The Irrelevance of Cool

These days it seems like the first rule of popular youth ministry is: be cool. Nothing wrong with that per se. But that is not the measuring stick of Scripture where faithfulness tops the list. Many of the things we argue over in contemporary ministry, as well as youth ministry, are neither here nor there. They add nothing nor take anything away. Of course, we could argue all day but really, come on! A guy in a suit. A guy in jeans and a hip shirt. Cool. No power in the suit, no power in the hip shirt. A worship service with full lights and a pulpit. A worship service with spotlights and no pulpit. Fine. Cool. No power in the pulpit. No power in the spotlights. Relevance is important and you might want to do what you can to get at the level of the audience you are trying to reach. But do not mistake where the power comes from. Real ministry involves love, passion, time, commitment, and humility. That's what it takes and I've seen good examples and bad examples doing both models of ministry.

Paul's love for people was such that he could set almost everything aside in order to reach people: "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some" (1 Co. 9:22). But Paul would never set aside the Gospel nor fog it up nor make it cool:

^"1And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ²For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." - 1 Co. 2:1-5

Coolness in Paul's day was speaking in a certain oratorical fashion using the rhetorical methods and flourishes of the day and Paul wouldn't have it, if it confused the Gospel. That's the key. And the same applies today. When we trip over ourselves to be cool we probably aren't clear on the Gospel and we probably aren't really that cool.

None of this is to say that we should excuse stodgy, stiff, traditional-"ism" and inflexible just-do-it-like-we-always-done-it ways. Of course, we need to be creative, innovative, relevant, and flexible just as the makers of this video were creative. This is just a warning. Most of this stuff doesn't matter either way, and, of course, it won't save anybody. But the Gospel matters. And the Gospel saves.

The following link leads to a great video criticizing over-the-top coolness in youth ministry. It is not for real; it is fake; this is not a real youth minister. It's satire, but it's good satire, and it's pretty funny, well it's really funny. But if you've ever seen this stuff, well it's pretty sad. But it makes some great points. We need to beware of the pitfalls of seeking relevance and trying to be cool. I think the point made at the end is right on. Youth ministers struggle with this issue often. But coolness for coolness's sake won't get you very far. I think there is far better advice, like: love young people, give them Jesus, teach the Bible, and be real. Also, understand that this video is in a different church context than ours. But you'll get the point. By the way, you may think that this sort of stuff doesn't happen in our common circles but it do, it really do, and I've seen flashes of it. Of course, I've seen this attitude on guys wearing suits and ties. It has nothing to do with the suit or the jeans. Anyways watch it and let me know what you think.

The video is called Ignatius from travis hawkins on Vimeo.

The Inevitably of Doctrine

Doctrine is a synonym for teaching. That's it. If you have a church, you have teaching, the question is what are you teaching, and how good is it? By good I mean is it true, biblical, solid, and meaty, and
life changing, transforming, renewing, persuasive, and equipping. Does it glorify God? Does it exalt Jesus Christ? Does it bear good fruit?

Some might say that doctrine is useful for equipping ministers, mature Christian adults, preachers, and the like but unnecessary and irrelevant for young people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Scripture makes no such distinction.

"Command and teach these these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching...Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers"
- 1 Timothy 4:11-16 [ESV]

Doctrine is inevitable and inescapable if the Church desires to produce a New Generation living with hearts on fire for the truth of Jesus Christ. John Piper makes that point in the following article. Read and enjoy.

Good Doctrine Makes Better (Teenage) Saints
By John Piper August 15, 2007

Here it is again. More evidence from surveys what the Bible makes so plain: superficial, non-doctrinal, non-serious Christians sin pretty much like the world; but more serious, more doctrinally oriented Christians lead lives that are morally distinct. Two years ago Ron Sider flagged this in his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World?

Now a new book by Mark Regnerus called Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers gives the same bleak picture of so-called “evangelical teenagers” who sleep around as much as unbelievers. But again the book points out that “the 16% of American teenagers who say that their faith is ‘extremely important to their lives’ are living chastely” (Gene Veith, “Sex and the Evangelical Teen,” World, August 11, 2007, p. 9).

Some of you may remember what Sider said two years ago. But here it is again. The point is that what he said then has now been confirmed again by a totally separate survey. May the Lord use both these studies to encourage us that even though growing a church by serious teaching of biblical truth may be harder and slower, it does bear more radical fruit than less doctrinally serious strategies of growth.

Here is what Sider says the more radically transformed Christians believe:

These people believe that “the Bible is the moral standard” and “absolute moral truths exist and are conveyed through the Bible.” In addition they agree with all six of the following additional beliefs: that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator who still rules the universe; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; Satan is a real, living entity; salvation is a free gift, not something we can earn; every Christian has a personal responsibility to evangelize; and the Bible is totally accurate in all it teaches. (Scandal, p. 127)

Then Sider lists the kinds of behaviors this more doctrinally rigorous group tend to show.

