Youth Ministry is Segregation in the Corrupt Church System
There are startling statistics that church youth ministries have been ineffective. Two-thirds of the youth are going to abandon God if they even know Him at all. Youth ministries are hindering kids from growing spiritually in the ways of God. Instead of God, they are pointed to fun, games and hype. Generations of youth do not even know about God or have any respect for His word through their actions and behaviours.
What is the inspiration behind so many youth turning their backs on God?
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6
A Hindrance to the Gospel
Simply put, the answer is summed up in the verse in Proverbs. If our youth are not trained in the way that they should go, there will be failure.
Who is responsible?
It is the esteemed Christian youth ministry that spiritually harms the family?
Today, what usually resonates with the youth about their leader is that he is a cool guy who can relate to them on their level. This may sound harmless, but the dire statistics show that more than eighty percent of the youth turn away from their supposed faith in God.
What is the problem?
Youth culture embraces the idea of reaching the lost with music concerts, light shows, smoke and mirrors with lots of hype as a way of bringing them closer to God. The youth are exposed to the worldly experiences as a means to attain God versus sound teaching. The truth of God’s word has taken a back seat to fun, games and the latest parlour tricks. There is really no distinction between worldliness and godliness as the lines have become blurred into the same thing.
Many of the youth today believe that Scripture is subjective. Truth has become relative as God's word is interpreted through the lens of man’s ideologies and denominational traditions.
Important Questions
Why do the youth have so many doubts about God?
These doubts even come from kids who are living in supposed Christian homes with their parents.The problem is that the youth are attracted to the religious program, the money is there, the events are stellar, but there is no fruit.
You have to wonder when these kids go to bed at night, do they really know who God is?
Does smashing watermelons, making music videos, doing the Harlem Shake and imitating the way of the world point to our Creator?
What has really been accomplished in their hearts?
Playing church with a hip folk hero youth leader is nowhere to be found in Scripture.
Who should we blame?
Are we as parents taking responsibility for passing Scripture and its principles on to our children?
Is it the hireling youth pastor’s role to babysit our kids spiritually?
Is being a master at fun and games in a hopped-up atmosphere to get people in the church doors really going to bring a generation up who will repent of their sins and turn to God?
Authenticity comes from something that is true and real and is not contrived by man. The church system and their youth ministries have opened their arms to the foolishness of the world’s ways to reach our kids.
The fact is that if the standard of Scripture was acknowledged, the concept of what youth ministry is today would cease to exist.
Humanistic Origins
Primary source documents reveal that the origins of youth ministry and Sunday school comes from ideologies of men like Robert Raikes. He attempted to reach prisoners and under-educated kids with his social reform programs. His prison program eventually failed and the error of his segregated Sunday school programs can be seen by its affects today.
It is apparent that the family nature is being corrupted and destroyed for segregated ministries and church programs. Fathers and mothers have relinquished their responsibility to teach their children and the youth have become segregated into their own culture. The pattern of church education is no different than system of the world. The church and school hallways are no different. The youth are chattel who go through a series of processes or curricula into segregated age groups and become products of their religious brand-name.
A brief understanding of the historical roots of church youth program methodologies lead all the way back to 380 BC where a philosopher, Plato had the idea that children must be separated from their parents.
In the 1700’s, Jean Jacques Rousseau believed that education of the children was more important to the state than to their families.
As already mentioned, Robert Raikes founded a social reform program called Sunday school for street children. G. Stanley Hall applied Darwinian evolution to child development theory and John Dewey instituted the age segregated learning environment.
It is obvious that Christianity has embraced these humanistic seeds and the bad fruit has manifested. The ideologies of these men and all those who embrace them are at war with God. The church system has become a reflection of Athens.
Family
Scriptural foundations, standards and principles should take precedence over secular psychology, pragmatism and man-made traditions. The supposed popular innovations that are promoted to embrace culture with secular principles and man-driven forms of worship are dangerous.
