Comments on: Higher Things: A New Model of Youth Ministry/An Interview with Pr. Bill Cwirla

By: Rev. Cwirla's Blogosphere

Rev. Cwirla's Blogosphere — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:11:07 +0000

Adolescent Subculture…

I have long maintained, most recently in an interview with Michael "internet Monk" Spencer, that…

By: dumb ox

dumb ox — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:28:41 +0000

Maybe God has a sense of humor. If you want to learn about Luther’s small catechism, talk to a Baptist; if you want to learn about Rick Warren or Beth Moore, talk to a Lutheran.

By: Crysten

Crysten — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:08:53 +0000

Agreed.Agreed.Agreed.Agreed.

Signed, an LCMS Lutheran who thinks her fellow LCMS Lutherans need some education.

By: John Drosendahl

John Drosendahl — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:23:03 +0000

I truly wish the church body to which I belong (the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod) were embracing of what the Higher Things group is doing. While the participants/leaders are all of the LCMS (or its sister church in Canada) it is currently not a recognized organization within the LCMS.

Perhaps this is for the best, since when any administration takes control of something successful, it often over-administrates it to death. I pray that Higher Things will continue on to bless all of my children, including my 7-week-old!

By: Brandon F

Brandon F — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:28:13 +0000

What would be involved in a â€œspirituality toolboxâ€ in your tradition or mine?
Hmmm… as a Methodist-raised Evangelical Anglo-Catholic…
- A Book of Common Prayer (though I am more partial to the Church of England’s “Common Worship” series now).
- A Lectionary (preferably the “ORDO” put out by Tufton Books/Church Union, edited by Fr. John Hunwicke SSC)
- ESV Study Bible, NRSV Wesley Study Bible, Orthodox Study Bible plus a plain text edition of the Revised English Bible w/ Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals
- Simon Chan’s “Spiritual Theology”
- Hymns Ancient & Modern (one of the editions from the early 1900′s that I have)

I think that sums up my current toolbox. Though, it’s probably more of a “spirituality suitcase” than a “toolbox”.

By: Frank!

Frank! — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:37:03 +0000

What about the Blue Trinity Hymnal? It has the 1689 confession. I still love the red one with the WCF. Just ignore them baby baptism parts Maybe it;s time for a good Baptist Hymnal to be placed out there with Spurgeon’s cathechism?

By: Ross

Ross — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:27:50 +0000

“Adolescence is a transitionary period from childhood to adulthood; it is not a subculture. Our task as adults is to get them through adolescence, not perpetuate it.”

This is the core of what is wrong with the concept of youth in both the secular and faith cultures in the US. (Maybe Europe but I have no idea.)

The “youth” concept to keep the teen years as a long term childhood was foisted on us by Dewey and friends as a way to drive religion out of the schools and culture. He didn’t succeed in that but he did manage to get most of us to consider teens as kids.

Now when they get to be 18 they don’t know how to act like adults but are told they can make adult choices. And look at the mess we now have.

Sounds like the LCMS is trying to repair the damage and put the train back on the rails.

By: The Guy from Knoxville

The Guy from Knoxville — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:26:12 +0000

Austin,

Find a copy of the 73 Baptist Hymnal and look through it – it’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen
for a hymnal. The new hymn texts (and a new tune or two) were atrocious. 1956 was good
as has been stated and 1999 was better – compared to 1973 it’s stellar.

I would submit the athe Celebrating Grace Hymnal that the Mercer Univ with much support
from the CBF and The Fellowship of Baptist Pastoral Muscians (FBPM) will end up being
one of the best in terms of baptist hymnals. The current Lifeway hymnal from 2008 is definatley slanted (biased) towards the overly contemporary worship trends in SBC churches – not much to say there as I’m defiantely not a supporter of contemporary worship as currenlty practiced in most SBC churches.

All that said to say 1973 was about as bad as it gets for hymnals and that horrid rust red cloth cover with the yellow edge pages looked bad as well along with the stuff contained within its covers.

To everyone else – sorry on the rant again….. it’s taken a long time for me to come to terms with the current worship trends in SBC churches. I’ll eventually get past it.

The Guy from Knoxville

By: iMonk

iMonk — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:17:53 +0000

I’m woefully ignorant on Campbellites.

Feel free to describe and link.

By: Brad Haggard

Brad Haggard — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:12:13 +0000

Just wondering imonk, are you aware of Christ in Youth? They are the big youth ministry organization from the (Independent) Christian churches, and I think they have a really strong conference-based model.

Of course, we can’t be denominational be cause we “aren’t a denomination”…