Shift Conference at Willow Creek

 

 So here I am, sitting at a bistro table at the mother-ship…Willow Creek Community Church. I’m sitting alongside Jon Nungester, friend and middle school pastor at Calvary Community Church and we are digesting fajitas, cheesecake, and this morning’s session at the conference, led by Darren Whitehead, high school pastor here at Willow.

Darren talked about 3 major shifts that we need to make in youth ministry:

1. Less teacher-generated content to more user-generated content

2. Less leading as travel agents to more leading as tour guides

3. Less ministry through imitation to more ministry through imagination. 

Unpacking this, we need to stop spoon-feeding students but rather allow students to participate in the meal. We need to stop “doing church” for them and allow students to “be the church.” We need to stop telling people about the journey and start traveling with them. We need to stop asking students to fit into a box and start allowing them to dream big when it comes to following Christ. Stuff that I get and have heard before…especially in Bolger and Gibb’s book, Emerging Churches in the 21st Century. But it’s great to keep being encouraged in this area and to reflect on how to put it into practice.

Keeping up with the tech times, you can even follow along with the conference in the comfort of your own ___________(insert location here) on the Shift Conference Blog.