The Invention of Air and Youth Ministry

One of the things that we hope for Prelude to be is a chance for collaboration and dialogue, a forum for ideas. In Mike King's post (below) we learn about a man named Joseph Priestly, who used to gather with more famous names like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, simply to exchange ideas. They called their gathering "The Club of Honest Whigs." Our hope and prayer is that this blog can be a type of "Club of Honest Whigs" for those of us involved in youth ministry, a forum for exchange of ideas and generative conversation.

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My son Daniel reads, for enjoyment, the kind of books that only a graduate class for credit necessitates I read.  One of his latest fascinations is the book The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson.  The book focuses on the life of Joseph Priestly, a little known but highly influential thinker, comrade and friend of better known Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.  The book chronicles the paradigmatic shifts initiated by Priestly and the profound impact he had on the founding of our country and the influence he had on science, religion, politics and much more.  The amazing thing is that most people have never heard of him.  Priestly, more than Jefferson, Franklin or any other early nation-building leader initiated innovation and shaped the emerging environment of the infant nation of the United States.  And yet, very few people know of him.

In the introduction of the book Johnson writes, "In their legendary thirteen-year final  correspondence, reflecting back on their collaborations and their feud, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams wrote 165 letters to each other.  In that corpus, Benjamin Franklin is mentioned five times, while George Washington is mentioned three times.  Their mutual nemesis Alexander Hamilton warrants only two references.  By contrast, Priestly, an Englishman who spent only the last decade of his life in the United States, is mentioned fifty-two times.  That statistic alone gives some sense of how important Priestly was to the founders..."

The book documents how Priestly went about changing the conversation and initiating change.  Many founders were more interested in making sure they received credit for their contributions and desired to build their names, Priestly was more interested in being a change agent and didn't care who got credit.  Priestly fueled ideas and conversations that others benefited from but careful historical review reveals who the real innovator was. 

A couple of fascinating things about Priestly's mode of operation.

1)  He led innovation by not just focusing on one field, a specialty (think youth ministry) but by a broad curiosity of multiple fields including politics, physics, education, religion, the arts, etc. 

I believe that the most effective youth workers and ministers are those who are well rounded, living full and robust lives.  We must be curious learners and seek to live life to the full.  To engage young people in Spiritual (Christian) Formation is not just about teaching them some Bible stories and a few spiritual disciplines.  Formation of disciples of Jesus Christ is about helping young people become fully human in all the ways God intends for them to be. 

2)  Ideas and innovation do not surface without nurturing an environment for them to emerge.  "Necessity may be the mother of invention, but most of the great inventors were blessed with something else: leisure time." 

In the world and culture in which we live (think North American culture but also our Church cultures) the emphasis is often on performance, getting stuff done, adding to our list of accomplishments, etc. we don't really value a sustainable rhythm of life and growth.  How well do we do with having Leisure, time to think, time to BE, as a part of our Spiritual Rhythm of Life?

3) Priestly and his friends met together regularly to exchange ideas and dialogue. 

"On alternating Thursdays, a gang of free thinkers – eventually dubbed “The Club of Honest Whigs” by one of its founding members, Benjamin Franklin – met at a coffeehouse, embarking each fortnight on a long, rambling session that has no equivalent in modern scientific culture. (The late-night bender at an industry conference probably comes closest: the sharing of essential, potentially lucrative information while stimulated by the chemical cocktail of caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.)  Boswell visited the “Honest Whigs” on occasion, and he had this to say of the experience: It consists of clergymen, physicians and some other professions … (including) Mr Price who writes on morals … we have wine and punch upon the table.  Some of us smoke a pipe, conversation goes on pretty formally, sometimes sensibly and sometimes furiously: At nine there is a sideboard with Welsh rabbits and apple-puffs, porter and beer." pg. 17, 18.

Very interesting.  My first thought... Do you have other youth workers that you are meeting with on a regular basis to discuss ministry and life?  How about other forums to broaden your conversations with those from other fields and disciplines?

