If Sir David Attenborough did youthwork…

Part One – the spider crab

“Good human work honours God’s work. Good work uses no thing without respect, both for what it is in itself and for its origin. It uses neither tool nor material that it does not respect and that it does not love. It honours nature as a great mystery and power, as an indispensable teacher, and as the inescapable judge of all work of human hands. It does not dissociate life and work, or pleasure and work, or love and work, or usefulness and beauty. To work without pleasure or affection, to make a product that is not both useful and beautiful, is to dishonour God, nature, the thing that is made, and whomever it is made for. This is blasphemy: to make shoddy work of the work of God. But such blasphemy is not possible when the entire Creation is understood as holy and when the works of God are understood as embodying and thus revealing His spirit.”

― Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

As we begin 2021 I wanted to share a few encouragements to the youthwork world, these encouragements come from a slightly left field source; Sir David Attenborough! Over the past year my family and I have watched a lot of his shows, particularly Blue Planet 2. Now apart from being completely overwhelmed by how amazing creation is, I found myself seeing some beautiful wisdom in the behaviour of God’s creation. To paraphrase Wendell Berry; “nature is a great mystery and power, an indispensable teacher.”

My first teacher was the intriguing spider crab, and believe it or not, the spider crab taught me some beautifully simple and yet significantly deep truths.

MAKE ROOM TO GROW

Now we all probably know that crabs have shells, and like other crabs, the spider crab needs to get rid of their shell at some point early in their life. If they do not get rid of their unexpandable shell, they will be unable to grow to their full potential, their shell will become restrictive and eventually cause permanent damage! Once this original shell has gone the crab is free to thrive and grow more and more. The shell is discarded and the crab is no longer hindered, by something that was essential for a time, but it now no longer necessary.

I wonder whether as youthworkers we are aware enough of how important it is to make time to grow and thrive, to challenge ourselves, to continue to learn. Often the simple busyness of the job can take up all our time and to even think about creative and exciting new ways of learning is just too much. But can I encourage you, as 2021 begins, to plan for growth, to make time to think how you can learn and grow. In a world that moves so quickly sometimes I think it is vital that we continue to ask the big questions of life, to ask what God is saying in this time to this generation? I have been slightly unfair to people who have stayed in the same role for over 15 years, I wondered whether they need new challenges or new environments to really stay sharp and effective, do they need to shed a shell and allow the growth of something new?

My own biggest fear is missing an opportunity that God places before me and also I fear becoming stale! These two fears, rightly or wrongly, seem to keep me wanting to grow and learn and explore. Take some time to think and pray, ask God whether your current ‘shell’ is the right one or whether you need a new, bigger, more expandable one!

WHEN YOU ARE FRAGILE, DON’T BE ALONE

There is a time just after a spider crab loses its original shell where the new shell needs time to harden. During this time the spider crab is massively vulnerable, it has no protection from its usual armour and can be picked off easily by predators. This ‘shedding of the shells’ happens around the same time for all the crabs and there can be 1000’s of crabs gathered at the same time. As a ‘consortium’ of crabs gather they are aware of which crabs need protection and so crabs that still have their original shell, or indeed a new hardened shell, “cover” the vulnerable crabs. It is a moment of real sacrifice, crabs literally covering one another, putting themselves in the path of the vicious stingray so that their brother and sister crabs who need protection are saved.

I would reckon at some point in 2020 every single one of us felt vulnerable for a time. Whether it was just the overwhelming nature of what the world was facing or the struggle to move youthwork online or simply missing people and physical connection. Vulnerability is healthy, it is part of life and to be open to it is a good thing. But when we are vulnerable we need to allow others to gather round as protection, just like the crabs did for one another. What worked for the crabs was that not every crab lost their shell at the same time so they could take turns in offering and receiving protection. It is the same with us, even though 2020 was a battle, some of us found we came alive with the new challenges and new creative ways to offer ministry. What we need to do is look around and see who needs protection, even if it for just a short time, who can we ‘cover’ and walk with so that they can grow strong again? My hope then is that each of us when we are feeling vulnerable will be spotted by fellow youth leaders, who will come to our aid and allow us to regain our strength, safe in the knowledge that someone is close by offering protection.

THERE ARE PREDATORS!

The smooth stingray is a stunning creation and utterly lethal. It is the spider crabs worst enemy during their time of vulnerability. Stingrays can pick off dozens of crabs at a time and the crabs without protection are easy prey. Now I understand in the natural world this is simply part of life, I mean even a stingray has to eat!

So what are our “predators”? I wonder whether they are probably a mix of people that we struggle with, emotions and thoughts that can be unhelpful if not worked through and a range of unwise work patterns and behaviours. Maybe they don’t pursue us like the stingray but they can absolutely be as damaging. As with the spider crabs, one of the best defences we have is one another. Fellow Youthworkers will know some of the pressures and so are a valuable resource to help work through what causes us to struggle and stumble.

I wish there were no predators out there for us, but we are part of a spiritual battle and so there will always be opposition, and it will take many forms. Protecting ourselves, holding onto the truths that we believe in and standing together will enable us face, and withstand, and even overcome!

“In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

1 John 5:3-5 NIV

RELY ON YOUR TRIBE

I had an overwhelming sense of thankfulness as I watched the crabs protecting one another. It reminded me of all those people who have stepped into my life, who have protected, supported and covered me when I needed it most. Without these people stepping in it is highly likely that my youthwork calling would have ended long ago.

The ‘Youthwork Tribe’ is the most essential and effective tool we have, obviously apart from God! The ‘Youthwork Tribe’ comes in all different shapes and sizes and all with different stories and struggles. But we have one thing in common; we love Jesus and we feel called to love and serve young people. These truths connect us in a deep way, they connect our callings, they connect our stories, they connect the way we live our lives. This connection is a deep well of strength on offer to every single one of us. But I do understand that not all of us have found this ‘tribe’ in the place where God has called us to do ministry. It doesn’t always happen easily, sometimes we have to go out and find it, we need to make time to network, to meet with other leaders, to be open to building relationships with leaders who may even think in a slightly different way! A diverse tribe is a better tribe, so seek out a tribe, a tribe that you can be there for and who can be there for you!

The crabs gather at this point for one reason; to enable one another to grow and thrive! What a beautiful, powerful and essential image for us to consider in our lives and ministry.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Romans 1:20 NIV