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Youth ministry bashing?? Seen it??
I've seen a lot of recent blogs and opinions bashing youth ministry, calling for more intergenerational discipleship. What are your thoughts? Is traditional youth ministry dying out and being replaced by more church-wide discipleship? Or should we stick to traditional age segregation? I'll weigh in after a while.
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- Charlie
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- 9 months ago
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I agree, we need both. I've been in churches where there is zero youth ministry, and the youth disappear. But like others have said, it also creates problems when the youth and adults are completely separated. |
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There is a newer (yet very old) movement that seems to be stemming from many of the homeschool parents who want only family based ministry, family doing everything. Father being the disciple of the family and nobody else. (orphans/fatherless get squat). I made a post about this, with a link to the original group that hates "modern youth ministry" (they say its evil, so its fair they say they hate it). http://engagingtheshadowsofyouthministry.com/wp- admin/post.php?post=416 Creating a silobased ministry isnt good, it need to be both and however. |
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I'll echo what Steve said. I think the places you see the most problems are where the youth program has become a church within a church. They have their own events, their own services, and are run in such a way where there's no interaction with the rest of the church. One thing I do in my youth program is put church events on the youth calendar and find ways for our students to get involved. The youth program should support the overall function of the church. This problem probably amplifies when a church has a youth building separate from the rest of the building. They can be wonderful resources, but force you to get more creative and intentional about getting the teens to interact with everyone else. |
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I think it's a both/and. Age-specific ministry (for any age-group, not just teens) is a great place to form relationships, engage in age-appropriate activities, and hear lessons specific to you. Church-wide services/programs are great for interacting cross-generationally and experiencing the big picture of what the church is. You lose something when you lose one or the other. I think one of the goals of youth ministry should be to help teens learn what it really means to be a part of the church and to help them find ways to engage in the whole church, not just the youth ministry. I wouldn't do away with one or the other. There is value in and need for both. +1 great answer. Couldn't have said it better myself. |
