toldailytopic: Church youth groups: good idea? Or just asking for trouble?

[Nathon Detroit]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for December 1st, 2010 10:59 AM

toldailytopic: Church youth groups: good idea? Or just asking for trouble?

Take the topic above and run with it! Slice it, dice it, give us your general thoughts about it. Everyday there will be a new TOL Topic of the Day.
If you want to make suggestions for the Topic of the Day send a Tweet to @toldailytopic or @theologyonline or send it to us via Facebook.

 

[Rusha]

Well, I won't answer for anyone else, however, the youth group I attended made church ALOT more interesting.

Rather than just sitting down and listening to a message for 60 minute, we actually got to interact in setting with people our own age. It's much easier to raise your hand in the middle of Sunday School or youth group and ask questions than just sit in a pew with people of all ages and remain silent.

 

[Aimiel]

I've seen both. Many church youth groups are just an excuse for kids to act like delinquents. I've also seen a youth group that work until raising enough money for the entire group, with chaperons, to go to third-world countries and evangelize; every single year. They always take something for the kids they're visiting: shoes, warm clothes and always toys, depending on the time of year in the country they're visiting.

 

[TomO]

toldailytopic: Church youth groups: good idea? Or just asking for trouble?

lain: Like alot of things; it depends who is running the show....they can be very good.

.....or very very bad. :doh:

 

[Nathon Detroit]

lain: Like alot of things; it depends who is running the show....they can be very good.

.....or very very bad. :doh:

I agree with that.

I have seen youth groups that have really fired up some teens for the Lord. I have also seen youth groups that have basically turned into social hour producing all sorts of bad behavior.

So how could a church create a youth group and avoid the bad side effects?

 

[Seydlitz77]

If well structured they are a good idea and help youth feel included.

 

[elohiym]

Mixed sexes or not, possibly good, possibly very bad.

 

[Sherman]

I have seen the Good the Bad and the Ugly in youth groups.

Good--A youth group I was in engaged in had bible studies and had a bible camp. You hardly see that anymore. That was 30 years ago.

Bad - Music club. The youth group is made into a band room where they have rock concerts every Sunday. No spiritual substance at all. Feel good sermons about love and songs about love.

Ugly - the Youth group has dress up contests. The boys even have a beauty contest where they wear girls clothing on Halloween! :vomit: Then they have the gall to counsel a boy on fascination with sexual perversion. Hypocrisy. :hammer:

 

[Aimiel]

It depends upon the facilitator, just like a church or family does. If you have a good leader, the group will be shepherded by The Lord.

 

[TomO]

I agree with that.

I have seen youth groups that have really fired up some teens for the Lord. I have also seen youth groups that have basically turned into social hour producing all sorts of bad behavior.

Me too. lain:

So how could a church create a youth group and avoid the bad side effects?

:think: Start with a strong Leader and make sure you form a core of Youths who are flat-out, sold-out for OUR LORD. The group forms around this core and the Leadership has to remain involved and informed about the entire group and be willing to discipline/remove bad influences.

It's that simple.....not complicated, just difficult to execute at times.

 

[Tico]

So how could a church create a youth group and avoid the bad side effects?

It could only work if the parents are the primary "youth pastors". The church youth group would merely be supplemental. Once parents delegate this God given responsibility to someone else you´re asking for trouble.

 

[Katie]

My sister and her husband are head of a youth group ... but this group of kids are literally the salt of the earth. They have been figuratively and often times literally raped by society, their families, and their neighbors. They have done things, and do things, out of desperation that cause most youth leaders and their spoiled youth w/in their groups to turn them away ... untouched by love, unnoticed.

I love going on the fishing trips, and other activities that my sis and her husband host for them ... there is where I hear wisdom from their mouths that is beyond their years, and the goodness that is w/in their hearts should put even the most pious of church goers to shame. I say in the case of these kids, and the good that my sister and her husband do for them, this particular youth group is good ...

(it is not one of spoiling children w/ the latest trends ... it is so simple in fact that most kids today would be bored out of their minds ... if not first offended by the reality that they face!)

 

[Buzzword]

I've seen two extremes in youth groups, neither which have been discussed here.

First is the intellectual extreme.
A youth group which prides itself on raising biblical scholars, and encourages its members to plumb the depths of their minds to gain greater spiritual understanding.
Sounds all well and good, but divisions become more and more apparent between spiritual nerds, baby Christians, and seeking nonbelievers.
Those raised in church have an automatic advantage in discussions over newcomers, especially in quoting scripture.
Baby Christians are plunged into deep water too early and too often.
Nonbelievers who may have been curious are alienated for not "knowing" enough.
Cliques form, and the youth group becomes counterproductive, more like a miniature high school than a center of spiritual growth.

