A few weeks from now I will have the privilege of leading a beach retreat for JP Harmon’s youth group. I’m incredibly excited about this opportunity and (despite the hectic school/work schedule) have been putting a fair amount of time into preparation for the message I want to communicate. The more I pray about this, and the more I prepare, and the more I search my heart for such a message, the more I realize that one weekend is not enough! There is so much to say!
One thing I have also realized, though, is how thankful I am for guys like JP; that is, guys who have made a commitment to consistently pour truth into their students and lead them in a God-honoring way. To use a financial analogy, I am only making a short-term investment. I’m giving one weekend to help encourage life transformation, and the reality is that most of my words will probably be forgotten as quickly as they are heard. But thank God that the students of CRBC do have people like Patrick and Kari that love them and willingly make the long-term investments. Thank God!
While reminiscing about the good ol‘ days of youth group, I started to really think about the way we (as adults) often view the youth. Of course, each church is different. Some will confess that the youth “are the future of this church!” while others insist that “the youth are not the future of the church, but they are the church!” Regardless of these vague statements that often function more as catchphrases rather than literal foundations for how the body of Christ should interact as a community, to me there seems to consistently be a fundamental error in our expectations for youth.
Dr. Alvin Reid first ignited this thought in my mind when commenting on the elementary nature of teaching found in most high school youth groups. His argument for “higher education within the church” stems from the fact that our students have the capacity to reason on a level beyond that of the present if, in fact, they are capable of succeeding in classes such as Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, World Literature, and History–as well as the numerous AP or IB classes offered.
Here’s an equally interesting observation that I have experienced first-hand and am confident is generally the case in many, if not most, churches across the country: if you were to step inside a Sunday School class of 5th graders on any given Sunday and listen to the lesson taught (whether it be an Old Testament narrative, a New Testament parable, etc.), and then step inside a classroom of 11th or 12th grade students reading from the same text, I would venture to say that the teaching and presentation would be nearly identical; that is, very little differentiation would be seen in the instructor’s expectations for dialogue and level of critical thinking. Now, please understand this, I am not saying that both age groups should necessarily be deriving different truth claims from the same story–Scripture is still Scripture and the message does not change. An 18-year-old, however, should be much more capable of critically thinking through the propositional claims of certain texts in a way that an 11-year-old is not yet ready for. This being said, I think one of the better measurements of the growth and maturity of our youth should be witnessed in the responses to such Biblical studies. But is this the case? Are senior high schoolers consistently stretching their minds and challenging themselves (as well as the content of their lessons) or do they still rely on the traditional ‘Sunday School answers’: “Jesus,” “the Bible,” “He loves me”? I’m afraid that it’s the latter.
I never posted (or completely finished) my follow-up for the “Education (Part 1)” entry back in June for a variety of reasons: it frustrated me too much, I could complain forever about what I see wrong in the current education model, and I don’t have an adequate and reasonable solution that would be accepted. I bring this up because I think, unfortunately, that one of the foundational problems in the American public education system has crept into the Church, as well. We parrot…we don’t think critically. We don’t really use our minds or analyze the propositional statements that Christianity is built upon; rather, we repeat cute slogans, flashy sayings, and hackneyed expressions and make them the rock on which we stand. The moment these are challenged, though, we run…or panic…or run and panic. And that, my friend, is not good.
Why can we not raise the intellectual bar for our youth? Why must we settle for such nominal standards? Is our focus so fiercely set on ensuring that these students refrain from the evils of adolescence (alcohol, drugs, and sex) that we neglect teaching (and showing) them how to live in a way that glorifies Jesus Christ and is exemplary of his teaching in Matthew 22:37: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind.”
My prayer for the upcoming beach retreat is that I can somehow–through God’s grace and power–communicate the need for these students to understand the significance of maintaining a rightly ordered and properly grounded Christian worldview. If they expect to survive in a post-modern world filled with skepticism and doubt, they must be able to provide convincing answers. And the first person to convince is one’s self.
Are…we…convinced?
I think I’ve found the message…
