9. STORY: Jesus’ Better Answer

9. STORY: Jesus’ Better Answer

9

STORY: Jesus’ Better Answer

I think of myself like a pencil. I can try to be a utensil to eat with—like a fork or a chopstick—but that’s not my purpose. Either I’m writing and being used for God’s purposes or I’m not.

Kevin

The church is a theatre of the gospel in which disciples stage previews of the coming kingdom of God.

Kevin J. Vanhoozer

So yeah, I’m deeply involved at my church now. I feel like I’m part of the family. I have a mission, and purpose, identity, belonging. All the stuff that teens generally want.”

When Kevin, a biracial high school senior, mentioned “purpose, identity, belonging” in our initial interview—even before I (Kara) did—I was impressed.

I couldn’t resist going off script and asking, “Kevin, you just mentioned identity, belonging, and purpose. Much of the rest of the interview is about those three terms. I’m curious: Have you heard these words before?”

Chuckling, Kevin smiled and admitted, “You busted me. I actually googled you and the Fuller Youth Institute last night and watched some of your videos.”

That’s not quite as astounding as coming up with those three terms on his own, but it’s still extraordinary. Kevin was the only student we interviewed who went online to study us before we studied him.

Kevin’s intentionality in looking up the Fuller Youth Institute mirrors the intentionality with which he’s experimented with his purpose for the last half of high school. A couple of years ago, Kevin launched his own YouTube channel to draw viewers to Jesus. He clarified, “I don’t make videos. But I’ve compiled, like, hundreds of videos and blogs that are the most helpful and popular when it comes to philosophy, ethics, morality, and stuff like that.”

In college and beyond, Kevin wants to write accessible and provocative content that points other teenagers to Jesus’ life and teachings. “Have you read Diary of a Wimpy Kid? I’d like to write like that. Nonchalant. Kind of cool. Maybe with drawings. But through the lens of the church. For people my age.”

A month before our first meeting, Kevin was hired on staff at his church. He’s now paid to supervise the (mostly adult) weekend volunteers as they set up chairs and tables in their main meeting spaces.

While the church pays him a small stipend, Kevin’s more motivated by his dreams for his church’s impact. “I think of church like a spiritual hospital to heal those in need. And like a spiritual military base to reach those who are lost. Youth group should be where we are equipped and held accountable as we go throughout the week.”

Talking with this seventeen-year-old often felt like having a conversation with a twenty-seven-year-old—a twenty-seven-year-old with a remarkably clear vision for the part he plays in God’s kingdom work. He views himself as an agent in God’s bigger plan and “part of the greatest story ever told, meaning the gospel. I’m always asking myself, ‘How is my story going to further God’s plot? Where does the writer, who is God, need my character?’ I’m not the main character, but I serve the main character, who is Jesus.”

The Christ-Centered Answer in One Word: STORY

Like Kevin, our team believes Christ-centered purpose comes from knowing we’re invited into God’s greater STORY.

You are a novel. You are an extended prose narrative featuring a main character.

Dan P. McAdams

Our lives don’t become meaningful because we’re helping others.

Or following the right rules.

Or making our own choices to pursue “the good life.”

Our best answer to the question “What difference can I make?” is that our lives matter because we are part of the ongoing plot of what God has done, is doing, and will do in our world.

We’re surrounded by stories that want to claim our attention and direct our purpose. In After Virtue, Scottish philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre asserts, “I cannot answer the question, ‘What ought I to do?’ unless I first answer the question, ‘Of which story am I a part?’”

Our life stories are shaped by who we are and where we are headed, thus creating yet another junction between the big questions of identity and purpose.

In addition, since those most influential in our lives become characters in our stories, our relationships help form our stories. Daniel Taylor highlights this intersection between belonging and purpose:

No one’s story exists alone. Each is tangled up in countless others. Pull a thread in my story and feel the tremor half a world and two millennia away.a

a Daniel Taylor, Tell Me a Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories (St. Paul: Bog Walk Press, 2001), 6.

That may be the most important sentence in this chapter.