Uzza in the Bible had good intentions when he tried to save the Ark of the Covenant from falling to the ground, but he did it in a way that God did not accept and he was killed (1 Chronicles 13:7).
It is quite clear that the modern church system promotes spiritual death. They have reached out and grabbed the things of the world against what God has explicitly made clear in His word.
When entire households and families can come together in unity to worship God, it is a beautiful thing. As parents of youth, we are to communicate the truth of God’s word to our children while they are living in our households.
The Duty of Fathers and Mothers
Fathers and mothers, it is your duty to love your children enough to teach them God’s word. We teaCH the children we love about the God we love.
All the money and man hours of youth ministry is 'Plan B.' It is a secular plan that has its origins in humanistic ideologies. What looks like success is a deceptive illusion. The statistics cannot be denied. When God is denied, His life changing power is denied.
The problem has become two-fold. Fathers and mothers have not stepped up to the plate to take responsibility for their God given role. As the parents have become negligent in their responsibility and duty to teach their children, Christianity will take over and created a segregated atmosphere where the parents are not equipped to thrive in their proper role. What corrupts the family is allowing things that are completely foreign to Scripture to take precedence. Youth ministry has turned the father and mother's attention away from their duties and given them over to church officials.
Over eighty percent of youth, including those who are on the fence will turn their backs on God as they transition into adulthood because they bought into the lies and corruption of Christianity. All the system did was pave the way for the youth to veer away from God.
The Parent's Responsibility
If you are a father or mother, you want your children to follow your example as you walk in obedience to God. It is good for your children to come and ask the hard questions, not to go to some hip, immature youth leader who is hired to entertain them with hype and emotionalism.
Man-made tradition will say that youth ministry is essential, but really it is a compromise to secular ideologies. It is doing more harm than good to families because it usurps the authority that God has given to the family, especially the fathers.
When God's standard is applied, it will exhort and admonish fathers and mothers to turn their hearts toward their children. When this happens, the youth pastor will become irrelevant and deemed a hindrance to family unity. God has appointed fathers and mothers, not the youth pastor to lead our children. It says nowhere in Scripture that hired hands are qualified to have spiritual jurisdiction over our children.
Christianity is doing exactly what the secular philosophers have promoted by replacing family responsibility with social programs that infringes on the role of the parent.
Nurturing and correction are the parent’s responsibility in a child’s life. The parents are the ones who have the tools to shape the younger generation. Training kids in the way they should go are the result of responsible parents, not a religious institution. When the parents outsource their responsibility, the family unit will starts to crumble spiritually.
Many fathers have neglected their spiritual role in their children's lives and it has manifested into generations of youth who do not have any positive father figures.
When this happens, the institutional church will try to fill the void with their youth ministries.
Are we are willing to obey God with our children and do away with the youth ministry and go from segregation to inclusion?
A group of peers within the concept of youth ministry does not create a stable family environment. What creates stability is equipping fathers and mothers to do their job. Youth ministry steers a child’s heart toward their peers, youth pastor, boyfriends or girlfriends in a segregated environment.
Throw out the traditions of man.
There is absolutely no evidence of youth ministry and its patterns in Scripture. Youth leaders and their kin will not like this finding, but there is no foundation for their existence.
Also, the results and statistics of bad fruit cannot be refuted because they have entered into a jurisdiction that God has not permitted them.
The word of God is sufficient. We do not want to stand before God thinking that we 'helped' Him out by embracing fallen humanistic ideologies to reach our youth. The duty and the responsibility of being a family is clearly laid out. It is time throw out the trash of the man-made traditions. It is time to abandon the conventions of man and come out of the harlot church system and become part of obeying God’s plan for family.
Related Articles
- The Harlem Shake Bewitches the Modern Church
The modern churches are pandering after entertainment and silliness instead of the genuine Gospel by embracing and indulging in the hedonistic experiences of the Harlem Shake. - The Pastoral Office of the Modern Church is not Biblical
What may come as a surprise is that the pastoral office does not exist in the Early Church. The facts of history and Scriptural context will serve as evidence that this is the truth.