They are nine times more likely than all the others to avoid “adult-only” material on the Internet. They are four times more likely than other Christians to boycott objectionable companies and products and twice as likely to choose not to watch a movie specifically because of its bad content. They are three times more likely than other adults not to use tobacco products and twice as likely to volunteer time to help needy people. Forty-nine percent of all born-again Christians with a biblical worldview have volunteered more than an hour in the previous week to an organization serving the poor, whereas only 29 percent of born-again Christians without a biblical worldview and only 22 percent of non-born-again Christians had done so. (Scandal, p. 128)

Sider concludes with a word that pastors and youth leaders should hear with great seriousness—mainly because the Bible teaches it, but also because Regnerus’s new book points in the same direction. Here is Sider’s conclusion:

[The] findings on the different behavior of Christians with a biblical worldview underline the importance of theology. Biblical orthodoxy does matter. One important way to end the scandal of contemporary Christian behavior is to work and pray fervently for the growth of orthodox theological belief in our churches. (Scandal, pp. 129-130)

Yes. Pray for sure. And work our heinies off teaching and preaching and modeling the Truth. And resist an entertainment model for youth ministry. And cultivate a joyfully blood-earnest atmosphere for worship. And call for our youth and our retirees to go risk their lives somewhere for the risen King Jesus. This is where serious truth-driven ministry takes us.

Growing in the knowledge and grace of Jesus with you,

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

A Church-Based Hope for "Adultolescents"

John Piper wrote the following article about the extension of adolescence and teen-age into adulthood. There is a major problem in church and society today with the maturing and development of young people into adults. Read, think, reflect, ponder, enjoy.

Bro. Chad

A Church-Based Hope for “Adultolescents”
By John Piper November 13, 2007

Christian Smith, professor of sociology at Notre Dame, wrote in the most recent Books and Culture a review of six books that deal with the new phenomenon of “adultolescence”—that is, the postponement of adulthood into the thirties. I want to relate this phenomenon to the church. But first here is a summary from Smith’s article of what it is and how it came about.
What Is Adultolescence?

Smith writes,

“Teenager” and “adolescence” as representing a distinct stage of life were very much 20th-century inventions, brought into being by changes in mass education, child labor laws, urbanization and suburbanization, mass consumerism, and the media. Similarly, a new, distinct, and important stage in life, situated between the teenage years and full-fledged adulthood, has emerged in our culture in recent decades—reshaping the meaning of self, youth, relationships, and life commitments as well as a variety of behaviors and dispositions among the young.

What has emerged from this new situation has been variously labeled “extended adolescence,” “youthhood,” “adultolescence,” “young adulthood,” the “twenty-somethings,” and “emerging adulthood.”

One way of describing this group is to highlight the tendency to delay adulthood or stay in the youth mindset longer than we used to. Smith suggests the following causes for this delay in arriving at mature, responsible adulthood.

First is the growth of higher education. The GI Bill, changes in the American economy, and government subsidizing of community colleges and state universities led in the second half of the last century to a dramatic rise in the number of high school graduates going on to college and university. More recently, many feel pressured—in pursuit of the American dream—to add years of graduate school education on top of their bachelor’s degree. As a result, a huge proportion of American youth are no longer stopping school and beginning stable careers at age 18 but are extending their formal schooling well into their twenties. And those who are aiming to join America's professional and knowledge classes—those who most powerfully shape our culture and society—are continuing in graduate and professional school programs often up until their thirties.

A second and related social change crucial to the rise of emerging adulthood is the delay of marriage by American youth over the last decades. Between 1950 and 2000, the median age of first marriage for women rose from 20 to 25 years old. For men during that same time the median age rose from 22 to 27 years old. The sharpest increase for both took place after 1970. Half a century ago, many young people were anxious to get out of high school, marry, settle down, have children, and start a long-term career. But many youth today, especially but not exclusively men, face almost a decade between high school graduation and marriage to spend exploring life's many options in unprecedented freedom.

A third major social transformation contributing to the rise of emerging adulthood as a distinct life phase concerns changes in the American and global economy that undermine stable, lifelong careers and replace them instead with careers of lower security, more frequent job changes, and an ongoing need for new training and education. Most young people today know they need to approach their careers with a variety of skills, maximal flexibility, and readiness to re tool as needed. That itself pushes youth toward extended schooling, delay of marriage, and, arguably, a general psychological orientation of maximizing options and postponing commitments.

