“And a child shall lead them.” - Isaiah 11:6

“You see things and say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’” – George Bernard Shaw

It felt like a mutiny.

As an official youth group, we were still young – not yet two years old – and our teens were even younger spiritually. Most were new to the congregation and raw street kids without any prior church association.

The Model in Action 2: Jesus Receives an Offering

Few stories told in all 4 gospels. This is one of them.
Matt 14 / Mark 6 / Luke 9 / John 6

• 5,000 men, plus women and children.
• Jesus tells disciples: “Give them something to eat”
• The disciples didn’t get it. The masses were confused and hungry.
• But a boy with a bagged lunch understood, and his tuna fish sandwich fed them all.

What is your creative context?

+ What constraints make your situation formless, empty and dark?

• Formless: Building from scratch. Dysfunctional community, families, culture, churches. Broken lives.
• Empty: Insufficient funding, space, equipment, staff
• Dark: Confusion. No direction.

+ What evidence of the “Spirit’s hovering” do you see present in your situation? Share with your neighbor some of the assets that exist…

• In your youth & families
• In your neighborhood
• In your leaders
• In your own family

+ How have you responded to His Spirit? What words are you speaking?

Turn the Lights on

Turning the lights on means educating oneself about the realities of a community, beyond the obvious.

• A tool for the process: Asset Mapping, a process that helps you to identify existing resources/services rather than merely looking at the negative aspects of your community.

“Just imagine how communities feel when at the end of their needs assessment project, they find themselves confronted with a laundry list of all the things that are wrong with their local area. Rather, it suggests that community development should begin with a systematic assessment of the assets that exist in the community.”

A Framework for Developing Assets

+ Asset Mapping in a youth development context:
Based on research involving over 2 million young people since 1989, the Search Institute has identified “40 Developmental Assets” as a framework for mapping assets for youth development.

The 40 assets framework is not meant to be exhaustive, but helps shine a light on the resources “in your hand” and assess how best to utilize them. The 40 Developmental Assets are:

“concrete, common sense, positive experiences and qualities essential to raising successful young people in our culture.”

Creative Brainstorming

So where’s the cold hard cash going to come from? With the lights turned on, the horizon cast, evaluation methodologies in place, and assets mapped, it’s time to rearrange the resources to create sustainable environments. Sometimes, good old fashioned brainstorming is the best way to see how the pieces fit together and to empower your youth to help generate resources from within (along with those solicited from without). Here are some ideas to get you started.

+ Fundraising Ideas:

The following series of articles is from the "Bagged Lunch and a Drop of Oil: Multiplying Re$ources for Urban Ministry" workshop which Jeremy Del Rio wrote for Reload 2006-2007.

Workshop Description:

Called but underfunded. Impassioned and hungry for more. Broke and feeling alone. How do bi-vocational youth workers pay the bills and buy the stuff necessary to get the job done? Jesus received one recorded offering in his career. The disciples didn’t get it. The masses were confused. But a boy with a bagged lunch understood, and his tuna fish sandwich fed 5,000. A husband’s debts nearly cost a widow her son’s freedom. The prophet’s response: “What’s in your hand?” A few drops of oil and a town full of jars later, she bought their freedom. Let’s explore how to turn tuna fish and empty bottles into resources for urban ministry.

Looking for a Biblical vision on which to build your youth ministry?

In this course from UYWI's '06-'07 Reload conference, Jeremy Del Rio shows us that all it takes is a little faith and a bagged lunch morsel to set God's creativity to work.

A Widow Creates

2 Kings 4:1-7

• A husband’s debts + a cranky creditor nearly cost a widow her sons’ freedom.
• The prophet’s response: What’s in your hand?
• A few drops of oil and a town full of jars later, she bought their freedom.
• It was only after she ran out of containers that the oil stopped flowing.

"Money is a singular thing ... equally important to those who have it and those who do not." - John K. Galbraith, Economist

Why did God destroy Sodom?

A pastor from a major city serves faithfully for over forty years, plants a church that becomes a respected institution with several thousand members, raises up scores of leaders who would go on to shape ministry in the city for decades, and retires the pastorate to serve as president of a Bible College.

Most leaders would read this profile and aspire to something like it. It contains the elements of a great story: longevity, fruitfulness, influence, and legacy. The only thing missing is the details.

Ah, the details. That's where the devil lurks, isn't it?

Justice is so easy even a five-year-old can do it.

It took me a long time to figure that out. Even though I’ve spent the better part of a lifetime committed to the idea of justice, determined to live for justice, I really couldn’t define it until last year. My latest journey toward better understanding why Jesus loves justice began roughly last March when I was asked to sit on a social justice panel at the 2006 Urban Youth Workers Institute (UYWI), and the moderator told the panelists he would begin by asking us to define it.

"Cross the street," I thought. "This could get ugly."