Printer Friendly Version

Introduction: A Case Against Youth Ministry and Education as it is Commonly Practiced

It was well over 15 years ago now, before I had any children of my own, that I first heard another Christian brother openly question the necessity and wisdom of youth ministries as they are commonly practiced in the church today. While I was a Sunday school teacher at the time, the whole subject didn’t seem to pertain to me as I had no children of my own and I listened with little interest as the pastor of our church rebuked such questions from the pulpit for an entire service one Sunday evening.

Some years later I heard another brother in Christ express similar concerns, and this time I listened with much greater interest as I now had three small children of my own and had frequently been horrified by the things that I had seen and heard from many of the youth who had grown up in these programs.

I spent the next three to five years wrestling with various aspects of parenting, youth education and discipleship in my own mind before coming to any solid convictions in my own heart concerning what the Scriptures had to say about these things. And as I began to discuss my growing convictions with other Christians, it became painfully evident to me that I was poking my finger into the eye of a sacred cow.
The following pages are the fruit of one particular Christian brother’s challenge to “make a case against” such ministries.

I am convinced from the bottom of my heart that the future of our country, the future of our churches and the future of our posterity are at stake in the issues addressed in these pages and for this reason I believe that they need to be discussed no matter how controversial some would like to make them out to be. I sincerely believe that controversy between brethren is not wrong. On the contrary, it is often very beneficial to the church as it forces us to think through matters. Controversy only becomes a problem when one or both sides of the matter fail to deal with the other in a Christ-like biblical manner.

To those who might just be begging to grapple with these issues, I would encourage you to give these matters some long and labored thought and prayer and not jump to any conclusions too quickly. All too often I have seen well meaning brethren latch on to some belief or practice that is new to them long before they have given it a sufficient amount of thought and made it a conviction of their own hearts. All too often these brethren will act in accordance to their new ideas, stir up strife in their local assemblies and then, as quickly as they jumped to their conclusions, they abandon them after they have stirred up bitterness between brethren and grieved the Spirit of God.

Too many others, on the other hand, will entirely shut out other points of view without giving them any serious thought at all. This, likewise, is no less grievous to the Spirit of God as it derails any chance for a thorough reformation of faults in the church. It is all to easy in our finite, fallen human flesh to assume that what we presently happen to believe is the correct view of things and we fail to consider that we may have missed some facts, misinterpreted some facts or maybe have even let some unbiblical presuppositions or prejudice color how we look at an issue. Such a refusal to consider that we may be wrong has the sad effect perpetuating our faults and violates the clear warnings and exhortations of Scripture. Isn’t this the point of such passages such as Proverbs 18:17?

“The first one to lead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and cross-examines him.”

A belief, a story or an idea may seem to be right at first glance but under careful scrutiny and cross-examination it might be found to be faulty. The errors of a matter may not be immediately apparent to us in our fallen and finite state of mind.

We Christians, of all men, ought to be those who are swift to hear and slow to answer back (James 1:19). Knowing our own propensity to error, we of all people should be those who consider every aspect of an issue carefully before accepting or rejecting a particular point of view.

So brethren, “Test all things; hold fast to that which is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:12)

Sincerely,
Jonathan Bunnett