I wrote this week’s YouTube You Can Use about the smallest independent state in the world, Sealand. In the course of writing that I found this little documentary about it’s inhabitants.
On the one hand I love it. There’s something so completely hacker culture about finding a loophole in something the government was doing, literally planting a flag, and declaring yourself your own country.
On the other hand I shudder. You can imagine the first few weeks in early 1967. It was exhilarating. They were taking on the British Navy and there wasn’t anything that the Navy could really do about Sealand, they had established legal authority over the property. But, let’s say a year in, the adrenaline had to wear off and they had to come to terms that they were now living 6 miles offshore in the North Sea. You can’t exactly make a grocery store run or stop off for some fish & chips on your way home from work. “Holy crap. We’re all alone here.”
As the documentarian questions… Is this freedom or is this a prison?
Creating Our Own Islands
Watching this video brought up recollections my life in youth ministry. I identified a little too much with whimsy found in loneliness. Not to mention turning make-shift solutions into permanent ones.
Too often, we are organizational and literal islands within our organizations. We have our own ministry identity and norms, barely fitting in much less surviving regular staff meetings. Physically, we are often islands as well. With offices at the end of the hall or on another floor, or even building, as the rest of the staff.
Just like Sealand fights for recognition and credibility to find long-term sustainability… so does youth ministry.
And Yet…
It’s become popular to organizationally fold youth ministry into an umbrella called family ministry. As I’ve said before, my hope for the future of youth ministry is something far better than becoming a branch on an org chart… just another age-divided ministry falling between kids min and college min.
You see, much of what drove us to become an organizational island is absolutely necessary for youth ministry to thrive.
We thrive because we are different.
Youth ministry flourishes among renegades.
When there’s an understanding that reaching teenagers has got to be about more than getting the parents to show up to church, youth ministry reaches all the wrong people in the best possible way.
Youth ministry has always been about growing the Kingdom and growing the church as a less important by-catch.
The fact is that if we lose our anti-establishment attitude, exchanging it for getting along organizationally and nicely fitting into the polo and khaki world of church establishment– if we give up that nature within us that bristles against apathy and takes over that abandoned piece of crap in the middle of the parking lot and claim it as our own– If we lose that than youth ministry will cease to exist.
My Fear
My fear is nice.
My fear is filling youth ministry exclusively with church kids and calling that a victory.
My fear is losing all the bad asses of the church to going into church planting because it’s the only place they can be a bad ass.
My fear is youth ministries where the most edgy thing that happens is a service project feeding the homeless and not the heart-pounding joy of leading your best friend to a new life in Jesus.
My fear is trading an MBA approved org chart for reaching the lost.
My fear is being so busy integrating with kids ministry that we forget to go to where teenagers are.
My fear is that we trade reaching the lost for servicing the bored church kid.
We Need Sealand
I know it’s not popular. But in some places, with some people, we need Sealand. We.need.Sealand. Some organizations are so ill-equipped to reach teenagers that the most healthy thing they can do is to well-resource a group of renegades who built that thing out in the parking lot that’s reaching teenager who would never in a million years come to church for a worship service.
So, I tip my cap to you. Leaders of Sealand near and far. Those who endure inhabiting their little islands. Those who cope with loneliness and isolation. With clenched jaws you sit through yet another meaningless staff meeting about child check-in or a 45-minute debate on 3 songs before the sermon or 4. T those who dodge a boring church function to go to a freshmen soccer game.
I praise God for you.
As a former knuckle-headed, non-churched, desperate for good news kid… thank you for enduring Sealand to bring the Good News of Jesus to people like me.
Some look at you and think you are crazy. But I look at you and say you’re a great kind of crazy. Peter, John, Paul, Thomas… all of the apostles… people thought they were absolutely insane, too.
I praise God for you.
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