Finally, and in part as a response to all of the above, parents of today’s youth, aware of the resources often required to succeed, seem increasingly willing to extend financial and other support to their children, well into their twenties and even into their early thirties.

The characteristics of the 18-30 year-olds that these four factors produce include:

(1) identity exploration, (2) instability, (3) focus on self, (4) feeling in limbo, in transition, in-between, and (5) sense of possibilities, opportunities, and unparalleled hope. These, of course, are also often accompanied by big doses of transience, confusion, anxiety, self-obsession, melodrama, conflict, and disappointment.

How Should the Church Respond?

How might the church respond to this phenomenon in our culture? Here are my suggestions.

1. The church will encourage maturity, not the opposite. “Do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Corinthians 4:20).

2. The church will press the fact that maturity is not a function of being out of school but is possible to develop while in school.

3. While celebrating the call to life long singleness, the church will not encourage those who don’t have the cal to wait till late in their twenties or thirties to marry, even if it means marrying while in school.

4. The church will foster flexibility in life through living by faith and resist the notion that learning to be professionally flexible must happen through a decade of experimentation.

5. The church will help parents prepare their youth for independent financial living by age 22 or sooner, where disabilities do not prevent.

6. The church will provide a stability and steadiness in life for young adults who find a significant identity there.

7. The church will provide inspiring, worldview-forming teaching week in and week out that will deepen the mature mind.

8. The church will provide a web of serious, maturing relationships.

9. The church will be a corporate communion of believers with God in his word and his ordinances that provide a regular experience of universal significance.

10. The church will be a beacon of truth that helps young adults keep their bearings in the uncertainties of cultural fog and riptides.

11. The church will regularly sound the trumpet for young adults that Christ is Lord of their lives and that they are not dependent on mom and dad for ultimate guidance.

12. The church will provide leadership and service roles that call for the responsibility of maturity in the young adults who fill them.

13. The church will continually clarify and encourage a God-centered perspective on college and grad school and career development.

14. The church will lift up the incentives and values of chaste and holy singleness, as well as faithful and holy marriage.

15. The church will relentlessly extol the maturing and strengthening effects of the only infallible life charter for young adults, the Bible.

In these ways, I pray that the Lord Jesus, through his church, will nurture a provocative and compelling cultural alternative among our “emerging adults.” This counter-cultural band will have more stability, clearer identity, deeper wisdom, Christ-dependent flexibility, an orientation on the good of others not just themselves, a readiness to bear responsibility and not just demand rights, an expectation that they will suffer without returning evil for evil, an awareness that life is short and after that comes judgment, and a bent to defer gratification till heaven if necessary so as to do maximum good and not forfeit final joy in God.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

A Youth Ministry Manifesto for New Generation - Part 3

Part 3 - 4 Questions and 40 Propositions

In the first part of this series I asked several questions, some of which you may find astonishing. Let me repeat that list of questions:

What then is youth ministry?

Does youth ministry have a biblical basis?

What are the challenges and opportunities before us in youth ministry?

How does youth ministry integrate with the life of the family and the whole church?

What can WE ALL do in youth ministry?

In the last article we discussed some of the challenges and opportunities in youth ministry, and in this part I hope to answer the other four questions. I will simply answer by making several propositions for each question. I will also throw in some references to Bible verses supporting my main propositions. Time and space demand that the answers be succinct, so after the first question below I will not expound much on the propositions. You can take my references by faith, or you can look them up. Either way, I hope you think hard about some of these questions with me. I, for one, believe that the Bible is truly sufficient for life and ministry. That means the Bible really is able to equip us for what God calls us to do—even youth ministry. It has the answers and wisdom we need to serve the way God wants us to. So, I’m going to re-order the questions a bit, and start at the starting place for all Christian life and ministry, the Scriptures.


Does youth ministry have a biblical basis?

1. Ministry to children and young people is Biblical, and in fact, commanded in Scripture.

So, the answer is YES! The Bible is emphatic on training children and youth in the ways of the Lord. Ministry to youth is not explicitly structured or organized in Scripture as we do it today nevertheless this is a Biblical mandate.

References: Deuteronomy 6:4-25, Proverbs 22:6.

2. Youth ministry is Biblical when it fits correctly into God’s structure for the Church and family.

The main institutions God founded for the well-being of men and women is the Church, the family, and government. Of these three, we are most concerned that we do ministry rightly by the Church and the family, and of these two, it is the family which God specifically assigned the task of training children and young people. In fact, the main reference to the previous proposition (Deut. 6:4-25) is a command to parents. The entire book of Proverbs is basically a father’s counsel to his son. The family is God’s design for church small-groups! Children should learn about God, His Word, prayer, and worship first at home. One of the reasons for the great emphasis on youth ministry in the Church today is that the family has largely failed in its duty as God envisioned. Nevertheless we must not give up on the family. Nor should we forget that the Church of God is the family of God for all the children of God and should act like a family! So youth ministry is a project first for the family and then for the whole Church.

