You Lost Me

Ellen says...


Is the North American church overprotective, repressive, and shallow? "UnChristian" looked at outsiders and their perceptions of the church, and what we could do to respond to these very real concerns. With "You Lost Me", Kinnaman examines young insiders who have left disconnected from the church, giving them a voice and an opportunity for the church to respond in love.

About the resource...


You Lost Me by David Kinnaman
Paperback and Hardcover • Baker Publishing Group • 9780801013140

Millions of young Christians are disconnecting from church as they transition into adulthood. They're real people, not just statistics. And each one has a story to tell. The faith journeys of the next generation are a challenge to the established church, but they can also be a source of hope for the community of faith. Bestselling author of "UnChristian", David Kinnaman, with the help of contributors from across the Christian spectrum, offers ideas for pastors, youth leaders, parents, and educators to pass on a vibrant, lasting faith, and ideas for young adults to find themselves in wholehearted pursuit of Christ.



An excerpt... 

A generation of young Christians believes that the churches in which they were raised are not safe and hospitable places to express doubts. Many feel that they have been offered slick or half-baked answers to their thorny, honest questions, and they are rejecting the “talking heads” and “talking points” they see among the older generations. You Lost Me signals their judgment that the institutional church has failed them.

Whether or not that conclusion is fair, it is true that the Christian community does not well understand the new and not-so-new concerns, struggles, and mindsets of young dropouts, and I hope that You Lost Me will help to bridge this gap. Because of my age (thirty-seven) and my position as a researcher, I am often asked to explain young people to older generations and advocate for their concerns. I welcome the task because, whatever their shortcomings, I believe in the next generation. I think they are important, and not just because of the cliché “young people are the leaders of tomorrow.”

The story—the great struggle—of this emerging generation is learning how to live faithfully in a new context, to be in the world but not of the world. This phrase, “in but not of the world,” comes from Jesus’s prayer for his followers, recorded in John 17. For the next generation, the lines between right and wrong, between truth and error, between Christian influence and cultural accommodation are increasingly blurred. While these are certainly challenges for every generation, this cultural moment is at once a singular opportunity and a unique threat to the spiritual formation of tomorrow’s church. Many young adults are living out the tension of in-but-not-of  in ways that ought to be corrected or applauded, yet instead are often criticized or rejected.

In the vibrant and volatile story of the next generation, a new spiritual narrative is bubbling up. Through the lens of this project, I have come to understand and agree with some, though not all, of their grievances. Yes, we should be concerned about some of the attitudes and behaviors we encounter in the next generation of Christians, yet I also find reasons to hope in the best of what they have to offer. Apparently they are a generation prepared to be not merely hearers of doctrine but doers of faith; they want to put their faith into action, not just to talk. Yes, many young dropouts are stalled in their spiritual pursuits, yet a significant number of them are reinvigorating their faith with new ideas and new energy.

From this generation, so intent on reimagining faith and practice, I believe the established church can learn new patterns of faithfulness. You Lost Me seeks to explain the next generation’s cultural context and examine the question:

How can we follow Jesus—and help young people faithfully follow Jesus—in a dramatically changing culture?

Excerpt from You Lost Me by David Kinnaman. Copyright 2011, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Used by permission.


DVD Resource coming Oct 2012

More free resources:
Video Interviews on New Day TV
Video Interviews on 100 Huntley St
Publisher's Page
Tables and Charts from the book

Born and raised on Vancouver Island, Ellen Graf-Martin now lives in the heart of Ontario’s Mennonite country with her husband Dan, where she continues to work in publishing and ministry.Learn more about her work at www.grafmartin.com

Detox Headache: Releasing the Toxin's of the Mind

I found it hard to focus on the court with this pulsating pain tormenting me from the eyes up. This wasn’t a normal headache, it was a DETOX headache. Yep, my body was revolting because it wasn’t getting its usual five cent candy feed. During a detox the toxins in your body are shown the way out, but during this process your muscles tighten causing headaches.

Week Two into this Egypt Detox: Releasing the Toxin’s of my mind, I am experiencing these mental headaches. My BlackBerry decided to take a dip in my glass of water. I thought I saved it! Made a couple calls and then later it died. I called on my miracle working God to save my Smartphone. I put my phone in a bed of rice for the day and then took the vacuum cleaner hose to it and sucked the water out (Youtube says this speeds up the process). The next morning, I powered it up and the green light lit up! I danced, but realized the charge wouldn’t hold. So I charged it over night and in the morning I discovered it short circuited and now it’s dead...Not mostly Dead... Really Dead.

I am currently using a friends old phone. OLD. With annoying rings, a multiple letter keypad. It can’t read my SIM Card because the memory is too small. It’ll cost me $339 to replace my phone which is money I do not have. My phone provider said, “We can order it for you today and just put it on your phone bill and you can pay it off later.” My head starts throbbing. Tempting. It’s so easy to take matters into my own hands. I could have a new phone right now through credit!

