In another article, we began our series exploring what it means to minister in a way that imitates Jesus: how we can develop a Christlike ministry. To do that, we will be looking at some key events in the life of Jesus – incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and second coming. Using these, we will develop a picture of what a truly Christlike youth ministry looks like. In the previous article, we looked at the two most important foundations for a Christlike ministry. First, that it must be based in a biblical understanding of Jesus. Second, that it must be culturally relevant. This month, we will be thinking about the Incarnation of Christ.

“Incarnational Ministry”.

This is probably the most popular idea used to describe Christian youth ministry in recent years. Google it and see! The idea is simple. How Jesus ministered 2000 years ago in Palestine is how we should minister to young people in the 21^st-century. The Word became Flesh, so we are to “flesh the Word” in our own ministry. We are to become, as Martin Luther once said, ‘little Christs.’ Quite simply, we need to be culturally relevant in the way we carry out youth ministry, spending time with young people. We are, as the well-known phrases go, “to meet them where they are at” and “earn the right” to share the Gospel with them. 

Incarnational ministry, we are told, must be motivated by unconditional love. That is not easy, of course. It is hard to love and love and love again when we face rejection by the young people we want to serve. But ultimately, incarnational ministry is about friendship. I would never have embraced the Truth of Jesus Christ were it not for a small group of Christians who befriended me 24 years ago. They put no obligations on me. They were just friends. I was aware that they lived the Gospel and embodied the truths of Jesus long before I asked them to explain those truths to me. I imagine the same would be true for many of you too.

 

Beyond incarnation

Sadly, the incarnation as a model for youth ministry is in danger of being dumbed down because we have not really been prepared to wrestle with its true cost in ministry. Too often, incarnation is an ideal we aspire to rather than a lifestyle we embrace. When the Word became Incarnate, there was a lot more to it than merely becoming human and forming friendships. Incarnation was a costly business for the Son of God – and not just because of his eventual crucifixion. The act of incarnation itself was costly. To fully redeem this notion for ministry, we must redeem the costly nature of the act itself.

Philippians 2:5-11 is a great place to start exploring the idea of incarnational ministry. This passage, of course, is not about Jesus. It is about you and me. Paul begins in verse 5 by stating, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” In the verses that follow, Paul outlines the true cost of an incarnational ministry:

 

‘Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death –

even death on a cross.’

If we are to understand how the Incarnation can help us develop a Christlike ministry, we need to unpack this passage.

 

1. Abandonment of equality

He…did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited

 

One of the saddest things we see in our churches is when Christians get caught up in power games. It is unbecoming for the Gospel to see Christian brothers and sisters jostling for position, title and respect within the congregation – always with a smile, a kind word and a hug, of course! According to Paul, this was not the way of Christ. In fact, claiming power and privilege is the complete opposite of what we see in the act of Incarnation. Jesus could have claimed equality with God, quite literally, as his divine right. But he chose not to do so.

Incarnational ministry begins with the idea that powers and privileges must not be claimed. We may have the ‘right’ to certain benefits as a result of being part of a youth ministry team but that does not mean that we should necessarily claim them. The temptations in youth ministry are very real. We need to be constantly on our guard; young people may look up to us as role models and, sometimes, hang on our every word. We must be sure that this does not lead us to abuse our position and claim more for ourselves than is rightfully ours.

The last few decades have seen the professionalisation of youth ministry throughout the Western world. This has resulted in better training, better housing, more equitable pay scales and the formation of professional bodies to support those involved in practical ministry as well as those who provide training. More so than ever before, youth workers are aware of their ‘rights’ as well as their ‘responsibilities’. Have we created an atmosphere for ministry that stands in direct contrast to the principles of incarnational ministry? The example of Christ is the abandonment of rights and privileges, not the claiming of these. Perhaps the next few decades will be dedicated to getting the balance right.

 

2. Abandonment of self

but emptied himself

 

What does it mean for Jesus to have emptied himself? Did he somehow become less than he was? Theologians through many centuries have puzzled over this. However, I am not sure that it is the right question to ask. Rather than asking, “How did Christ empty himself?” perhaps we should ask, “What did Christ empty himself into?” Rather than the image of a jug of water being emptied out, we need instead to picture the water being poured into something. It is that something that makes sense of this passage…

 

3. Acceptance of servant status

taking the form of a slave

 

…and the something is the something of servanthood. Complete and utter self-giving. Jesus is the servant of all. He did not pick and choose whom he served. That is the hard part of ministry – to be the servant of all. The temptation for those in Christian youth ministry is often to fall in to one or more errors with regard to servanthood.

First, we are tempted to be choosy about whom we decide to serve. It is often the case that our Churches exist for the acceptable and shun the unacceptable.

I was Vicar of a Church a number of years ago in the East End of London. A bag-lady began attending our Sunday evening worship. After one month, a small group of respectable ladies, who had been regular worshippers for many years, came to me with an ultimatum. They brought my attention to the severe body odour problem which the bag-lady had (as if I hadn’t noticed it myself!) and then proceeded to say, ‘You need to make a choice, Vicar. This woman is ruining our worship. You must either ask her to leave the Church or we won’t be back!’ For a while, I missed this group of ladies…but not for too long.

