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Ministry / Mark Howard

Youth Need the Church, and the Church

Needs Youth
April 30, 2012

 0 Comments

 35

Editors' Note: Everyone has an opinion about youth ministry. Parents,

pastors, and the youth themselves have expectations and demands that don't
always overlap. But the rash of dire statistics about the ineffectiveness of
youth ministry has prompted rethinking in these ranks. So we devote one day
per week this month to exploring several issues in youth ministry, including its
history, problems, and biblical mandate. The Gospel Coalition thanks
Cameron Cole and the leadership team of Rooted: A Theology Conference for
Student Ministry for their help in compiling this series. Cathedral Church of the
Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, will host their 2012 conference from August
9 to 11. Speakers Ray Ortlund, Timothy George, and Mary Willson will
expound on the conference theme, “Adopted: The Beauty of Grace.”

**********

The current generation of youth is an interesting one.

As I've worked with and studied about youth today, it seems safe to say that
they are not members of the Enlightenment, nor do they hold the modern
notion that Reason can lead us to all Truth that is just beyond the horizon of
our current knowledge.

And yet what do they as a generation believe?

Though they are postmodern chronologically, I believe it would also be wrong

to say that they are postmodern. Unlike postmoderns, they are desperate for a
grand story to make sense of the world around them. They want meaning.
They are desperate for a true hope.

But hope is an elusive target in the world. Many of their parents have put their
hope in the economy, politics, and the military strength of America. Their
children, however, see a failing economy, political unrest, and an ongoing
terrorist threat. The future doesn't seem that rosy. So what's left for them to
hope in if they don't have the future? The moment. And happiness is king of
the moment.

Youth pursue happiness, but the means given by the world—shopping,

entertainment, sex, social media—undermine the very endeavor. Pleasure is
fleeting. Relations, often only surface deep, get messy quickly. Entertainment
can't provide lasting satisfaction. In the end, happiness in the world is little
more than momentary escape from the realities of the world.

Desperately Searching

Given the circumstances, it's no surprise that many youth are restless,
insecure, jaded, and desperately searching for meaning to explain all the hurt
and suffering they see around them, meaning for their very existence. Sadly,
many within the church offer nothing more substantive than the vaporous
teachings of the world. In some churches, “youth group” has become
synonymous with over-the-top games, entertainment, and shallow teaching.
They are told, yes, life here on earth is a mess, but don't worry, one day you'll
die and go to heaven. There things will be right. In the meantime, want to see
how many marshmallows I can stick in my mouth?

Do we really believe the faith of our youth is so pointless that the best God
has for them now is a temporary escape from the world on Wednesday night
and Sunday morning? This sort of ministry just reinforces a belief in the
meaninglessness of this life.
Where are meaning and hope found? In Jesus.

I am firmly convinced that what today's youth need most is the gospel of
Christ Jesus the Lord. He is the one in whom the fullness of God is found, and
he's the one in whom we are filled (Col 2:9-10). Moreover, he is the one who
gives meaning to this life.

He didn't come to escape the world but to redeem it. When you read the
Gospels, you see the way in which Jesus and his kingdom brought
redemption to this world by overcoming physical evil (emotional and physical
sickness), metaphysical evil (Satan and the demons), and moral evil (sin).

And the amazing message of the gospel is that we are transferred into Jesus'
kingdom of redemption and the forgiveness of sin (Col 1:13-14), a kingdom
we pray comes “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). It's a kingdom of
meaning for today that heals the broken and strengthens the tempted as they
live in the world (but are not of the world).

This is why, then, Paul pleas for the early Christians in Colossae to “walk in
[Jesus], rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you
were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col 2:7).

But the assumption Paul makes is that all Christians—including young ones—
have been taught this kingdom-bringing Jesus,the Messiah as presented in
the Old and New Testaments. This is the Jesus in whom youth today can truly
root their faith and be fed, grown, and established.

