Today I was reminded what ‘missional’ looks like by my 4.5yr-old daughter Alaiya.

The following is a conversation my wife Kristina recorded between Alaiya and her Hindu friend who lives up the street from us. The girls were playing out front and then decided to do some coloring-in together. Saheli (name changed for privacy) chose a picture of Jesus on the Cross to color-in, and then asked Alaiya,

Saheli: “Who’s that?” 

Alaiya: “That’s Jesus. Do you know who Jesus is?”

Saheli: “No.”

Alaiya: “Jesus is God’s Son! And He really loves you!” 

Saheli: “HE DOES!? What does He love about me??”

Alaiya: “He MADE you! And He made lots of stuff, and He knows everything. And He died for us!”

Saheli: “HE DIED!!?!?!?!?”

Alaiya: “Yeah! But He rose again! Yeah…and He really loves you Saheli…”

*long pause for more coloring-in*

Saheli: “Can we color another one?”

Alaiya prayed tonight that Saheli would know how much Jesus loves her. They’re going to hang out again tomorrow. 

That’s what missional looks like.

www.adamramsey.org 

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

(Philippians 2:3)

Several years ago, I helped launch a youth movement in our city involving dozens of youth and young adult ministries from all around our region. What followed were annual conferences, combined nights of worship, and citywide prayer gatherings where students were pleading with God to work powerfully through them in their schools for His fame.

What was even more exciting than witnessing God’s work in our students, was His work amongst their leaders. Competition with one another was being replaced with genuine care. Suspicion of each other gradually turned into service to each other. Leaders who were unaware of each other’s existence developed deep, lasting friendships around the gospel that continue to this day.

Jesus is the Vine who bleeds life into His branches.

The prophetic declaration of Hosea “like people, like priest” proved true. The unity that was forming between youth pastors was having a trickle-down effect into our students, who had begun collaborating on mission in their schools with the result of many more meeting Christ!

Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t easy. Building a strong relational network between youth pastors from different churches with different philosophies of ministry took a lot of prayer, grace, time, and coffee. It was difficult, but it was worth it.

The following are four very practical encouragements for youth pastors who desire to strengthen relationships in their city to better spread Jesus’ fame:

1. See them as a fellow servant to be loved, not a standard for you to be measured against.

True unity begins to form the moment you intentionally become more interested in them than their numbers. To build a youth movement in your city, start by pursuing genuine friendships with your brothers and sisters who are serving in the trenches with you.

Being more interested in the number of people in a service than the servant of Christ sitting in front of you reeks of self-absorption and insecurity. Playing the ‘numbers game’ is a #fail for everyone whose arrogance or anxiety purchases them a ticket to this event.

You all know the game I’m talking about right? The Numbers Game is the art of subtly finding out how many people another ministry has, while inserting your own numbers into the conversation with ninja-like deftness, on the condition that you have more than them.

Are numbers in ministry important? Of course. Every number represents a name, which represents a person, who is created in the image of God.

But are numbers the basis of how we are to relate with other servants of Christ? No. Never. Not ever. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)

Instead, ask them about the vision God has given them for their young people. What are their dreams? What is Jesus doing in their family? What are they wrestling with in the Scriptures? How can you pray for them? Share the struggles of ministry with one another and point each other to the Great News of what Jesus has done!

When the basis of our relationships with other youth leaders moves from a focus on our performance, to the performance of Jesus on our behalf, we are liberated from the snare of fruitless comparison into joyful, encouraging, grace-grounded friendships.

2. Pray for other youth pastors and the students they are leading.

And not just privately either. Pray for them publicly and intentionally with your team when you gather. The moment we start to pray for other ministries, we stop seeing them as enemies or competitors and instead see them as brothers and sisters on the same mission. Put a reminder in your phone to take a few minutes each day and lift up others who are faithfully serving Jesus and students in your city.

3. Small encouragements make a big difference.

There’s no “easy button” for youth pastors. Although the work is joyful and rewarding, it can be taxing and exhausting. Finding small ways to encourage other youth pastors can go a long way in propelling them forward.

Paul’s desire for others who were faithfully serving Jesus was, “that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” (Romans 1:12) In fact, Paul later goes on to link encouragement with endurance. Never underestimate the place of encouragement in the race of endurance! What if God hasn’t just placed you in your city to be a blessing to your church, but to be a blessing to His Church?

Never underestimate the place of encouragement in the race of endurance!

Here’s a few practical ideas for providing encouragement:

• Shoot them an encouraging text.
• Invite them out for coffee.
• Celebrate them on your Facebook or Twitter.
• Bless them with a gift-card to a nice restaurant.
• Recommend a helpful book you’re reading.
• Tell them to their face that you appreciate them and are thankful for them.

Youth leader, never underestimate the place of encouragement in the race of endurance!

4. Keep the main thing the main thing.

 At the end of the day, unity isn’t the goal; Jesus is. If you pursue unity as an end in itself, the result will be shallow friendships, bad doctrine, and an impotent uniformity that is powerless to change anything. But when we seek unity in the eternal Christ rather than ecumenical compromise, we can engage our distinctions without being distracted from our mission.

A.W. Tozer describes the stark contrast between being ‘united to one another’ and being ‘united in Christ.’ He says,

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

Jesus is the Head who holds the body together and causes it to grow. Jesus is the Vine who bleeds life into His branches. Jesus is the main thing that we can and should and must unite to! His mission! His fame! His renown in our cities!

When our boast is in Him and not ourselves (2 Corinthians 4:5), when our hope is in Him and not our performance (2 Corinthians 1:10), when our conversations orbit Him and not our successes (Hebrews 10:24), only then will we know the joy of true unity that is built upon the Gospel.