Our contribution to the world is contingent on whose story we make central in our lives.

Imagine three teenagers, each centered on a different narrative, responding to the extended social distancing required during a pandemic. Tenth-grade Colin revolves his story around his friends and passion for baseball, so an extended separation from both could cause panic. Eleventh-grade Audrey centers her story around her family, so she feels greater peace knowing being home will fill her tank. Eduardo is a senior whose primary narrative is an urgency to help others, so he works virtually from his bedroom to mobilize friends and family to meet neighbors’ quarantine needs.

None of these are terrible core stories. Friends, family, and the needs of others are worthy sources of purpose, right?

Absolutely.

But they can easily miss the full-fledged purpose that comes from making God’s STORY our central life story. Friends are flawed and will let us down. Our families can be great but will never be perfect. Our neighbors will thank us but never love us unconditionally.

Our best personal narratives come from embedding our stories in the ultimate narrative of God’s STORY. Each of us finds our utmost meaning and purpose as a supporting character whose life revolves around God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as the authors and main characters. As the late pastor, theologian, and poet Eugene Peterson celebrated, “God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.” Or in the words of the book of Hebrews, Jesus is the “author and perfecter of our faith” (12:2 ASV).

We’re Invited into God’s Greater STORY: 1 Corinthians 3:5–9

While God could unfold this divine STORY without us, he chooses not to. We humans are not invisible extras wandering aimlessly behind the scenes. As we learn from the apostle Paul’s insights in 1 Corinthians 3:5–9, it’s God’s drama, but we and young people can play a vital part today.

God’s STORY Is the Bigger Story

The city of Corinth was full of citizens who wanted to move up financially and socially, often by aligning themselves with a particular local leader or celebrity. Even followers of Christ were choosing teams.

Paul fights these cultural norms and cuts his followers’ ties to himself and another well-known leader, Apollos, by writing, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe” (1 Cor. 3:5). Resisting the gravitational pull of human allegiance common in his readers, Paul points instead to the One who set the universe in motion.

Paul builds on this theme of God’s centrality through agrarian metaphors familiar to the Corinthians: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building” (vv. 6–9).

To first-century farmers who felt ever susceptible to weather and natural forces they couldn’t influence, Paul proclaims that it is God who makes all things grow. The verb tense for grow actually means “keeps it growing.” The Holy Spirit’s ongoing work brought growth yesterday, brings growth today, and will bring growth tomorrow. Paul and Apollos have the honor of being called “co-workers in God’s service,” but all credit for the fruit of that work goes to God.

Defining God’s STORY and Playing Our Part

Brad and I like to view Scripture as describing five-sixths of God’s divine drama. We know the history that’s come before us: creation, fall, covenant, and Jesus compose acts 1–4. The hints we’re given about Christ’s return and the new creation to come look ahead to act 6.

But then there’s a portion that we help create. Act 5 is partially missing. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the New Testament church put the first part of this act into motion. The same Holy Spirit works in and through Christ followers today. What we live out now—every day as God’s people—is the second part of the act. That’s why we like thinking of discipleship as our everyday “Yes” to Jesus.

When Kevin shares his faith online, he’s improvising in the fifth act of God’s unfolding drama. When he mobilizes volunteers at his church, he’s reenacting God’s STORY, making it more tangible. He’s being a disciple.

God knits together Kevin’s discipleship with the rest of our stories and creates one grand narrative. Later in 1 Corinthians, Paul describes the power of threading our stories together this way: “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work” (12:4–6).

In other words, in this drama, everyone has a part to play.

Big Question

Focus

Description

Current Answers

Christ-Centered Answer

Who am I?

Identity

Our view of ourselves

I am . . .

I’m ENOUGH because of Jesus.

Where do I fit?

Belonging

Our connection with others

I belong WITH God’s people.

What difference can I make?

Purpose

Our contribution to the world

I make a difference . . .

I’m invited into God’s greater STORY.

