine.
Yes, it angered me that someone took an image of the God I love in the very act that gave me salvation and defiled it in the name of art. But what angered me more was how he likely knew how inflammatory it would be and used it to advance his name. And we helped him do it.
It's not that I think that Christians don't have a right to be offended. We should be deeply repulsed by the state of the world and should act to right real wrongs. But there are times when by being offended and expressing how offended we are just because we are, we become pawns for the offenders.
I'm sure the parents who named their child "Hitler" did it to make a point. Now that it's national news, they did. The website that was refused by the NFL is now getting priceless free advertising in the media (and I suppose this entry to an extent).
My point is, not only are there much greater things wrong in this world than what some wahoo names their kid, what depraved websites are out there, or what someone considers art to evoke action from Christians, but also that we have to be careful not to actually help their cause by elevating it unnecessarily because our sensibilities were violated. In the same way that they have freedom to express themselves, we have the freedom to ignore them and in that way silence them.
Over the Christmas holiday, I was back in Georgia visiting my folks for a few days, and one thing that I notice every time I go back is how much more open people and businesses are about their faith in God than here in Maryland. It encourages me quite a bit. Granted, the ratio of practicing Christians to non-Christians in the South is probably considerably higher, but it is one of the things I appreciate about my old home.
I think most Christians know of the fast food chain Chick-fil-A and that the CEO, S. Truett Cathy, is a devout Christian. In fact, the Corporate Purpose Statement reads:
"to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."
I've known that this was the corporate purpose statement since my sister worked for them many years ago. At the restaurant where she worked they would have morning prayer meetings before they opened and almost everyone who worked there attended church and appreciated the fact that they were closed on Sundays. But the "Christian-ness" of the restaurant was pretty much kept under wraps.
But in one of the restaurants I visited over Christmas, I saw the Corporate Statement above on a huge display, not near the bathrooms, not in a discreet corner, or behind a plant, but rather right next to the main menu board above the cashiers' heads. It was hard to miss. You almost felt like you had to order a #1 combo with a side of "glorifying God by being a faithful steward..." minus pickles.
Later that week, I saw the above commercial from Interstate Batteries. At first I thought, "Oh, great, another cheesy ad from a Foundation for a Better Life," but then the song came on saying, "We need more of God's love..." so then I thought... "Is FfaBL coming out of the closet?" But then on the last few seconds, I saw the weblink to interstate batteries. (http://www.interstatebatteries.com/godslove/)
I investigated further and found out that the Chairman of Interstate Batteries, Norm Miller, is also a devout believer, and even has a sample believer's prayer in his testimony on the website. I also found their Mission Statement:
To glorify God as we supply our customers worldwide with top quality, value-priced batteries, related electrical power-source products, and distribution services. Further, our mission is to provide our partners and team members with opportunities which are profitable, rewarding and growth-oriented.
All this got me thinking. Though both of these companies are billion dollar entities, neither of these companies are publicly traded. If they ever went with an IPO, I'm sure the owners would make many millions of dollars by doing so. But I'm sure one of the fears is that if they ever became public companies, the shareholders might force some changes. For Chick-fil-A, at least, a change might be to open on Sundays (fast food restaurants are known to make 20% of revenues from Sunday sales).
In a world where the buck is generally the bottom line, it's nice to see Christian business owners "wasting" money on cheesy TV commercials and not opening on Sundays to try to live out their faith... that it even extends to the business that they do.
I think if I ever open up a small business or something I will make a mission statement like the ones above... I can see it now...
Nate's Plumbing's Mission Statement:
To glorify God as we plunge your toilets with vigor, unclog your drains of nasty wet hair, and fix your leaky pipes until they drip no more... forever and ever, Amen.
What do you think about corporations meshing in faith with their business? What would you think if these companies ever went public and the shareholders made them change that?
It's easy to feel insignificant. For example, in my state, according to the polls, I voted this morning for every item on the ballot that will lose - by a lot. But I still voted.
I have a friend who I think is a very talented musician. When he was graduating from high school, he had to make a choice to pursue a career in music or go for something safer like a business degree (like his parents urged him to do). I advised him to go into the music field even though I knew that it was very competitive. I had to because I could tell that music was in his soul and that to squelch it, it would be denying who God made him to be.
