yamia

This book came up in conversation among the YAMIA executive team during a strand of conversations about holding onto tradition while moving ahead in mission. Although we may hold to some differing perspectives on things, we agree that mission and tradition are not mutually exclusive. (After all we are Anglicans…). A lot of American youth ministry during the second half of the 20th century is characterized by a para-church model of evangelical innovation for the sake of reaching out to those who do not know Christ. In turn this model has been increasingly adopted by parishes. In many places, the result is church sponsored youth ministry functioning independently from the life of the congregation and disconnected from tradition. In Book, Bath, Table, and Time: Christian Worship As Source and Resource for Youth Ministry, Fred Edie advocates a recapturing of historic ways of disciple-making through teaching youth to read the Scripture for themselves, to engage in serious baptismal (and/or confirmation) preparation, celebration of the Eucharist and recapturing a liturgical sense of time infused with God’s eternal presence (daily office, keeping Sabbath, church calendar, etc). For Anglicans, this is not particularly new, yet for missional Anglicans (in keeping with the ancient/future movement) Edie helps us think about moving forward in the mission of bringing youth to deep personal faith in Jesus without severing our historic roots. For him the motivating factor and the heart of all teaching is worship. Odd that it is called a “youth ministry alternative” when in fact this is what the Church had done for 1900 years preceding the 20th century. This book may not be helpful for everyone but is does call us to hold onto where we’ve come from while forging ahead. If interested have a look at the link below. — jsg+