His People, the Church

Where is Jesus found? In the worship of his people, the church. As others
have said, the way we come to know Jesus is through the means he gave us:
Scripture, true Christian fellowship, the sacraments, and prayer. These are the
practices that by faith renew their minds in such a way that enables youth to
view and live in the world with purpose and meaning as followers of Jesus.
These are the practices that by faith force youth from their technologically
imposed isolation, discourage their entitlement, and lead them to a spirit of
humility and repentance. These are the practices that by faith expose their
dependence on Jesus and remind them of their need for grace.
And these are the practices that are to define our worship as the church.
Certainly, some of these practices can take place in youth-only venues, but at
its heart, these are full-body practices of the corporate church: young and old
worshiping together.

I love youth ministry, I really do. But the thing is, we have to be sure that we
don't segregate the youth for our sake and theirs. They are part of the body of
Christ too, and no part of the body can remain healthy if one of its members is
cut off and put to the side. If we segregate the youth, not only do we lose all
they have to teach us, but we also inadvertently teach them that the church is
really only for adults—those who are married and have families of their own.
And then we wonder why they don't get involved in church as college students
or young singles, when in reality, we've been telling them all along that the
church isn't yet for them.

My prayer is that as we minister to a generation starving for meaning, we

won't lose sight of the reality that what these youth need is Jesus, and that he
is most fully offered within the community of the church, of which they are a
vital part.

TEACH THE REAL ‘PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH

JESUS’

“If we are to reach real peace in this world… we shall have to begin with children.” —
Mahatma Gandhi

“this is a time for bold measures. This is the country, and you are the generation.” — Bono

“Great changes in the destiny of mankind can be effected only in the minds of little
children.” — Sir Herbert Read

“This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper
of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the
appetite for adventure over the love of ease.” — Robert Kennedy.

“The secret message communicated to most young people today by the society around
them is that they are not needed, that the society will run itself quite nicely until they — at
some distant point in the future — will take over the reigns. Yet the fact is that the society
is not running itself nicely… because the rest of us need all the energy, brains, imagination
and talent that young people can bring to bear down on our difficulties. For society to
attempt to solve its desperate problems without the full participation of even very young
people is imbecile.” — Alvin Toffler

Children, after all, are not just adults-in-the-making. They are people whose current needs
and rights and experiences must be taken seriously. — Alfie Kohn

“We are all creative, but by the time we are three of four years old, someone has knocked
the creativity out of us. Some people shut up the kids who start to tell stories. Kids dance in
their cribs, but someone will insist they sit still. By the time the creative people are ten or
twelve, they want to be like everyone else.” — Maya Angelou

“Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured.
But we can reduce the number of tortured children.” — Albert Camus

“…the anxiety children feel at constantly being tested, their fear of failure, punishment, and
disgrace, severely reduces their ability both to perceive and to remember, and drives them
away from the material being studied into strategies for fooling teachers into thinking they
know what they really don’t know.” — John Holt

“A century that began with children having virtually no rights is ending with children having
the most powerful legal instrument that not only recognizes but protects their rights.” —
Carol Bellamy on the CRC

“The more we increase the active participation and partnership with young people, the
better we serve them. … And the more comprehensively we work with them as service
partners, the more we increase our public value to the entire community.” — Carmen
Martinez

“This is not class warfare, this is generational warfare. This administration and old wealthy
people have declared war on young people. That is the real war that is going on here. And
that is the war we’ve got to talk about.” – James Carville

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home—so close
and so small they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the
individual person… Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal
justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have
meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to
uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” —
Eleanor Roosevelt
“The young, free to act on their initiative, can lead their elders in the direction of the
unknown… The children, the young, must ask the questions that we would never think to
ask, but enough trust must be re-established so that the elders will be permitted to work
with them on the answers.” — Margaret Mead

Quotes on Youth Involvement

“Our youth are not failing the system; the system is failing our youth. Ironically, the very
youth who are being treated the worst are the young people who are going to lead us out
of this nightmare.” — Rachel Jackson

