Youth Group Forever!

Youth Group Forever!

Pete (not his real name) is a mature Christian.  He is consistent in his faith, despite struggling through some very difficult situations in his life.  He feeds himself spiritually, strengthening himself by regular practice of spiritual disciplines and communion with God. He does not whine and carries responsibility for the work of God.  Is he a ‘normal’ Christian in these times? No, he’s something of an anomaly.  Many American Christians are rather like perpetual teenagers:  self-centered, inconsistent in faith, demanding attention to keep ‘on track’ in their walk with the Lord.

Christianity Today (June, 2012) features an article by Thomas Bergler written around an interesting thesis: the youth culture has taken over the church.  “Today many Americans of all ages not only accept a Christianizied version of adolescent narcissism, they often celebrate it as authentic spirituality. God, faith, and the church all exist to help me with my problems.”   Think about that!  Much of what we do as ‘church’ is an extension of the youth group in which we grew up.  (This is not about styles of music or preaching.  It is about living out the faith.  Please read to the end before you decide I’m just feeling cranky today.)  

I am parenting teens again.  I forgot how much effort it takes during the decade-long hiatus between the first set and this one.  Yes, it is true! Teens think life is about today, forgetting to plan for tomorrow. They feel entitled, wondering why I would not want to run them to this friend’s house, or pick them up from school when there is a perfectly good bus that comes by our front door. I exist for them; at least, that’s how it appears. Occasional glimpses of maturity give hope that this pre-occupation with themselves will give way to maturity. Bergler interestingly observes that America’s youth culture, which encourages us to hold onto the values of our teen years.  “Older cultural conceptions of adulthood encouraged responsibility, self-denial, and service to others. … More recently, the passage to adulthood has been delayed and rendered more subjective for most middle-class Americans. … the new ‘psychological adulthood’ is centered around personal needs and wants.”

Is your walk with the Lord highly personalized, shaped around Jesus meeting your needs, focused on your personal fulfillment?
Or have you matured in faith, leaving the need for ‘thrills’ and for attention behind as you learn to serve God, instead of thinking He exists to serve you?

The Bible calls us grow up in Christ.  We are urged to develop discernment, insight, and wisdom by processing the Truth of Scripture into our lives; not just the texts that tell us how much God loves us, but the ones that require holiness and commitment, too.  "Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God." (Hebrews 5:11-6:1, NIV)  

We are challenged by the Spirit to learn to stay the course, to overcome the fickle emotions of adolescence as we move into spiritual adulthood.  We read, "Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:4, NIV)

There is a beauty in maturity.  God is not calling us to become mean, miserable, old folks in faith.  He is not asking us to exalt our traditions and to stubbornly defend the values of our generation. Rather He points us to spiritual fruitfulness, to fully developed faith that is centered on Himself.  Like Jesus, those who are mature in faith will recognize the joy of the Cross.  They will willingly ‘die’ that others might live.  Grownup disciples discover the amazing experience of love that flows out of the unity that comes from forgetting Self.  Mature Christians find there is an incredible Kingdom productivity that comes from connecting today’s choices with tomorrow’s results!  They plant the seed of service with faithful expectation of a crop to come.

Bergler’s article concludes with this: “Churches full of people who are building each other up towards spiritual maturity are not only the best antidote for the juvenilization of American Christianity, but also a powerful countercultural witness in a juvenilized society.”  Can I get an Amen?