I have enjoyed your recent posts about student discipleship. I appreciate the critical thinking and focus you bring in your position of leadership.
I had a question based on something you mentioned in a post; here is the quote:
"I know that I wanted people to go to church... But, honestly, I so rarely saw people that were not getting that invitation that I didn’t feel it necessary to beat that drum. I’d love to hear from you."
I'd like to pursue this thought with a question. In my experience, no one from the movement invited me to attend church with them. As a leader, I invited others to come with me primarily out of a desire to build a relationship with them, and not necessarily out of concern for their church involvement. I would say this was the common attitude among leaders in our movement.
My question is this: As a regional movement leader, how important is it to you that students be attending local churches? What about being members of local churches? If it is important, where would you say it ranks priority-wise with our other priorities, and why? In your training as a regional leader, did you receive any direction or instruction about how to counsel staff members regarding this topic? How should staff members in the field think about connecting students to local churches, or should they at all?
Thanks for engaging these questions; they stem not from a theological abstract but from very practical personal experience as well as a desire to see local churches and parachurch structures operating with a biblical synergy.
Andrew, My response is long overdue to say the least. I didn't stay very faithful with my blog. Good questions.
My experience may provide some context to the discussion. I would say that it was church that led me to get involved in Cru. During my time as a student, I was significantly involved in church and churches. I served on the staff of one church and spoke at churches a few times each month. When I went to get involved with Cru as a senior in college, I went looking for training and experience in evangelism and discipleship.
In my experience, church involvement was something I saw modeled by my leaders and something I modeled myself. When I was a student involved in Cru, our director was an elder at his church. When I was on staff at Ohio State, our director was an elder at his church. When I was at Northwestern, I was seen as a leader at our church. I stayed out of eldership due to stage of life and balancing seminary studies on the side already. As an example, when the pastor was on sabbatical I preached an eight-week series at our church. That gives some context to my statements before. Our staff and students were always inviting people to church. My experience was one that modeled great synergy between Cru and that particular church. By the time I left some of the young leaders in the church were recent graduates whom I had been part of leading to Christ and discipling.
One thing that makes it challenging to answer some of your questions well is the nuance of the particulars. When you say involved a local church, I imagine you have a particular kind of local church in mind--at least one that meets certain criteria.
It's quite important to me that students have a healthy experience with a local church. I think that is true of Cru movements in general, but I would not say it's true in every occasion. We want to see every graduating leader sent with a plan to make a kingdom impact. Having a healthy church community is a significant part of that. In my opinion, I would want students to experience that in a multi-generational church setting.
Many of our movements have a strong formal or informal partnership with a particular church in their community. Many of our staff leaders, like myself, find that as they mature their pastor becomes a key peer in life--something that the 20-year old student or 25-year old intern may not be able to provide.
Questions of church membership are also very nuanced. Church membership varies by church. When I was a student, my church would not allow me to be a member the first year I was there. Some churches don't stress membership. The church where I am presently a member doesn't emphasize it to the degree that others I've been involved with, which were a little more Dever-like in their emphasis.
I'm not certain I have a precise answer to your question about training through Cru on this issue. My thoughts, convictions, and training have come from a breadth of experiences and relationships. I know that many of my colleagues feel similarly and it is not uncommon to see Cru leaders move into the pastorate over the years.
Tim,
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed your recent posts about student discipleship. I appreciate the critical thinking and focus you bring in your position of leadership.
I had a question based on something you mentioned in a post; here is the quote:
"I know that I wanted people to go to church... But, honestly, I so rarely saw people that were not getting that invitation that I didn’t feel it necessary to beat that drum. I’d love to hear from you."
I'd like to pursue this thought with a question. In my experience, no one from the movement invited me to attend church with them. As a leader, I invited others to come with me primarily out of a desire to build a relationship with them, and not necessarily out of concern for their church involvement. I would say this was the common attitude among leaders in our movement.
My question is this: As a regional movement leader, how important is it to you that students be attending local churches? What about being members of local churches? If it is important, where would you say it ranks priority-wise with our other priorities, and why? In your training as a regional leader, did you receive any direction or instruction about how to counsel staff members regarding this topic? How should staff members in the field think about connecting students to local churches, or should they at all?
Thanks for engaging these questions; they stem not from a theological abstract but from very practical personal experience as well as a desire to see local churches and parachurch structures operating with a biblical synergy.
-Andrew
Andrew,
DeleteMy response is long overdue to say the least. I didn't stay very faithful with my blog.
Good questions.
My experience may provide some context to the discussion. I would say that it was church that led me to get involved in Cru. During my time as a student, I was significantly involved in church and churches. I served on the staff of one church and spoke at churches a few times each month. When I went to get involved with Cru as a senior in college, I went looking for training and experience in evangelism and discipleship.
In my experience, church involvement was something I saw modeled by my leaders and something I modeled myself. When I was a student involved in Cru, our director was an elder at his church. When I was on staff at Ohio State, our director was an elder at his church. When I was at Northwestern, I was seen as a leader at our church. I stayed out of eldership due to stage of life and balancing seminary studies on the side already. As an example, when the pastor was on sabbatical I preached an eight-week series at our church. That gives some context to my statements before. Our staff and students were always inviting people to church. My experience was one that modeled great synergy between Cru and that particular church. By the time I left some of the young leaders in the church were recent graduates whom I had been part of leading to Christ and discipling.
One thing that makes it challenging to answer some of your questions well is the nuance of the particulars. When you say involved a local church, I imagine you have a particular kind of local church in mind--at least one that meets certain criteria.
It's quite important to me that students have a healthy experience with a local church. I think that is true of Cru movements in general, but I would not say it's true in every occasion. We want to see every graduating leader sent with a plan to make a kingdom impact. Having a healthy church community is a significant part of that. In my opinion, I would want students to experience that in a multi-generational church setting.
Many of our movements have a strong formal or informal partnership with a particular church in their community. Many of our staff leaders, like myself, find that as they mature their pastor becomes a key peer in life--something that the 20-year old student or 25-year old intern may not be able to provide.
Questions of church membership are also very nuanced. Church membership varies by church. When I was a student, my church would not allow me to be a member the first year I was there. Some churches don't stress membership. The church where I am presently a member doesn't emphasize it to the degree that others I've been involved with, which were a little more Dever-like in their emphasis.
I'm not certain I have a precise answer to your question about training through Cru on this issue. My thoughts, convictions, and training have come from a breadth of experiences and relationships. I know that many of my colleagues feel similarly and it is not uncommon to see Cru leaders move into the pastorate over the years.
Warmly,
Tim