So the big question, do you want to make a name for yourself or make the world a better place?  Sometimes, you can do both but, more often, I think we would do better to stay focused on being human beings who are trying to live full lives with others who we can share life and explore ideas with. 

Dear God grow in us a curiosity for learning and discovering what real living in the way of Jesus is all about.  Help us to engage in youth ministry in ways that invite young people into the compelling, profound, and beautiful story of what it means to truly be the people of God participating in your mission for the world.  Amen.

Mike King

In the introduction of the book Johnson writes, "In their legendary thirteen-year final  correspondence, reflecting back on their collaborations and their feud, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams wrote 165 letters to each other.  In that corpus, Benjamin Franklin is mentioned five times, while George Washington is mentioned three times.  Their mutual nemesis Alexander Hamilton warrants only two references.  By contrast, Priestly, an Englishman who spent only the last decade of his life in the United States, is mentioned fifty-two times.  That statistic alone gives some sense of how important Priestly was to the founders..."

The book documents how Priestly went about changing the conversation and initiating change.  Many founders were more interested in making sure they received credit for their contributions and desired to build their names, Priestly was more interested in being a change agent and didn't care who got credit.  Priestly fueled ideas and conversations that others benefited from but careful historical review reveals who the real innovator was. 

A couple of fascinating things about Priestly's mode of operation.

1)  He led innovation by not just focusing on one field, a specialty (think youth ministry) but by a broad curiosity of multiple fields including politics, physics, education, religion, the arts, etc. 

I believe that the most effective youth workers and ministers are those who are well rounded, living full and robust lives.  We must be curious learners and seek to live life to the full.  To engage young people in Spiritual (Christian) Formation is not just about teaching them some Bible stories and a few spiritual disciplines.  Formation of disciples of Jesus Christ is about helping young people become fully human in all the ways God intends for them to be. 

2)  Ideas and innovation do not surface without nurturing an environment for them to emerge.  "Necessity may be the mother of invention, but most of the great inventors were blessed with something else: leisure time." 

In the world and culture in which we live (think North American culture but also our Church cultures) the emphasis is often on performance, getting stuff done, adding to our list of accomplishments, etc. we don't really value a sustainable rhythm of life and growth.  How well do we do with having Leisure, time to think, time to BE, as a part of our Spiritual Rhythm of Life?

3) Priestly and his friends met together regularly to exchange ideas and dialogue. 

"On alternating Thursdays, a gang of free thinkers – eventually dubbed “The Club of Honest Whigs” by one of its founding members, Benjamin Franklin – met at a coffeehouse, embarking each fortnight on a long, rambling session that has no equivalent in modern scientific culture. (The late-night bender at an industry conference probably comes closest: the sharing of essential, potentially lucrative information while stimulated by the chemical cocktail of caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.)  Boswell visited the “Honest Whigs” on occasion, and he had this to say of the experience: It consists of clergymen, physicians and some other professions … (including) Mr Price who writes on morals … we have wine and punch upon the table.  Some of us smoke a pipe, conversation goes on pretty formally, sometimes sensibly and sometimes furiously: At nine there is a sideboard with Welsh rabbits and apple-puffs, porter and beer." pg. 17, 18.

Very interesting.  My first thought... Do you have other youth workers that you are meeting with on a regular basis to discuss ministry and life?  How about other forums to broaden your conversations with those from other fields and disciplines?

So the big question, do you want to make a name for yourself or make the world a better place?  Sometimes, you can do both but, more often, I think we would do better to stay focused on being human beings who are trying to live full lives with others who we can share life and explore ideas with. 

Dear God grow in us a curiosity for learning and discovering what real living in the way of Jesus is all about.  Help us to engage in youth ministry in ways that invite young people into the compelling, profound, and beautiful story of what it means to truly be the people of God participating in your mission for the world.  Amen.

Mike King