alpharaposa (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alpharaposa) wrote2006-10-08 06:48 pm
alpharaposa) wrote2006-10-08 06:48 pm
Disappointments
Went to a meeting, just now. Thought it was the regular Venturing Crew meeting, but it turned out to be a meeting of all the parents and youth leader types (that wanted to show up).
The Venturing Crew is apparantly dead. The youth didn't want to do it anymore, and none of the parents even seemed to know what it was there for.
*sigh*
Out of everybody there, only one youth even called it by its proper name: Venturing. The folks 'in charge' of youth fellowship/family ministries/etc kept calling it "Adventure Club". That told me that nobody really knew what it was. It was a lonely little thing on the edge of whatever else their church is up to.
I heard some other things that made me flinch a little, internally. The guy scheduling all the youth events said that they'd need "fundraising, fundraising, fundraising" in order to do a church trip next summer. A lot of fundraising, he said.
Of course, the response was one I'd heard from people here and there before: can't we do fundraising outside our church? If they give to the youth, they won't give to the rest of the church, and there won't be money for bills and other obligations.
And the woman at the head of the family ministries committee asked the youth if they didn't want to do anything political. Of course, what she then gives as examples are things like making lunches for the homeless that show up in this area as things get colder, or maybe having a bible study at school. Since when was any of this political?
I suppose it isn't that surprising. The kids and the leaders of the Venturing Crew said that they'd work up to a superactivity by having little ones first, then deciding what kind of big thing they want to do next. That sort of thinking loses steam. You get the question- what are we really getting out of this? Where is it going? If you start with the superactivity (we're going to Philmont!) then there's an answer there, and they'll stick around long enough to show them all the rest that goes with it. The trust, the spiritual development, the leadership.
On a more personal note, the church seems to be one that puts a lot of stock in meetings and committees and keeping everything properly in order (or, at least, the people who do things are that way). I showed up to meetings where I barely saw and never spoke to the youth, even though I was supposed to be an assistant advisor. I was part of the 'structure', but never really connected to anybody.
Boy Scout programs are mentoring programs: they're designed so that youth build relationships with adults and with each other. That won't happen if you keep the youth and the adults at arm's length from each other.
I didn't know what I was there for. And the church didn't know what the Venturing Crew was there for. I suppose it was inevitable that it fell by the wayside.
But I'm not happy about it.
The Venturing Crew is apparantly dead. The youth didn't want to do it anymore, and none of the parents even seemed to know what it was there for.
*sigh*
Out of everybody there, only one youth even called it by its proper name: Venturing. The folks 'in charge' of youth fellowship/family ministries/etc kept calling it "Adventure Club". That told me that nobody really knew what it was. It was a lonely little thing on the edge of whatever else their church is up to.
I heard some other things that made me flinch a little, internally. The guy scheduling all the youth events said that they'd need "fundraising, fundraising, fundraising" in order to do a church trip next summer. A lot of fundraising, he said.
Of course, the response was one I'd heard from people here and there before: can't we do fundraising outside our church? If they give to the youth, they won't give to the rest of the church, and there won't be money for bills and other obligations.
And the woman at the head of the family ministries committee asked the youth if they didn't want to do anything political. Of course, what she then gives as examples are things like making lunches for the homeless that show up in this area as things get colder, or maybe having a bible study at school. Since when was any of this political?
I suppose it isn't that surprising. The kids and the leaders of the Venturing Crew said that they'd work up to a superactivity by having little ones first, then deciding what kind of big thing they want to do next. That sort of thinking loses steam. You get the question- what are we really getting out of this? Where is it going? If you start with the superactivity (we're going to Philmont!) then there's an answer there, and they'll stick around long enough to show them all the rest that goes with it. The trust, the spiritual development, the leadership.
On a more personal note, the church seems to be one that puts a lot of stock in meetings and committees and keeping everything properly in order (or, at least, the people who do things are that way). I showed up to meetings where I barely saw and never spoke to the youth, even though I was supposed to be an assistant advisor. I was part of the 'structure', but never really connected to anybody.
Boy Scout programs are mentoring programs: they're designed so that youth build relationships with adults and with each other. That won't happen if you keep the youth and the adults at arm's length from each other.
I didn't know what I was there for. And the church didn't know what the Venturing Crew was there for. I suppose it was inevitable that it fell by the wayside.
But I'm not happy about it.