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Spiritual Sparring?

We Need More Christian Sparring. Does that sound a bit odd? Let me explain. There are two things in my son's two years of Tae Kwon Do I have continued to reflect upon: training by the level and sparring. My son has been in Tae Kwon Do for the past two years and has really enjoyed it and our Christian instructors. He has come up to his fifth gup and is now a green belt. As a youth pastor and educator, one of the things that made me smile was how the higher level kids were being asked to train the lower ones--and it's not so much an age thing. A girl my daughter's age (then 11) was asked to train my son (then, 7) and she did a fantastic job. I have always heard the adage: "The best way for you to know something is to teach it" (for me, it was Greek) and she really knew her stuff!

The second thing that has continued to impress me just as much has been the sparring. It is absolutely necessary. It isn't enough to have kids stand in to throw a slow motion punch to help kids learn their defensive forms. If someone is going to attack you they aren't going to set it up for you and say, "Ok, ready? Here ...it ...comes... (throws short punch here)!" Kids need to be trained in seeing how things (punches) are going to come at them in real life and need training--the need sparring time. This is actually what my son looks forward to most at practice.

I think there is something we can learn from this in training our children spiritually as well. I have had several Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door and they do a form of spiritual sparring. The 'mentor' would stand back and allow the 'mentee' to address me. At first. When the questioning (punches?) started from me, the mentor stepped in.

So as a spiritual coach, leader, mentor myself, I am left with the question, "Why don't we do more 'sparring'?" And perhaps, "How can we do more 'sparring' type training in our children's spiritual development? Sure, mission trips can be a form of sparring, but usually they are just outfitting trips set to do spiritually mock-up programs as to  'how they were done back home'. This amounts to doing 'form practice' again in a different setting--even if it is allowing the kids to take the leadership in it. And this OK to some extent, but what I am asking goes beyond that. Something the JWs have discovered works for them. A simulation where no punches are pulled, no slow motion practice, no 'ready?' delivery; instead a reality version where nothing is set up, not everything can be anticipated, and still the thrill of all of the training being utilized and put to the test.

Am I off here?

 
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Location: Upland, IN, USA

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