Introduction To Me; What is point of Youth Group...Really

Before I get into the meat of my blog here is a little bit about me. I am quite tentative about putting my personal information on the World Wide Web so I may tend to withhold specific or personal details. To understand me you must understand my faith. I am a Christian of the Restorationist (Stone-Campbell) persuasion. I participate in National Bible Bowl, go to a Christian church, attend youth group , and participate in various other church activities. When I am older I plan to attend Bible college and then go to Africa, if the LORD is willing. I do not idealize my life, I am nowhere near perfect but I do love Jesus and have a desire to follow His will for my life. I hope the ensuing blog is enjoyable and insightful.

I went to bed on Saturday October tenth intent on blogging about my church experience the next day. You can imagine my surprise then when I woke up four minutes until the start of Sunday service. Hey, it was a long night. On the bright side of that, since it was to late to go to my church I was able to try out a neighborhood Missionary Baptist church and until about seven thirty this evening I was going to blog about that*. But after attending a two and a half hour youth group event where the talk amongst the youth was anything but godly I was left with the question of what is the point of youth group... really.

A youth leader might say the point is to bring Christian youth together in a godly environment and to learn about God. A student might say a place to see Christian friends. A parent might say a place for kids to mesh with the good influences and prepare themselves for their lives as Christians. If the point of youth group can be expressed by the actual goings-on at youth group then a very different picture is painted. Rather than a place to learn about God the youth group has become a haven for those who want to gossip, cuss, and laze around. The reason: if a student refuses to put time and effort in to their own personal Bible study, prayer, and meditation, then the message behind the you-can't-put-the-toothpaste-back-in-the-tube-just-like-you-can't-take-your-words-back game will stay in the youth room along with every other message.

If your youth want to kick back and relax on wednesday evenings let them, but the church should not support them finacially. That may seem harsh but if any other committee or group(think the financial committee or the daycare!!!) was as dysfunctional the church youth group, people wouldn't hesitate to leave the church much less withdraw their funds. Obviously other solutions should be exhausted before your church gets to this point but we must stop taking our youth at face-value and start taking them to task; youth group is an extra not an entitlement and if it abused it should be taken away. We must also exhort our youth ministers to stop lusting over the fact that their students like them and encourage them to make the tough calls.

*Deep breath*. In closing, the answer to the question what is the point of youth group is this: it doesen't matter. "But I don't understand". Well talk is cheap, if the fruit of your youth group is rotten it is probably a DISCIPLESHIP problem over a BRANDING issue. If your youth are not committed to the cause of Christ then you mission statement is worthless.




* Look for that next week(maybe).