Empowered to Eat
Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:52 pm
I was reading one morning when I heard my wife Michelle ask our daughter Sophia what she wanted for breakfast. I thought that it was amusing that Michelle asked our daughter who wasn’t even two yet what she wanted, but Sophia replied quickly, “Cereal!� I knew that they grow up fast… but not THAT fast! Once I got over the amusement, I wondered how our young church members would respond to that same question. What would THEY like to be fed? Their reaction was fascinating.
First of all, they were shocked and grateful that I would even ask them. Most of us have grown up in a culture (Asian American) where the youth are not offered such preferences. Though they were excited about the prospects of being able to choose their own “daily bread� to eat, they were also terribly confused. They spoke very generally about what they wanted, and so much so that they ended up more frustrated than anything else. They had no idea what it was that they wanted. This is postmodernism with a kink in it. They desire options and the freedom to choose their own preferences, but at the end of the day, they struggle to pinpoint what they want and lack the basic life skills to make such decisions because they’ve rarely been given these opportunities before, nor have they been taught how to go about so. Empowerment has become a very important term in our approach to ministry among this next generation of leaders. We began to empower these young folks with the freedom to choose, but also provided for them the direction and guidance that they craved as well. The outcomes have been phenomenal and all it took was us telling them that they could do it, and that we’ll show them how.
First of all, they were shocked and grateful that I would even ask them. Most of us have grown up in a culture (Asian American) where the youth are not offered such preferences. Though they were excited about the prospects of being able to choose their own “daily bread� to eat, they were also terribly confused. They spoke very generally about what they wanted, and so much so that they ended up more frustrated than anything else. They had no idea what it was that they wanted. This is postmodernism with a kink in it. They desire options and the freedom to choose their own preferences, but at the end of the day, they struggle to pinpoint what they want and lack the basic life skills to make such decisions because they’ve rarely been given these opportunities before, nor have they been taught how to go about so. Empowerment has become a very important term in our approach to ministry among this next generation of leaders. We began to empower these young folks with the freedom to choose, but also provided for them the direction and guidance that they craved as well. The outcomes have been phenomenal and all it took was us telling them that they could do it, and that we’ll show them how.