The other is the emotional extreme.
More music, more crying and hugging, and most likely more conversions more often than the intellectuals.
But once they've cried to their hearts' content, what's left?
Emptiness and feeling like the whole thing's fake if it doesn't make you cry every time.


A balance between the two has the best chance of helping its members grow together and towards God, finding intellectual AND emotional needs fulfilled by organized fellowship, worship, and study.

God is not limited to the mind OR the heart, yet too often youth pastors choose one while stigmatizing the other as "not really Christian".

 

[Nick M]

It's that simple.....not complicated, just difficult to execute at times.

Being moral is hard. :sigh:

 

[SovereigntyIsGods]

Most youth groups are just trouble and potentially damaging. My youth group from age 16-18 is where i got saved on the other hand. There were about 8 of us and we were as close as can be. Our Youth Pastor is the Godliest man i've ever met, and an amazing teacher. He was witty and funny, but very intense when need be. He held the perfect attention of every person there and didn't water down anything. By the end of his season of ministry at my Church, our youth group was more spiritually mature than most of the congregation. It was the biggest blessing in my life.

 

[Lucky]

Programs for children.
Programs for teenagers.
Programs for college students.

Secular organizations understand how important an investment these programs for pre-adults are. They throw everything they have into training up the new generations to be compliant with their godless society. Some Christian communities understand, some don't. Even some of the ones that do aren't fully investing. A $75k/year adult-focused minister is reasonable but a $25k/year youth-focused minister is pushing it. And then they wonder why the youth group is so bad. Are they necessary for those "perfect kids" that are raised in "solid Christian" homes? Not always. But if a church has any desire to spread the gospel to those icky, messy sinners, why not offer programs for youth in addition to programs for adults? It's because adult programs are low-risk investments with immediate returns. Pre-adults don't have any money to give, so short-sighted Christian communities aren't concerned about them. That's why so many of these short-sighted congregations aren't growing, or are struggling to maintain current numbers, or are flat out dying.

In my neck of the woods: A huge majority of kids are raised by single parents, stepparents, grandparents, or non-Christian parents. It's not the kids fault that they aren't good Christian kids. They may have heard of Christ, but have never known a real follower of Christ. However, there are a good amount of Christian programs for children and teenagers here. The Southern Baptists and some non-denom communities know what's up. I'm actively participating in and promoting our city's first Christian program for college students. Well, there have been previous attempts but always unsuccessful. The leader, me, and a few others my age are committed to making it work. The hurdle is getting churches to understand that college kids aren't mature adults like they once were 100 years ago, and that it's the riskiest but most necessary investment to make because that's the age when even "good Christian" teens are ditching the faith. At least one church is already seeing the benefits, because they now have a fresh supply of intelligent volunteers to help out in other programs of the church.

 

[Buzzword]

Most youth groups are just trouble and potentially damaging. My youth group from age 16-18 is where i got saved on the other hand. There were about 8 of us and we were as close as can be. Our Youth Pastor is the Godliest man i've ever met, and an amazing teacher. He was witty and funny, but very intense when need be. He held the perfect attention of every person there and didn't water down anything. By the end of his season of ministry at my Church, our youth group was more spiritually mature than most of the congregation. It was the biggest blessing in my life.

Wait...so how can you make the generality that MOST youth groups are somehow horrible if your own experience was amazingly positive?

Or are you just being a stereotypical "grown-up" looking down on them because they are young?

 

[Sherman]

In my neck of the woods, a good youth program is practically non existent. That is a sad truth. The church out here has turned it into a party.

 

[Son of Jack]

I agree with that.

I have seen youth groups that have really fired up some teens for the Lord. I have also seen youth groups that have basically turned into social hour producing all sorts of bad behavior.

So how could a church create a youth group and avoid the bad side effects?

As someone who is currently leading a small youth group, I make the focus of the hour to hour and a half all about the Gospel. I want those young people to understand it and understand that it is for them. If the Gospel and the teaching of God's Word is central, then all that other stuff tends to be minimized.

 

[Lighthouse]

It could only work if the parents are the primary "youth pastors". The church youth group would merely be supplemental. Once parents delegate this God given responsibility to someone else you´re asking for trouble.

Ding. Ding
Ding. Ding. Ding.

:BRAVO:

Give this man a prize!