Obsessed with cool. Trendy. Impulsive. Self-focused. Caught up in the moment. Probably sounds like a description of some of the kids in your youth group.
Actually, um…well…this is not an article about youth culture or the world of today’s teenagers. This is an article about us—those of us in the youth ministry culture, those of us who work with teenagers—and how we seem to be sliding into an adolescent approach to our faith and mission. Look at our must-read books, listen to our conversations, go to our seminars and measure our values. Even a quick survey of the current youth ministry culture tells the story: We’re not just working with teenagers; we’re starting to think like them.
Adolescent-Driven Youth Ministry
Trendy
Let’s face it. The youth ministry culture is extremely susceptible to fads. Those of us in youth ministry are in love with the new. Add the adjectives newest or latest to stuff, and we’re interested. For example, I heard a youth worker recently defend a new book by saying it’s really edgy. OK, but what does that mean? Shouldn’t the question be, not whether something is edgy but whether it’s constructive, whether it’s helpful and (pardon me for not being edgy here, but) whether it’s true (
Some of the rhetoric about a “new kind of Christian” or “post-evangelical” theology reminds me of a comment made by Duke University Divinity School professors Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, that the “roller coaster of clever new theologies has subjected clergy to one fad after another…We have no stake in saying something new. That is…of little use to a church more interested in saying something true than something new.”
Please understand: No one is denying that it’s possible for something to be new and true. We need to be aware of the new and changing trends in youth culture, and we need continually to rethink how we might more effectively communicate the unchanging gospel of Christ in that rapidly changing culture.
I’m concerned that in our efforts to make the gospel more relevant, we’re in danger of dressing up and dumbing down a message that Paul described as inherently foolish to those who are perishing (
C.S. Lewis, whose writings have had a profound impact on Western culture, wrote in his prologue to The Problem of Pain, “I have believed myself re-stating ancient and orthodox doctrines. If any parts of the book are ‘original’ in the sense of being novel or unorthodox, they are against my will and as a result of my ignorance.”
This doesn’t sound like a guy who is trying to be edgy.
Obsessed with Cool
One of the traits we see in our students is the tendency to define who they are by trying to clarify who they’re not. This tribal behavior draws boundaries on the basis of clothing, music, areas of interest, etc. “Dude, I never would wear something like that. That is so lame…”
Reading through Dan Kimball’s otherwise fine book, The Emerging Church, I was struck by the almost comical efforts made to be sure that readers understand how the emerging church isn’t like those “Saddleback-type seeker-sensitive churches”—you know, that are not emerging. The book does a great job of describing a style of worship and ministry that looks different from what Rick Warren does at Saddleback Church; but in reading through this book, a book that talks about how we can be more sensitive to postmodern seekers who are faith-impaired, un-churched, and unfamiliar with God-language, one can’t help but think, “Gee, when you’re being sensitive to seekers like that, isn’t that like being, you know, ‘seeker-sensitive?'” Of course, it’s a different approach, but isn’t it the same idea?
One youth worker expressed his appreciation for The Emerging Church by explaining to me, “What appealed to me about that book is that I grew up in a conservative church where people were closed-minded, hypocritical and very judgmental, and I think that people such as Dan Kimball and Brian McClaren are trying to say this is a new kind of church, a new way of thinking about church.”
Here’s the problem: If part of the church is the emerging church, who or what are the rest of us—those of us sinners who are occasionally close-minded, hypocritical and judgmental? Submergent? Divergent? Convergent? Detergent? What this view of the church doesn’t seem to comprehend is that we’re all one body, and a hipper-than-Thou identity betrays the basic theological fact that we are all one (
This desire to witness to the world by showing how much we’re not like those we don’t wish to be like only shows the world one more form of tribalism. To be sure, this desire to give to the world an authentic witness is biblical and healthy. We must be (dare I say it?) sensitive to seekers and non-seekers. Paul’s Corinthian letters seem to be burdened with precisely this issue (
Living in the Moment
I love the fact that our personas as youth workers often are marked by a willingness to be creative and entrepreneurial. Tradition and history can become idolatrous (
As G.K. Chesterton pointed out, “Tradition is the democracy of the dead.” Merely outvoting the experiences and ideas of those who have gone before us just because they are dead puts us in a position of dangerous arrogance. When we blow off the voices of history and tradition as un-hip or old, we sound like adolescents who are so unaware of how much we don’t know that we think we know it all. As Ravi Zacharias comments, “The only thing worse than nostalgia is amnesia.”
A few years ago, I heard a 30-something youth worker describe digital media as “the next big thing in the church,” how we were on the verge of Reformation.com; but, his remarks reminded me of someone who, having never been on a beach before, might describe his first experience of high tide. “Quick, move the town, evacuate the beach, relocate the church! A flood is coming!” I felt like saying, “It’s OK, Dude. Just sit tight. I’ve been here on the beach a while, and this tide will go back out, and it will come back in, and it will go back out. If we keep relocating with every tide, we’re not going to have much of a foundation.”