God’s been teaching me to expect from Him. I’ve been reading the story of Joseph and the main message is to Trust HIM! The principles I’ve been meditating on and what God has shown me and taught me the last couple of weeks are being challenged and It’s not just the phone, it is my friend and a family members health, it’s one of the teens who has been admitted to the mental health unit, its promoting and covering the costs for a girls conference I’m organizing.

We serve a God who wants us to walk into each day with specific expectations because He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. (Eph.3:30) It’s a faith challenge and experiment. I will not cave in and go back to doing things on my own strength. He is the I Can God.

Youth Worker, Your Maker likes you and He wants to meet and supersede your expectations this year personally, within the youth ministry and out in your community. Trust the detox process, don’t reach for the coffee or the sugar representing our old habits. The headaches are a result of our old thinking and actions being challenged. God’s is using the circumstances of life to release the old ways of thinking, liberating your body from responding to life as the rest of society deals with life. You are set apart for His holy purpose, trust the God of the universe, that your mind may be renewed through new experiences.

Alison is a professional Youth Speaker, Co-Writer of the HEROES 2 Curriculum and Founder of the Young Woman of Power Conference. Based out of Calgary Alison is Inspiring Teen Greatness with a focus on youth in the community. With 15 years of experience her mission is to raise up a Generation of Confident Youth.

http://www.inspiringteengreatness.com

The Egypt Detox

God has put incredible skills in you. You sense it, but you don’t know how to get there. You know you have money making ideas that will advance God’s kingdom, concepts that will impact youth in the masses but you haven’t really done anything about it. Well you tried, or perhaps you are still in the process but the steps you are taking even the turtle is surpassing you! You’re working hard on getting all of your ducks in a row before you move forward. You were born to do great things, that’s why there is this dissidence in thought. You’re frustrated by the way you are living because you know you are capable of so much more!

What’s holding you back?

UNBELIEF. Not in God in YOU! Grrrr, I UNDERSTAND!!! You are not alone. It is time to Detox Egypt out of you. When I say Egypt, I’m referring to the Exodus, all the people Moses lead out of Egypt. Though they were free, they were still flinching anytime they heard the crack of a whip. It was that slavery mentality that held them back from entering into their PROMISE land.

Do you struggle with Feeling less than and not good enough, driven to perform to prove something?

Do you hear yourself saying, we don’t have the funds for that, I could never pull that off ?

Do your thoughts often default back to painful family history, your poor track record or negative past experiences?

Youth Worker, did you flinch at the sound of the whip? The devil doesn’t want you or the youth that surround you entering into the Promise. That Egypt (slavery) mentality is slowing you down!

You are innovative, filled with outside the box ideas, you have the ability and the reach to help those kids in the schools and in the community. Some of you have a book or curriculum in you that will help parents and educators. However, it’s these old thinking habits that can be hard to break. I too have been frustrated with me. But my eyes were open after the Whitney Houston Tragedy. Here is a woman, that we all could see was gifted, yet she doubted and questioned her greatness and at times succumbed to the taunting thought “I’m not good enough.” And then she died.

Youth Worker, that will not be you! This year, in 2012 my prayer for you is that you would know the depth of your influence and walk in it. That you would wage war with your thoughts and win! With God's help, that you would outlast your unbelief.

In order to get Egypt thinking out, you must Detox. There are a number of stats that say it takes anywhere between 21 to 28 days to start a new habit or change a belief system. This new study came out by the UK Health Behaviour Research Centre saying it takes 66 days for a new habit it to be engrained in your membrane where you don’t even think about it.

Join me on a journey of Detoxification “The Egypt Detox” where we will vigorously develop a new mentality for 66 days.

Step One: Find Time. You need time set aside to work on your thoughts. 15 minutes, 30 minutes whatever you can find.

I’ve already started. A couple of weeks ago I got rid of my television. All these programs are online, no longer to do I feel the pressure to have to watch a program every Thursday at 9pm. I can use that time for my thoughts, and when there is a dull moment, I can watch my show online any day of the week and I am less tempted to watch filler shows like Say Yes to the Dress. (I can’t explain the female fascination with this show)

I am serious about waging war on my thoughts and taking captive every thought and forcing them into submission making it obedient to God (2 Cor.10:5). I’m reading more and listening more, I’m working with God to rid myself of the old Egypt thoughts so I’m ready and able to walk in the year of the Promise Land.

Youth worker success is within reach, if you outlast your unbelief.

Hold on, it’s going to happen. God is with you. Step out this year, take big risks, no more waiting. There are students who have been waiting for your great reveal.

Let the Detox Begin.

(I want to hear from you. Share what you are doing to detoxify yourself. Where are you doing differently to find time. Pass it on. Your wins, are our Wins, Cause God Wins.)

Meditating Thougths

Little Risks = Little Rewards - Pastor Craig Buroker

If you are going to think, you might as well think big. – Donald Trump

If you have faith in me, you will do the things I have done and greater things will you do. - Jesus