This article was originally written for The Resurgence, and can be found by clicking HERE.

Watching Jordan play was nothing short of magical.

There never was, and never will be, a greater player in the world of basketball. End of story.

So my kids (4yrs, 3yrs, 1yr) already have a favorite band. For a guaranteed display of little Ramseys rocking out and singing at the top of their lungs: just press play on any one of Citizens songs. And to be completely honest, it pretty much has the same effect on most people with a pulse as well.

Citizens is a high-energy indie rock band from Mars Hill U-District. Born in the heart of Seattle’s University District, Citizens has quickly built a reputation for their dynamic hymn arrangements and high-intensity anthems. Deacon Zach Bolen leads the band with a visible emotion and passion that stems from a desire to see everyone in the U-District worship Jesus as Lord.

You’re welcome!

How different would the spiritual landscape of your city look if student ministries across the Bible-believing, denominational spectrum were encouraging one another, praying for one another and on mission with one another…instead of competing with one another?

Dear Youth Pastor,

I know you’ve been told that a little competition is healthy. I know you deeply want your student ministry to grow, bear fruit, and bring Jesus glory. And I want you to know that the first does not lead to the second. It hinders it.

As a kid, I was potentially one of the most competitive people on earth. I’m serious. Ask anyone who had the misfortune of growing up with me in the realm of school and sports, or even competing with me for the front seat of the car. While you were busy calling ‘shotgun’…I was already standing at the car-door in defiance of your dumb game ready to defend my territory. Come at me.

When I entered ministry, I subconsciously brought this same mentality with me. I wanted to be a ‘world-changer’, ‘history-maker’, and every other adjective that those of us who were victims of student ministry in the 90’s inherited. Being a young and ambitious youth pastor, I naturally looked up to and began to measure myself against the best in the business, and the seeds of comparison gave birth to the fruit of ministry-competition. My arrogance initially led me to climb the ladder of ministry success (“for Jesus,” of course), which inevitably led to frustration because I could never climb high enough. I couldn’t see it at the time, but Jesus was lovingly refusing to give me my idol.

It took a failed church-plant followed by 6 months on the bench for the Holy Spirit to show me two very important truths:

1)   Jesus was the superstar not me (John 15:5, 16:14).

2)   Those other youth pastors who loved Jesus, preached the Bible, and were on His mission weren’t the competition or a measuring stick; they were my teammates.

A Different Kind of Race

Youth pastor, understanding that other Bible-believing churches are on the same team as us changes the way we see them, talk about them, and pray for them. Hebrews 10:24-25 says,

^{“ 24}And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

I love how the NIV translates this verse,

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on…”

The imagery is one of friends running side-by-side: encouraging one another, pacing one another, because they are running on the same team as one another. The goal of this race isn’t finishing first, but finishing well (2 Timothy 4:7). Would Jesus rebuke us as He did His disciples, because we still foolishly think that greatness in the kingdom of God is measured by superiority, instead of serving?

You see, far more powerful than the joy-corroding acid of competition, is the strength-sustaining fuel of encouragement. Like injections of adrenaline to a tired runner, so too is encouragement for the race of endurance (Romans 15:5).

Ultimately, competition completely distorts our focus. The moment we set our eyes on another ministry as ‘the competition’, we have taken our eyes off the harvest.

Do you see other pastors as competitors to be defeated, or co-laborers to be encouraged?

Don’t get me wrong. I am not talking about a watered-down, Gospel-compromising uniformity. The writers of Scripture clearly command us to defend the gospel (Jude 1:3-4), correct false teaching (2 Timothy 2:24-26), and divide from those who seek to distort the truth about Jesus (Galatians 1:6-9). Convictionless-ecumenism that just bangs the “Everybody love everybody!” drum at the expense of sound doctrine is just as useless (1 Timothy 4:16) and Christ-less (John 1:14) as competitive-divisiveness.

Imagine…

But imagine what it would be like to trade in comparison for celebration, as you share in the joy of what Jesus is doing through other youth ministries, rather than just your own…

Imagine seeing young people from different churches trade in competition for collaboration, as they work together on mission in their schools…

Imagine what it would be like to build deep friendships with others who know exactly what battles you’re fighting and challenges you’re facing…

Imagine what it would be like to run more swiftly and gladly, because instead of tearing each other down, we were “spurring one another on”…

I’m talking about a unity between Christian leaders who preach Jesus, open up the Bible, and love lost people with the Gospel…regardless of their denominational-affiliation or philosophy of ministry. By the grace of God, I have been blessed to experience the joy of this type of unity as well as the fruit of its synergy.

In Part 2, we will look at several practical ways we can go about building Christ-exalting networks between youth pastors in our cities, for the sake of Jesus’ fame, our joy, and our young people’s futures.

This article was originally written for The Resurgence, and can be found by clicking HERE.

There is no doubt that MLK was a man of rare-breed. A pastor, civil rights leader, and non-violent activist who powerfully used love and truth to fight injustice; King was easily one of the most influential figures in the 20th century.

Below is a stirring excerpt of a letter written from his prison cell in Birmingham, to eight fellow pastors in the South (who were all white) who had called him out and labeled his actions, “unwise and untimely.” King responded in his typical manner, with both conviction and class:

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.”

But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”–then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.

There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.”

MLK Jr is a shining example of the “grace and truth” that is found in Jesus Christ alone.

Amongst many other things, King is a reminder to all Christians to stand firmly on the truth of God’s Word despite hostile opposition, to speak out against injustice and speak up for those who have no voice…

…all while extending the hand of grace to those who violently or silently oppose the truth.

To be deeply inspired and encouraged, download and read the entire letter here.