Midway through this year's Joining God's Mission class, I would say the "highs" have been helping kids (1) see that God's Story asthey have known/experienced it is incredibly lame (2) struggle with the "Kingdom" of God (3) see that salvation is not primarily about heaven but about life in the here and now (4) understand the huge connection between culture and mission, culture and God's Story, culture and . . . well, everything! Like most kids in my experience, my present class has been captured by issues of culture and I am eager to take it as far as I can go.
The "lows" of class this year have been the continuing drama surrounding (1) tests as a measure of learning (2) lack of "buy in" on the part of some students which is reflected by poor attendance and/or work habits outside ofclass (3) an occasional unwillingnesss to think/reflect deeply about God beyond Sunday School answers and church dogma and (4) outright resistance by a few who feel (sometimes like their parents) that my out-of-the-box wonderings and wanderings, asking questions and encouraging (not cultivating) honest doubt to be expressed is too faith-risky and perhaps even heretical.
At least this year, most of the kids care. If you search back to last year's class in the confines of this blog, you will find that most kids from last year didn't honestly care about God so why in the world (literally) would they care about God's mission? A fact that I didn't realize until late in the game. This year has been refreshingly different in that regard which re-energizes me daily.
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