Godbearing Life reflection

Godbearing Life Reflection Paper In Order to evaluate and witness the influences that Kendra Creasy Dean and Ron Foster’s text, “The Godbearing Life”, had on my personal view of youth ministry and specifically the role of the youth pastor/leader I would first like to establish what my view of youth ministry was, before the reading, through an analogy. The analogy I often compare youth ministry to is the structure of command and the purposes and interactive relationships within the seventeenth century British Navy. It may be a random comparison but I find it suitable none the less. The command structure in the Royal Navy is much like a pyramid, with much of the control resting on the top and filtering down and spreading out more and more. In the British Navy on a ship the command structure is as follows, Captain, Commander, Lieutenant-Commander, Lieutenant, Warrant Officers, Master, Surgeon, Gunner and Midshipmen. This chain of command is broken down into three tiers of control. Tier one consists of the Captain alone. The Captain is charged with the direction of the ship, the purpose of their mission(s), the oversight of all crewmembers and ultimately the welfare of the ship. Tier two, which consists of the Commander, Lieutenant-Commander, and Lieutenant, has slightly less control then the captain but still has great influence on the ship. The purpose of these roles is to specifically focus the influence each member possesses in certain areas on the ship where the captain may be unable to completely focus on. Lastly Tier three, which consists of the Warrant Officers, Master, Surgeon, Gunners and Midshipmen, may hold the least amount of influence and control in respect to the previous two tiers, but never the less these roles are vital for the ships welfare and without them the ship could not operate. If you can now imagine a youth ministry as ship, then the break down of influence and control, in my opinion, is as follows, the captain is the