References: See above, and Genesis 12:3, Joshua 24:15, Psalm 22:27, 96:7, Proverbs 1:1-9, Acts 2:42-47, Ephesians 1:5, 2:19.

3. Youth ministry is Biblical when it is an extension of the five-fold, multi-gifted ministry of the Church.

Youth ministry as we do it today is not specifically described in Scripture. Of course, neither is Sunday School, bus ministry, crisis pregnancy centers, or drama departments. But these ministries are right when they carry out or fulfill a Biblical mandate by meeting a contemporary need. This means that we are right to create a ministry with a focus on a specific group by staying within God’s purposes for the Church, just as missionaries do but in this case based on age. God has equipped His Church with ministers and servants of every kind of task He envisioned with just the gifts required—including youth ministry! Biblical youth ministry includes all the basic functions of ministry within the Church: teaching, evangelism, discipleship, counseling, and fellowship.

References: Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Corinthians 12.

4. Youth ministry is Biblical when it upholds and proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ and the Scriptures.

Teaching and preaching to young people is no different in aim than to others. The one who would minister to young people has nothing from God to say beyond the Scriptures—and the Gospel is the center of that Word. However, that doesn’t leave one with little to say, but a massive amount of God-centered counsel to apply. There’s nothing in life—including youth—for which the Scriptures do not have a Word. Ministry to young people should largely be an expounding of God’s Word and a demonstration to them of how it supplies the answers for joyful right-living under God. Furthermore, they need to know that it is the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross dying for their sins and making them right with God that gives them their true and everlasting significance.

References: Acts 2:14-41, Romans 1:16, 10:5-17, 1 Corinthians 2:1-4, 15:1-11, 2 Timothy 3:14-17.

5. Youth ministry is Biblical when it applies the specific exhortations to youth from Scripture.

Within Scripture there are specific exhortations to young people: honor your parents, learn the wisdom of your father, remember God today, etc. These should not be ignored, and since they are for young people we should teach them if we desire God’s blessings for them.

References: Exodus 20:12, Proverbs 1:1-9, 2:1—3:12, Ecclesiastes 12:1, Ephesians 6:1.

6. Youth ministry is Biblical when it draws young people to a deep experience of the Spirit and a vibrant walk with the living God.

God’s greatest desire for every one of His children is that they be full and running over—saturated—with His Spirit. This is the blessing of a close relationship with the Lord, called “walking in the Spirit” that satisfies the deepest longings of the human heart and provides the greatest joy a human heart can know. Young people with this sort of experience are on the surest footing we can place them.

References: John 1:33, 14:15-15:11, Acts 2:1-4, Galatians 5:16-26, Ephesians 3:14-21, 5:18.

7. Youth ministry is Biblical when it equips young people to minister and pushes them into service in the Kingdom.

The goal of discipleship is to become a follower of Jesus Christ in all of life, and thus, become a servant like Him to those around us. This is ministry and there is much of it to be done in the Kingdom. Learning ministry in the Kingdom is mostly on the job training. What better training for service and even the workplace is there than the Church? Not only will young people be equipped for service, they and the Church will discover that even now they are doing real ministry.

References: Numbers 11:28, Romans 12:3-21, 1 Timothy 4:12.

8. Youth ministry is Biblical when its aim for young people is maturity and responsibility.

Youth ministry should be fun; it should be enjoyable both for youth workers and young people. Part of youth ministry is giving young people the space and the place to be together and be themselves. Young people ought to enjoy their youthfulness. Nevertheless, it should not cater to a spirit of irreverence, flippancy, or laziness. Neither should it contribute to the dumbing-down of this generation. Instead, youth ministry should challenge young people to do hard things. We should expect basic things like respect, civility, courtesy, and kindness. We should expect growth in grace and graciousness. We should challenge young people to take responsibility and do so with excellence. Of course, young people come to us on many different levels of life and maturity, and we are going to minister to all in the ways we can. Nevertheless, maturity and responsibility, primarily in being like Jesus Christ, is the goal.

References: Proverbs 1:1-9, Timothy 4:12.

