Wednesday, December 5, 2001
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Wednesday, December 5, 2001 |
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Youth ministry tactics ready for a change By REV JOHN HATCHER The other day I received through the mail a promotional piece for a youth conference that was billed as "anti-entertainment." I immediately identified with its appeal. Youth ministry, for the most part, has gone the way of Demas. Demas was a fellow worker with the Apostle Paul. Demas, however, left the work of ministry and went the way of the world. So, in ministry circles, to go the way of Demas is to go worldly. The church is in the business of entertaining our youth. No doubt about it. Now, some youth ministers of entertainment will read this and have a brick because they say that the entertainment is simply the bait to get the kids there to listen to the good stuff. I know. I have been there. I bought the t-shirt. I am guilty as the next guy. But the light is coming on. Seriously, we now have youth camps, which would make Cecil B. DeMille salivate. Youth camps, which use to be driven by prayer and Bible study, are now driven by Disney World and Universal Studios and I wonder if they are a bit jealous. Just think: miniature blimps with video cameras, laser beams bouncing off the walls and sound systems that can be heard around the world. Some youth camps have budgets upward to quarter to half million. Then, the sensate-bombarded kids return to their mom and pop churches and ask, "Where's the excitement? Why can't we have more fun, more activities, more trips, more fun, more exciting things, and did I mention more fun. Then, average church, with its 75 to 150 members, confesses it can't come up with the fun of a million-dollar youth camp, or the fun of Big City Baptist Church. So, know what the kids do? They either drop out of church when their parents don't make them go anymore or they go over to Big City Baptist Church where they can have lots of fun. Do you really want to know what the kids need? George Gallop polled American youth in the mid-'80s and asked them what they wanted. He discovered what American teens wanted from their churches. They wanted to go deeper into the places of God through prayer, Bible study, and personal discipline. That doesn't sound like a laser show or some hip band who looks and sounds like the world except for the lyrics which my ears never detect. Question: are kids in the beginning of the 21st century different from those 15 years ago? I think not. I think we have had some youth gurus who have sold us a bill of goods. Kids want to know where they came from, who loves them, how to make it to Friday, and what do they need to know when they face life's adversities like drugs, divorce, and death. But we continue to bait and switch. We bait them with a party but then want to switch to some spiritual soup of which no one is really sure what's in it. Maybe 9/11 will motivate us to move in the needed direction with regard to youth ministries. Youth people need and want the Word of God, undiluted. They want deliverance from drugs, alcohol, and sexual peer pressure. They want adults who will not laugh or accommodate their rebellion and even their dirty jokes. Mark this page. Youth ministry is changing. Not because of something new coming down the pike. But because what's been here has been pretty much bankrupt.
The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in Fayetteville. |
