Tilling the Soil, Planting the Seeds, Waiting for Growth
by Kelly C. Martini
When Frederico Ismael Leao Mesa, a young man from Uruguay, stepped before 150 of his peers from around the world to reflect on the parable of the mustard seed, he challenged them and their adult leaders: (Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-32, Luke 13:18-19)
"Nowadays, we as young people are underestimated. People, and sometimes we, see us as incapable of doing anything. They see us as those small seeds, just because we are young.
"Despite everybody’s low opinion of us, God is next to us saying that no matter how weak or small we may seem, God trusts us. God believes in the fruit of our work. It is our mission to have patience and believe that God’s power and inspiration can work through us.
"In that way, we will grow tall and strong and we’ll become an example to others, and like the parable of the mustard plant, we’ll become a refuge."
Frederico Ismael’s comments came at the July 1999 International Youth Conference for Mission at Geneva Point Center in Center Harbor, N.H. The conference, sponsored by the Women’s Division and other units of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, offered hope and encouragement to the youth to be seeds of faith and provided guidance and companions in their journey to respond to God’s call to mission.
The conference also challenged adults: God can work through youth. Adults must nurture that.
For teenagers, the world can be filled with confusing paradoxes as they become isolated or connected through changing technologies, in vogue or in the margins because of materialism and marketability, filled with hope or hopelessness because of the environment.
Preparing youth to be in mission starts at home -- in the local church and in the community -- then extends to the national and the global. Preparing the soil for youth to be in mission only starts if adults believe God can work through youth.
Women’s Division staff Glory Dharmaraj, PhD, in her book Concepts of Mission, says images of missionaries vary:
"Missionaries are teachers, preachers, healers, bridge builders, peace makers, community organizers, agriculturalists, providers of technology, liberators, advocates of peace with justice, and on and on."
Being in mission is integral to our Wesleyan heritage. The Wesleyan quadrilateral provides a theological framework for mission that we can use as we work with youth. The quadrilateral calls us to consider Scripture, tradition, reason and experience as we shape mission:
We must share our traditions of prayer and stories about United Methodist work with the poor, the imprisoned, the sick, the uneducated and those affected by war. Our prayers and stories can dispel youth’s feelings of isolation in a world of globalization. They can find their places in God’s mission.
Michael Williams, a youth-conference participant, spent the weekend of July 10 teaching, reading and playing games with children in a poor neighborhood in North Philadelphia. By the end of the weekend, he realized that parts of the United States are economically depressed as are as parts of his home country of Liberia. But he knew no one in Liberia would believe this.
Mr. Williams’ experience, and his response to it, provide a model for helping youth deal with our world’s paradoxes as they seek God’s will in their lives.
Through a week of studying Scripture, discussing issues ranging from racism to violence to mission and justice, and sharing and listening to stories that spanned cultures and traditions, God had planted seeds in Mr. Williams so the young man could go into North Philadelphia, analyze the causes of poverty, work with people in the neighborhood, learn from them, and apply his own tradition and Christian beliefs to his work.
In your local church, you can:
The youth mission conference was designed as more than a one-time mountaintop experience. Participants developed strategies for taking home what they learned and were encouraged to understand themselves as agents of God’s mission. One adult leader explained:
"Many of the youth came to the conference thinking it was just another church junket. They came away believing they were the seeds."
Technology is keeping the participants conneted. Through a computer network, including an e-mail discussion group, provided by the General Board of Global Ministries, the youth share prayer requests. They have prayed for anorexic friends, a mother with cancer, the earthquake in Taiwan, the coup in Pakistan, acceptance to college, stressful tests. Their prayers range from pleadings to celebrations.
And their prayers are changing their lives. One father said his daughter gets out of bed, reads her e-mail, then prays and does devotions every morning.
The community extends beyond the prayer circle to an empowerment and learning forum. One young woman from Pakistan shared a sermon she gave at her church. A young man from California discussed how he was going to bring up issues he learned at the conference with his youth group. When youth in the United States got caught up in their own concerns, youth in Taiwan reminded them of the earthquake they’d just been through.
Nurturing, cultivating, pruning and weeding the seeds that have been planted is an ongoing process. Mission experiences must be followed with dialogue and support, which continue to remind youth that they live in a world greater than their local churches and communities.
Creativity within your local churches and conference can keep youth connected to mission after life-changing experiences. Consider:
In a world of instant e-mails, interactive video games and credit-card purchasing, it’s hard to believe God doesn’t call us to specific mission work the moment we ask. God works in God’s own time.
As part of mission experiences, teach youth to wait, to listen, to be silent.
"I’m not really in tune with nature or anything, and I’m not sure I’m one to appreciate all it’s beauty, but I did enjoy the nature hike that we took during the environmental-justice workshop," said Monika Bautista from Union City, Calif. "Just sitting there alone, as corny as it sounds, I found God’s presence and I prayed."
Waiting for growth can be a painful process as youth try to be the seeds of mission. Your local church can help:
When a father of a young woman in mission-conference participant Julie Lamm’s church committed suicide, conference participants from around the world prayed for the young woman, her father and her family. What the youth didn’t know was how their prayers and support would help Ms. Lamm.
When asked to be a cabin counselor at a junior-high gathering, Ms. Lamm was nervous because the young woman whose father had committed suicide was in her cabin. When the girls started asking questions about God, Ms. Lamm was afraid she wouldn’t be able to answer.
She prayed for God’s help. Youth from around the world prayed with her. After a night of answering questions about God, heaven, death, and even suicide, Ms. Lamm knew she had impacted the junior-high girls. She understood that answers to the tough questions didn’t come from her only, but from God.
Ms. Lamm had bloomed. The youth conference, the support and prayers of her peers, study and reflection from the conference and other arenas, and patience are shaping who she is.
Ms. Lamm's story can be an inspiration to the church and to United Methodist Women as we work with youth to be in mission.
Dying seeds, new life
In leading Bible study, conference participant Monika Bautista looked at the parable of seeds dying and rising to new life.
"It reminds me of a book that I read, where there was a pair of twins, and people viewed their hearts," Ms. Bautista said. "In the end, the twin with a scarred heart was the one who led a more meaningful life. The other was lonely. The scars on the heart symbolize where the one twin had let love in and let love out. He wasn't afraid to get hurt because he knew he would heal in time. The other twin, scared of leaving himself vulnerable, chose to never give love."
Ms. Bautista compared this Bible verse to bad experiences that create paradoxes in youth’s lives.
"A lot of the time, we think, ‘Why me?’" she said. "But through all of it, bad experiences can make us stronger, better people. We can then go out to the world and share what we've learned."
God’s mission is accomplished through youth when the church provides good soil, when the church nurtures the seeds, when the church is patient, when the church continuously tills the soil for new life.
Kelly C. Martini is executive secretary for communications for the Women’s Division. She was on the planning team for the July 1999 International Youth Conference for Mission.