9. Youth ministry is Biblical when it shows young people how to think Biblically.

We are wrong to denigrate the intellect (mind). God is opposed to the carnal mind, but He gave us a brain. We have often placed a false distinction between the heart and the mind, considering the former good and the latter bad, but Scripture teaches us that we are born in sin with both an evil heart and a wicked mind. When we are born again we get a new heart and mind and God begins the project of transforming and renewing both towards the goal of completing loving Him as with our whole person: heart, soul, and mind. Contemporary teaching and ministry must feed the mind. There are hard questions this generation is asking and we should not ignore them. Life itself imposes difficult questions on all of us. God desires us to learn how to answer these situations by “thinking in the Spirit.” “Thinking in the Spirit” is learned by studying God’s Word and knowing His heart by close relationship. It’s called wisdom. Also, there are young people on our pews that come and sit and perhaps even go thru the motions but are not fully persuaded in their own minds. If the mind is not convinced, the heart is not submitted. We must confront hidden unbelief, challenging questions, and contemporary issues by clear, open, and honest teaching of the Scriptures.

References: Mark 12: 29-30, Romans 12:1-3, 14:5, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Philippians 4:8, 2 Timothy 2:7.

10. Youth ministry is Biblical when it addresses the contemporary questions and needs of this generation.

Ministry is always context-specific. Paul’s letters in the New Testament demonstrate this as Paul answered specific questions arising within the different church communities to whom he ministered, such as Corinth, Thessalonica, and even individuals such as Philemon. Paul’s ministry strategy described in Acts was different to Jews than to Gentiles, though the Good News was the same. Missionaries know this principle well and we should learn it. This generation is crying for answers to questions that other generations have not asked. This generation has particular sins and tragedies that immediately preceding generations have not. This generation has ways of communicating to it that are more clear and relevant than others. We should not ignore them. Of course, God’s living Word is perpetually relevant and God Himself, when He shows up, is never boring. We should keep our ears to the ground of this generation and our heads and hearts in the pages of Scripture.

References: Acts 13:36, 17:22-34, 26:12-18.

The remainder of my answers will be very brief. They mainly flow from the principles I’ve already described.

What then is Youth Ministry?

11. Youth ministry happens when a mature, adult believer finds a comfortable way to enter the world of a young person and influence them for Jesus Christ.
12. Youth ministry is teaching God’s Word to young people.
13. Youth ministry is preaching the Gospel to young people.
14. Youth ministry is evangelizing the young people of our city and region.
15. Youth ministry is connecting young people together.
16. Youth ministry is done best when young people take ownership in the ministry.
17. Youth ministry is helping young people navigate the particular issues of youth and culture.
18. Youth ministry is equipping young people for life, vocation, and ministry.
19. Youth ministry is when young people serve within the Church.
20. Youth ministry is when young people minister to others outside the Church.
21. Youth ministry is training young people to be leaders in church and community.

How does youth ministry integrate with the life of the family and the whole church?

22. Youth ministry begins at home.
23. Youth ministry supports parents, it does not replace them.
24. Youth ministry cannot substitute for what is lacking at home.
25. Youth ministry is a project for the whole church as a body, or larger family.
26. Youth ministry supports the life of the church, it does not replace it.
27. Youth ministry cannot substitute well for a poor overall church life.
28. Youth ministry should seek to integrate, not segregate, youth from the rest of the church.

What can WE ALL do in youth ministry?

29. Love young people and show it.
30. Befriend young people.
31. Encourage young people.
32. Lead lives of such joy and peace that your very life is a compelling case for the truth of the Faith.
33. Be patient with young people.
34. Be gracious to young people and remember that you were once young (and sometimes foolish as well).
35. Know the Good News of Jesus Christ and share it with young people.
36. Respect the questions young people ask, LISTEN, and answer with Biblical wisdom.
37. Watch what you say around young people about God, His Church, and His people.
38. Never become cynical about what God can do with this generation and future generations.
39. Pray with young people.
40. Pray for young people.

As you can see, many of these propositions don’t have anything to do with a formal youth ministry. Some of them do and we will act on them. The United Pentecostal Church of Highland Village needs a vibrant youth ministry, and in fact, it has one and it is growing. But youth ministry extends far beyond anything official. When we put family and the whole church body back into the equation we are doing things God’s way. I hope that you realize what an impact you can make on the youth of your own family, our church, and community—not by being a full-time youth worker but a full-time believer of God’s Word and full-time follower of Jesus Christ.

A Youth Ministry Manifesto for New Generation - Part 2

Part 2 – The Challenges and Opportunities

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
- John 15:5

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”– John 16:33.

The Challenges Young People Face in the 21st Century

Before answering the questions posed in the first article of this series let’s explore the lay of the land. The land before us is the Western world particularly the American continent, people, and culture in the opening of the 21st century. The geography and map of this culture and century show a great number of features which challenge us.

