Charisma September Issue :: Fire in My Bones

The September issue of Charisma magazine is about the missing generations in church. Specifically the millenials and generation x. As always, J. Lee Grady writes a phenomenial column introducing the subject matter of the magazine. I respect Grady. He has taken stances which are strong and biblical. I pray for him as he takes on some serious issues. I also disagree with him on issues. But he seems like a good guy.

In his "Fire in my Bones" article, Grady suggests 4 "radical shifts" that the church should make in reaching out to teenagers who are not involved in church. His four ideas are to:

1. Focus youth ministry on relationships
2. Get rid of the hype
3. Banish Legalism
4. Start youth churches.

I was very excited when I read that Grady was going to tackle such a difficult problem. When Grady said that he was going to suggest some "radical ideas", I was excited. However, I was quickly disappointed when it seemed that he was simply propogating a return to a 1970's youth ministry model. I think that Grady's ideas are a good start, but they are far from radical. (I realize that Grady's ideas are more than likely radical to the majority of readers of the magazine...I just wanted him to really rile the folk up...come on man you gots some fire in them thar bones)

One contention that I have with the article is that it infers that "youth ministry" still needs to be a part of the church. I don't know if I agree with this any longer. (I recently left youth ministry after being involved for over 8 years). Youth ministry was an invention of the church in the 20th century. It peaked in the mid nineties. At the beginning of the 20th century there is no way a church would have a "youth pastor" at his church. Now it is almost commonplace to hire a youth pastor. I think that by having youth ministries we may be furthering a generational divide rather than encouraging all age groups to be involved in "church". I don't think youth ministries are bad. But i do think we need to seriously reconsider why churches even have youth ministries in the first place. If sunday school is almost dead? Isn't age segregation the next thing?

Like I said before, I did not think Grady's suggestions were radical enough. Here are some more statements that I think would have spiced up the "radicalness" of it all.

1. Quit equating being "in church" as being "on track" with God.
2. Eliminate the term "Christian" from our vocabulary with teenagers. It no longer means anything.
3. Quit defining spiritual gifts and let them define it for themselves.
4. Allow teenagers to publicly express doubt and engage in conversation in front of others.
5. Eliminate the "get people saved" pressure. Instead focus on serving and listening to others.

Now that I write those statements they don't look that radical. oh well.

Those are my thoughts for right now. I want to talk about Ron Luce's article...hopefully i'll find the time. but if i don't let me just say this...yikes. i'm worried that ron luce is only communicating with the christian teen subculture. That's all. This was written too formal. I'll try and not seem so reviewish in this stuff...and try to talk more like we would if we were doing it over some coffee.