So this last weekend I was in a pretty isolated place on Orcas Island in the state of Washington. I was there as part of the Post Doctoral work I get to do with George Fox Seminary as a part of their “Future Church Think Tank” During one of our conversations someone made the statement that it should be our goal as Christians to not “isolate” our students but instead to “Insulate” them. That same person shared that the way they did that was to prepare their students from the “inside Out” I’ve been thinking about that statement for the last few days and it really resonated with me last night. I was lying in bed with my oldest son Soren and we were having a good talk about life. (he’s 10) We had just gotten back from an event at church where we got to listen to a guy who plays in the NFL share his faith. Soren told me that he really enjoyed the night and loved that guy had grown up in a Christian Home but didn’t know what God was going to do with him. But he was faithful and God revealed it. He said he liked that Daniel didn’t know what God was doing but that he fully listened and God showed up.
What does this mean? It means that my goal as a youth pastor and father is not to isolate my students from the world. Isolation in my mind is a separate world where no one has any contact with the other. Insulation though is different it’s what I have a ton of in my attic that separates our bedroom from the really hot Texas summer heat. We “insulate” our students when we give them skills to know how to best respond to the crazy stuff they see in the world. It’s what we do when we teach parenting seminars and attempt to prepare parents to talk to their students about what they will be exposed too. Insulation is a much better paradigm to promote as a Youth pastor because it says we are “in” but we are not “of” the world.
Do I have anything figured out? No. But I am convinced that God has gifted me in the area of discernment. I love it that I have the opportunity to think through this with you. Tell me what you think.
Not Isolation but Insulation
So this last weekend I was in a pretty isolated place on Orcas Island in the state of Washington. I was there as part of the Post Doctoral work I get to do with George Fox Seminary as a part of their “Future Church Think Tank” During one of our conversations someone made the statement that it should be our goal as Christians to not “isolate” our students but instead to “Insulate” them. That same person shared that the way they did that was to prepare their students from the “inside Out” I’ve been thinking about that statement for the last few days and it really resonated with me last night. I was lying in bed with my oldest son Soren and we were having a good talk about life. (he’s 10) We had just gotten back from an event at church where we got to listen to a guy who plays in the NFL share his faith. Soren told me that he really enjoyed the night and loved that guy had grown up in a Christian Home but didn’t know what God was going to do with him. But he was faithful and God revealed it. He said he liked that Daniel didn’t know what God was doing but that he fully listened and God showed up.
What does this mean? It means that my goal as a youth pastor and father is not to isolate my students from the world. Isolation in my mind is a separate world where no one has any contact with the other. Insulation though is different it’s what I have a ton of in my attic that separates our bedroom from the really hot Texas summer heat. We “insulate” our students when we give them skills to know how to best respond to the crazy stuff they see in the world. It’s what we do when we teach parenting seminars and attempt to prepare parents to talk to their students about what they will be exposed too. Insulation is a much better paradigm to promote as a Youth pastor because it says we are “in” but we are not “of” the world.
Do I have anything figured out? No. But I am convinced that God has gifted me in the area of discernment. I love it that I have the opportunity to think through this with you. Tell me what you think.
One Response to “Not Isolation but Insulation”
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Great post Lars! I am certainly going to use that phrase when I talk to parents and youth leaders!