3 types of Youth Groups

Mark Devries writes "Every church I looked at was using one of three distinct models.  I haven't seen a youth program yet that doesn't fit into one of these three categories . . . Either of the first two can be quite effective.  The third is the model used by the majority of churches and almost always results in a sense of frustration and failure."

1.  Fortune 500 / Wal-Mart approach
-This ministry does everything well.  It has many staff members, and costs $1K-2K annually per student.
2.  The Starbucks approach [Remember that Devries is writing in the 90's: since then Starbucks has diversified]
-This ministry does one thing well: choir, youth meetings, Bible studies, missions.  They focus on that one thing.
3.  Comparative confusion / Going out of business sale
Tries to do everything like the fortune 500 approach, but places demands on the youth ministry that are not realistic for the church's budget.  Perpetual frustration and failure ensues.  The standard is what other churches are doing.

He goes on to mention a youth minister who says that frustration comes from people saying "You are doing a great job with our kids" as if it is the minister's job to raise the children.  This minister wasn't even overwhelmed with the "adminis-trivia;" it was the parent's attitude that was difficult.

Guess the Author

One of the main reasons for this is that our churches do not (on the whole) teach ethics.  We are so busy preaching the gospel that we seldom teach the law.  We are also afraid of being branded 'legalists'.  'We are not under the law', we say piously, as if we were free to ignore and even disobey it.  Whereas what Paul meant is that our acceptance before God is not due to our observance of the law.
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John Stott, The Message of 1&2 Thessalonians, 76.

Accommodating Culture

"When religious groups compromise their foundational beliefs in order to coexist with the late sensate culture rather than challenging it or standing against it, they in effect consent to their own liquidation" (Harold O.J. Brown, The Sensate Culture, p. 67).

The Burden of Legalism

A "Snowpacolypse" in NYC has taken down the strings that constitute the local eruv - the boundary hung by orthodox Jews to indicate the boundaries in which one can carry household goods, kleenex, babies, water bottles, pencils, etc.  The eruv is an extension of the  home, essentially saying that "this neighborhood is my home."  However, it has to be marked by this special string upheld by telegraph poles.

Not only are orthodox Jews incorrect in asserting that God doesn't want people to carry their babies on Sabbath, they have added onto the law (like Eve) in such a way that they can't even have a map to indicate where the eruv is.  It HAS to be the string.  If the string falls down, the eruv falls as well.

What a sad state.  To take the Living Word of God and reduce it to a series of laws and strings.  Tragic, tragic.  Oh, that they would be liberated by the blood of Christ!

Didactic worship in the Reformed tradition

One of the threats of Reformed worship is that we turn every element
of worship into a "teaching moment." We explain the Lord's Supper, we
explain baptism, confession, assurance. To we threaten to turn the
entire worship service into one long series of sermons punctuated by
music by our constant explaining, exhorting, and reflecting? Can
worship be, to some degree, self-explanatory?

Jesus Calling?

Description of Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, from amazon.com:

After many years of writing in her prayer journal, missionary Sarah Young decided to "listen" to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever she believed He was saying to her. It was awkward at first, but gradually her journaling changed from monologue to dialogue. She knew her writings were not inspired as Scripture is, but they were helping her grow closer to God. Others were blessed as she shared her writings, until people all over the world were using her messages. They are written from Jesus' point of view, thus the title Jesus Calling. It is Sarah's fervent prayer that our Savior may bless you with His presence and His peace in ever deeper measure.

This book has 160 5-star reviews, 16 4-star reviews, and 1 each of 3, 2 and 1-star reviews.  A simple reminder to me, as a Pastor, how important it is to review basic doctrine: inspiration, Christ's divinity, the physical resurrection, etc.  There can be no more words of Jesus until He speaks them Himself at the last day.  Despite the comment that "her writings were not inspired as Scripture is," there is an implicit idea that they are, in fact, inspired in some way.  This confuses the whole concept of inspiration.  You might read the Bible and be "inspired" to go do a painting, but the inspiration of Scripture means that God was superintending the words of Scripture, something that Sarah Young thinks was happening when she wrote in her journal.