STORY Gets Practical—Conversations and Connections

Maybe because theater was so important to me (Brad) in middle and high school while I explored the 3 big questions, I’m drawn to the simple idea of being caught up in God’s STORY. I like it so much that we use the phrase every week in our church’s worship service when we send children and middle schoolers into age-group programs: “May the Holy Spirit open our hearts as we are caught up in God’s story today.”

Christian ethicist Samuel Wells writes, “When a person enters the scriptural story, he or she does so by entering the Church’s performance of that story. . . . It is not so much being written into a book as taking part in a play.”

By being part of a community that practices God’s STORY, it becomes less of a fairy tale and more of a daily reality.

That’s one of a host of reasons that our conversations and connections with young people matter. Every day, every week, through the ideas in the rest of this chapter that you talk about and try, you help young people discover and rehearse their part in God’s STORY.

Conversations about Purpose

A Conversation about Your Story

The following questions about story, largely from our interview protocols, are best raised with teenagers not in one sitting but over multiple conversations.

NOW

A Conversation about God’s STORY

To help you and your young people further discuss whether God is a main character or an extra in the background in your stories, unpack the following questions.

NOW

Here’s my (Kara’s) favorite brief description of God’s STORY. Part of why I have adopted this version is that it’s simple and memorable. Eleven-year-olds can grasp these five key words that start with the letter G.a (Note from Brad: You’ll see that Kara’s version of God’s STORY seems more like a list. Having worked with Kara for fifteen years, I can affirm that Kara really likes lists.)

GOOD: The first G word is good. All of us are created good, in God’s image.

GUILT: The second G is guilt. Our sin leaves us estranged from God.

GRACE: By God’s grace, God sent Jesus to be crucified and resurrected so we can be restored. Our repentance offers real life in the present as well as eternal life with God.

GOD’S PEOPLE: As we experience adoption into the body of Christ, we embody God’s reign in the world. We are part of the people of God joining in the mission and work of God as exemplified in the life and teachings of Christ.

GRATITUDE: The final G word helps connect the dots between the previous four Gs and the commands of Scripture.b Why do we try to obey what God has instructed us to do? It’s not to make God love or like us more. It’s not to feel better about ourselves.

It’s because we’re so full of gratitude. As Dave and I have tried to teach our three teenagers, our lives become great big thank-you notes back to God for all he has done for us.

a Adapted from Kara E. Powell, The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 46–47. A true narrative theologian would probably cringe at the way I’ve distilled God’s STORY into principles, let alone that all start with the same letter. My pragmatic interest in offering young people a version of the gospel that is both clear and memorable is what draws me to this paradigm.

b “Gratitude, though, is more than a mental exercise, more than a formula of words. . . . To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us—and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful man [sic] knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.” Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999), 20, emphasis original.

A Conversation about Your Superpower

Some of the best conversations about purpose help young people unwrap, and then offer, their unique gifts—r superpowers—given by the Holy Spirit. Whether your nearest teenagers are crystal clear or fairly murky about their superpower, try discussing the following questions.

NOW

A Conversation Exploring Vocation

Whether in a one-on-one discussion with a teenager or with a group of students, center this discussion on one student (other students will get their turn later). Ask that one student to write down their skills, and you (and anyone else with you) also write down skills and talents you see in that young person.

Then ask the student being highlighted to draft a second list of the causes, issues, or ideas they are passionate about, and you (and anyone else with you) also write down passions you see in them.

When you are finished, write the words “God’s STORY” on a bigger sheet of paper or a whiteboard and make two columns. Jot down the items in the first list on the left and the items in the second list on the right. Then discuss these in light of vocation, or a sense of calling (through either paid work or other life pursuit).

In the last decade, movies and shows popular with teenage audiences have often centered on superheroes. These characters are constantly rewriting narratives—of their own lives as well as of our world. In these stories, teen and adult superheroes are navigating questions of identity, belonging, and purpose, which is part of the reason they are so appealing to young people. These characters reinforce the message that you get more than one chance to figure out your gifts and the ways to use—or misuse—them in the world.a

You’ve perhaps heard of Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager who tapped into her superpower on a global stage. For nearly a year, she staged a mostly solitary climate strike outside Parliament, demanding change for the sake of her generation’s life and health. Social media exploded in fall 2019 when she spoke to the United Nations, and something like four million young people joined in protests globally. She was met with plenty of backlash, mostly from adults, and in response she chose to elevate part of her story that might not have been an obvious asset: she lives with Asperger’s syndrome.