I’m concerned that our youth ministry culture has the same kind of adolescent arrogance that 30 years ago led to the maxim, “Never trust anyone over 30,” except that now it’s, “Never trust anyone who doesn’t self-define as postmodern.” Unfortunately, that kind of narrow chronological and ideological landscape leaves us vulnerable to momentary fads and fashions.
Maybe it’s just because I am over 30—way over! Maybe it’s because I’m a little skeptical about much of the postmodern rhetoric; but in an article titled “Tradition, History and Sequoias” (First Things 13, March 2003: 41-47), I think historian, Wilfred M. McClay makes a valid point:
“Christian faith requires one to take account of the past as something real, as something in which one is unavoidably embedded and to which one is profoundly connected—indeed, as something that has a certain measure of authority over the present and future…A religion that asks its adherents to walk by faith and not sight, and to order their lives around revelations and events that occurred at least two millennia ago, is a religion that places an enormous value upon the authority of the past…For Christians, the past really has something to teach.”
Impulsive
One of the reasons I love teenagers is they demonstrate a capacity for passion and action that sometimes gets drained and stifled by adulthood. I love that willingness to “go for it.”
The downside is that sometimes that adolescent mindset leads kids to “go” before they figure out what “it” is.
I admire the fact that the youth ministry culture is predisposed to action. We don’t have much of an appetite for theoretical discussions and position papers. Our survival as youth workers is based on our ability to go with the flow and think on our feet. That makes for an environment of excitement and adventure; but I’m concerned that sometimes, with our predisposition to action, we demonstrate an adolescent disinterest in things that are very important but do not happen to be very exciting or interesting.
For example, in a recent breakfast meeting with some other youth workers, one of my friends at the table commented, “I hate systematic theology. I just think it’s a waste of time.” Now, if my friend meant that he has no time to worry about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, I quite agree with him; but if he meant that he had no interest in trying to think through the deep questions of doctrine and belief in a systematic way, I couldn’t disagree more. That’s like a middle school kid saying, “Why do we need to take these stupid math classes? I know how to add. Besides, I’m going to start my own skateboard company when I grow up.”
Maybe one of the reasons we in youth ministry don’t attribute more value to systematic theology is that we aren’t systematic theologians, and we don’t know much about it. We’re like monkeys in the cockpit throwing out dials and knobs because they aren’t edible. The problem is those gauges and switches of systematic theology come in handy when trying to set the course or land the plane. In the current youth ministry culture—the books we read, the conventions we attend, the realm in which we do our professional work—we rarely hear the voice of trained, studied theologians. Even though it won’t help us with this week’s retreat, next week’s outreach event and…oh yeah…it’s not very “edgy,” that voice might help us to better stay on course.
Mistaking Cynicism for Discernment
Most of us have come to appreciate the fact that kids are willing to ask hard questions. Their sense of idealism hasn’t yet been fully eroded and compromised by a culture that dumbs down morality. On the other hand, with that sense of idealism often comes a cynicism that nothing is as it’s supposed to be: Everything sucks. Everybody’s a fake. The church is a bunch of hypocrites. It’s a kind of pseudo-sophistication that mistakes stating the obvious for provocative insight. Eugene Peterson (Like Dew Your Youth: Growing Up with Your Teenager, Eerdmans, 1994) puts it this way:
“I don’t think…that simply because adolescents sometimes speak in moral tones they suddenly acquire moral authority. Their insights do not suddenly catapult them into a position of superiority. Finding stupidity, intransigence and evil where they did not expect it…is only the beginning of their moral education. Someday they will find it in themselves; and when they do they will no longer be kids.”
Unfortunately, this pseudo-sophistication about hypocrisy and ineffectiveness, so typical of our students, is widespread in the youth ministry community, as well. It’s usually expressed in hyperbole: “All youth ministry is a waste of time.” “We’re not really accomplishing anything.” It typically overstates the case: “(Fill in the blank) doesn’t work anymore with postmodern students. They’ve got kids coming, but nobody’s growing deeper in Christ.”
The flaw in these observations is two-fold:
1. They state the apparent as if it’s universal. Most of us who work with kids are used to statements that come out in extremes: I hated that. I loved that. It was totally boring. It was totally awesome. Seldom is opinion expressed in degrees. Everything’s either totally good or totally bad. What I’ve discovered in speaking to teenagers and youth workers all over the country and throughout much of the world is that as soon as someone writes, “Kids aren’t this way anymore,” you discover kids who are acting precisely that way. As soon as someone says, “Oh, that won’t work anymore with kids,” you discover someone who’s using precisely that method and is wonderfully effective with his or her students.
Guess what? Nobody has the corner on the youth ministry market. There’s no one right way to bring kids closer to Jesus: not small groups, not candles and contemplation, not big-group outreaches, not student-led cell groups, not intense Bible study, not service projects. As our youth ministry experience is broadened by space and time, we learn that nothing works all of the time for everybody; but most of it works part of the time for somebody.
