The Image of God Given to Us All

I am lifelong fan of Fed Rogers, Mr. Rogers to most of the world. Fred was a great man who many people misunderstood. They thought him passive and weak, when in reality he was a huge advocate for children everywhere, making him anything but passive or weak. If you have never watched Fred Roger’s testimony in 1969 before Congress on behalf of Public Television, it is a must watch. You can see his heart for kids and his passion for the proper use of media on their behalf.

If it wasn’t for this testimony public TV would not exist today and we would have missed so many great children’s shows like Sesame Street, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, Daniel Tiger’s World, Blues Clues, and maybe even Bluey or Paw Patrol.

Those are not the reasons I like Mr. Rogers so much. I am a fan of Mr. Rogers because of his devotion to children. When I think about Mr. Rogers that’s what I think about, how he spent his entire life devoted to kids and their families. He produced every segment of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood with the children in mind, he never did it for ego or fortune, it was all to see children grow and to let them know that they are special just the way they are.

Whenever I think of Mr. Rogers I am also reminded of the toxic masculinity that used to make fun of him, which he never allowed to get to him. He never let it get to him because he new his God-given identity — the image of God placed in him by the creator himself. If people started making fun of him, he knew it would not outlast the work God had done in his heart.

In Genesis 1 we are reminded that we were created in the image of God, “…in our image we will create them, male and female we will make them.” If you pay attention that comes before our fall in Genesis 3. Which means our original state in the presence of God has always been people created in His image. If the most ancient thing about humans is that we ere created in God’s image then the deepest part about us is not our sin, the deepest part about us is the image of God placed inside of us. If we can recover that, then we, like Mr. Rogers, can really affect the lives of students in a way people have forgotten is possible.

For many of us we would love to do that but we are facing a daunting task. Spending time on ourselves seems impossible because of the expectation placed on us. Parents want their kids to be safe and learn the Bible, students want to have fun and not be bored at church, and our supervisors want to see numbers grow and parents happy. As we tackle this task what we tend to default to is an event based program that has us running from one group to another seeking their attention, hoping they are happy. Is it any wonder youth ministers burn out so quickly? Is it any wonder when new pastors start exploring possible areas to work, they are turning away from youth ministry for more appealing areas?

If that is our life, you begin to understand why lead pastors and executive pastors I talk with say, “Youth Ministry is a wasteland…” Bodies scatter the floor, kids are disheartened, deconstructing their faith, and no one really knows where to go next. You as a youth minister have to be tired and feel alone. That is not a good place to be in general, let alone, when you are trying to lead a ministry.

With this as our landscape it makes it almost impossible for Youth Ministers to worry about their spiritual formation or the growth of their authentic self, and forget about trying to help students grapple with those things. And yet we hear students, supervisors, and parents wishing that our ministry looked exactly like that, challenging our students to grapple with who they are in Christ. I’ll hazard a guess: that when you think about doing anything close to that sort of youth ministry, you feel an anxiety well up inside of you that feels like PTSD. Anxiety that stems from all the time and energy you will spend building a ministry that is under appreciated. Anxiety from all the arguments you’ve gotten into in the past trying to implement something healthy and good for the students who don’t think things like that are “fun.” Anxiety from wounds inflicted on you by well meaning parents or senior staff members just because you were trying "something no one else is doing."

So let me tell you this, you are not alone. There are a lot of us like you and we all know what its like to find ourselves burnt out and afraid. As much as we want people to think we have it all put together, none of us have it all together. Which means our first goal should be to build a Tribe so we remember we aren’t doing this alone. Second we all need to find our identity — the image of God placed in us. When we discover our authentic-self and nurture it then we can learn to lead from it with confidence. The third goal is to design ministry from that authentic-self, a ministry built from the image of God in you is a lot more stable and appealing to the students and parents, and will put your supervisors in awe.

The goal of Nucleus Coaching and this blog specifically is to create a tribe of like minded people who have a heart to help students become apprentices of our master Jesus. Our goal is not to build the next big youth ministry event or get you to buy our well built curriculum, it is to help you lead students to learn to live their lives like Jesus would live them. To do that we have to discover that image inside of us, nurture it, and learn to live from there ourselves. Its like the flight attendants all say, “put your mask on first, then help those near you put on their mask.”

If that is something you want, then you have found the right spot. Over the next few posts, in our upcoming podcast, through our workshops and coaching we want to help you discover the image of God given to you by the creator himself, learn to nurture that image, then learn to design and pass on a ministry that reflects the image he placed inside of you. Then like Mr. Rogers, God will continue to work through you long after you are finished being a Youth Minister.

Check Out Our Coaching