© 2013 PlanksandNails
Comments Appreciated
PlanksandNails (author) on October 07, 2016:
Alan,
If you are wanting to correct, then please provide your evidence accompanied with the standard of Scripture to back up your statement.
Alan on October 07, 2016:
Articles like this always hurt to read as they come out of a close-minded place without a true acknowledgement of how the Spirit can work through a variety of ministry contexts.
PlanksandNails (author) on August 04, 2014:
Simlyl,
We need to take our kids back. Unfortunately, it is a hard thing to unindoctrinate your kids when they have been in the church system most of their lives. The salaried youth minister/ entertainers are not going acknowledge that they are nowhere to be found in Scripture.
Michelle Dee from Charlotte, NC on February 21, 2013:
"They have opened their arms to the foolishness of the world’s ways to reach the youth of today."
What came to my mind was the hard rock music, loud guitars, concert strobe lights (you know, things that make my head hurt and draw my mind away from meditating on God).
Also these kids need adults around them so they learn how to act right, rather than being let loose to "hang out" with each other all night with very limited adult supervision. This is a really great and insightful hub. Thanks for sharing. Awesome! voted up and across.
charlie from From Kingdom of God living on Planet earth in between the oceans on February 05, 2013:
wonderful article. the scriptural pattern is one meeting with the children at their parents feet. AND parent that understand it is their responsibility to teach their own children. and that have the scriptural understanding to correct anything that is wrong or that their children might misunderstand. If there is something that is way off base the wise parent just removes the children. parents that allow their children to go somewhere without them being present to be taught scripture are just plain foolish And no matter who teaches them the father will answer to God for it. The handful of times my 8 children were without me in a "church" setting were followed by an intense discussion of what was said. Brother I would like to talk with you , You have spent much time in the woodshed too
Keep up the good work
North Wind from The World (for now) on January 23, 2013:
I have met many a youth who goes to Sunday School every Sunday, who is involved in dance in the church, youth choir and every single family day that there is and every youth I have spoken to knows little to nothing about the Bible and can tell me nothing about what they believe concerning Jesus Christ.
They can sing contemporary Christian songs that sounds a lot like secular music, they can tell me all about the latest movies and they are willing -more than willing- to talk about the things of this world. But they are uncomfortable when talking about the things of God and generally do not bring up the Bible and God unless someone asks them about it. I am not convinced that God is in their thoughts at all and this is disturbing.
They doubt God, they doubt the Bible and they embrace the world. They do say the things that you say they do, stating that what the world says can coincide with God and He can fit into the world's imagination of Him. They learn to put a limit on God and they doubt His All mightiness.
These children also have disciplinary problems. Their parents always expect the teacher or the Sunday School teacher to spend time chastising them and they do nothing, or barely anything, to keep them on the straight and narrow.
Separating the children from the adults is the worst thing that could have been done, in my opinion, because children need adults to be examples to them as Paul wrote to Timothy. Just as Paul was an example to Timothy, so was Timothy an example to someone younger than he was.
William E Krill Jr from Hollidaysburg, PA on January 18, 2013:
I'm with you on the need for movement to family ministry, but fear that you may be throwing the baby out with the bathwater in rejection of children's and youth ministry. The issue for me is integration of these; there is still much value in age specific faith based activities for kids. To state that all youth ministry is shallow and worthless is profoundly in error. Dogmatic, canvased declarations such as yours about the lack of value of youth ministry are as bad for the faith as is the watering down in many youth ministry efforts.
William Kovacic from Pleasant Gap, PA on January 18, 2013:
P&N,
Amen . . . Amen . . . Amen . . . . I could Amen every statement you mentioned. I've seen so much harm to our youth from so called "Christian" youth groups. One would have to look far and deep to find any redeeming good in them. And as you point out one way or another, it's really we as parents who are to blame. Thanks for another on spot hub.
