Rooted: Youth Ministry and Grace

Check out the 2012 Rooted Conference - "Adoption: The Beauty of Grace" - which will explore how the theological concept of Adoption speaks to this generation of teenagers.

The Magic Bullet

Every week, I receive another postcard for a new youth ministry conference pledging to have the magic bullet for today’s youth. Nearly all of these ministries and conferences have much value for this field - I wish I could go to a dozen per year. Amidst the many options, I still feel passionately that Rooted has an important place in youth ministry.

When I was a junior in high school, our varsity football team played Central-Tuscaloosa in the quarter-finals of the state playoffs. Central had the #4 team in America and had not lost in two years. They had three players who would start at Alabama as freshmen and nine players who went on to earn Division 1 scholarships. My Spartans were slow and small and lacked a single D1 player. Among Central’s cadre of studs stood Alabama’s Mr. Football, Antonio Williams, the top running back in the South. In the first half, Central ran Williams to a ten-point halftime lead; we looked virtually helpless against him.

However, in the second half, Central seemed never to give Williams the ball. We all were dumbfounded. It was obvious that the Spartans had no chance of stopping Williams. He was virtually invincible. Unfortunately for Central, their coaches did not realize this fact, and he carried the ball only a handful of times. Eventually, the Spartans marched back, shut down Central, and we toppled the national powerhouse.

In the full Gospel of grace, we have The Magic Bullet. The message that God perfectly loves desperate sinners is The Message that will redeem the world. It is not instructions to help us live better or some padding for our self-esteem. The Gospel rescues people from judgment, heals ultimate wounds, and brings dead people to life right now and forever.

Doing ministry without centering all things on the Gospel is like having LeBron James on your team in a pick-up game at the YMCA and never passing him the ball. We need to pass the Gospel the ball at every turn, in every relationship, and in all circumstances.

With Rooted, our mission is to reflect on how everything we do in ministry- missions, relationships, measures, discipline, lessons, messages, counseling, recruiting, volunteers, etc.- can be more deeply anchored in the message of Cross and God’s grace. Hopefully, engaging in this consideration will yield deeper, more vibrant ministries that offer life and that foster life-long disciples of Jesus Christ.

Consider joining us at this year’s Rooted Conference in Birmingham, August 9-11, as we take an in-depth look at how the theological doctrine of adoption offers hope to a desperate generation.

MTD: Not Just a Problem with Youth Ministry

Rooted is excited to continue our partnership with The Gospel Coalition blog for a series on the state of youth ministry during the month of April.  Thanks to Brian Cosby for the following article, reprinted with permission below (originally posted here).  Check out the first article in this series here.

That a youth ministry "teaches the Bible" does not necessarily mean it teaches the gospel. Many mistake the gospel with moralism---being a good person, reading your Bible, or opening the door for the elderly in order to earn God's favor. But the gospel is altogether different.

This is a problem across the youth ministry landscape. It's not because teenagers and youth leaders have misunderstood the church's teaching of historical-confessional, gospel-infused Christianity. It's a problem in youth ministry wherever the American church has not preached Christ crucified and has catered to a pragmatic, entertainment-driven, and numbers-oriented model of church growth.

According to sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, most American teenagers believe in something dubbed "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" (MTD). [1] Within this MTD "religion," God is a cosmic therapist and divine butler, ready to help out when needed. He exists but really isn't a part of our lives. We are supposed to be "good people," but each person must find what's right for him or her. Good people will go to heaven, and we shouldn't be stifled by organized religion where somebody tells us what we should do or what we should believe. [2]

MTD isn't a religion like Islam or Buddhism, but rather a melting-pot belief among American teenagers. Historic distinctions between denominations like Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists are not as important to teens because they see their Christian faith as just one aspect of their lives like anything else---be it sports, friends, school, or family. Its preacher is American entitlement and its sermon is a me-centered message about a distant, therapeutic god who wants teens to be good and happy.

Alternative to Entertainment

I sat in a Waffle House one early morning, talking with a dad who had caught his son looking at pornography. His family had just transferred from a nearby church that spent through the roof creating the most spectacular show in church---complete with fog machines, strobe lights, and professional musicians writing Christian lyrics to Lady Gaga songs. In between the dueling DJs, this family was starved for the Bread of Life. But despite their burnout over endless entertainment, they didn't know an alternative.