We could list a dozen problems of society affecting our young people: divorce, abortion, suicide, drugs, violence, and sexual promiscuity and perversion, and list the statistics to demonstrate their pervasive influence. These are however symptoms stemming from a greater disease: the fragmentation of any sort of coherent, ordered, comprehensive worldview. The worldview under the greatest attack is the one rooted in the vision of a living God who has revealed Himself in Scripture and supremely in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Imagine this: not many decades ago one could assume a great deal about the young person you met walking down the street or serving your table at the restaurant. You would likely suppose that their parents were still married or that their “parents” at home were a man and a woman. You might also suppose that the person went to church somewhere in town, perhaps Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, or Disciples of Christ. You might as well have supposed that the young person intended to move out, get a good job, get married, have a family, and buy a nice home.

Today you can assume none of these things. The person you meet may have twice-divorced parents and five, six, or more step-siblings. They may believe in re-incarnation, or Zen Buddhism, or the goddess Gaia, or no god at all. They may believe that it is immoral to eat meat or to believe in absolute truths. They likely believe that science will eventually solve every human problem—including death. The young man you meet may not be intent on dating a young lady, or vice versa.

While we have been sleeping, the universe has moved. The new universe we live in has (at least) four main features: (1) it loathes its own past; (2) despises authority; (3) distrusts certainty; and is (4) youth oriented. Perhaps the greatest relevant feature to our discussion is the great shift in attitudes toward youth.

There were no adolescents in 1930. There were children and adults. Did you know that the word “teenager” was not used in the English language until 1941? I know that’s over 60 years ago but what started then has culminated today with the takeover of culture by youth. With each successive generation, the gap between childhood and adulthood has widened. While young people have learned of “adult” topics at ever younger ages and seem to be maturing physically at younger ages, they have not reached emotional and relational maturity until much later. Of course, not all of these trends are necessarily bad and simply parallel other trajectories such as the huge leap in life expectancy in the 20th century.

Nevertheless this trend has many troubling side-effects such as the resistance of young people to tackle responsibility, to enjoy learning, to respect authority, and to hold jobs. Instead the trend is to avoid difficulty, run from confrontation, avoid mental exertion, willfully oppose direction, and spend much of the time entertaining themselves. Many things are assumed today that were simply not assumed by previous generations. For instance, many accept that young people will go thru “phases” such as rebellion or sexual exploration. The common statement is, “Oh, it’s just a phase,” or, “kids will be kids.” Actually these are not givens at all but expectations we’ve made, not the way it must be.

As the category of teenager and youth has expanded, the culture has essentially been taken over by its focus on youth. The demands of that age bracket drive marketing, advertisement, music, entertainment, clothing, fashion, and sports. In our culture it is a given that youth culture is different than adult culture. Adults have their music, young people have theirs. Adults have their entertainment; young people have theirs, so on and so forth.

Access to this culture is nearly impossible to prevent. In our past we thought that keeping televisions out of our homes would eliminate the threat, but we underestimated our enemy and misunderstood the location of the problem. The computer, the Internet, the iPod, gaming systems, and the cell phone on the one hand and the modern shopping mall, super department store, suburban sprawl, and restaurants on the other have destroyed our ability to draw pristine, impenetrable boundaries around ourselves. These artifacts of culture have entered our lives for our convenience and enjoyment but have become avenues for the subtle and not-so-subtle dissolving of what we hold true and desire to pass on.

Exposure to the culture and to the withering attack upon the Christian worldview is not limited to these things however. It is brought directly into the home and family with great destructive effects. Hear what James Sire says:

“Consider the problem of growing up today. Baby Jane, a twentieth- and twenty-first-century child of the Western world, often gets reality defined in two widely divergent forms—her mother’s and father’s. Then if the family breaks apart, the court may enter with a third definition of human reality. This poses a distinct problem for deciding what the shape of the world actually is.” (The Universe Next Door, 24).

These deadly effects have been wrought by the destruction of an authority structure in the home, the competition between husbands and wives to succeed, the lack of desire of parents to learn how to raise children or spend time with them, the seduction of promiscuity, and the ease of quitting marriage. The child’s heart is not only broken but the hope of an ordered, stable life is gone. Their view of the world is forever personally fragmented between the various parties now vying for influence.

Then consider the public school or university. Neither provides an ordered or comprehensive education in viewing the world. Indeed, the student may be exposed to as many different views of the world as teachers they sit under. Nothing hinders a professor from imposing their own concepts and ideas boldly into the classroom so long as they are not Christian. Into the classroom come strongly and significantly three features mentioned above: (1) hatred of our past; (2) the despising of authority; and (3) distrust of certainty. History becomes an exercise in reveling in the hypocrisies of our past leaders and heroes. The reigning scientific theories teach them that they are little more than biological machines. Study of government focuses on their personal rights and privileges. In the study of ideas, not only are nearly all views presented as worth hearing out, they are also considered equally valid. In other words, the individual can decide what is true for them. The only sin is to tell someone else they are wrong. So young people tend to view religious, philosophical, and political ideas as a great smorgasbord from which they can select various components and build their own collage of personal truth. The result is that at graduation students may know a lot of information about science, mathematics, English, literature, and history but they have nothing resembling a coherent view of reality.

