Theology Together

Dr. Andrew Zirschky and Rev. Dietrich Kirk developed the THEOLOGY TOGETHER project, funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc., to educate teenagers and youth workers together in theological reflection, spiritual practice, vital service, and vocational discernment. Through summer experiences and year-long initiatives that position young people as theologians and active agents in their churches and communities, Theology Together seeks to change the climate of congregational youth ministry. MAYM students have the opportunity to encounter Theology Together through summer experiences sponsored by CYMT and Austin Seminary elective courses such as Cultivating Theological Reflection in Youth.

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Cultivating Theological Reflection in Youth was one of the better learning experiences I have had in seminary. I struggle a lot with how to guide my students to scripture and theology while keeping them interested, since teenagers can be pretty indifferent toward religion and church. There tends to be an expectation of what youth group curriculum should look like, so I had to get that image out of my head in order to fully appreciate what we were learning about Theology Together.

One benefit of this class was that it opened my mind to what it means to “think theologically.” I appreciated so much how throughout the processes with which we worked, there were not necessarily right or wrong ways for students to approach a topic. A lot of the time, students are led to believe that they are thinking about theology, religion, or God in the wrong way, which leads them to shut down or think they cannot participate in bigger discussions outside of the youthgroup setting. Students often feel they do not have the right to express their thoughts on theology or God and religion, because they are “too young” to understand. The practices I learned in class suggest that there are different approaches to understanding how scripture and the Bible and God and church fit into our lives. They are a wonderful way to encourage students’ own thinking along their faith journeys.

My church encourages this outside-the-box thinking, so asking students to draw their interpretation of scripture or think of a story from their lives for us to connect to theologically is a way to integrate theological reflection into my students’ lives in all areas. When students are on the soccer field or working on a musical or even just spending time with friends and family, they might be able to see how God is at work, even if they are not sitting down and reading the Bible at that moment. I was really excited to see how this could work in my context, because I want my students to consistently be engaging with each other during youth group. I know that they do not benefit as much when I simply stand up and talk to them; they want to participate and contribute their own thoughts and wonderings.

I was able to do a drawing activity for a scripture passage that was very wordy, and my students loved how listening for words or ideas that stood out and then drawing them made the scripture much easier to process. I also had students make a list of things they love before we began talking about the different types of love mentioned throughout the Bible in the original translations. Having these activities to do first lets students begin to think about a bigger idea or theme without the pressure of finding the “right take away” from scripture. Introducing the scripture after students have found how a theme resonates with them demonstrates that scripture can be applicable to their lives in ways they had not considered.

I look forward to continuing to use different theological reflection methods with my students. I know that many of them have thoughts, ideas, and questions that remain unanswered, but they are not sure how to express them or do not have the words to ask their questions, because they fear being wrong about something or making a connection to scripture where people might say there is none. My goal is to show my students their thoughts, ideas, and questions are valid, and that even if we interpret things differently, each interpretation is valid, because they feel a connection to it.

—Hannah Cooley, Middler MAYM student