2. They state the obvious. There’s no youth ministry paradigm that fits every student, every problem and works effectively every time. Churches are not all they ought to be. Even the best ideas fall short of full effectiveness most of the time. Why? Because sin makes a mess of things. Because ministry is difficult. Because people are people. Because, ultimately, those who enter by the narrow gate will be few (
Exulting in the Naughty
Teenagers are pretty good at righteous indignation. They are often quick to sniff out the hypocrisy in others. Unfortunately, like the rest of us, they’re not too quick to see it in themselves.
That’s too bad, because righteous indignation is a poor substitute for righteousness. When we confront a student about the disconnect between faith and life, there’s usually the appeal to authenticity: “Hey, I never said I had it all together. I can’t be somebody I’m not. Look, that’s just who I am, and what right do you have to judge me?”
In our current youth ministry culture, there seems to be a similar adolescent approach to holiness—we often mistake freedom for license. Like teenagers who are “as bad as they wanna be,” we’ve come to embrace the notion that a grace that sets us free from the law allows us the freedom to do whatever we wish. Why is this so important for those of us in youth ministry? Because water—even living water—that flows through contaminated pipes could inflict serious damage to those who depend on the pipes for refreshment.
One of the popular buzzwords currently making the rounds in youth ministry is authenticity. What does authenticity mean with relationship to holiness of lifestyle and character? Isn’t it true that what most teenagers are looking for in their youth leader is honesty and authenticity more than righteousness? How can we expect students to share with us their temptations, doubts and struggles if they feel we’re so much holier than they? Mightn’t we be better able to understand their struggles if we ourselves have experienced some of these same failures? One of the risks of ministry is transparency, allowing students to see our hearts—the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s also an essential element of credibility.
On the other hand, should we really expect a student to seek counsel from a youth worker whose life looks just like his or hers or worse? Using that same logic, we would buy diets from fat people, hair growth products from bald people and abstinence advice from former presidents. As Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (AD 374-397) so vividly put it:
“Who seeks for a spring in the mud? Who wants to drink from muddy water?…Who will think a man to be useful to another’s cause whom he sees to be useless in his own life?…Am I to suppose that he is fit to give me advice who never takes it for himself?”
Growing Old and Growing Up!
We need to affirm that there’s nothing wrong with adolescence. We’ve all too often heard adults bad-mouth teenagers for everything from being irresponsible and selfish to dressing weird and piercing themselves in obtuse places. Adolescence in itself is not evil, as long as it’s a stage of growth and not a place of stagnation. Scripture never urges us to grow old; it urges us to grow up, to grow into maturity (
What might be those marks of maturity? Let me briefly mention three.
A Sense of Perspective
As C.S Lewis observed, “The crisis of the present moment, like the nearest telephone pole, will always loom largest. Isn’t there a danger that our great, permanent, objective necessities—often more important—may get crowded out? While the moderns [author’s note: …and postmoderns?] have been pressing forward to conquer new territories of consciousness, the old territory, in which alone man can live, has been left unguarded, and we are in danger of finding our enemy in our rear.”
We need to remember that tides rise and fall; this has happened before and it will happen again. One of the significant elements of a mass media saturated culture is that stories get internationalized, magnified and ratified over Net and over night. Ideas are broadcast more widely; catch phrases are picked up more quickly; fashions are entrenched more readily; conventional wisdom becomes conventional too hastily. Yes, tidal movement is important; it’s foolish to set sail without taking it into account. It may be, as Leonard Sweet suggests, that postmodernism is not just a high tide, but a cultural “tsunami.” We need to be careful about relocating and rebuilding the foundation of our youth ministries every time the water rises.
A Faithful Hope
Like the prophet Jonah, we’ve been called to Nineveh (
One of the passages in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings records a conversation in which Eomer has an unexpected meeting with Aragorn, and says:
“It is hard to be sure of anything among so many marvels. The world is all grown strange. Elf and Dwarf in company walk in our daily fields; and folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken…How shall a man judge what to do in such times?”
“As he ever has judged,” said Aragorn. “Good and evil have not changed since yesteryear, nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men.
It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.”
A Growing Love
When Jesus was asked about the marks of maturity, he summed it up in two comments (
This article is not about good guys and bad guys, us versus them, people who love Jesus and people who don’t. Every person whose ideas I’ve questioned in this article, those I’ve identified and those I haven’t, are people, insofar as I know them, who demonstrate a passion for God and a deep compassion for people. In fact, it’s on the basis of those shared commitments that I raise these concerns. I know that, bottom line, we’re all seeking to do this with integrity, creativity, and faithfulness. Hopefully, by planting these ideas in the chat rooms and networks of youth ministry culture, we will better understand how we can be faithful to the Faith, true to the Truth, and to “grow up every way into Him who is the Head, into Christ (
“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me” (
