My friend Josh Good, who is with the international youth ministry organization Christian Endeavor told me that at a large youth conference they will be displaying a banner that reads:

Less like hippos, more like honeybees

I give up! What does it mean, you say? Glad you asked. I did, too. Hippos consume; honeybees create. A hippo eats 100 pounds of vegetation every day, or, as Christian Endeavor likes to say, a hippo eats the weight of the average seventh-grader every day! On the other hand, honeybees create: they work hard; they work together; they create something useful.

Christian Endeavor believes (and I agree!) that we don’t need youth programs that simply make consumers out of the youth (in the same way many of their parents are consuming church programs). Hugh Halter, author and one of the leaders in the missional church movement, likes to say, “Disciples are not consumers, and consumers are not disciples.”

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15.8, NIV)