Evening people! Tonight I want to write about how rules (and I am talking about politics and bureaucracy) of the church kill potential experiences that can bring together kids and make lifetime friends.When I was attending that church I ran a youth ministry called Heart Work. Heart Work is a program that is designed to get kids to collect money through helping out their community, selling goods or plain out asking for donations.The team of kids I had were/is awesome. They were insane in that they liked physical labor! We cleaned houses, dug dirt and landscaped. Good times! Even while I was working Heart Work the youth leaders gave me no support. I was the only one showing and picking up the kids, setting up the work and just being a leader in general. Because school and no support I felt the door was closing and stepped down from Heart Work. Ultimately due to family issues I left that church. I learned that Heart Work is no longer and that there is no community youth ministry. The story gets worse.
I have joined up with another ministry called King's Kids. I have been part of this group since high school. They are not part of a church but run under the flag of Youth with a Mission. They are not constrained under the red tape of church politics and are able to move more freely. The leadership is great and experienced. Naturally I thought my Heart Work team would love to be a part of this. So I wrote a message to my team about how we are going to Montana to distribute food to the Crow Indian tribe so that they can have a good Thanksgiving. I thought I was done with church politics....nope. One of the members of my group told me that I should ask the youth pastors (who never supported me in the past) if this was ok. The other kids exploded on her saying that it was not the Youth Group leaders decision. They told her it was their decision and their parents. She retaliated and involved the deans (her aunt and uncle) of the church. The deans told her to tell me to involve the youth pastors. To me that makes no sense. This is a third party ministry and now I see why the church of America is where it is now. The politics and bureaucracy of the American church kills ministry and growth. What a shame......
Good night internet,
Dain
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