Raising the Bar

At his weblog, Ben Witherington asks, “Where Are our Evangelical Youth Going? He comments on the widely-circulated warning that so many churchgoing teens will drop out of church by the time of adulthood that only four percent will be Bible-believing Christians in adulthood.

Now, not everyone agrees with that dire warning. See comments at Weblog at ChristianityToday.com and the Austin-American Statesman coverage of a recent national youth leaders conference held here in Austin. Still, Witherington has some important comments.

He challenges leaders of student ministries to raise the bar and raise the passion level. He writes:

Here's a simple truth--- God's Word does not wear out or fail. It doesn't have built in obsolescence like pop culture. So here's my formula of the day--the less Biblical substance to a Christian pop event, song, etc. the less likely it
will have any staying power.

In addition, leaders of student ministries need to live the message and not just teach it. They need to experience worship and not just lead it. He writes:

And here's another other factor. You need to draw your water from a deep well. By this I mean that a Christian musician, minister etc. needs to have a deep and abiding relationship with the Lord and deep and profound grounding in God's Word and in God's community. If you try to proclaim something that has not first catalyzed your own soul and spiritual life, it will ring hollow, rather than true.

In short, Witherington calls on youth leaders to give students “a close encounter . . . with the Word of God Incarnate, and the Word of God written, and the Word of God incarnated in his community.”

Good stuff. I’m grateful that Jim Siegel and his youth leadership team do that very thing at Hillcrest. It’s a formula worth following not just in youth ministry but in our outreach to every age group in our community.