Out of these various shifts comes most everything else we could list. The breakup of authority in the home is mirrored in the breakup of social authorities. If mothers and fathers cannot lead homes, how will teachers be able to lead classrooms? The disintegration of education is reflected in the demand for personal autonomy and right to express one’s self. If there is no “real” reality, then what is there but to impose my own? The reduction of life to biological processes is reflected in the cheapening of human life. If we are nothing but biological tissue what then is wrong with ending an unwanted “pregnancy”? The focus on youth and entertainment culminate in personal hedonism. If it feels good why should I not do it so long as I don’t hurt others?

Folks, we’re not in Kansas anymore.

The Challenges Youth Ministers face in the 21st Century

The challenges young people face compound the challenge to minister to young people in the 21st century. Briefly, among the challenges are the following.

1. To speak with authority into a world submersed in personal autonomy.

2. To keep the attention of an audience over-entertained more than any previous generation.

3. To present absolute truth and reality when education and culture imbibe suspicion of anything absolute.

4. To present certainties and absolutes when personal lives are destroyed by hypocrisy and broken promises.

5. To teach students from widely diverse backgrounds.

6. To be discerning concerning culture and cultural artifacts (computer, TV, cars, radio, iPods, clothing, etc.) and their positive and negative use.

These are great challenges and challenges not only for youth pastors and leaders but for parents, Sunday School teachers, and pastors in general. Perhaps the greatest challenge is to not mistake our enemy. Our real enemy is personal and deceptive. It is not culture itself. There is good culture and bad culture. We should not assume that by keeping bad culture out we can save young people. Nor should we assume that we can fight bad culture by merely promoting good culture. No, the issues are much deeper.

We must realize that the breaking up of the old world and the coming of the new one has been a long time coming. We must also not be blind to the real causes. This new universe we’ve been discussing is the result of more than the collision of new ideas, but is also the foreground of a great spiritual battle. How different is it that our present cultural attitude hates its own historical traditions and heritages than a son who passionately desires not to be like his father? Or how different is our societal rebellion against structure different from a daughter who dresses so as to enrage her mother? If we know who and what our enemies are we should not be surprised. The issues of the human heart are reflected in the heart of society. So it is not quite right to put full blame on any party that may come to mind such as culture itself, parents, or young people. We must keep this in mind as we reflect on cultural trends and societal problems; there is an enemy lurking within us all (our sin) and around us all (Satan).

Knowing these things we must respond appropriately. The only appropriate response is to seek the face of God and His ways. Faced with such great challenges, only one who has overcome the world can show us the way.

The Opportunities Before Us

Are the challenges before us much greater than those facing previous generations? I’m really not sure. While we stand cursing our present culture for its promiscuity and perverseness let’s not forget that the great sin of prejudice marred American culture in past generations. Just fifty years ago a black man in Birmingham could not drink from the same water fountain as a white man. It also seems naive to assume that promiscuity and perversity have not simmered just below the surface of nearly all human cultures and societies. God hates sexual promiscuity and racial prejudice. Our generation is in sin and past generations were in sin.

Think of ancient generations of Christians that feared for their lives, quite aware that calling Jesus Lord may bring about their own deaths. Most of us have never felt that fear. We are blessed in ways we take for granted.

Every challenge mentioned has this one promising side: God can overcome them all. God and His Word are the concrete answers to every challenge listed above. The greater the darkness, the brighter the light may shine. Out of ashes, beauty can come forth. Where sin now abounds, grace can flow and transform. The contemporary situation forces us to lean and trust in what God can do and not what we can construct. God can change the human heart and He can defeat our Enemy, in fact, He already has. His Word can speak into confusion and error and bring conviction and truth by the authority of God Himself. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. There would be no hope for what any of us are doing in ministry.

The challenges then are responded by determining to work along such lines as:

1. To know and surrender to God and His Word and allow His personal authority to speak thru our leadership and teaching to young people.

2. To present truth to young people based solidly and clearly on God’s Word and not on our tradition and opinions.

3. To focus young people on the living God in all His awesome glory and beauty not by competing with the entertainment culture.

4. To lead young people into an experience of God and His Spirit and give them a sense of God Himself rather than the bare word and exhortation alone.