“If you had a problem in the Black community, and you brought in a group of White people
to discuss how to solve it, almost nobody would take that panel seriously. In fact, there’d
probably be a public outcry. It would be the same the for women’s issues or gay issues. But
every day, in local arenas all the way to the White House, adults sit around and decide
what problems youth have and what youth need, without ever consulting us.” — Jason, 17
years old, Youth Force Member, Bronx, NY

“If it is clear youth will be encouraged and listened to, and preparations are well thought
out, you are set up for success… Having youth on boards and commissions has been a
rewarding experience for everyone involved. Youth feel their voice is valued and that they
have an impact on city decisions. Adult members benefit from the fresh perspective,
optimism, and enthusiasm youth bring to the table.” — Matt McCarte

“Youth involvement has moved forward. It is no longer seen as a rebellious act, the way it
was a few decades ago.” — Maureen A. Sedonaen

“Rather than standing or speaking for children, we need to stand with children speaking for
themselves. We don’t need a political movement for children… [we need to] build
environments and policies for our collective future.” — Sandra Meucci

“…Youth voice is crucial to the overall effectiveness of service- learning programs. Youth
voice has a tremendous impact on program participation and program outcomes, both short
term and long term.” — Education Commission of the States

“We all benefit by having young people exposed to the ‘way things are done’ in a
democratic society. Isn’t it time… to ‘tap the power of youth?'” — Hans Bernard
“What kind of twisted message do we send when we tell youth they are judged mature,
responsible adults when they commit murder, but silly, brainless kids when they want to
vote?… Lowering the voting age is the just, fair way to set things straight.” — National
Youth Rights Association
“There’s a radical – and wonderful – new idea here… that all children could and should be
inventors of their own theories, critics of other people’s ideas, analyzers of evidence, and
makers of their own personal marks on the world. Its an idea with revolutionary
implications. If we take it seriously.” — Deborah Meier

Quotes on Adults
“It used to be believed that the parent had unlimited claims on the child and rights over
him. In a truer view of the matter, we are coming to see that the rights are on the side of
the child and the duties on the side of the parent.” — William G. Sumner

“Today’s ephebiphobia is the latest installment of a history of bogus moral panics targeting
unpopular subgroups to obscure an unsettling reality: Our worst social crisis is middle-
Americans own misdirected fear.” — Mike Males

Quotes on Youth
“I have seen the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical
naked…” — Allen Ginsberg

“[Did they] use your years to psyche you out — you’re too old to care, you’re too young to
count?” Indigo Girls

“Don’t criticize what you can’t understand, your sons and your daughters are beyond your
command.” — Bob Dylan

“Kids, I wish every mom and dad would make a speech to their teenagers and say, ‘Kids,
be free, be whatever you are, do whatever you want to do, just as long as you don’t hurt
anybody. And remember kids, I am you friend.'” — from the musical Hair.

“…we condemned them, our children, for seeking a different future. We hated them for
their flowers, for their love, and for their unmistakeable rejection of every hideous,
mistaken compromise that we had made throughout our hollow, money- bitten, frightened,
adult lives. — June Jordan

3 WAYS A SENIOR PASTOR CAN CHAMPION YOUTH

MINISTRY
DWhen I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man
around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven
years.
Josh Billings (1815-1885) American humorist and lecturer.

It is all that the young can do for the old, to shock them and keep them up to date.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish writer.

Enjoy the Spring of Love and Youth, to some good angel leave the rest; For Time will teach thee soon the
truth, there are no birds in last year's nest!
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) U.S. poet.

We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare
for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a
Nation are the trustees of Posterity.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) British politician and author.

The Youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) British politician and author.

Ask the young. They know everything.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist.

Great endowments often announce themselves in youth in the form of singularity and awkwardness.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, novelist and dramatist.

Youth itself is a talent, a perishable talent.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American philosopher and author.

The young are permanently in a state resembling intoxication.

Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) Greek philosopher.

A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.
O WE NEED TO RAISE TOUGHER CHILDREN?

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