Church Kills It's Youth Group---What Do You Think?



I realize by posting this I'm opening a can of worms, but hey that's what this blog is for.  I was alerted to this video by a fellow pastor and I think you must watch this whole video to understand the decision that they've made to do "YOUTH MINISTRY" in a whole different way.

I'm not sure that they've completely done away with YOUTH MINISTRY (they still do small groups separate from the whole church) but I think his point about raising up YOUTH apart from the integrated body of Christ has created a whole set of problems that we've never had before.

Could his point about "DAVID IN SAUL'S ARMOR" be one of the issues that the church as a whole is engaged in?  We think we must have "this" or "that" because it has always been, or it has been successful in "this city" or "that church"?  Are we encumbered with a structure and history that will not let us be "with the Lord of hosts as our guide" for the moment that we now find ourselves living in?

This is the struggle that I have right now.  So much that the church has done has been good and fruitful and successful, but we struggle to let go of those things to see what God has new and fresh for us to do today.  We get comfortable with "success" and never find ease with "risk" for the sake of the gospel.

Youth Ministry has changed so much from the time I started nearly 22 years ago and I can only imagine how it's going to change in the future.  Can we allow ourselves to think about change in a way that may be better for our students and for the body of Christ in the future?

I'm interested to hear your thoughts?  Is this weird or genius?

1 comments:

Perky Gramma Teaches said...

I personally love it.
I was involved for over 18 years in youth ministry.
My heart always longed for the “big church” to integrate the youth into the whole of the body.
At my current church home, I love to incorporate any age involved in the weekend experience.
Time for a paradigm shift.