He writes in his blog about how he struggles with the fact that he knows that his chances of "making it" in the music business is small because there will always be "bigger fish" who are more talented than him or have better connections than he does.
I think we all feel this way at some point... that there is always someone out there who is better at what we do or that the little things we do don't amount to much in the end. But for the Christian, I think this is missing the point.
I think if you're faithful to God with your gift, whatever it is, He's going to use it as He sees fit. If this means that you're known around the world or you just bless the local community, if it's what God has in store for you, it will be the best that it can be.
Think of the boy who offered his lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish to Jesus. Was he known for having the best tasting fish and bread? Was he praised for gathering a mountain of food for everyone to eat? No, he was just faithful with whatever little he had. And God used him as an example of what it means to give what you have in faith. And here we are talking about him 2000 years later.
Big fish, little fish... in the end it doesn't matter. The most important fish to those hungry 5000 that day were the two the boy offered. Because it was small, it showed God's power even greater. So in that sense, pray to be smaller so that God can be shown greater.
In an entry I wrote recently about how I'm going to vote about legalizing slot machines in my state, I clearly state that one reason I was voting against it was because I didn't want to potentially stumble Christians who might struggle with what I consider idolatry in gambling.
Soon the entry started receiving comments about how I shouldn't push my Christian agenda on non-Christians by how I vote. That, basically, I should leave God and the Bible out of the voting booth.
I've never been one to think that this country owes something to Christians because of some misguided idea that the country is mostly Christian. In fact, I believe that true-believing Christians (and not just those by name) are truly a minority in this country, and that to assume that everyone thinks like me because I'm a Christian is a very bad assumption.
But what gets me is that people think that Christians are pushing some sort of agenda by voicing their beliefs while others are just "fighting for a voice." They think that because Christians seemingly have so much "power" in this country, that we just want to force everyone to think like us (as if even all those who call themselves Christians think the same way about all the issues).
I think what these people don't understand is that what I believe as a Christian not only just "colors" my world view, it is the very stuff it is made from. It has to because I believe it to the core. It's not just something I believe for myself. I think this is the main problem. In this world where anything you do is okay as long as you're not affecting anyone else, believing in something as right and wrong universally is seen as intolerant. But everyone believes that certain things are just right and certain things are just wrong.
What is the difference between a Christian voting for what he or she believes is universally right or wrong versus an environmentalist, an animal rights activist, or even a neo-Nazi doing so? Is it because those others are a minority? Is it just that there are things that these groups believe in that jibe better with what they do?
I don't think anyone would say anything if an environmentalist voted for a measure that would save a spotted owl for the sake of a housing development. He or she would be seen as crusading a cause, whether they agree with it or not. I would even venture that few would blame the neo-Nazi for voting for a racist candidate because that's just what they believe. But once a Christian votes for something that they believe, they're all of a sudden "pushing an agenda" and should leave their religion out of it.
I think it's like what an African American friend of mine once said (which I disagree with wholeheartedly). He stated that black people can't be racist because they're in the minority. That because they don't hold the power, they can't be racist. Therefore, only those who are in the majority can ever be racist.
So maybe what people believe is that because (nominal) Christians seem to be the majority in America, only they can be intolerant or push any sort of agenda... that because they get their way, they should just get out of the way and stop being such bullies.
I say, whoever you are, bring all your beliefs into the voting booth. If you're a tree-hugging environmentalist, bring all your tree-hugging environmentalist views to the ballot box. If you're an African American who only votes for African American politicians for no other reason than race, go right ahead. If you're a gay person longing to legally be married to another gay person, bring up legislation to do so and vote for it. But don't tell me to check my Christian values at the door as if it's some sort of tool for oppression. Being in the "presumed majority" doesn't make my beliefs any less valid in how I vote than anyone else.
I attend a rather large church where I serve in many capacities - Sunday School teacher, praise leader, deacon, cranky old man. I sometimes think that my students only like me because I take them to McDonald's occasionally instead of having class.
Graduating high school, I wanted to be one of two things - an engineer or a writer. I heard somewhere that in order to be a good writer, you have to read a lot... Hello, Georgia Tech! But even after I had my creativity lobotomy... I mean, finished engineering school, I still had the bug. One day I found Xanga, and over 400 entries later... I still dread reading.
My xanga alter ego is xanga.com/nathon
Chatboard (0)