29 March, 2024

Teens Matter

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by | 13 January, 2008 | 0 comments

By Curtis Booher and Phyllis Fox

The First of Four Articles About Teens

We will offer four Reflection articles: an overview of why teens matter to the church (what you”re reading now), a second article in the spring on church leaders” perspectives on teens” role in the church, a third article in the summer on the vital influence of parents and other caring adults, and a closing article next fall about students” perceptions of their role in the community of faith.

This dialogue began this summer at the NACC Teen Convention when a panel of nine ministers came together to begin a conversation of the past, present, and future of youth ministry in our fellowship of churches. We think this is a long-overdue discussion and we hope it will stir you to share your comments. Check out the blog on Christian Church Today (www.christianchurchtoday.com).


 

 

Teens matter. It”s often said, “The youth are the church of tomorrow.” That is a mischaracterization. Students who have been baptized and given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit are part of the body of Christ now. It should be said, “Teens are critical to the health of the church.”

That health is at-risk, however, if teens continue to leave the church in large numbers””which is something numerous surveys indicate. A study published by LifeWay Research in May 2007 found that more than two-thirds (70 percent) of young adults who attend a Protestant church for at least a year in high school will stop attending church regularly for at least a year between the ages of 18 and 22.1 Another study suggests that 88 percent of teens raised in evangelical homes leave church at the age of 18, never to return.2

Take a journey with us to explore what”s happening in our churches today. Will we be able to reverse the trend and help teens make a connection to the church that will last beyond their high school years? Our purpose is to offer insight on the integration of teens into the body of believers. Our goal of helping teens become an integral part of the life of a church is vital and attainable””if we are willing to make some important investments in them.

FALSE ASSUMPTIONS

Let”s begin by exposing a few false assumptions about teens in the church.

“¢ It is NOT the music or style of worship that connects students to the church.

In 2004, Carol Lytch conducted a study on the religious lives of high school seniors in Louisville, Kentucky. In her book, Choosing Church: What Makes a Difference for Teens, she offers this conclusion:

Contrary to popular wisdom, the things that grab them (teens) are not young, virile youth ministers, activities that are fun and easy, and a contemporary style of music. It is the deeper, more universal things that congregations offer through a variety of means that attract teens: a sense of belonging, a sense of meaning, and opportunities to develop competence.3

George Barna”s Real Teens concurs, stating that few teens he surveyed even mentioned the charisma of the youth leader or the music as being what they enjoyed most about the youth group and the church.

“¢ It is NOT a lack of desire for meaningful relationships that has caused teens to feel disconnected from adults in the majority of congregations.

A report from the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development found that

significant adult-youth relationships forged in religious youth work had more positive impact on youth development than any other youth ministry delivery system. . . . The presence of an adult guarantor outside the immediate family is especially important for adolescents, who take these friendships as signs of society”s acceptance and appreciation of them and of the gifts they have to offer.4

Teens are hungry for relationships with adults who will take them seriously and will be role models for them. The Search Institute”s “40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents” (ages 12 to 18) states that for a young person to grow into a healthy, caring, and responsible adult, he or she needs support from three or more nonparent adults.5

“¢ It is NOT an entertainment-based ministry that causes teens to respond.

Teens want an experience with the holiness of God. They want to understand Christian commitment. In The Godbearing Life, Kenda Creasy Dean of Princeton Theological Seminary said she thinks the church has sold teens short, tending more to their situations than to their souls. She writes,

Adolescents are looking for a soul-shaking, heart-waking, world-changing God to fall in love with; and if they do not find that God in the Christian Church, they will most certainly settle for lesser gods elsewhere.

Three Essentials

Then what will help teens connect to the church? We believe Carol Lytch is correct when she cites three core essentials teens must experience in the church to remain connected: a sense of belonging, a sense of meaning, and opportunities to develop competence. These three factors will contribute to the likelihood that teens remain in the church through their senior year of high school and are predictors of the students” likelihood to remain connected to the church during college and young adulthood.

To say it another way””if teens do not feel like they are connected and important to the local body of Christ, if they are not encountering the holiness of God, and if they are not given an opportunity to serve and minister with the assembled group of believers, the bleeding in the body will continue, as our best and brightest seek fulfillment elsewhere.

Belonging””A space for youth to call their own in the physical church building is essential in youth ministry. But we”re proposing the church offer and encourage teens with an opportunity to be Youth in Ministry (the pun is intended). We believe students who are given the chance to serve alongside adults who are active in the various areas of the church”s ministry, both vocational and lay leadership, will become servant-leaders in the church and the world.

We”re not promising teens won”t make mistakes; in fact, we think that things will be a bit messier. However, we are asking that the people in pews scoot over and engage in meaningful, mentoring partnerships with teens and youth ministers.

