Really, Jesus Hates Religion?

I don’t know about you, but this video has been flying around some of the Twitter and Facebook circles that I find myself in. I would love to have you take a minute and watch it if you haven’t yet, then tell me what you think of my critique. Push back at me or tell me why you agree. I think that this is an important conversation for young adults, but I would love your thoughts on talking about this specifically with High School youth.

Things I Agree With:

1. This video highlights the fact that faith in Jesus is more than just following rules.

2. It condemns religiosity, and points out that it is condemned by God in the OT and by Jesus in the NT

3. It is calling people to live lives that reflect the Gospel, not just a facade.

I believe that these three issues are essential to young adults and youth! I think that this is why this video has resonated so strongly with youth and young adults in my context. I think that these points are addressed passionately and convincingly.

Things I Disagree With:

1. Jefferson states the following ideas: “Jesus came to abolish religion”, “Jesus hated religion”, “Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrums”. I think that all of this is misguided and misleading. Judaism was based upon a Covenant with God, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” This included the 10 commandments and other guidelines for how to be God’s people. When Jesus came he said “I didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.” He also said, “this Cup is the New Covenant in my blood!” This does not sound like abolishing religion or hating religion. It sounds like Jesus came to fulfill, or completion this Jewish religion!

2. Jefferson seems to say that any religion is no more or less than the worst practices of that religion. This is the same argument that calls all Muslims terrorists, defining the whole by the acts of some. Contrary to Jefferson’s words, religion doesn’t start wars or build huge churches and refuse to feed the poor. People do these things. People start wars, and use religion to further their own cause. People are selfish and self-focussed. And when Christians are guilty of malpractice, we need to challenge them, speaking the truth in love!

3. I don’t think that it’s really helpful to try dealing with all religion in one sweeping set of generalizations. If Jefferson is trying to address what he doesn’t like about Christianity, then he should address Christianity, or Christian malpractice, to be more specific.

4. Jesus gives mandates to his followers. He commands them to feed the hungry, care for the widows and orphans, visit the prisoners, etc. The bottom line is that following Jesus as a part of the Christian church is religion! In Exodus 20-31 God gives a vast number of rules and regulations to Moses and the Israelites. That’s 12 chapters of rules, regulations, and guidelines. This sure sounds like God establishing a religion. Yes, God calls some Israelites whores (and on occasion the entire nation). Yes, Jesus challenges Jewish religious leaders in his day. What is being challenged, though, is their malpractice of religion, not the religion itself. Religiosity is not acceptable to God. Self-righteous practice is not acceptable to God.

So, What Does This Have To Do With Youth Ministry?

We need to teach young people to think critically about their faith and the practice of faith in their community. We need prophetic voices, not just theologians, but children and youth. We need people to stand up and say, “Why did we spend so much on this massive building and yet we don’t support and partner with ministries to serve the homeless population in our city?” These are the right questions, but we need helpful answers. I don’t think that bashing organized religion is a helpful response.

My question is, “How would anyone propose for people to just follow Jesus?” It’s not as simple as “Just follow Jesus.”

Young people don’t need another voice telling them to write off organized religion, especially one from within the Church! We need people who live in honest Christian communities, challenging each other and encouraging each other. We need people practicing faithful Christian living, and helping others to do the same. Jesus is the fulfillment of Judaism. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Jesus is the fulfillment of all that God set in motion in Genesis 1 and has kept in motion throughout history. We need people telling this story, seeking to internalize this story, and seeking to live out good, honest, positive stories today.

I don’t think that we can separate Christian religion from the Church. Please don’t let malpractice of Christian faith by an individual church or Christians give you license to write off the Bride of Christ, the Church.

Communication Conundrum

Soundtrack to my blog: While writing this I am listening to Gungor’s album, “Beautiful Things”

We are struggling in our youth ministry to figure out a system for communication. Our problem is that we have 6(ish) different forms of communication that we use to publicize events: Facebook, Email, Mailings, Verbal Announcements, The Messenger (our version of a bulletin), and Family Mail Boxes @ church. When do we use each? What combination is right for which events? Does anyone else struggle with this?

In youth ministry we are caught between two generations with very different communication styles. Our youth text, rarely using their cell phones for talking, while many parents still take 5 minutes to type “LOL”! The parents in our church want me to mail more information home, yet when we do send mailings they don’t seem to bear enough fruit to make it worth the money and time spent to make it happen. What do we do?

Our tendency in our youth ministry office has been to not mail enough, relying almost exclusively on digital communication. As we seek to return discipleship responsibility to the hands of parents, partnering more and more with them instead of having them outsource this development to us, we have realized how faulty this is. Digital communication tends to hit youth and miss parents in our context. We realize this. Our choice is to either be frustrated with this and change nothing, or rethink our system for determining when to use some of the more costly and time consuming modes of communication. We are in this process now. We realize that any partnership needs to have good communication, and our communication with parents has been poor, thus damaging our partnership. At times out conversations around this process feel lame and unimportant, but I trust that our ministry partnership with parents will be strengthened as a result of this process.

Do you have a system or process for making choices about modes of communication in your ministry context? If yes, what is it like? If not, have I compelled you to consider it?

