The Blog from Camp
Yes sir, I am at camp, sitting at a table in the cafeteria pondering my thoughts. I felt that it might serve well to let you know a little of what is happening here. First, let me say that our kids have impressed me. We arrived at a parking lot among church buses and vans unloading church kids into the parking lot and we unloaded our rental cars. Immediately, we felt some how “different”. So “different” has been a constant theme for the Parkway kids this week. But, tarry not, if you did in fact tarry. We have been discussing the fact that we feel different and exactly what that means. It has been interesting what we have learned from this, and it is good.
In 2006 The Barna Group of Ventura, California (www.barna.org) released a study that indicates that 61% of twenty-some-things that were involved in church as teens have become disengaged from church. It is sad, and very troubling, to think that of the 500 or so kids at this camp this week, statistics indicate that 305 will disengage from the church when they graduate their youth group. Leaving 195 of the 500 still active. NOT GOOD! That is the same as making a 39 on a test.
This week at camp we have determined that we must challenge ourselves. The metaphorical bar must be raised; too many people are tripping over it. We have discussed that this will not be easy, it will very likely be painful, require discipline, and a concerted effort of prolonged focus. Not things that come naturally to our group, or people in general for that matter. We have discovered that the natural state of groups of people and individuals themselves is homeostatic (the tendency of a system to maintain internal stability or equilibrium obtained when tension or a drive has been reduced or eliminated.) Some times a homeostatic state is good, for example your internal organs rely on system stability. But for groups of people that wish to see change homeostasis is bad. Seems Jesus says grow, be better than you were, be more like me. It is far too easy to avoid challenge, to not make an effort to change or be better. Christ has called us to follow, not sit.
Yes, we feel different. Not just because we rode in rental cars, there is a lot more to it than that. We have decided that 61% failure rate is unacceptable. We want to be challenged, to grow, to continually work out what this means for Parkway Students. We are learning and growing. Hoping that we don’t get lazy and forget, working hard to not become homeostatic.
In 2006 The Barna Group of Ventura, California (www.barna.org) released a study that indicates that 61% of twenty-some-things that were involved in church as teens have become disengaged from church. It is sad, and very troubling, to think that of the 500 or so kids at this camp this week, statistics indicate that 305 will disengage from the church when they graduate their youth group. Leaving 195 of the 500 still active. NOT GOOD! That is the same as making a 39 on a test.
This week at camp we have determined that we must challenge ourselves. The metaphorical bar must be raised; too many people are tripping over it. We have discussed that this will not be easy, it will very likely be painful, require discipline, and a concerted effort of prolonged focus. Not things that come naturally to our group, or people in general for that matter. We have discovered that the natural state of groups of people and individuals themselves is homeostatic (the tendency of a system to maintain internal stability or equilibrium obtained when tension or a drive has been reduced or eliminated.) Some times a homeostatic state is good, for example your internal organs rely on system stability. But for groups of people that wish to see change homeostasis is bad. Seems Jesus says grow, be better than you were, be more like me. It is far too easy to avoid challenge, to not make an effort to change or be better. Christ has called us to follow, not sit.
Yes, we feel different. Not just because we rode in rental cars, there is a lot more to it than that. We have decided that 61% failure rate is unacceptable. We want to be challenged, to grow, to continually work out what this means for Parkway Students. We are learning and growing. Hoping that we don’t get lazy and forget, working hard to not become homeostatic.
posted by Kevin at
11:15 AM
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