Question of the day…
Posted: April 9, 2009 Filed under: Questions that begged to be asked 5 CommentsQuestion: Why do we expect or accept less out of a Youth Pastor or a Children’s Pastor then a Senior or Associate Pastor when it comes to the ministry of the church, and the people in it?
Problem in the church: Then we wonder why so many teenagers are leaving the church at the age of 18 and 19?
My Answer: Could it not be because of the lack of good, sound Biblical Teaching that is thick and meaty for them to continue in growth?But yet we instead sing songs that make you jump up and down, videos to make you ask 101 more questions and a bible stories that give you a good moralistic value to apply to being a good person in life.
Maybe the whole mind-set of, “as long at they don’t get pageant, don’t drink heavy, and don’t do drugs then we made a good kid” doesn’t work?
You have any thoughts?
Gospel-Centered Musings 
I lead the youth group at our church, and i have to totally agree with you.
I believe we have a healthy Youth Group because we get into serious studies, not because we entertain the kids.
Ours runs from 6:30-8pm
It used to be that we would have 1/2 hour lesson and 1 hour of game time. Now it’s reversed so that we normally have 1 hour lesson and 1/2 hour game time.
Some times the youth will be so interested in delving deeper into the Scriptures that they will ask to skip the game time.
Praise God for the work He’s doing in these youth!
Dewalt, your answer sounds eerily similar to this camp I once worked at……
Hm.
i wasn’t intended towards a camp, person, circle or anything… I just see it everywhere more and more. Like I need a PhD to teach in a Reformed school, but I had guys with a M.S. in Bible Studies teaching me at my college! I am NOT saying college degrees is everything, but I have been in seminary full time now for 2 and half years, and learnt 10x’s the material then I had in under-grad! And IF that is the case for all, or even some that attend seminary, I think biblical training is more important before we start just filling departments in our churches… (let alone ones that aren’t even warranted in scriptures.) not sure what I believe on that yet, but yea, for whatever it is worth, i do not know.
Dewalt, I too resonate with your sentiments — I have learned more at seminary than I ever did during my undergrad days at PBU. I think, however, that the undergrad Bible College experience was an entirely different beast from the WTS experience. Much more is expected/demanded in grad school, and a lot more previous knowledge is assumed. Bible College was a whole lot of introductory level matters, with very little deep reflection on the texts.
Would you say part of that is the difference between a dispensational theological model and a reformed theological model? The reformed model is much more concerned with inter-textuality, redemptive-historical concerns, and christotelic interpretation while the dispy model is much more rooted in fundamentalism and is primarily concerned with exegeting passages that fit into their eschatological system.
I have become very wary of church youth programs — I have seen some done very well, but at the same time I have seen many done poorly. How valuable is it to separate one age demographic from all the others? I haven’t seen a church that really does inter-generational ministry well….
Anyways, that’s my two cents on the matter. And you’re right, degrees are not even close to being the most important thing. It would be great to see the local church take responsibility for the education of the people instead of having to send students to college and seminary to get biblical instruction. That would be the Scriptural model, right?
Reformed or Dispensationalism, seminary does a different world that the “bible major” bachelor degree doesn’t begin to touch. I am not certain if “Reformed” is the answer, if I say yes? then dispensationalist will cry and chew me out, if I say know my advisor and seminary chews me out. I do not know…
But what I do know, is that my seminary is teaching me more more then how to run a camp, a ministry, or some program. And teaching me history and theology has made me enjoy and love christ more now, then i thought i had before. You evaluation seems like a good and fair statement, but there are always cases where some dispy seminary may be doing a good job. Youth programs are quite saddening at times, that is why at my church the SENIOR pastor spends 50% of his ministry with the teenagers! Which I think is a great model and Harvest OPC in GR seems to be doing an okay.
Degrees do not matter, just I want to teach and to get into a U. or college I’ll need a PhD, so that is what I am doing until I get a job.