Relational Ministry and the theology of Incarnation

I have been reading a book that was recommended to me called Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry by Andrew Root. Let me start by saying what an insightful, and inspiring book! Since our church is just starting a youth ministry, I have been putting a lot of time and effort into the approach that God is calling for in regards to youth ministry. It is easy to come up with a list of "do's" and "don't do's" taken from the experience of others, but what is best for me, for our church, our youth? How can I make sure that my focus starts on and remains with what is best for the youth?

In his book, Root said, "A relational youth ministry of place-sharing (sharing a place with someone; entering into their world) is practiced from the belief that Jesus is alive and active in the world." He goes on to say, "If our incarnational ministry is constructed solely from How? (How can I use Christ's ministry? "How?" is used as the premise of Bonhoeffer's theology of "How?" being a question of disobedience and unbelief, not really getting at the message that Christ gave us) the goal of the practice can easily slide into figuring out how to get adolescents to participate, rather than discovering and supporting the distinct who (Who is Jesus?) that each adolescent is in his or her person."

The idea here being are you using relational ministry to influence youth? The idea of, "if I build a relationship with these kids then I can influence them to participate in youth group, and also influence them as far as their spiritual journey is concerned." Root purposed that a "ministry of influence has very little to do with the incarnation."

I can see his point here, especially when I think about how a kid would feel if they discovered that the relationship I had been building with them was instigated on my part as means to influence them. I can imagine a sense of betrayal. If we truly want to have a relational ministry we have to be place sharers, entering into the personal hell of others and walking along side of them. Does this mean we hid who we are? Absolutely not! If God is a big part of our life than we would share Him, and encourage our youth. It's all about our approach.

In order for this to be practical, I really have to delve deeply into who Christ is. Anyway, just some pondering thoughts. I would most definitely recommend this book. While it is written with a emphasize on youth ministries, it would be good for anyone who really wants to dig into the theology of incarnation.

Root, Andrew. Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2007. print.