Sometimes my head is floating so much in abstract thoughts, theories, and arguments -logically mostly : ), that I get a bit lost in there. It is easy for me (a girl) to get lost in thinking about guys. Not the 6th grade obsessing but from a programming and ministry viewpoint it is easy to see that within the church there are many more women/girls than men/boys. I have read several books about working with guys from a psychological and sociological standpoint and have had countless conversations with my guy friends about how guys think... and honestly... I'm still a bit lost.
I read this interesting article the other day from Youthworker.com about a book (Why Men Hate Going to Church) citing arguments I have heard before but applied to modern(ish) traditional church programming that I grew up in and have been a part of from sunday school to youth groups and christmas plays.
My solution to this issue has been to try and wrangle my guy friends in to participating and being intentional about trying to incorporate things the boys I work with enjoy. Young guys need good guy role models right?
Sometimes I feel like this is the best I can do. Be aware that I'm not a guy and therefore sometimes I eschew my program in a way that lifts up natural (?) talents of girls and puts down the rowdiness of the boys and try to brings guys in to help balance that.
Isn't that what diversity is really about though? And why it is important for our leaders to grasp it? Working with people that are different than myself - in gender, age, race, economic status, family make-up, etc. ect. can prove to be more difficult - often they think differently and therefore challenge or just don't agree with my thoughts. Yet Jesus doesn't call me to just go out and serve those who are like me. In order to really build relationships and truly love (the cornerstone of the faith in every window you look through - law, social justice, scripture) I desperately need to seek to understand those I have the opportunity to (and those I'm trying to connect to) and reach through my understanding instead of just leading how I think it should be done.
A little bit more complicated than just hanging out and having pizza at youth group - but not. Food unites us, and games can unite us (competition, tag games... so many rabbit trails there), but to me it comes back to being intentional about reaching everyone in the room and learning my own personal biases.
Just some simple ramblings...
Peace,
Erin
