I spent years recruiting and training people to work with high school and junior high students. In every church, regardless of size or denomination, there were always those I pursued in this effort that I felt were downright born for youth ministry but wanted nothing to do with it. While a number of valid reasons exist for a person not wanting to put themselves in that position – the most common, by far, was some variation on the same theme. They didn’t know what they were doing, had no training on how to teach, or felt like there was no way they’d ever been able to relate to kids due to a marked age difference. In short – they felt like they didn’t have the ability to fill the role that I was asking them to fulfill, so they didn’t bother to try.
I still hear those same reasons when recruiting InnRoads volunteers. Folks mistakenly think that they need to be good at board games, that they need to be God’s gift to dungeon mastering, or have full knowledge of every tournament format to have any business trying to minister to this community. My response now is as it was then. If you want to be involved, all you need to do is show up consistently. It helps, when looking for a prospective volunteer, to find someone already versed in the gaming world, but it’s not remotely a requirement. Learning a language, or the ability to communicate well, is a skill. That skill can be taught. This language learned. I would sooner have someone passionate about the connection these words foster than worry about whether or not they already know what to say. To clear away the cobwebs of doubt in the minds of even one person who might read this – I want to show how inconsequential it is that you understand the finer points of a Feldian points salad.
Language is Ever-Changing
There is a reason our site features a glossary of terms for both those who want to learn more about board games as well as tabletop RPGs. We wanted to ensure that folks who had never played anything more strategic than Uno could engage with folks who cut their teeth on Twilight Imperium, at least on a basic level. But language evolves and deepens with time and use. In the four years since the board game glossary went up, we’re already seeing new variations appear on the market that redefines the terms. It’s subtle – but we’re already seeing the language changing. It’s filled with idioms, inside jokes, and shorthand. Words can be obscure, rarely used, or even borrowed directly from other languages. I’ve been playing board games for decades, but I still remember the first time I had to look up what on earth a podcaster was talking about when they mentioned the roundel – or rondelle, if you weren’t confused enough – in the game Tzolkin.
I could spend my days updating and adding to the various glossaries, and I might every now and then, but where does it stop? Designers are developing their craft – blurring and changing genre lines in the pursuit of new and exciting play options. People have their own concept of industry terms. An example would be the term ‘deck builder’ used by one to explain games that add cards to a player’s deck as the game is played like Dominion, while another person hears those words and thinks about players pre-constructing their decks before the game even starts like Magic: The Gathering. Even if a person was up-to-date on every trend, all it takes is someone like Zee Garcia getting on YouTube to coin a new term like AmeriTHRASH instead of AmeriTRASH to describe a style of game design and everything changes (an argument immediately ensued across multiple forums when he did that, by the way).
There is no end-game with learning the technical and communal language of the gaming world. As long as this community continues to grow and change, so will its language. So to think anyone needs to have an encyclopedic knowledge of it will keep gifted and talented people away from your table and your ministry.
Words Alone Are Not Language
I took German all throughout high school. One would think that would give me a strong comprehension of the language, but one would be wrong. It wouldn’t take me too long to gather up the wayward strands of vocabulary that I’ve let slip over the years, but even given time to prepare wouldn’t give me any real level of fluency. Fluency goes beyond the basics in a way that delves into why those particular words mean what they mean. That level of knowledge requires an intimacy with the words, sentence structure, idioms, nuance, historical and cultural contexts, puns, wordplay, and the like. To go back to my illustration of learning German – a simple, everyday question like “What time is it” in English is not the same. An exact, literal translation of the German would be “How much of the clock is it?” It may seem like a small difference, but it makes you realize that there are tiny idiosyncrasies that exist in the language you speak. I once had to speak at a school where Arabic was the primary language. I spent hours pouring over my ten-minute message, and even that level of care left my very patient translator dumbfounded multiple times trying to figure out how he would translate the sentence I just said.
The best way I’ve found to become fully fluent in a language is to be immersed in it. Learn just enough not to drown in the proverbial pool and jump into the deep end. When it comes to gaming as a ministry – all you need to know is how to effectively communicate what’s in a rule book. That may seem daunting to you, but I’ve walked countless people through that process in a single sitting. Fluency will only come through being at the table – especially sitting down with people who are already ‘fluent.’ I never want to think that someone is denying themselves the greatest opportunity to learn what they’re looking to learn because they think they already need to know it first.
Silence Can Be Stronger
There is nothing you can say that will have more impact than when you are silently sitting beside someone at their absolute lowest point consoling them. There are no words required for that. I’ve actually found that words get in the way of powerful moments of ministry from one person to another at that moment. That is what separates folks who want to do ministry with us from folks who want an excuse to play games in church. I need people who know when to shut up and be there for someone in their pain. I need someone who will show up to important moments in their lives. Someone who will sit and listen to a phone call at 2am because the person on the other end just needed someone to talk to.
As I started writing this post, the picture that continually came to mind was a loop of those cheesy Christian t-shirts that were puns on pop-culture iconography. If you were a Christian kid in the 90s like myself, you couldn’t avoid these. I thought myself incredibly witty, so I had several. I thought I was being so cool and counter-cultural with my proud declaration of Jesus to a world that needed Him. I made sure I had catchy words and phrases to grab attention and get to that God-moment. As I look back on the early days of my faith – riddled with t-shirts and bumper stickers – I now realize I wasn’t doing anything but declaring my faith in the most obnoxious way possible. I was co-opting something that people loved, saying “Oh you love that thing? Well, you need to love Jesus.” I was using a lot of the right words in the absolutely wrong way.
If you love people. If you want to connect with them in meaningful ways – even if it costs you something. If the only reason you aren’t at a table gaming with people is that you don’t think you’re good enough to be there. Then it is time to stop worrying about whether you can speak gamer and just get there.