like a fire

I have been working with teens for over 15 years (basically since I was one, man I feel old), I read ypulse religiously and have studied hard to get into the minds of teens and understand their perspective. Today I was floored during a sermon at church. Basically he unmanned me with one very basic question that I had never even thought to articulate.

The sermon was on the tragedy surrounding the Virginia Tech shootings. He was explaining the differences in his generation and the generation that is coming: they grew up with 911, Columbine, Oklahoma and prevalent acts of violence. Basically he says they are disillusioned in a way that people from earlier generations are not. They just expect these acts of random violence. Then he said it.

What does the gospel mean to them?

This wasn’t some off handed question either, it got fleshed out. How does their perspective affect the way they hear the gospel that comes out of our mouths and out of what they see us do? How are we to bring them the gospel? How honest are we when we say that the gospel makes their lives better and give examples like happiness, long life and prosperity.

Then the sermon turned to scripture. Romans 12:2 has always been a favorite of mine. So again, it was a shock when I heard a new perspective on it. Basically, it is about not conforming to the world and being transformed by new thoughts. But that implies that there is a tendency or power that is trying to force us to conform to the world. That’s forced homogeny. That is the tendency to need to fit in, but do so in a way that shows our individuality.

This is all very vague so let me give an example. Someone is new in an area and they want community and fellowship. They see what the people are like in a certain group that they resonate with and they copy what they see so that they will be accepted. In so doing, though, they are accepted based on something that is not them, but on the characteristics of the group. This is rampant in teen groups.

And in the church.

I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked to just do youth ministry in the same old way even if it doesn’t have any objective at all. Churches want a prototypical youth guy who is fun and the life of the party. They want games before every meeting so that the kids who don’t want to be there have something fun to do. They want big numbers of decisions after every mission trip or retreat. That sounds a lot like a very backwards version of Romans 12:2. If that is what a church wants, as an older guy with tons of life experience, I can do all of that. But what does that do to my objective as a pastor to teens and their families? I could structure and manipulate kids so that these expectations are being met, but does that really make any difference in the lives of teens?

Does it present them with a gospel that they can understand and know to be good news to generation Y? Does it give them tools to live their life in this world with its twists and curves of death and destruction?

I would love to hear from you youth guys out there. In fact, I’m throwing down the gauntlet. This is our online community where we help each other. Someone give this some thought and comment. I might even have found a use for the previous post on the top twenty list. Maybe I can email each one and see what they have to say on the matter.

Does anyone have a clear answer to the yGospel?