Conventional wisdom says teens don't like church because they find it boring. So they must be lured in with entertainment.
So claims a recent article in Leadership Journal. And those of us in youth ministry have responded... often shying away from discipleship and truth in favor of making Jesus "cool."
The result of this trend, according to sources documented in the article:
Many teens are now unable to differentiate between the gospel and the pop-culture box they receive it in.
God forgive us.
p.s.: The Chris Reed mentioned in the above-referenced article is not me.
2 comments:
What are your thought on Jon at Epik (AG Youth), Here we have a youth pastor who hates games, hates entertainment in place of quality teaching, and yet built a 22,000 sq ft youth facility as an entertainment, to give the youth something else to do, aside from the trouble they may find, bordom they whine about, reason to invite. The service/message/worship however, is heavy, strong, and clearly the goal. Do you think the big toy of a building still hits this issue, or can they both exsist together?
Buildings and activities aren't the issue... focus is the issue. According to the article, the problem arises when we shy away from "weight" in favor of keeping things light and non-threatening. (Who ever said Jesus was non-threatening?) In that environment (according to a source in the article,) "teens don't need Jesus to be crucified and raised from the dead in order to have positive outcomes and pursue family-friendly alternatives to MTV."
From what you've observed of Jon's focus, it doesn't seem like his program falls into this trap. But new buildings (or other cool resources) have got to be one of the most common culprits when it comes to our loss of focus on our real vision for kids' lives. May we all have the wisdom to see these things as means, not ends.
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