“if you find yourself at home in a downtown music venue as you do within the margins of a City, if you are fluent in the indie music scene, resist eating at big box establishments, exegete the arts to find Life, then we might want to talk. ”

Hmm, indie music… not eating at Mickey D’s… hip venues…. yep that sounds exactly how I would describe what is needed for ministry. If you didn’t catch the sarcasm in the previous statement then let me just tell you that this sort of garbage has more to do with pushing the “Christianity is cool” idea than anything else. You can love indie music, and be a frickin’ vegan, those are fine for life choices, but that has nothing to do with being a pastor. How about instead of looking for someone who is just going to be trendy, we look for someone who is going to steep himself into the word and is going to guide our children into the truth like he should. Someone who realizes that parents are not antithetical to youth ministry and that you are not going to do anything by being a big kid that never grew up so he can fit in. It gets better…

“[our Church] is well aware of the countless excuses lurking around present-day teenagers, and our leadership team is committed to providing the solution – excitement.”

Excitement? Really, that’s your solution… excitement? If I sound dumbfounded it’s because I am, however I really shouldn’t be as this is honestly what most church’s philosophy of youth ministry is, they just don’t encapsulate it so blatantly. Our solution isn’t Christ, Biblical teachings, doctrine, or Christian community, just something exciting; which is a battle the church will always loose. Let’s see, the world has sex, drugs, sex, alcohol, sex, parties, and did I mention sex. What excitement can we offer? Bible study and late night Volley Ball, ooo color me excited! We are so scared that our kids will go be bad that we will do anything to stop them from doing so, and unfortunately our strategy is to just distract them from sin long enough before they can get married. None of this changes lives. The way of Christ can be earthy and messy, but it is the only way. Sure we can have large crowds by having Xbox parties, and while I am not against fun, it isn’t going to change lives if that is all we have.

These examples arn’t even the worst ones I have seen. We need to realize that these people are on the verge of being adults, heck in another time or culture they would be adults. But in our youth obsessed culture we expect people to be kids until after they finished college, if then. We need to instill into them what Christianity really is and none of it is about excitement, being cool or even being happy, it’s about sacrifice to Christ, and if we don’t sacrifice, then we are not Christians. (Matthew 10:37-39) There are kids out there that are hungry for that message, they have been getting milk their whole life and now they need something more. It won’t bring large crowds, it never has, but biblical truth is what people of all ages need. In the end, if a youth ministry isn’t about discipleship, then it isn’t a ministry at all.