Second, we are tempted to be servants – but not as an end in itself. We may choose to serve our young people in order that they are converted to the faith. We may choose to serve our young people in order that they will find new friends within the family of the Church. We may choose to serve our young people in order that we grow the size of our youth group. We may not be consciously aware of these driving forces but we must examine our hearts and our motivations. Conditional service is not the way of Christ. He served. Full stop. Christ became the servant of all and continued to serve even when the majority did not choose to recognise him. Jesus never served in order that… Jesus just served.

 

4. Acceptance of identification

being born in human likeness

 

When people met Jesus, they came into contact with a man. Jesus was one of us – and yet different. The God-Man embraces human culture and yet remains above it. In the same way, we are called to a ministry that embraces culture whilst remaining detached from it. We are called to be ‘in the world but not of it’: to be Jews when we are with Jews, Gentiles when we are with Gentiles. We are to be all things to all people so that we may win some for Christ. It is not easy to both embrace culture and also remain detached and still be authentic. It is hard to embrace youth culture without ever pretending that we are part of youth culture. If we get the balance wrong, we are in danger of undoing our good work.

For three years in the 1990s, I worked with a tough group of young people on a housing estate near Birmingham. We decided to open a coffee bar for them one night a week in our church. I remember being so concerned that this should be a success that I planned the opening night of this brave new venture down to every last detail. As these suspicious teenagers crossed the threshold into our coffee bar, I turned up the music CD I had bought that week – a collection of Rave tracks. The young people sat there all evening, chatting quietly. As we closed the coffee bar at the end of the night, I asked a couple of boys if they had had a good time. They shuffled their feet nervously. One of them spoke up.

‘Yeah, it was OK. But…’ his voice trailed off.

‘But what?’ I asked curiously

            ‘Well…it was really good…but…but next time, could we bring our own music?’

Incarnational ministry does not require of us to appear trendy and cool if we are not trendy and cool! Authenticity is all-important. As youth workers, we are called to be in their world without trying to be of their world.

 

A controlled life

he humbled himself and became obedient

Jesus was completely obedient to God in regard to his activities (Jn. 5:19), his judgements (Jn. 5:30) and his speaking (Jn. 8:28). Obedience to the Father God is the teaching that he gives us through the Sermon on the Mount: obedience in conduct (Matt. 5:15, 44, 48; 6:1), prayer (Matt. 6:8, 9; 7:11) and daily reliance on him (Matt. 6:31, 32).

In an effort to be relevant, it is a mistake to forget our commitment to model obedience for the young people we serve. It is a sad indictment on the state of the Christian faith today, so deeply unattractive to so many young people, that it is no longer perceived to be a cause worth living for, let alone dying for. If we are to learn one thing from the rise of religious fundamentalism amongst young people in our societies today, it is surely that obedience to a cause is seen as an attractive option. Not only is that true of fundamentalism. Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism are all increasing in popularity and each one of these have spiritual discipline at their heart.

As a Vicar in a predominantly Muslim area of East London, I was often confronted with the chasm that existed between the Christian witness and that of the local Islamic community. Never was that chasm more starkly pronounced than on Friday nights. Opposite the Vicarage in which I lived, there was a small road junction. On one side was a pub. On the other side was a mosque. At ten o’clock each Friday night, I would look out my window and see two contrasting cultures exhibited. On one pavement, young white men would be spilling out of the doors, drunk, loud and abusive. On the other pavement, young Muslim boys would quietly file out of the Mosque, Koran in hand, after an evening of prayer and worship. The difference between the two cultures could not have been more pronounced.

It is a fallacy that young people are not attracted to a life of obedience. If the cause is right, young people will be obedient. The challenge facing youth ministers today is to portray Christianity as a just cause, worth living and dying for. We will not be able to rise to that challenge unless we are convinced ourselves and are prepared to live accordingly.

 

A controlled death

became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross

 

Jesus’ commitment to humanity was total. The ultimate call of Christian youth ministry is that we must be prepared to die to self (literally or metaphorically). It is, of course, a scandalous idea. It is a scandal to an institution (the church) that it is called to renounce all power and privilege. It is a scandal to the rich and the spiritually powerful (those in leadership) that they are called to assume the form of servants – without question and without motive. It is a scandal that the Body of Christ (all of us) is called to give up everything that it has in order to model Christ.

It is a scandal to a traditional Church that it is called to die.

Ultimately, however, that is what incarnational ministry is all about. We belittle the concept if we continue to think about it merely in terms of building relationships and making ourselves culturally relevant. Incarnational ministry is as much about death as it is about life. It will be a courageous – and obedient – Church that models this form of ministry into the 21^st-century.

 

A Christlike ministry for today

What does a Christlike ministry look like? It is a brave ministry that paves the way for a truly incarnational transformation of society. It is a witnessing ministry that models self-sacrifice to young people. It is a teaching ministry that shows the Church how to die so that others may live. It is only when we rise to the challenges of bravery, witnessing and teaching in this way that we will be truly incarnational in our approach.

 

 

Rev Dr Steve Griffiths, Rector of the Linton Team Ministry, was formerly Director of Centre for Youth Ministry Cambridge, and is the author of ‘A Christlike Ministry’, published by YTC Press, available from www.ytcpress.com