While leading a session of The Abundant Life Garden Project a few weeks ago, I found myself facing a class of middle school boys, none of whom looked particularly eager to be in my class. I knew I would have to do something quickly, or I would lose what little of their attention I had.
I asked, “who has a good reading voice?” A couple of them mumbled that they did. I handed them the opening prayer and litany for the class and asked them to lead it. They asked who should do what; I told them they looked like smart fellows and to figure it out. Surprisingly, the boys who claimed not to have good reading voices emerged as the readers of the litany – of their own free will. The guys were suddenly engaged in the class, and we had a wonderful and lively discussion of the concepts at hand.
Did these pre-teens do a perfect job of leading worship? No, but that was not at all the point. I knew what the litany said; I didn’t need to hear it perfectly. The point was that these young men took charge, led the class, and became in engaged in the important topics of clean water, extreme poverty, and what they might do about these issues.
And isn’t this the whole point of Christian formation – letting others step up to the plate, take the lead, and perhaps even take over a ministry? We say one of our primary tasks in our church is to respect the dignity of each and every human being. We say we want to seek and serve Christ in others. So doesn’t that mean maybe we should also help each and every young person get to the point of taking on ministries for themselves, to empower them to do ministry on their own?
Christian formation is lifelong, so perhaps we might even think about continuing to empower adults in each of their ministries as well. Do we really believe what we say when we talk about each person having dignity and being valuable as part of the Body of Christ? Do we really believe each and every person has a ministry and a contribution to make? If this is so, then doesn’t that mean we should really, really work on empowering the folks in our pews to truly take on ministries and then step back and let them do what they are called to do? It’s a little scary to think about, isn’t it? We might have to give some things up; others might not do things the way we think they should be done. We might even find that we need to move on and do something other than what we are doing now.
But we might also find ourselves liberated and fulfilled. I sure had an easy time teaching the final “Harvest” segment of The Abundant Life Garden Project last Sunday. I handed the opening prayer and litany to a teenage girl who had that “I hate this place and really don’t want to be here” look on her face; she instantly perked up and became engaged in the class. A middle school teacher with experience in organic farming read the meditation and started a good discussion among the kids (even though the lesson plan called for silence – no matter; it worked). A member of the vestry read the Story from the Field. She then began a discussion of how even small donations to others in need could make a huge difference in their lives, showing them examples from the Gifts for Life catalog (which was great, even though this wasn’t in the notes for that portion of the class).
I was left to sit back and take it all in. I couldn’t have done better myself.
The Abundant Life Garden Project lessons, teaching tips, and other “extras” are available for free download at www.er-d.org/children.
Cindy Coe 