Sometime this year between January and February, the Barcelona Mennonite community we serve gave us the go-ahead to formally lead a youth ministry program. We began cultivating a program that could both pull from our many years of working with young people as well as all that we have learned regarding the local culture.
Then COVID-19 exploded into our reality on March 13 as Barcelona went into full-scale lockdown in a matter of days.
Ministry is tough on its best days and quarantine is possibly the least conducive context from which to start a new program from scratch. “You’d have to be crazy to push forward,” some would say.
“Hold my tapas,” we responded.
Now, about a month-and-a-half later, we are six meetings and four lessons in. It’s not been easy:
Developing a rhythm for meeting virtually has been a struggle as the youth stay exceptionally busy with their school’s e-learning lectures and homework.
Leading a three-part lesson in Spanish examining the events of Holy Week to understand what finally got Jesus killed was a real test of our language acquisition.
Video chat does not compare to the richness that comes from organic, face-to-face conversations – something we have really come to lean into.
It has felt similar to the awkward lessons we first led when starting out in youth ministry all those years ago, stumbling over words and insecurity while praying God is able to find a foothold in what we’re trying to communicate.
Joshua explains how the values of Empire shape the way many folks interpret the Bible while juggling three screens and a notebook.
It’s been an incredible experience! We would even venture to say the youth demonstrate a definite excitement and hope for the future. Here’s the thing: though the formal program began in infertile circumstances, the fields had already been tilled. It turns out that building relationships and trust with the youth over the past three years smooths over many of the rough patches.
This definitely isn’t the first time we’ve talked with the youth about faith-related topics, but it’s definitely a shift in how we approach these conversations. After the Holy Week series, which Mennonite Mission Network summarized in English, they requested the topic of “Creation Care and Stewardship. “
Dismantling with them the arguments some Christians use to justify the plunder and exploitation of the Earth and its resources allowed us to also spend a lot of time talking about how to read the Bible and the importance of context. It also gave me joy to pass on some of Mark Van Steenwyk’s writing about the “Subjugation of Creation” in his book “unKingdom,” which gave me the vocabulary and understanding to take environmentalism from a personal value to a spiritual value.
For anyone else trying to navigate the current landscape, check out Princeton Theological Seminary’s resource, “Youth Ministry in a Pandemic.” It’s a great time for communities to be bold and try new things, as we’re seeing now, but you don’t have to go alone!
Another experimental way to stay connected has been combining Netflix Party with a group video call, allowing us to enjoy a movie “together” and react/chat in realtime. At this point, we take fun, shared experiences where we can get them!
As we’ve learned and have had re-affirmed, events have their place in ministry. However, event-driven ministry does not typically lead to the profound transformation people experience seeing Christ reflected in one another through mutual discipleship.
It’s likely our learning curve will continue to be steep, but let this be a message of hope: while COVID-19 has shut down so many things, it turns out God’s project of redemption isn’t even phased.
In retrospect, we can pinpoint the spring of 2021 as the time our laughter disappeared — when our four-year ministry in Barcelona began to fall apart. As concerns regarding COVID-19 began to ease, expectations in the local church community changed. Gradually, things arrived at a point where our family needed to step away.
It's hard to laugh when it feels like the world is crumbling around you. It's an act that feels almost audacious considering the state of the world: pandemic losses, church divisions, guilt and anger over White privilege and indirectly benefiting from systemic racism, environmental collapse, rampant economic ruin, and war. How can one laugh when the world we live in is so far removed from the one Jesus describes throughout the gospels?