Lost in the Transition

I am a tracking through the jungle of the transition from modern thinking to post-modern thinking in the way we approach youth ministry. I was trained and schooled in the early transitions, so I was getting the idea down, but I still have a ways to go in making the transition. I am reading this book, "Presence Centered Youth Ministry" and it is great. It is helping me chop my way through this jungle. I came across this quote today:

"Our churches are full of fear because the people in them are full of fear. Parents want youth workers and youth ministry programs that will fix their kids-modify their behavior. Parents hope that youth ministry will make their kids nice American citizens who think the right things and do the right things...

Today many churches attempt to eliminate the risk and danger of the call. We cushion the risk and remove the danger of discipleship by drawing up a list of moral rules that give us security instead of holy insecurity. The need to isolate teenagers from the world in order to protect them from evil leads to dysfunctional Christianity."

Mike King pg 48-51

I see myself in the same boat if God calls my child to Africa or to some Jungle, I would be that parent who would not want their kid to follow God. I am protective. I want Isaac to be safe, loved, and free from trouble. Sometimes I isolate him too much from things that would push him to grow. Pushing too hard does cause him to go into seizure as we found out last year on the bike trip. But to keep him from any trouble is not good.

Its funny, but Isaac loves the movie Finding Nemo, in which there is a fish born with a disability, and the father is over protective and wont let him do things on his own and does it all for him. I am trying to not be that parent, but it is hard.