jh summit notes, part 3
Monday May 22nd 2006, 9:46 am
Filed under: youth ministry, faith, youth work

over the next week or so, i’ll post slightly edited versions of the notes from our junior high pastors summit. they’re pretty fragmented for someone who wasn’t there, i’ll admit (they weren’t ‘taken’ for this purpose). but for those who would like to read, i’m excited to share them with you.

parts 1, 2 and 3 are the summaries of the morning scot mcknight spent with us. then, parts 4 - 8 are the pieces of our discussion. one bonus post will have the book recommendations from the group to one another (this is one of our traditions each year, to share two or three books we’d recommend to each other).

and now for part 3…

Atonement
Crux sola is misleading – “the Cross alone” — the moments of redemption are not exclusively in the Cross and it doesn’t end in the Cross. Adam – Sin – Death; Jesus – Obedience - Life
-the gospel is not exclusively in the cross
-the major moments of redemption begin with the incarnation
(Romans 5:12): Pattern is Sin-Death, Jesus has complete identification by coming to the earth and dying for us
-Recapitulation: Christ became what we are so that we might become what he is…that is what atonement is all about (to be “in Christ”) We need to die with Christ (exclusive – he dies instead of, inclusive – with) Romans 6 – he dies instead of us but we die with him.
-it needs to be bigger than penal substitution
Romans 3:21-26 – Jesus is our redemption, justification, our sins are forgiven
Romans 4:25 – justification is the result of resurrection
Romans 6 – we died with Christ and are raised with Christ

Double imputation – at the cross our sins are imputed to Christ – his righteousness is imputed to us…this is a thin gospel
-We have multiple imputations – this is a thicker gospel, we get everything that is Christ: glory, grace, etc.

Atonement – U shaped: identification to be incorporated, Jesus came down to produce an “in-Christ” community
(life – incorporation, death – forgiveness, resurrection – liberation, Pentecost – empowerment, the gift of the holy spirit brings empowerment – Acts 2):
Acts 2 – The dynasty of power in Jerusalem has ended. The Holy Spirit has made the Kingdom of God available to all. The Kingdom of God has been “democratized” for all people.
-we don’t want to just be forgiven we want to become eikons that are restored in all 4 directions (God, self, others, the world)

-Evangelism becomes an invitation to restore all 4 directions in this world
-people are longing for love
-when kids see a community where God transforms people – they want to be a part of it – people learn Truth in relationships
-kids respond to rational truth but they don’t want a part of it until they see it working
-Evangelism – inviting people to participate in relationship with Jesus – not just praying the prayer

Heather– how do we articulate this to kids then?
Scot – invite people to Jesus – you teach them to follow Jesus – and keep asking them to see that God has done his great work for us in Jesus and to keep following – all the church has to offer is Jesus – that’s it!
-you need to Teach Jesus

Conversion: everybody starts at a context, all conversion begins with a crisis (not all Crisis’ are crisis’), Crisis leads to quest (seeking help from the pain of the crisis) which leads to an advocate (parent, youth worker, Bible, TV, artwork) and interaction, encapsulation (isolate people with the goal of producing a conversionary experience): (as long as it’s not manipulation) bringing kids to camps to get them out of the “world” – kids may make a commitment to return to their context or start a new one, Commitment leads to consequences and consequences are total, and all of this leads to community –Conversion begins with primary socialization and ends with secondary socialization

Covenant Path Marking – we define what faithful people look like based on our community’s marking. McKnight argues that we should be basing our judgment on whether we are loving God and loving others. This is how Jesus marked people and these categories are unmarkable. We all do Covenant Path Marking but we refer to others that do it as legalists. “Loving God and loving others” is incredibly challenging. This is a GREAT thing because it will take forever and means we haven’t reduced the gospel. “Love” cannot be quantified.

-Jesus marked spiritual formation by those who love God and love others
-The parallels between middle school students and college students are very similar – much more so than MS/College related to HS students…

Nate Rice: It is not just about making a decision to follow Christ on Wed night at camp –it’s about making that decision in life…kids know it’s coming on that Wed night, we need to retrain and teach how to not put so much pressure on Wed night but how to teach kids to make that decision for their lives

John Ortberg: “If you love God and love others, you don’t need disciplines”
That is what the disciplines are for. You cannot quantify loving God .

After all these things – we end in community

The development in individualism in this society has led the Church to focusing on God rather than self, world, and others.

closing questions for scot:
Sean M: what can we impart on MS kids to impact their faith?
Scot – Teach them the Bible better…teach them to read the Bible, teach them the stories, the kings, judges, etc.

April – What can we change in the bigger Church?
Scot – I wouldn’t worry about that – the Church is going to change with the emergent services and desire for community – small groups, etc.

Eric V. - How do we produce the “wonder” and end the tension?
Scot – you need missional healing, focus on conversion not so your sins are forgiven but to help spread it throughout the world – help them to embrace grace.


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