Youth Ministry in the Emerging Church Part 2:

Now to the biggest answer folks are giving to the problems of Youth Ministry.
Parents. Give the ministry back to the parents. “Parent’s are the problem.” “Parents depend on the youth pastor for the spiritual nurture of the kids.” If churches would call parents on their responsibilities then there would be no need for a youth pastor.”

While I agree that the parental role toward the spiritual nurture of adolescents is wained the past 100 years, I would suggest that there are other theological positions regarding who will be "held primarily responsible" for them. Often this position is reactive to the breakdown of the nuclear family, which sets up the family as an idol. Our Focus on the Family has led us to believe that the nuclear family is to be worshipped. This position is a product of American Invidualism as much as taking the Shema seriously. So I'd say bravo on seeing this issue. Bravo for wanting to do more in supporting parents in their ongoing ministry to their teens. Most churches are not doing this, most youth pastors are not doing this.

But this solution will not fix the problem you are trying to repair. There is far more to it than that.

Theologically it's a fine line to walk to put even a majority of the solution exclusively upon the shoulders of parents. Would the world be a better place if parents didn't expect someone else to care for a significant portion of the spiritual nurture of their kids? Sure it would. But again, it doesn't solve the problem.

The church appears to have lost it's understanding of community. The gospel exists within community, not simply the family. Ministry to teens has never simply been about two people (parents) in the lives of a child. It is far more than this. Churches who take parenting seriously but who do not take community seriously are only shoveling the hot coals of guilt upon the heads of parents and when setting them up to fail. There is no healthy parenting outside of community.
We have good traditions within the mainline church and great intentions within our evangelical church, but our system and structure do not support what we are trying to accomplish. The United Methodist Church baptizes infants. At the baptism, the parents state they will raise the child in the way of God, then the congregation says they will support the parents and the child. But few do. 90% of infants baptized within the UMC aren’t going to church by the time they are Seniors in high school. It’s a beautiful tradition with amazing intentions that exists within a bad system and bad structure with a deplorable result.
The Youth Ministry we live with now was the product of several good intended solutions to growing problems. It was the churches response to orphans (who didn't have parents) and adolescence. (These are just two reasons.) Youth ministry stepped into the gap to fix these issues... but that solution has become the churches current problem and often enables parents in unintentional ways. The Parent solution is only a band-aid and will have unintended consequences as well.
Youth Ministry will have a place in the future of the emerging church. There is no getting around it. Youth ministry will be with us whether parents "take responsibility" for the teens or not. It’s just that youth ministry will look different. The perceived gap between adults and teens is too great. There will often need to be someone full time who bridges these gaps of perception.
The answer is not better parenting, the answer is a better church. That is why the emerging church will be a great place for ReImagined Youth Ministry to take place.

Youth ministry in the Emerging Church Part 1:.

Ryan Bolger has a post about youth ministry here

Ryan's post spurred a need to write about youth ministry and the Emerging church. Every day I work with churches and help them be more healthy, especially in regards to youth ministry. I support the church leadership in their desire to minister to youth and families. I support current youth ministry staff (paid or non-paid). I support "lay leadership", youth and families as well. Primarily my work is one in terms of systems and infrastructure.

There is not one way to do ministry. There is not one way to do youth ministry. Every model, or ministry has problems. The work of systems thinking is to begin to understand the ramifications of decisions we make, and deciding which of those problems we can live with. We make these decisions based on what we value and believe. (most of the time) We understand our values based on assumptions that we make about the world around us.

All that to say. Emerging churches are not going to write off youth ministry. At least in the long run. They can't. Many who do initially, will return to some kind of focused youth ministry. Sure many of these churches won't have weekly programs for their youth. Sure many of them value all the people together. These are great changes, but cannot be pendulum swings, from what has been.

Why must emerging churches have youth ministries?
1. The perceived gap between adults and teens is growing. With new people groups like "tweenagers" being formed by the American Marketing Machine the gap will only be growing unless there is a intervention. Let me be clear. I don't think the gap is all that large. But the perception is huge. Teens feel abandoned by their parents. Teens feel used. Teens are ornamental in our society. Adults are scared of them. While individuating teens are more and more able to make decisions on their own they are faced with more and more adult issues to deal with. All the while they know fewer and fewer adults personally. There is a need for someone to lead local churches (emerging or not) in their ministry to teens. In today's understanding of youth ministry, youth pastors often reinforce this gap.

2. Often adult solutions contribute to the divide. The soccer mom who doesn't want her teen to feel alone, isolated and abandoned carpools more often, and volunteers at the PTA, etc. However, the pace of their lives together and the busyness of their lives and activity actually contributes to the feel of abandonment, by (among other things) depriving the family of time together. Again. This is an issue of systems. The cure is often worse than the disease. There need to be relational architects who focus on families and teens in our churches. There is no getting around it. It must be a big priority.

3. Changing the paradigms for ministry within the emerging church will actually contribute to a coming crisis. If you scratch below the surface of American teens you will find a deep well of issues that teens will want to deal with. Much like the house church of 40 people who try to support the others in the community who are in crisis, there will be times when those crisis tip to becoming overwhelming to the local community.

What will likely be different?
1. Youth Staff will be pastors, not directors of programs. This will be born from the value that the God given ministry to adolescents belongs to the parents and the church at large. A mercenary youth pastor will actually lead a ministry to youth away from the values these churches have.

2. You will stop hearing youth pastors say, "I'm going to work myself out of a job." Which tends to limit the role of youth pastor to programs.

3. Youth Staff will likely be hired from within the local congregation.

4. There will be fewer paid youth pastors in Emerging churches than in others because there will be fewer staff in emerging churches. While most churches in America hired a youth pastor as one of the first two or three positions, this will change. Emerging churches may not have any staff, and a youth staff person will be likely be lower on the list of priority.

Just some thoughts...
If I have time in the next few days I'll post some thoughts on implecations of this shift.

Philly / Etrek / Biblical Seminary

Last week I spent a few days in the beautiful countryside outside Philly. I got out before the snowstorm.

A couple thoughts:

First. Todd Littleton is a stud. As the executive director he is doing a lot of work to move education in new ways. Kudos to Spencer Burke of theooze.com for dreaming up Etrek and partnering with a great school like Biblical.

Second. Biblical is exploring some very progressive ways of doing seminary and are embracing postmodernity as an opportunity for ministry. Having John Franke as a professor shows that they are serious about engaging culture in real ways. The students I had pursuing their graduate work were impressive thinkers and showed a high level of theological foundation. (can I use the word foundation)

Third. I tried some new content with the group and they seemed receptive to it. The course was titled ReImagining Youth Ministry and in the past that would have meant something of a "bash youth ministry" party. This course began the process of actually working through new ideas for youth ministry, and dealing directly with restructuring systemic issues within the church, esp. youth ministry.

Forth. I'd love to see Biblical offer masters level credit for courses related to youth ministry in conjunction with Youth Specialties National Conventions. Starting 2-3 days early and then coordinating with speakers who are onsite would be an exciting way to directly investigate youth ministry in person with some of the leading thinkers who are there.

Fifth. It was a priviledge to be invited to lead this course.

Superbowl: Prediction

It's 4:01pm CST
My prediction is Seahawks over Steelers by 6.

now i will hold my breath, because it's going to be close.