Raukura 2007: Seeing Young People as God sees them
February 4, 2008
This is part of a series of posts using reflections produced by staff and participants at the Raukura: Intro to Strategic Leadership Module held at St Johns College, Auckland, in December 2007.
These reflections have been compiled as a Study Guide, and are available in printed form for below cost at $10.00 a copy including postage and handling (contact us for more details). Alternatively, you can download a PDF version here.
Seeing Young People as God sees them
By Phil Trotter - Youth Coordinator for the Diocese of Christchurch
My context for leadership has long been as one who sees young people; who sees them as I believe God sees them; who sees them as loved by God, as children of God, and who sees the potential (treasure) in them that they themselves have often not seen and the potential that the significant others in their lives (family, teachers, leaders, peers) may not have seen.
To this I marry the clearest and simplest call on my life as a Christian to make Christ known.
I seek to do this in two ways – as a role model and as an advocate. As a role model I try to live out the Christian faith among young people which shows itself mostly in how I treat them, how I give honour to God and the issues I stand for among them. As an advocate, I continually try to encourage and build them up personally, to clear barriers to their development and to help their significant others see them in the most positive light possible before God.
Frameworks for Leadership
Two frameworks help me to guard and keep these goals: One is borrowed – a Youth Work Practice model developed by colleagues that identifies four aspects of youth working: to promote youth identity; to support young people in crises/transition; to empower young people; to build “youth friendly” community – one that is good for young people and views them positively. The other is self-constructed and is captured by the words: compassion, community, Christ.
The word compassion reminds me to look outward: to engage in mission, justice, and service caring for the poor and marginalised with compassion and manaakitanga as my motivation.
The word community reminds me that the world of young people is most often competitive, negative, hostile and lonely so leadership involves imaging and building communities that are supportive, positive, warm, and inviting
The word Christ is more than a word. It reminds me that Christ is the centre. He is the way, he is the truth, he is the life. As a leader I seek to imitate him, particularly the humility and rapport of his incarnation, in the ‘personable-ness’ and intimacy of his ‘relational-ness’, and in the nature of his grace – to be forgiving, merciful, and gracious.
Leading as a Shepherd
Biblically I am guided by the passages about the Shepherd. Especially John 21, from which I draw a personal call to be a teacher and pastor (feed my sheep/care for my sheep), and as a love response to Christ.
Also, 1 Peter 5:1-5 which outlines to me that young people are the flock ( I am their shepherd as I serve the Christ Shepherd), are under my care when I am to serve, not by being greedy or lording it over them. Other passages have grown in significance recently that show Christ’s compassion for the hungry, lonely, naked, and imprisoned. Especially Matthew 25:31-46 and Luke 14:14-18, which carry extra weight for me as representing the end (Judgement Day) and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. As such, these readings show greatly how our faith, through which we are saved by grace, is to be lived out – with compassion: “love with feet”.
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