"The Olympic Myth" -- and My Response

My Response to:  “The Olympic Myth”  

By:  George Nielsen - August 10, 2012

“The Olympic Myth” is a recent posting at www.preteenministry.net .  This is one of the ministries that I have ‘liked’ and subscribed to, on Facebook.    Excerpts from the post are shown below, and a link to the full post is given at the end of my response.    The basic premise of the post is that the effort and character qualities of Olympic championship athletes, that they need to reach that level of achievement, are NOT the right approach for achieving ministry and spiritual life goals.   The myth is that the same model for achievement used by Olympians will work for Christians in their spiritual life.     I agree -- that is a myth.    But I feel that the post needs to be supplemented by comments that add some balance, regarding our own effort, and don’t leave the impression that it’s okay to be a spiritual “slacker”.     

Excerpt:

As the summer olympics come to a close, I have been reflecting on what I call the olympic myth. Let me explain.

Some of the keys to success for olympians is hard work, determination and persistence. They set goals and create daily habits that move them towards their destination. Eventually those habits, combined with a good attitude bring them victory. Yes, not everyone gets an olympic medal. But the super stars do.

Now, these characteristics are good. In fact, God applauds persistence, self-determination and working hard. The danger is when we carry this attitude over into our spiritual lives.

The problem is that many of us try too hard when it comes to following Jesus. We try hard to avoid sin, maybe even setting specific goals in this area. We are determined to get closer to God. We persistently read the Bible and pray without those practices having much of an impact in how we act. We hear a message and are determined that change will happen if we make the right choices.

The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t work long-term. We end up frustrated and confused. The bigger problem comes when we push this approach on those that we lead. We tell them to try harder and be stronger when following Jesus. As a result, they end up frustrated and confused as well. Some even quit following Jesus. We weren’t designed by God to try harder.

We were designed to rely on Jesus more often, not try harder.

So, stop trying and start relying on Him!

My Response:
Your point is valid, regarding relying on extra effort as THE way to achieve ministry or spiritual life goals. It is not the way.  Receiving guidance and strength from Jesus is the answer, along with your own effort and persistence.    We want to teach our preteens to connect to Jesus as their Source.  One of my fellow ministers has a saying "Look to the Source for your resources."   This lines up with our Theme and prayer emphasis for this year "Fix your Eyes on Jesus."

You should note that the article doesn't give enough credit to the importance of putting in your own effort to persist with spiritual disciplines.   There is a balance -- between legitimate personal effort and reliance on supernatural help from the Lord.   We want to teach the kids to build their devotion to Jesus and stay connected spiritually to the Lord, to be faithful young disciples of Jesus.  To Be a faithful, and growing, young disciple of Jesus, it is still important to Do spiritual disciplines that strengthen that devotion.   "BE"-ing comes first, but there is also a place for emphasizing "Do"-ing, for the young disciple of Jesus.    

For the 5th graders I teach, Being a Young Disciple of Jesus is the primary goal for this year.   But I don't feel I can neglect their development of spiritual disciplines, and I feel the kids need to put in a lot more of their own effort too.

- George Nielsen

To read the full post “The Olympic Myth” - Click HERE .

George Nielsen - Faith Hope and Love Christian Ministries: Teaching and Writing -- to Honor GOD.

My Name is George Nielsen.  I am an ordained Christian minister, ordained in the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ; I am a graduate of Lincoln Christian Seminary at Lincoln Christian University, with an M.A in Ministry majoring in Urban Missions.    My teaching ministry in the Church is in the Children's Christian Education ministry at Rochester Christian Church.   As a writer, I have been concentrating on writing curriculum for teaching children and youth.   I also write teaching essays for adults, directed primarily toward parents, that are related to the curriculum I write for children.  I am also considering writing devotional books.

I have been a Christian since 1974.  I am dedicated to fulfilling my calling as a minister of Jesus Christ.  Besides teaching and writing, another important part of my ministry is to be a person who encourages other Christian men and women to take action to extend the Kingdom of God, right in their own area of influence, and particularly for our next generation of children.

Helping Pre-Teen Children Become Young Disciples of Jesus

Thoughts About My Pre-Teen Students – Helping Them To Be Young Disciples of Jesus
By George Nielsen – July 4, 2012

Being a Young Disciple of Jesus is presented as a goal and the goal is restated, almost every week, to the 5th graders that I teach on Sundays.

What am I actually expecting?   The list written below describes what I am trying to accomplish with my 5th grade students, over this next year.

Most people who set tangible goals know that the idea of goal-setting is to have goals that are meaningful, written, as specific as possible, and attainable.   The goals should motivate you or me, the goal setter, to work to achieve them, following action steps related to the goals.    My action step is primarily to carry out my teaching ministry on Sundays, which also includes prayer and encouragement for the kids, both inside and outside the classroom.

It is absolutely vital that the parents be involved in this, building on my one-hour-per-week of teaching.    All of the parents in this year’s class have been mailed a copy of the 5th Grade Learning Objectives.  Parents should realize that their input into their children’s spiritual development is essential; telling them to “go to church” isn’t enough to meet our objectives.

Helping children be young disciples of Jesus involves the following:

1. Increasing a student’s knowledge of God and the Christian story
2. a student’s willingness to internalize or “own” their faith; we present this to the kids as “choosing to live their lives ‘On the Right Path’” (it is developmentally appropriate to give 5th graders this freedom to choose, while still teaching them to make the right choice – “I Serve Jesus”)
3. teaching a set of beliefs by which students interact with their world and make sense of things (developing a “Biblical Christian worldview”)
4. starting the process of acceptance into and participation with their faith community; in other words, starting to get them outside the “bubble” of kids’ programming in the church, connecting with ‘big people’ and serving others through service projects (participating in the Impact discipleship group)
5. the work of God’s Spirit, which may be mysterious, both to kids and to parents; but in spite of its newness to them, we still plant and water the seed, namely that they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, can be filled with the Holy Spirit, and that they have been and will continue to be imparted by the Spirit with special gifts; sometimes the gifts are only understandable through hindsight or reflection.

I have said this several times, and wrote about it often – that in 5th grade, we teach the children that Christianity is “a Way of life.”     Young disciples of Jesus need to learn the more-Christ-like way of living.   This is a process that must ultimately be internally motivated, not dictated by a parent, teacher or youth worker (but we are important, as mentors!).   The result is not just Christian behavior.   It is following Christ out of their deepest, most thought-out convictions.    This does take time.  But we start the process in 5th grade, by building on the nurturing in the faith from the student’s earlier years.  The key element is not the knowledge we present to the kids, as much as it is to develop their internal motivation.

One hazard to avoid is to attempt to reduce discipleship down to a simplistic monitoring of the children’s behavior.    As a teacher, I try to build a relationship, make and maintain a connection with the children.      Parents already have the relationship, but should really strive to build their connection with their children.    When you are connected, you are in a position to influence, not just to lecture. The saying is true that “rules without relationship leads to rebellion.”   When parents keep-up a strong relational connection with their kids, they won’t have to lose their influence and surrender to the peer group or the Disney/MTV-driven social pressures their pre-teens will experience.

To see the 5th Grade Learning Objectives - click HERE .