Thunberg wrote on social media, “When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go. And then you know you’re winning! I have Asperger’s and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And—given the right circumstances—being different is a superpower.”

Like a character out of a Marvel movie, Greta is working to rewrite the story she’s been given by the world.

a We’re grateful to Chris Lopez and our teammate Roslyn Hernández for their insights on the world of superheroes and their connection to teenagers’ search for answers to the 3 big questions.

NOW

Conversations about STORY Elsewhere in the Bible

To help you appreciate the full meaning of God inviting us into his STORY, we encourage you and young people to explore the following Scripture passages, which are great to meditate on, memorize, send by text, or compile into a small group or youth ministry teaching series.

For Families

To teenagers, an adult’s questions can feel like nagging—especially when that adult is their parent, stepparent, or caregiver. We just want to know when our kid will reply to their grandma’s text or follow up with their teacher about a missed math test. But in their ears, it sounds like badgering.

That’s why I (Kara) am so grateful for this three-word question: What’s your plan?a

In the last twenty-four hours, I’ve asked my teenagers the following:

What’s your plan for cleaning your room?

What’s your plan for today?

What’s your plan for your meeting with your college counselor?

Our kids feel like they have agency (which they do!), and I get (at least some) assurance that they are on top of things.

a Credit for this zinger goes to Christine Carter, The New Adolescence: Raising Happy and Successful Teens in an Age of Anxiety and Distraction (Dallas: BenBella Books, 2020), 25.

Justice-Oriented Connections about Purpose

Purpose is better fostered than forced. Few connections nurture teenagers’ grasp of being an active character in God’s STORY more than seeking justice.

As part of discipleship, justice aims to reestablish the holistic flourishing, or shalom, in our relationships with God, others, nature, and ourselves. Put more simply, justice is devoted to righting wrongs.

The Hebrew word for “justice” is mishpat, which is used 421 times in the Old Testament, including the following:

As we saw in chapter 8, the churched teenagers in our study already find purpose by serving others. That’s a good first step, but it’s several paces short of the systemic solutions required to right wrongs and fully experience God’s STORY. Reflecting on Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan in the midst of the turmoil of the 1960s civil rights movement and concurrent war in Vietnam, Martin Luther King Jr. urged:

On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

Translating Dr. King’s words to you and young people today, we believe that serving food at the local homeless shelter is a purposeful act, but it is not an act of justice. Justice calls us to ask why people are hungry and homeless in our community and then compels us to work together to do something about it.

Justice Connections with Your Own Deep Gladness

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Implied in this memorable description of justice-seeking vocation by Frederick Buechner is that each of us—Brad and I, you, the teenagers you’re closest to—has different sources of “deep gladness.” We each resonate with different plotlines in God’s grand adventure of righting wrongs.

Take some time with a young person to figure out, whether it’s through a paying job or a purposeful hobby, the best intersection between the world’s deep hunger and their own deep gladness by doing the following:

As students process the world’s hunger and their own deep gladness, you might want to follow one church’s example and encourage them to draft simple “Calling Credos.” Students are presented with the following simple statement and are invited to fill in two blanks:

God put me on earth to ______________________ so that ___________________.

Our church’s motto is “Love God, love others, make a difference.” That purpose is really consistent throughout all the ministries—from our youth ministry to our outreaches. That purpose is our biggest theme and probably what I’ve most gained from our church. —Samuel

Connections to Justice as a Process, Not an Event

Today’s young people are channeling their passion to serve through protests, marches, sit-ins, and fresh cries for equity and justice using social media.

But does service transform them? Of the more than two million US teenagers who experience faith-based service and mission trips every year, five out of six report that those trips don’t leave a lasting mark on their lives.

Based on our last decade’s review of research geared to deepen the impact of justice, we urge you to think of purposeful service and activism as a three-step process.