"I just think you need more games," the dad told me across a very syrupy waffle. "If you had more games and funny skits, then my son would have been at church, not looking at porn." I was shocked! Here was a man who had left a church over too much entertainment and now wanted it back. I realized that MTD wasn't just a problem in the culture of American teenagers, but in the culture of the American church. The larger influence of a success-over-faithfulness model of American Christianity is having devastating effects on youth ministry.

Kenda Creasy Dean, in Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, argues that American teenagers have bought into MTD, not because they have misunderstood what the church has taught them, but precisely because it is what the church has taught them. She writes,

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism has little to do with God or a sense of divine mission in the world. It offers comfort, bolsters self-esteem, helps solve problems, and lubricates interpersonal relationships by encouraging people to do good, feel good, and keep God at arm's length. [3]

When this self-help theology is combined with a sola-boot-strapia sermon from TBN, we start having teens singing, "God Is Watching Us from a Distance" while---at the same time---wondering why Jesus isn't fixing their parents' marriage or their problems with cutting.

MTD isn't just the problem of youth ministry; it's the problem of the church. And American Christianity has become a "generous host" to this low-commitment, entertainment-driven model of youth ministry.

Counter to the Gospel

Think about those three words, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. They run counter to the gospel of Jesus Christ in every way. We are not saved by earning our way up the good-works ladder, nor is God the divine genie dispensing wishes at command. He's not a distant "clock-maker," sitting back to watch it all play out, but the personal Immanuel who became man to seek and save his bride. The gospel says that Jesus has accomplished for you---through his life, death, and resurrection---everything that God has required of you; thereby, securing eternal life for all God's people, and received by faith alone.

This is where the importance of method comes to the forefront, which (unfortunately) is often disassociated with theology. While our theology of the gospel should inform our method, the American church---to a large extent---has practiced just the reverse. The question on many youth leaders' minds is, "How do we get bored teenagers into the church?" The question should be, "How are we to faithfully plant and water the gospel of Jesus Christ for his glory and our joy in him?"

Many youth ministries have engaged in direct competition with the world to woo and attract students by all sorts of gimmicks and giveaways. In fact, a large church in the Atlanta area recently gave away iPods to the first 100 youth at a lock-in! But is that the methodGod has given us to draw young people into a deeper, richer, more meaningful relationship with Christ?

There Is Hope

There is hope, however, because Jesus will build his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. There is hope because God is in the business of saving and sanctifying teenagers through the ministry of Word, prayer, and sacrament. God has given us means of grace---not just to reap the benefits of their content and application---but as the way in which we plant and water the gospel, looking to God to provide the growth. These means of grace should inform how young men and women are drawn into the church---youth who are disillusioned by the gimmicks and fog of an entertainment-driven world of empty pleasure.

Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias has said, "The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced the ultimate, and it has let you down." Like a political pendulum, the experienced "high" from self-centered experience and rampant consumerism fails to provide rest for the restless soul. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can call the prodigal out of the trough and satisfy his longing heart.

MTD remains a problem in youth ministry because it remains a problem in the American church. It channels the method of ministry from gospel to gimmick. But the later English Puritan John Flavel points to God's far better plan: "The intent of the Redeemer's undertaking was not to purchase for his people riches, ease, and pleasures on earth; but to mortify their lusts, heal their natures, and spiritualize their affections; and thereby to fit them for the eternal fruition of God." [4]

**********

[1] Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 163.

[2] Ibid., 163-71.

[3] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 29.

[4] John Flavel, The Works of John Flavel, 6 vols. (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1968), 6:84.

Brian H. Cosby, the Rooted blog's newest contributor, is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, Associate Pastor of Youth and Families at Carriage Lane Presbyterian Church in Peachtree City, Georgia, and author of Giving Up Gimmicks: Reclaiming Youth Ministry from an Entertainment Culture (P&R Publishing, 2012).

Youth Ministry Is More Than a Feeling

Check out the 2012 Rooted Conference - "Adoption: The Beauty of Grace" - which will explore how the theological concept of Adoption speaks to this generation of teenagers.

Jesus the Great Guidance Counselor?

For many students today, Jesus has become a cosmic guidance counselor - in their minds, all He does is give advice, help them think through life, and perform other such tasks. Much of this mentality is a direct result of the ways we as youth ministers have taught who God is. As we think through the idea of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, we need to be aware of teachings which may create the perception that God is simply or only there for our therapy. For me, thinking about the traits of a guidance counselor helps me see where I am pointing students to this false image of god.  

