The US has thousands and thousands of children who need adoption. Ideally, Christian families would step up and adopt a child. If that happened, there would be no need for foster care. BUT then there is reality - every Christian home will not adopt a child in need of a home - many for very legitimate reasons. This reality means that we need foster homes and a system in place to care for the un-adopted children.
Two years ago I wrote a series of posts that explained why New City Church, Macon would pursue the ideal of having students incorporated into our existing and new Missional communities. There have been some great stories about our students being ministered to and incorporated into the body of the church - there have been some successes... but reality is causing us to re-think and re-shape how we minister to students and families. The reality is that some existing parents are not at a place where they feel comfortable with their children sitting in on discussion (a great ideal) and many of the students don't feel comfortable participating in discussions with adults (another great ideal and application of Titus 2, and a reality of life in this culture and context). The results?
Middle schoolers and high schoolers are not in Christian community. This means they are not receiving the input of older Christians (Titus 2), and they are often not participating in the missional partnerships of the MC.
Another result is that we are missing missional opportunities to reach non-believing and non-connected students and their families. Students who aren't plugged in are not inviting other students. Parents who love their children and want Christian community for their children don't connect at New City as readily because the reality is that our ministry to students isn't thriving.
So the reality is - We are not ministering well to our existing students and we are missing out on missional opportunities to reach both students and parents. The past few weeks we have begun great discussions on how to correct course - minister well to students and be missional in our city, and do this without compromising our values of Worship, Mission, Community (including Titus 2 diversity), and Theology. Look for more explanation in the days to come! I am excited to re-think student ministry and to find a way to keep our ideals, even if reality reshapes our practice.