Step 1: Before. A lasting service experience starts when we help teenagers adequately prepare for the sometimes menial and often mind-blowing justice experiences awaiting them. That can be done through prayer, focused conversations on why they’re serving or protesting, and Scripture passages they hope to keep in mind, as well as a study of the culture, needs, and resources of those with whom they’re serving.

Step 2: During. Enhance the impact of justice work by helping young people reflect through prayerful discussions about the assets they’ve seen in the community, how their service or vigil is part of God’s ongoing work, and what they’ve learned about people in the community, themself, and their faith.

Step 3: After. Deepen the impression of service by helping students connect the dots between the public school they painted on Sunday after church and the homeless woman they pass every Monday morning on their way to class. Make sure you schedule time immediately after serving, as well as a week or two later, for them to share how serving has connected them to God’s STORY along with how they plan to continue serving and inviting others to join them. If young people have led an online or in-person protest or justice event, think with them about the next logical steps that can help flesh out God’s STORY.

For Leaders

In order to experience justice as a process rather than just an event, one youth ministry in Pella, Iowa, asked their student house groups spread throughout town to adopt the neighborhood they met in each Wednesday night. First, they spent time listening to God and residents, collectively discerning how they might fill a neighborhood need.

Those thoughtful efforts culminated in a one-day Love Pella Service Day. Hundreds of students and adults surged into the community and delivered meals, helped with yard work, created murals, and hosted a block party complete with inflatables and grilled hamburgers. One group even sponsored a diaper drive that netted over $6,500 in diapers for a local charity! To cap off the Love Pella Service Day, students joined together after the day was over for reflection, prayer, and sharing.

As you team with young people in justice work, you’ll increase its impact by focusing on the quality of reflection rather than the quantity of results. According to one researcher on purpose, “Rather than participating in activity after activity, youth should be encouraged to participate in fewer activities and to reflect more on the meaning derived from each one.”

Our Stories as Adults Expand Too

Determined to launch justice conversations and connections with teenagers, Jen, a youth pastor outside Chicago, planned to draft a new “purpose” curriculum for her church’s youth ministry. Needing help, Jen sought out Linda, a retired religion and ethics teacher who still had great passion for teenagers.

As soon as Jen asked if Linda would like to help, Linda burst into tears. Linda had battled cancer and had been in remission for two years. But unbeknownst to Jen, the cancer had recurred. Linda was still absorbing the news and had shared it with only her closest friends and family.

As she clutched tissues, Linda explained, “When you have a recurrence of cancer, people ask what’s on your bucket list. For most people, it’s travel. For me, it’s ministry to teenagers. I’ve been praying for a way to serve from my house during my chemotherapy. Jen, you are giving me that chance.”

So every week for the following months, Jen sent Linda the discussions and activities she had drafted. Linda ripped them apart, adding depth, relevance, and clearer connections to God’s STORY. Jen reflected following Linda’s death, “Linda was the most creative person I’ve ever encountered. I kept thanking her every week for all she added, and she kept thanking me for letting her use her gifts in a way that was literally life-giving for her.”

When you and I help young people grow in purpose through God’s STORY, our own stories get bigger and better also.

Christ-Centered Purpose Recap

In this chapter, we provide a handful of summary phrases for you and your teenagers. We’ve geared these statements to serve not just as a recap but also as reminders of conversations and connections. Once you have chosen a purpose message you want to remember, the next step is to create a system that reminds you of that truth every day.

You and your young people might want to set a daily alarm on your phones—to go off perhaps in the morning as you’re getting ready or in the evening as you’re winding down—to remind you to think about one or more of these divine truths.

Or maybe go “low tech” and write God’s better message on an index card you display on your bathroom mirror, car dashboard, or office bookshelf.

Perhaps you and your students can take turns texting important messages to each other, strengthening your mutual commitment to live into God’s greater STORY.

Whatever you choose, make sure you also do whatever you ask of your young people so that you too can share your progress in realizing your true purpose.

Here is a list of messages you can draw from:

REFLECT and APPLY

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