"I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.” (John 17:15-21).
Understand the impact of Culture on Service and how we can be more effective in our service given the culture we live in.
I said this many times, but I think it's a point worth repeating.
In order to become a better painter, you need to paint.
In order to get good at math, you need to practice math.
In order to get good at software development you need to develop software
The point being, it is not enough to only learn theory, you need to actively practice in order to get good.
The same applies to thinking. If you need to be a good thinker it's not enough to read/listen to other people's thoughts, you need to do some thinking of your own.
With that point established, lets do some thinking.
We often feel that our service is not sufficient for the youth and some youth just stop coming to church. You can see this clearly by looking at the youth list and the subset who are actually involved.
This leads us to the following statements: we need youth servants or we need a priest who grew up in North America who can understand the kids/youth and connect with them. But
In order to solve problems we need to:
The goal is when we come up with a solution we need to make sure the solution solves the core of the problem and not only treats the symptoms.
Now I admit sometimes all we can do is manage the symptoms because the core of the problem is just not solvable. To draw a medical analogy, diabetes. We know what causes diabetes but we don't have the capacity to actually cure that, so we can only manage the symptoms.
To apply this thought process to our main thesis, we'll need to:
Without going through this rigorous thought process, we will not be effective in our service especially, since a significant majority of the servants are in fact of a different culture.
1a : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time popular culture Southern culture
b : the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization a corporate culture focused on the bottom line
c : the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic studying the effect of computers on print culture Changing the culture of materialism will take time …— Peggy O'Mara
d : the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations
2a : enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training
b : acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills a person of culture
3 : the act or process of cultivating living material (such as bacteria or viruses) in prepared nutrient media also : a product of such cultivation
4 : cultivation, tillage We ought to blame the culture, not the soil.— Alexander Pope
5 : the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education
6 : expert care and training
useful labor that does not produce a tangible commodity. A helpful act.