Don't get me wrong, school guidance counselors are great. They have insight into what school a student should look into. They have the inside track on where to get student loans. And they help students think through problems, their future, their grades, and other school related issues/concerns. All of these things are helpful and much needed in students’ lives; but there is an important issue to consider when we start to look at Jesus this way.

When the picture we paint of Jesus looks more like a guidance counselor than the only sovereign ruler He is, we will tend to look unto Him differently than He was intended to be looked upon. Here are some of the ways we will look upon Jesus, when we simply dilute Him to a therapeutic god. 

• We only look to Him when we have need.
• We only seek out advice on the different options we have come up with. 
• We still make the final decision, we only want Him to help us think through our options.
• When someone is struggling, we simply point out that God can help them; we don't unpack the gospel as to how He can help them. 
• We tend to make lists of how God will work.
• Our messages tend to look at what we can get from God, not what we can give unto God.

When this is our teaching, the result is that students begin to believe and live this way. Students may believe in God, but they will have no clue what that means for them in real life. They will not be able to understand how God fits into their dating life, their sports activities, and the fights the experience with parents and teachers. When they are rejected by a boyfriend/girlfriend, or a teacher/parent, they can not even fathom going to God with this, for what would he care? He is simply there to give advice, not to actually help bring them joy or comfort in the midst of suffering. 

It is no wonder students leave the church. With a god preached who seems only like a guidance counselor, I would too. Students do not have a clue as to the real, present, sovereign God they are missing. When we convey only this image of a soft, removed, therapeutic figure-in-the-sky, we miss the point. We miss that He is the Savior, the King and the One who leads and directs us- we do not lead and direct Him. He is the conqueror of death for all of us, not simply a kind face in the chair across from us.

What type of God are you preaching? One who will simply offer good advice, or one who has come and redeemed those who are listening.

A Brief History of Youth Ministry

Rooted is thrilled to announce that we will be partnering with The Gospel Coalition blog for a series on the state of youth ministry during the month of April.  Big thanks to Dave Wright for this first article, reprinted with permission below (originally posted here).

To read books on youth ministry these days, it is hard not to get the sense that this experiment we call youth ministry in the local church has failed. This perspective is not shocking or new. Mike Yaconelli, founder of Youth Specialties, stated this rather boldly inYouthworker Journalin 2003. According to Lifeway Research, 70 percent of young people will drop out of church after high school, and only 35 percent will return to regular attendance. Christian Smith's National Study of Youth and Religion found that most American teenagers have a positive view of religion but otherwise do not give it much thought. Kenda Creasy Dean, in her book Almost Christian asserts, "American young people are, theoretically, fine with religious faith---but it does not concern them very much, and it is not durable enough to survive long after they graduate from high school." This result is far from the intention of most youth ministries. Smith describes the religious outlook of teenagers as "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism," a far cry from the gospel of Jesus.

To get an idea of where we have come from, let's turn back the clock more than a half century. Space here only allows the broadest overview, so bear with the generalizations. Back in the 1940s Jim Rayburn began a ministry to reach teens at the local high school, which became Young Life (YL). Their mission---to introduce adolescents to Jesus Christ and to help them grow in their faith---remains to this day. The strategy was and is for caring adults to build genuine friendships with teens and earn the right to be heard with their young friends. At the same time, Youth for Christ (YFC), was holding large rallies in Canada, England, and the United States. YFC also quickly organized a national movement that turned to Bible clubs in the late 50s and 60s, shifting the focus from rallies that emphasized proclamation evangelism to relevant, relational evangelism to unchurched youth.

By the early 70s, churches began to realize the need for specialized ministries to teenagers and began hiring youth pastors. Some of these were former staff members from YL and YFC. With this the church imported the relational strategy of the parachurch movement. During the 70s, youth pastors seeking to reach large numbers of youth for the gospel began to employ a more attractional model. Gatherings with food and live music could draw enormous crowds. Churches found that large, vibrant youth groups drew more families to the church, and, therefore, encouraged more attraction-oriented programs. Later in the decade, this writer watched leaders swallowing live goldfish in both the church youth group and local Young Life club when we brought enough friends to reach an attendance target.