5. To strive to teach by humble example as well as bold word.

6. To accept diversity of backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, and situations from which young people come as desired by God and for His greater glory, not by attempting to conform all young people to any other mold but Jesus Christ.

7. To respond to youth culture by shaping our views by Scripture and being led by the Spirit, not by reacting from our own personal preferences and prejudices.

8. To seek the creativity and wisdom of the Spirit in thoughtfully using every means possible to minister relevantly and relationally to young people.

9. To speak to the personal heart and mind of individual young people, not ignorantly blame secondary causes alone such as entertainment, culture, and education.

10. To live so joyfully, peacefully, and confidently in God before young people that our very lives provide a compelling case for the truth of Christianity.

So what if we would consider what lies before us as opportunities rather than obstacles? This turns the tables on our enemy. Let’s do things God’s way and let Him have His way with us and He will make us overcomers. I’m convinced that God-consumed, Scripture-molded, Spirit-directed pastors, youth leaders, teachers, and parents are God’s answer to the challenge of youth ministry today.

A Youth Ministry Manifesto for New Generation - Part 1

Part 1 - What is Youth Ministry?

Pizza. "I built that youth group with pizza, lots of pizza, and we had a tremendous time!" an older friend once said to me. I don't quite recall the exact words but that was the gist. My friend, whom I highly respected, was recounting his days as a youth leader, regaling me with the great things that had happened. He was half-kidding but I got the point. You got to bring the youth together and they must be fed! Would youth ministry be possible without pizza? What would a youth minister do if he couldn't have food delivered for an army within minutes by just making a call? Thank God for the whole pizza system: the telephone, the delivery man, and the fact that you hardly need plates and silverware.

If you put these two words together, pizza and party, one conjures up the same images many visualize when they hear the words "youth ministry." One may replace pizza with burgers or ice cream, or party with fellowship or social but it's the same animal with a different name. Combine all this pizza consumption with a few rally services, conventions, youth revivals, and trips to the ice skating rink or bowling alley, and you get “youth ministry."

This is what suffices for youth ministry to many minds and I am as guilty as the rest. My wife and I, as well as our co-conspirators in youth ministry, have consumed hundreds of pizzas, besides other foodstuffs, and attended dozens of such youth events in the glorious pursuit of doing youth ministry. I thank God for all the good times, the pizza, the fun, the games, and the rallies and conventions we've enjoyed. And we'll certainly keep on eating pizza, going to conventions and rallies, and entertaining ourselves in generally harmless ways—so don't think that stuff will stop. I'm certainly not interested in a boring and bland youth ministry! But it has been slowly dawning on me that this basic model as a concept of youth ministry is wholly inadequate by itself.

The problem is with the concept itself. Notice that it is essentially based on events alone and as a matter of principle these events must be cool, fun, and entertaining. I like the cool, the fun, and the entertaining but you really can't tell how effective a youth ministry is by how many events are hosted or how cool, fun, or entertaining they are. If that were so then MTV would be the most effective youth ministry model in the world.

It seems that the basic strategy has been to throw parties within the boundaries of the church building, see to it that young people show up and sit on our pews, entertain them in relatively harmless ways, strive for reasonably good behavior, and call that youth ministry. We tell ourselves “kids will be kids,” and comfort ourselves that at least they come to church, never mind that some have nasty attitudes, and never crack open their Bibles!

The truth is that we must get beyond mere externalities to see whether or not youth ministry is actually transforming the lives of young people. That is not easy because it requires a miracle beyond the abilities of pastors, youth leaders, and parents alone: the changing of hearts. I think that is why we've so often focused on what we can do (i.e events). Only God can change hearts, reorient minds, and redirect desires. So I'm preparing my own heart and mind for the challenge: I'm ready to see what God alone can do actually happen. My desire is to do youth ministry God's way and to give Him room to do what He alone can do.

All of this begs several questions that I've asked myself many times and ask you now:

What then is youth ministry?

Does youth ministry have a biblical basis?

What are the challenges and opportunities before us in youth ministry?

How does youth ministry integrate with the life of the family and the whole church?

What can WE ALL do in youth ministry?

Perhaps I'm being too radical, or challenging too much, but if you'll follow me thru this series I propose to answer these questions. I will also reveal some of the things we are going to do in 2008 but my goal is to provoke you to thought and prayer concerning our youth ministry. I'm not so much concerned with the particular events we may do but with the heart of our youth ministry; on how we might grow—not perfect young people (we don't even have perfect "older" people)—but God-following young people. My hope and prayer is that we might be a church that produces a God-glorifying, Jesus Christ-treasuring, Scripture-shaped, Spirit-intoxicated, Kingdom-minded, serving, sacrificial New Generation.