If Sir David Attenborough did youthwork Part 2…

Fire Ants: Unsinkable!

I don’t know whether you have used the phrase “hanging on for dear life”, maybe at the moment you actually feel this way? I used to do a bit of climbing and on one occasion I was on a rock face in Derbyshire, I managed to get the whole way to the top when some of my gear got caught. After a few minutes light panic and trying various ideas I realised the only option I had was to unclip from the safety of my rope and clamber the last few feet up onto the top of the rock. A good friend was there with me and helped me “survive”, but I clearly remember grabbing his arm tighter than anything ever as he pulled me up to safety. So whenever I hear the phrase “hanging on for dear life” this is what comes to mind.

I can only imagine what would have happened if the same situation would have unfolded while I was on my own, maybe a very different outcome!!

My reason for sharing is to point out the very simple, but deeply profound fact, that we are stronger, better, more capable, more significant when we are together! But also let us not forget the call in Acts 2 for “All the believers were together and had everything in common.” The growth of the church came out of their working together and from them valuing the whole group over anyone’s individual needs.

Allow me to introduce to you some of the greatest team players in all creation: fire ants from the Amazon rainforest. So why I am talking about fire ants? Firstly, fire ants are awesome, just a couple of millimetres long yet hugely creative. Secondly, fire ants actually build themselves together to become a new home in times of disaster! Thirdly, they leave no one behind!! My family and I love watching the stories and discoveries of Sir David Attenborough and his ability to show unseen amazing creation. But every time we watch I find myself grabbing my notebook because of the wonder of creation but also because the behaviour of so many creatures teaches me something significant about youth ministry.

During the rainy season in the rainforest there are obviously times when flooding happens and during this time fire ants lose their home because it becomes submerged. But they are prepared, they know what’s happening and they posses the skills and ingenuity to adapt. They literally trap air in the hair on the bodies which creates a cushion that allows them to float. As the flood waters rise the fire ants leave their home and link together to create a floating raft of fire ants. Then as the waters continue to rise they allow themselves to float to their new home in time for when the waters recede. This isn’t a behaviour of panic and chaos, it is organised and extremely creative. The fire ants link their legs together to build a solid raft, and as they move they are constantly watching out for any ant that slips off the raft, if this happens a chain of ants is created to reach out, grab, save, and bring back to the colony – so cool! As you watch this adventure unfold you also see the ‘soldier’ ants pushing the younger ants up on top to keep then safe and ensure survival, ants literally going underwater to save younger ants from drowning – I am so in awe of these heroic ants! But what a great image of leadership; that we as leaders should be “sacrificing” ourselves to lift younger leaders up!

I hope you are starting to have an image in your minds about how amazing these creatures are. But also I wonder if God is nudging you at this point and asking “who do you need to reach out and grab?” This last 12 months we have seen ‘flood waters rise’, we have seen stable homes be shaken, we have seen communities unsettled by the ever-changing restrictions. Even with our churches and youth groups we have been forced to change the way we do community and this has caused some to slip away. Maybe now, as gatherings is starting to become possible again, we should be looking around seeing where we can reach out, grab, save, and bring back? Who do we need to ‘link’ with so that they can be revived and discover a new home? Maybe during this past season you have found a new strength and are being called to use your current stability to serve someone who has struggled. This is the power of the colony; each of us at different times will be able to lift the other back up.

By working together the fire ants become unsinkable, moving through the impending disaster to a new place, a new home, a new togetherness. Forgive the cliché, but fire ants don’t care where their home is, their home is wherever they are together. We all know the church is not the building, but the people, and we belong to ‘one’ church. A individual fire ant will not survive! But the whole colony, when unified, when prioritising the health and survival of the whole group, will move together and will then succeed and thrive.

Our youthwork tribe is a colony of fire ants, I see so often youth leaders reaching out to grab and ‘pull back in’ others. I am still in youth ministry after 30 years because of people caring enough to look out for me and ‘pull me back’ when I needed them to. Time and time again I see youth leaders connecting and gathering simply to encourage one another. I see youth groups running events together and being community. I see leaders using social media to encourage and cheer on other youth ministry. The Youthwork Tribe is a beacon to the whole church. Yes we can always do better and yes we need to continue to put in great effort to include and draw others closer. But I see great unity within my tribe and I am often driven to my knees praying that the whole church community would behave this way. Just imagine churches reaching to grab those that are slipping away, imagine the whole church seeing themselves as one colony, imagine the whole church moving together and overcoming disaster to build something new.

So as we ‘move’ during this next season, as we consider where to go next in ministry, my prayer is that we would do it together. There is power in the colony, and by working together we can become unsinkable.

Amen.