Well, They Are Teenagers...

While it may be appropriate to tell the story but change names to protect the innocent (or guilty?), the story is not really important. If you've worked or volunteered in youth ministry long enough, you've heard it before: such-and-such about teenagers "being disrespectful."

In youth ministry we have also made excuses for teenagers, as I did in this situation, with the unacceptable: "Well, they are teenagers." While it is true that teenagers are still developing physically, emotionally, cognitively, socially, spiritually, and so on my reaction--our reaction--is more of a disservice to our young people than anything else.

It's really well past time to stop making excuses for teens and raising the bar of expectation. At the same time followers of Christ are to be a people of grace and we are in the business of encouraging and helping young disciples to grow with God. Hence the reason we want to hold them accountable to higher expectations also with love and kindness.

Young people after all have a way of living up to the expectations placed on them--for good or for bad! So my challenge to young readers of this blog is the challenge of Paul to young pastors like Timothy. "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity (1 Timothy 4:12)."

Talk about big expectations! We and society have so lowered the bar that much of the church can hardly imagine what it would look like if the younger generation were an example to the older generation. In one church I served I was encouraged by a Jr. High guy who enjoyed a particular worship experience but was discouraged by his added comment: "But it was kind of awkward with all the old people."

We've come a long way from youth leading the older generations to this. The answer might be, to coin a phrase, to continue to strive for the "dis-compartmentalization" of youth ministry or the end of the inadvertent one-eared Mickey Mouse paradigm where the youth ministry is off doing their own thing only somewhat connected to the larger church body.

I've noted this before but I'll continue to note... that as much as the people would like to see youth more involved in the life of the church, the church must also strive to be more involved in the life of youth.