Reawakening Youth Ministry in the North American Church
In my church tradition as in many others, there’s a deep concern about the future of church leadership. Where will the pastors come from? Recently, a friend shared with me insights from Barna’s latest tour on the State of the Church (https://stateofthechurch.com/ ) that contain these two research responses that speak to the issue:
“It is becoming harder to find mature young believers who want to become pastors.”
- In 2015, 69% of respondents agreed with this statement.
- In 2022, 75% agreed.
“My church puts a significant priority on training and developing the next generation of church leaders.”
- In 2015, 69% of respondents agreed with this statement.
- In 2022, 45% agreed.
You probably noticed the same thing we did. If the development of young leadership is a consistent concern among church leaders, why are we decreasing disciple making efforts among the next generation?
It seems as though the reaction in recent years to the long term ineffectiveness of entertainment based youth ministries has been to do less youth ministry. Instead. Many churches have chosen to staff and finance their churches in ways that highlight the competitive potential of the weekend worship service, rather than disciple making. Why would we think doubling down on entertainment methodology in the larger church would get us different results than it did in youth ministry?*
Deemphasizing ministry with young people is also out of step with Biblical patterns.
Deuteronomy 6 contains a call to the community of God’s people to share the responsibility of passing on the law to the next generation.
Psalm 78 includes these compelling lines:
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
3 stories we have heard and known,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
5 For he issued his laws to Jacob;
he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.
7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.
Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print. (Emphasis mine)
And, of course, Jesus founded his own movement on the potential of of young leaders, many of whom we would have called teenagers when they began to follow him.**
At Sonlife, we believe church leadership is best developed through following Jesus’ pattern of disciple making. We have recently chosen to double down on our original mission to be a catalyst along those lines for those who lead young people in church and parachurch settings. Our mission is to equip youth leaders in relational disciple-making according to the Son’s life so that the culture of youth ministry in North America would be restored it to the disciple-making heart of Jesus. This is the most faithful way to produce leaders from among the next generation.
For ways in which we can help your church or organization, check out https://www.sonlife.com/training/.
*For related thoughts, see Tom Bergler’s excellent book, The Juvenilization of American Christianity.
** Youth Pastor Theologian Mike McGarry says, “it seem most probable that the apostles were young adults ranging from 15 years old to late-twenties” and “it is undeniable that Jesus focused His ministry to the next generation”. (A Biblical Theology of Youth Ministry: Teenagers in the Life of the Church, by Michael McGarry, Random House Academic, 2019. Quotes taken from p. 47)