Grace and peace to you, partners for the Gospel.

Challenge or Discouragement?

Soundtrack to my blog: While writing this I am listening to Th3ory Hazit’s new album “Thr3e”, another HumbleBeast artist. For some quality, Christian, FREE rap/hip hop check out www.humblebeast.com!

I love being involved in youth ministry. I love looking at youth ministry in my context holistically, seeking to determine what our vision should be and dreaming up how to accomplish this. I love connecting with other ministry folk, sharing ideas, challenging each other, and growing together. This is a huge value for me, which is why I relish being a network coordinator for local youth pastors in the Evangelical Covenant Church, the denomination in which I serve.

Sometimes, though, being connected to youth pastors is incredibly frustrating and a source of self-doubt. Sometimes, having an ear to the youth ministry ground keeps me from being satisfied. I doubt myself and my abilities when I hear about the event that some other ministry pulled off or the teaching series that another youth pastor is tackling. Seeing pictures of a group of youth worshipping or practicing their faith can make me jealous. One moment I’m not in touch enough with tradition, and the next I’m not cutting edge enough. One month I’m “so yesterday”, and the next I’m “not grounded in Church tradition enough”. Being connected to other youth pastors can be so encouraging, and so discouraging.

So here’s what I’m going to commit to, and I invite you to join me! Stay connected and continue to connect even deeper with your peers in ministry. Share about life, family, church, ministry, programs, relationship. Vent and rejoice. Innovate and Collaborate. Be yourself, and remember that you are in a context that no one else is in! Don’t be lazy, but don’t be a workaholic. Give yourself to the work that you have been entrusted with. Hold firmly to the encouragement that you receive from these connections and let the discouragement roll off your back!

Find the fine line between corrective criticism and discouragement. Seek to be challenged by these relationships without being discouraged. And make sure that what you give to others is loving challenge, not discouragement. Peace friends.

The Essential Balance

Soundtrack to my blog: While writing this I am listening to Braille’s album “Weapon Aid”. You can find him and some other phenomenal christian rappers/hip hoppers for free on their label website @ www.humblebeast.com

I am not a naturally organized person. I have the capacity to be administrative and detail oriented when I need to, but it doesn’t come naturally. Sound familiar? My guess is that some of you resonate with that to your core. If you do, then you have also probably received a blend of both encouragement and grief from people about it. That is my experience. But I wonder which of the two helps me more? Am I a better youth pastor as a result of people telling me that it’s okay that I’m disorganized because I’m relationally gifted? Does critique of my disordered systems and processes shape me for better or worse?

I was recently reflecting on the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42 with some other youth pastors. What struck me in this story for the first time was that, as youth pastors, we are called to be both Mary and Martha. Too often this passage is used as an excuse to not be organized. Yes, relationship is what ministry is about, it is what life is about. But administration is an essential part of our job! We need to plan the meal, make the phone calls, reserve a bus and hotels, register our group, find volunteers, and stay late to clean up. We can’t settle for excuses. Frankly, I’m sick of people making excuses for my disorder. I want someone to call me to task for this part of my job! This aspect of our job is what creates the space and the structure for life changing relationships to happen! We can’t ignore or forget about our office responsibilities!

This is the essential balance that we must find. I don’t think there’s a formula. I was encouraged when reading an article back in the Fall on the Average Youth Ministry blog. More and more I’ve realized that I just need a plan of attack for my week. Without one, I float through my week, only being mildly productive, and then have to cram a ton of office work into the last couple hours of the week, or worse, I bring it home. I have had to develop a system for scheduling in productivity hours to get all of my “work” done, so that I am free to actually spend relational time. I encourage you to check out the article I linked from Average YM and, if you don’t have one, develop your own balanced system of both Martha and Mary time in your week.

Peace friends.

Reflection questions: Do you have a good balance? How do you find this balance in your unique setting?

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The Beginning

Hi, my name is Ben, and I am a youth pastor. I was recently challenged by a fellow youth pastor to blog, not because I think I have something great to say, but because it is a great learning process and a good exercise. So here I am, ready to jump right in with both feet. First, though, I’ll answer a few questions.

Who is Ben Zabel? I’m a husband to Andrea, father to Isaiah and Evangeline, youth pastor, avid worshipper, and huge soccer fan.

Who is this blog for? Well, most of my posts will relate to youth ministry. I will write about the joys, struggles, despairs, and hopes that I encounter in youth ministry. So this blog is mostly for youth ministry types. I will also just write about faith in general, hopefully in challenging and encouraging ways. My hope is that my readership will include youth ministry folk, worship leaders, pastors of all sorts, and even those who think teenagers are smelly, annoying, and intolerable. I often feel the same way!

Lastly, why should you read this blog? I really have no idea J My hope is that you might find encouragement, challenge, and community. I pray that as we learn and grow together we will find ourselves coming together in this journey of faith, ministry, and the work of the Kingdom of God, which we both wait for and work to bring into our present reality!

So thank you right away for lending your time and probably divided attention to my thoughts and ramblings. I pray that the joy of the Lord will touch you through the reading of this, as I know that I will be stretched and grown through it’s writing. Peace to you friends, old and new.