Ever since moving to North Carolina, I've been involved with Reverb at the church. I am a "leader" of a group of students that has no interest in doing exactly the thing that I want them to do. As a teacher, I know how this goes. I'm not that far removed from my teenage years, so I still remember how it feels to be a part of a group that is trying to get me to appreciate something that I just don't value as much as they do. Yet as a Christian in a position of authority over youth, is it not my job to push them toward that appreciation and relationship with Christ?
During worship this morning, a presentation was given by the Lutheran Hour Ministries that contained some statistics to support a perception that I've long held: the American Christian church is dying. Over 1500 pastors will be newly unemployed this month. Only 50% of churches have seen at least one person come to faith. Over 85% of churchgoers are completely disengaged from the church community. While the statistics continue, the fact remains that the church is suffering. Faith is stagnant; the country is becoming secularized. As an institution, I don't see how the government could be anything but secularized. For example, I oppose homosexuality because the Bible says it is sinful; however, I don't see why people think it's the government's place to decide what's sinful. Even though statistics don't show a strong increase in atheism over the past few decades, Christianity is being consistently exchanged for build-a-religion philosophies or something very much like it. Americans are free, and there's nothing I can say to the contrary. However, I find it irritating how uninformed and misguided many people are about what Christianity is in its true, un-American form.
Perhaps this reason more than anything is what makes me cringe when a student fails to locate Genesis in their Bible. I didn't come to discover intellectual endeavor until I was a college student, and I feel most people can my age can relate. Many of my friends described their own journeys as having been raised in the church and being actively involved in youth ministries without ever knowing Christ. Upon reaching college, these friends either find the fulfillment of all those years at youth group or finally get away from all that church stuff. It's frustrating to see how small, falsifiable arguments are capable of entirely realigning a person's priorities. While these realignments surely stem from longer-developing positions and issues, I can't help but wonder how to prepare a person for a world of philosophy and logic to which they have had no prior exposure. We shelter these kids from what we think are demonic ideas, all the while convincing ourselves that they are adequately equipped with their stories of Noah and Daniel's respective relationship with lions. The secular world often accuses Christians of brainwashing their children at Jesus camps, and to some extent they're right. We try to shelter our students from the very things they should be equipped to deal with. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to always be prepared to give an answer for the faith that we have. If people don't know what the "problem of pain" or the 3-O paradox are, how can they give an answer to it? If so many Christians want schools to "teach the controversy", why can't we find it in ourselves to do the same, even if it is from a biased perspective?
Perhaps I am disarming the work of the Spirit to some degree by being overly intellectual. But have our traditional youth programs honestly been working? Have they been breeding better, more loving, self-aware people? Why are youth leaders all over the country pulling their hair out trying to figure out how to make their students successful?
On a related note, I discovered tonight that I am great at finding the heart of a problem, but awful at solving them (as every ex-girlfriend will attest).
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