youth ministry gets serious

a pastor of a local denton, tx church emailed me the article, "youth ministry gets serious" that he found on leadershipjournal.net. before i start discussing the article, i want to share with you some of the thought-provoking statistics that it offers:

- Number of teens in U.S.: 24 million
- Percentage who have attended church for a period of at least 2 months: 81%
- Percentage who have participated in at least one psychic or witchcraft activity: 75%
- Percentage of young adults who maintain active spiritual life consistent with high school years: 20%
** Stats from the barna group, www.barna.org

many youth ministers/workers/parents believe that youth do not want to attend church because they find it boring, and to combat that the church youth programs must be heavily entertainment-driven. this article discusses how "entertainment-driven" youth ministry seems to be failing. the barna group shows that "61% of american 'twentysomethings' attended church as teens but no longer attend, read the Bible, or pray."

chanon ross, youth director at knox presbyterian church in naperville, illinois is quoted as saying, "the point (was) not to do anything too weighty that would turn kids off. the old goal was to keep it light; keep it fun... while simultaneously conveying a positive, family-friendly alternative to things like MTV." ross believes that this is the reason for the mass exodus of students from the church (and personal faith). for many teens it is difficult to differentiate between the gospel and the pop-culture box they received it in. the article quotes from the book, soul searching: the religious and spiritual lives of american teenagers, instead of worshiping the holy god of the Bible, most teens follow "a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist" - someone to solve their problems and ensure happiness." they call this belief "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

to reverse this trend, Time reports that churches are starting to turn their focus from entertainment to teaching (theology/doctrine). they use youth pastor chris reed's ministry experience as an example of this shift. "when chris reed failed to convert a single student during a 12-month span as youth pastor of calvary baptist church in bellflower, california, he decided to make a change. reed restructured his program around heavier doses of doctrine and adult mentoring. youth rolls expanded from 70 to over 200 in a period of 6 years, with 64 teens accepting Christ in a single year." reed states, "people need to realize that youth are not the church of tomorrow; they're the church of today."

over the past 3-4 years, i have had the opportunities to work in children, youth and college ministries and i can speak from experience about the frustrations of "entertainment-driven" youth ministries. i have been the youth minister who has struggled with balancing doctrine with the pressures of planning events to draw students in. now as i work in college ministry i see first hand the products of poor teaching. as i mentioned earlier in this article, 61% of twentysomethings who attended church as teens no longer attend, read the Bible or pray. i believe that we as believers (the church) must recognize that we cannot expect today's youth (or even the church) to have a strong faith if they are not given a foundation and the tools to build up. faith is more than being able to recite Bible stories. it is more than knowing the words to every song in the hymnbook. it's about constantly pursuing a relationship with God through believing that Christ died for your sins so that you would have the opportunity to come before God. it's a constant pursuit. it's not easy. it can't be based on emotions and feelings. it has to be based on knowledge (which comes from learning). how can they believe if we have not told them (romans 10:14)? if we do not help them find their own foundation for their own faith, then when the questions (personal and from others) come up they will not be able to combat them strongly and effectively.

i will continue with this topic again soon...