By the 80s the emergence of MTV and a media-driven generation meant church youth ministry became more entertainment-driven than ever. Youth pastors felt the need to feature live bands, video production, and elaborate sound and lighting in order to reach this audience. No longer could a pile of burgers or pizzas draw a crowd. By the end of the decade the youth group meeting was being creatively inspired by MTV and game shows on Nickelodeon. The message had been simplified and shortened to fit the entertainment-saturated youth culture. By the start of the 21st century, we discovered many youth were no longer interested in the show that we put on or the oversimplified message. Christianity was no different from the world around them. Some youth ministries intensified their effort combining massive hype with strong messages that inspired youth but did not translate to everyday life. We realized we were faced with a generation whose faith was unsustainable.

The Result

What happened in all that? First, we moved from parachurch to church-based ministry (though the parachurch continues). In doing so, we segregated youth from the rest of the congregation. Students in many churches no longer engaged with "adult" church and had no place to go once they graduated from high school. They did not benefit from intergenerational relationships but instead were relegated to the youth room.

Second, we incorporated an attractional model that morphed into entertainment-driven ministry. In doing that we bought into the fallacy of "edu-tainment" as a legitimate means of communicating the gospel. Obscuring the gospel has communicated that we have to dress up Jesus to make him cool.

Third, we lost sight of the Great Commission, deciding instead to make converts of many and disciples of few. We concluded that strong biblical teaching and helping students embrace a robust theology was boring (or only relevant to the exceptionally keen) and proverbially shot ourselves in the foot.

Fourth, we created a consumer mentality amongst a generation that did not expect to be challenged at church in ways similar to what they face at school or on sports teams. The frightening truth is that youth ministry books and training events were teaching us to do the exact methods that have failed us. The major shapers of youth ministry nationally were teaching us the latest games and selling us big events with the assumption that we would work some content in there somewhere. In the midst of all this, church leaders and parents came to expect that successful youth ministry is primarily about having fun and attracting large crowds. Those youth pastors in recent decades who were determined to put the Bible at the center of their work faced an uphill battle not only against the prevailing youth culture but against the leadership of the church as well.

The task before us is enormous. We need to change the way we pass the faith to the next generation. Believing in the sufficiency of Scripture, we must turn to the Bible to teach us how to do ministry (rather than just what to teach). Students need gospel-centered ministries grounded in the Word of God.

Dave Wright is the Coordinator for Youth Ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and blogs at Fusion Musing.

Short Term Missions and MTD

This is the second article in our series on what the gospel has to say to the cultural trend among today's teens of viewing Christianity as "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism".  Check out the first article here.

I have the opportunity to interact with about 1,600 students from all over the country each summer.  These students are coming to a week of “church camp.”  They’re leaving the luxury of their home, gaming systems, TVs, computers, etc., to spend a week in inner-city Memphis serving economically disadvantaged homeowners.  Unfortunately, the underlying motivation behind many of these students’ decision to come to camp is a set of therapeutic and/or moralistic doctrinal beliefs.  It’s my deep joy to remind them of the truth of the gospel: that they serve not because they have to but because they are set free by the grace of God through Jesus to love and serve others.

Here’s what I mean: when our students’ service fails to flow from a heart that realizes its depravity and takes great joy in the truth of the gospel, their service is moralistic.  At that moment, they’re placing themselves and their good works in the place of the Savior.  They’re attempting to save themselves from spiritual poverty.  They become their own functional savior.

Additionally, when a student places himself and his good works in place of the Savior, whatever “good deed” he is doing is for the honor of his own name.  It’s therapeutic.  His reason for serving is to make himself feel good… To remind himself that he’s okay because of his good works…  To feed the functional savior of self.

However, it’s important that those in youth ministry leadership give their students opportunities to serve others.  Here are a few tips about how to lead service projects with a grace-centered, gospel-saturated mindset (these suggestions are applicable to all areas of youth ministry, not just service-oriented projects):

• Remind students that they’re not the ones in a high position serving those in a low position.  They’re not the more wealthy people serving the more needy people.  Rather, give them gospel lenses.  Help them see that every human being is impoverished and in need of redemptive grace.  Some people’s poverty is manifested materially.  However, those in material poverty may be much more spiritually full than those who are not materially impoverished!
• Train students to maintain a humble and eager-to-learn posture.  Students with this attitude will quickly learn that they’re often more blessed as they’re seeking to bless others!
• Remember the gospel!  Take every opportunity to remind students of their radical depravity and their deep need for Jesus!
• We as ministry leaders must remember the gospel!  Though we know it, we need to be reminded every day: we are not the professionals.  We are not the spiritual elite.  We desperately need Jesus!  May we run to the cross daily, and may our ministry be an overflow of our love for Jesus.
• Read When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself, by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett.  This book presents a much-needed paradigm shift and even indirectly deals with much of the moralistic-therapeutic issues so prevalent in the church today.