Consider becoming one of the five to seven adults who contribute to a teen”s sense of belonging in your congregation, thereby increasing the chances by 25 percent that the teen won”t drop out of church between the ages of 18 and 22.6

It”s great when teens serve and lead in the youth ministry. But what happens when they graduate high school? Where is the relational tie that binds? Consider teens as partners in helping the lost to find a relationship with our Savior. Model for them a life of worship and the beauty of corporate communion. Help them connect and belong by discipling them in hundreds of practical ways that will prepare them for ministry.

Believing””Teens hunger for spiritual growth, theological knowledge, and an arena for rich spiritual development. They long for authentic spiritual experiences with the holiness of God. (They likely cannot articulate this need but research proves it.)

Therefore, youth ministry really isn”t about ministry to teens but the ministry of teens. It”s about building a relationship with God. It”s about the passion of Jesus Christ. It”s about connecting through the Holy Spirit. It”s about harnessing a teen”s zeal, enthusiasm, and energy and showing him or her how to join God on his mission to the world. All of these things may happen in the youth ministry arena but will be magnified when teens are fully integrated into the entire body of believers.

Teens don”t want to be spectators at church. We must find ways to join together as active participants experiencing the presence of God.

Competency””The teen years can be rich, fertile soil for preparation for church leadership and vocational ministry””or not. Ask the minister(s) on your church staff this question, “How old were you when you felt God”s call to vocational ministry?” The majority will tell you it occurred between the ages of 14 and 18.

The church must invest in and breathe in words of support, encouragement, and challenge to young people. What age group is more passionate, more zealous for a cause than teens?

Teens need safe environments to explore and use their spiritual gifts, to investigate their passions, to serve the world, and to learn how to lead. It”s a basic human desire””to be needed. Teens must be engaged and actively involved in congregational life. They need to know that someone is depending on them to accomplish a task. They should begin to shoulder responsibilities, and their talents and interests should be employed.

If you are concerned by the number of teens who are dropping out of church, begin to explore why they should stay. Who told them they were needed? Who, besides your youth minister, noticed they were missing? Instead of allowing the youth ministry program to serve teens, how about a perspective that sees students as partners in serving the world in the name of Jesus?

It”s a simple concept: youth in ministry will become adults in ministry. Our goal is for the body of Christ to be whole and healthy””a people with a deep abiding faith and an unquenchable desire to be lifelong servant-leaders. We hang around teens so much that their passion for Christ rubs off on us. That”s what we want for you.

________

1“Church Dropouts: How Many Leave Church Between Ages 18-22 and Why?” LifeWay Research, Spring 2007, PowerPoint slide 4.

2 Southern Baptist Convention, Council on Family Life, www.sbcannualmeeting.net/sbc02/newsroom/.

3Carol E. Lytch, Choosing Church: What Makes a Difference for Teens (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 9.

4Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster, The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1998), 83.

5“40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents (ages 12-18),” Search Institute, www.search-institute.org/assets/.

6“Teen Influences on Church Dropouts,” LifeWay Research, Spring 2007, PowerPoint slide 27.


 

 

Curtis Booher serves as assistant professor of Bible and Christian ministries at Milligan College in Tennessee. Prior to teaching, he worked as a youth minister for 20 years. He graduated from Milligan College and earned the MDiv degree from Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, where he is currently working on the DMin degree. He enjoys golf, baseball, Tennessee football, a good movie, and a good book. He speaks frequently at conferences, conventions, retreats, camps, and churches across the country. He also serves with Youth in Ministry and is dean of The Big Picture Teen Conference. He learned the art of storytelling while sitting under a shade tree listening to his grandfather and while trying to talk his way out of trouble as a kid. His favorite roles in life are those of husband and father. He and his wife, Rita, and their two daughters, Abbey and Maggie, live in Elizabethton, Tennessee.



 

 


Phyllis Fox enjoys serving with high school and college students. A member of First Christian Church in Johnson City, Tennessee, she serves with the college ministry as a Sunday school teacher. She is the director of Youth in Ministry (YiM), a partnership of Emmanuel School of Religion and Milligan College. YiM helps students explore their vocational calling and prepares them for lives of servant-leadership. YiM is the producer of The Big Picture Teen Conference and the NACC Teen Convention.

She and her husband, Doug, felt the call to vocational ministry in 1999 when they sold their staffing firm and enrolled in Emmanuel MDiv programs. Phyllis was called to Milligan College to launch Youth in Ministry in 2002.

The Foxes live in Johnson City. Their daughter, Katy, is a sophomore at Milligan College. To learn more about Youth in Ministry and The Big Picture Teen Conference, visit www.youthinministry.org.

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