During a shift from the modern world to what many call a postmodern world, ministers who lead younger flocks are finding more reason to change their approach to youth ministry.
With students walking away from the church in droves, youth ministry is no longer viewed as just fun and games. Rather, it's a serious time in ministry where high levels of creativity and innovation kick in, says author and sought-after speaker Brian McLaren.
Thousands of youth leaders have converged in the Chicago area for the Shift 2008 conference, hosted by the Willow Creek Association (WCA). Conference organizers desire to help "shift" the future of youth ministries and bring an end to youth ministries' ineffectiveness in spiritually transforming students.
"By the early and mid 90s, it was clear that there was some kind of a shift going on," said McLaren in an interview with WCA. "Different kinds of questions were being asked, [and there were] different kinds of doubts, different kinds of obstacles. And the better job we did at understanding the people who are from this culture ... the bigger the struggle was with a lot of our longtime church people."
Recent studies have shown that more than two thirds of young adults drop out of the church. In addition to the church losing its younger flocks, many are discontent and view the church more negatively than in years past.
McLaren sees a "tide of discontent" rising around the world. Seekers and the unchurched are finding a political agenda, social conservativism and fear of people with problems when they attend a church service, McLaren pointed out. And while they have deep concern for social justice and poverty, they find a completely different agenda of religious arguments in the church, he added.
"To a lot of unchurched young adults, they (religious arguments) seem kind of trivial compared to these life and death issues of HIV/AIDS, poverty, war, and environmental destruction," he commented. "It's that kind of disconnect that really is causing pain for a lot of us."
The disconnect was apparent even three decades ago.
During McLaren's time as a volunteer youth leader in the 1970s, his youth group listed contemporary worship music, the charismatic movement, and jeans in church as major issues in their churches. When naming issues that were important to them and their friends, however, the group listed global concerns including nuclear war, famine and overpopulation.
"There was nothing in common with those two lists," he told youth leaders on Wednesday.
Challenging the audience, McLaren asked if their church regularly addresses issues that are of most concern to their students.
Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church and a featured speaker at the April 9-11 conference, hopes it will be uncomfortable for the youth leaders at first to hear what many people think about Christians and the Church.
While many young people have great admiration for the person of Jesus, they're quickly turned off when the Church is mentioned. A Barna study in 2007 found that the majority of young non-Christians perceive present-day Christianity as judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned and too involved in politics.
But Kimball, author of They Like Jesus but Not the Church, still hopes ministers of this young generation will gain a sense of optimism, knowing that most of those perceptions are not true.
And it provides an opportunity to "truly go out in the world like Jesus sent us to as a youth leader," he said.
Youth leaders stand at a critical period in ministry when teens' minds are opening up and temptations are growing larger, as McLaren stated. So to Kimball, youth leaders are heroes and pioneers that change the future of churches.
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I agree with Valkyrie1966 “What is the world is the heretic Brian doing at Willow Creek?” This is an outrage!
Why are youth leaving the church you ask? I’ll tell you why. They are tired of fake Christians and so am I. They are Pharisee’s and Sadducees of our day. They create their own spiritual laws and do not believe in nor involve God’s power in directing their life.
As outreach director of our youth ministry but most importantly as a disciple of Christ Jesus, a minister cannot lead anyone any place that they have never been. God expects His body to not only act like it but also BE His body on the earth. Politics and gimmicks are not necessary. Humanism and psychology never gave world new holy nature or abundant life, so why is the "Church" using it as teaching principles? There is NO backdoor approach into God's kingdom were the secretly self-absorbed may have their way. Christians need to be the real thing and allow Jesus to live His life through them. God has no mavericks in His kingdom. You cannot live outside a King's will, dominion and government then expect His favor and Him to just go along with your own plans. If God got on his people Israel about their compromise, how much will he deal with those one-on-one who are really His and who are suppose to be members of His own body. We all from time to time need to examine ourselves to see if "we be of the faith." Don't disqualify yourself by displaced faith. We call maverick cells in human body (which do their own thing) cancer, and God has a way of dividing his sheep (who follow Him) from goats (who subbornly butt against His will). Whose side are we on?
The contemporary church has replaced the power of God in demonstration of signs and wonders with sport and entertainment. Where are the people who have not bowed their knee to Baal? Christian, get back in the prayer room, get back to sacrificial love, go back to the place of intimacy and worship unto the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Holy Spirit of God that brings conviction of sin, righteousness, and of a judgment to come. We of all people should not be resisting His work of making us holy daily. Revival starts with the individual before it reaches a multitude. Without to resurrection life of Jesus Christ we are an empty shell and spiritually dead, cut off from the God and His Kingdom. The sin and heresy of the nicolaitans found in Revelations 2:6, was that they considered Jesus merely savior of sin, but not Lord to rule over us from within. Their Gnostic worldview allowed the early church to look more like the world even as it does today. If there is no cry or hunger after God and His righteousness, now is the best time to begin. For more information…
The Gospel of the Kingdom === >>
http://evolutionfacts.blogspot.com/#the_message_that_we_were_born_to_hear
What's at issue here is McLaren's (and others) Dominionism mindset that says Christians should focus on "making the world a better place".
The Bible doesn't teach that anywhere. It does teach to spread the gospel to every nation, tribe and tongue and to make disciples of men.
It's misguided to think that somehow by being more "caring" about social and environmental issues that somehow we're going to avert this world's downward spiral. It's a clever rabbit trail that the Deceiver is leading people down - distracting them from what should be their primary mission.
The Bible teaches Christ's return for his saints and and the horrors of the end times Tribulation. It doesn't say "mankind is going to create,for himself, a utopia through loving the creation."
Rom 1:21-22,25 "...when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,...
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."
When Paul was in prison - he didn't advocate for 'social justice'. He continued in spreading the gospel, even unto death.
In Mark 14:7 Jesus said "For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good..."
He didn't say that by "being more charitable, together, we can stamp out poverty".
Now then - can we focus on the Great Commission and less on touchy-feely, "efforts-that-make-me-feel-better-about-myself-as-a-person" timewasters?
coffee, I can't figure out what you are trying to say.
The gospel, the real one, not the one Mclaren preaches, will save, if only we believe it enough to speak it without compromise. The kids who the Holy Spirit is calling through the gospel will believe, and the others will go on and leave, or at least NOT believe.
Having misguided or out of priority concerns is a sign of immaturity at best, and lack of love of the truth *(e.g. those who are saved will love the truth) at worst.
If young people come into our churches with "concerns" that we don't like, how do we make them forget all of them and take up the traditional fundamentalist ones: abortion, homosexual lifestyle, etc?? Would their "misguided "concerns show that they're not really saved? And if they were, they would shrug off all of those other issues?
Mat 18:6-7 "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!"
One shudders to think of the judgment in store for one such as Mr. McLaren who spreads a false gospel. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Gasoline!
http://poleblog.polemos.net/2007/01/gasoline_04.html
Mr. McLaren has revealed his heretical beliefs as Valkyrie has correctly noted.
What we are witnessing now is the emergence of the true beliefs of Bill Hybels and his followers.
This is not just a blip on the radar. The Willow Creek Association is a network of over 12,000 churches!
Is your church a member?
Find out now:
https://www.willowcreek.com/wca_info/find_a_church/ProfileSearch.asp
Brian McLaren is a heretic who teaches that there is no literal hell and he teaches against the penal substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. What was he doing at Willow Creek? That's the real issue here. Willow Creek was warned and responded that it didn't matter. Did you get that. It didn't matter. No hell below us.....Just like the Beatles' song.