Drew Haltom serves as Camp Director at Service Over Self in Memphis, TN.  He is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Religion from Reformed Theological Seminary.  Drew blogs at drewhaltom.wordpress.com.

MTD: Upside-Down Youth Ministry

In the proceeding series on MTD, Rooted hopes to explore the implications of the religious atmosphere amongst our teens and ask the question, “What does the gospel have to say about this?”

When I was in college, I visited several churches from one particular denomination (which dominated the area) and found the same message in 90% of them. Until I found the exception, I kept looking for a different church. The sermon in most of them was essentially “be a good person and you will go to heaven”.  I refused to go to a church preaching mere moralism.  The truth is that I cannot succeed at being a good enough person to get into heaven and deep down I knew this. Moralism leads to attending Sunday services because it’s part of being a good person rather than out of a desire to worship the One who saved them.

Moralism has been in the mainstream church for ages. Christian Smith’s study just a few years ago suggests that moralism is a major part of the religious views of teens in mainstream churches today.  What I mean by moralism is the notion that Christianity is about being a good person.  It is antithetical to the gospel because we see in scripture that we are incapable of being good enough for God.  The righteousness of Jesus saves us, not our own goodness.

Why is moralism such a prevalent perspective amongst the younger generations? Clearly someone has been teaching it.  Smith (in ‘Soul Searching’) concludes that today’s teens have simply picked up the faith of their parents.  Kenda Creasy Dean concurs in her book ‘Almost Christian’.  Yet, we cannot ignore the influence of youth ministry on the generation in the study.  They had access to youth groups in towns all across the country.  If youth pastors were providing a consistently different message than moralism, surely students would have the chance to decide which gospel they were going to buy into.  Given the rebellious nature of teens, they would have rejected the nominal faith of their parents in favor of a robust creed.  I certainly have seen this amongst a number of students.

Let’s look at what many youth groups across America have been teaching over the course of the past several decades.  We had a desire to raise up good Christian students.  We figured that topical teaching would scratch where teens itch.  So, we did a lot of teaching on relationships, drinking, drugs, sex, dating, and more.  If we could attract students and appease parents, we had a win-win situation.  Add some messages on the importance of daily bible reading, prayer, worship, etc and we have a “good program” in the making.  (Notice how many resources and curriculum cater to this?) We effectively defined Christianity by what we do and do not do.  We got good at behavior modification, which fosters moralism.

 

I believe this is a top down approach. Look at the pyramid diagram to the right. Moral behavior is at the top.  The next layer is Christian practices.  These would be daily devotions, worship, Church attendance, etc.  Below that is theology, the beliefs that support or undergird both practices and behavior.  At the bottom is scripture, the ultimate source of all that we believe. Now, consider where the bulk of teaching is aimed in the typical youth ministry.  Youth groups driven by topical teaching pour into the behavior level and scratch the practices level.  We quote scripture to support our teaching but our message is not really about the Bible, it’s about behavior.  That effectively shapes students to conclude that Christianity is about being a good person.  Now of course, we have that percentage of students who “get it” and want to go deeper.  For them, we offer the small group Bible study. Somehow we left out teaching doctrine.  In some churches, we do that in Sunday school.  Yet many would not describe the Sunday school as the most effective hour of the week.

What’s the solution?  If our top down approach led to moralism, it seems only logical to turn that upside down.  What if we taught scripture, getting students engaged with God’s word, and let that speak to the topics that students face?  When we teach the bible in an engaging way so that the gospel is clearly seen from Genesis to Revelation, students find Jesus. Their love for him leads to a change in their behavior over time. This is a shift in thinking about youth ministry. For too long we believed we needed a program to attract students and tell them about Jesus, then those who are serious can go deeper.  Why not seek to disciple all who come in the first place?  If our first priority is to engage students with scripture, then we can help them form a good theology.  From that we develop practices for engaging with God.  Spiritual disciplines only really make sense when they come from a solid theology.  Perhaps they will begin to see corporate worship as something deeper than an emotional experience.  In the end, students will grasp what it means to live as Jesus wants us to live... not because we have to but because we want to.

Dave Wright is the Coordinator for Youth Ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and blogs at http://fusionmusing.blogspot.com.