Preparing Youth?
A short article with some observations on youth ministry and how to help it be more effective, where effective is defined as youth that remain in the faith and in the pew when they go off to college and beyond. Thoughts?
I think his points are more or less on track - though the first of the three is one that doesn't generally click in Lutheran circles. Yes, we want kids who are genuine in their faith. The difficulty is that apart from externals, we don't have a way of knowing this. Only God the Holy Spirit knows that. If we are determined to make sure that a person is converted, we have to fall back onto external actions and words, and this rapidly leads into shallow legalism that ultimately is no better indication of true faith than not knowing at all.
The other two points are key. It is not the duty of the Church to equip & prepare young people in the faith. This is the responsibility of the parents. And grandparents. And aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews and cousins and everyone else. Parents bear the primary responsibility but the entire family plays a role. The Church exists in part to prepare and support and encourage and equip family members for these responsibilities.
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