Youth Ministry and church today

It’s been documented already that what we have done in youth ministry has impacted the church.  Pete Ward in his book “Growing Up Evangelical” is all about that reality and he asserts that what we do in church today is what we did in youth groups previously.  So, we set out to visit a church this morning and that reality smacked us in the face constantly from our arrival to our departure. See if you can spot all the youth ministry influences.  (by the way, I’ll not mention the name of the church but some reading this will figure it out)

We pulled into the parking lot and were directed by parking lot volunteers in bright orange vests all the way until we pulled into a spot. It was very much like attending a large event.  I could not help but suspect that intention of having so many parking lot staff was to create exactly that sort of excitement.  We parked and walked up to the building – which is not actually theirs, nor is it a church.  This was one location of a multi-site church. Hundreds of people were filing into the building.  We could not help but notice that we were older than the vast majority of attendees.  That was no surprise. Outside the building were more volunteers greeting people and directing the flow. Speakers were set up outside blaring some classic rock tunes.  That seemed odd to me.  We entered and were directed toward the auditorium.  However, being a bit thirsty, we headed for the fountain near the restrooms which allowed us to not only get a drink of water but to drink in the atmosphere that was created.  Several large displays were set up. One for resources and another I don’t recall but the third one seemed interesting.  It was called “the green room”.  I guessed that was some sort of hospitality spot for visitors or something.  Several doors near the one labelled “auditorium” were marked for various purposes.  One was childcare and another was volunteer hospitality.  Volunteers seemed eager to get us into the “auditorium” which was really a convention center ballroom.  So, we finally entered.  It seemed odd to me as we went in that the music that was blaring was a song by “The Doors”.

Walking into the auditorium our eyes were drawn toward the stage at the front.  The backdrops were designed in the same manner as the cover of the bulletin they handed us at the door.  The sermon series was the inspiration for it.  Sound and lighting was impressive… along the lines of a fairly major rock concert.  Ushers directed us to seats and we were shocked that they were taking us all the way to the front.  We expressed hesitation and ended up a few rows back from the front.  The music was so loud I could feel it thumping in my chest.  Incredible subwoofers!  We sat and waited for the start and the band began the “service” with a song… a secular tune on the theme of love. When that finished the band leader invited us to stand for worship.  The band played a Christian song, not one that I recognized and the words were projected.  Some seemed to sing along. It struck me as sad when the band is so loud that the 600 or 700 people in attendance could not be heard. After the song we had a welcome from the campus pastor which led into a video of sorts and a performance of a worship song.  I say performance because unlike the earlier song, we were not invited to stand and worship together.  So we sat and listened.  This was turning out to be an odd “church” experience.  Next up was the message from the senior pastor via video.  Being a multi-site church, all the campuses (which are geographically very spread out) view the same message via video.

The first ten minutes or so of the message was almost pure stand up comedy.  The pastor related stories and rants all of which had a common thread that he would point out soon.  He was very funny. He then introduced the title of the message after revealing the common thread to what he had been talking about.  “It’s not about me”.  The series they are doing is called “Love Revolution”. The bulletin they handed us had a fill in the blanks outline for us to write in the title and the main points. His message was a skillful blend of humor, practical self help sort of information, and motivational catch phrases.  This guy has a knack for phrasing things in memorable ways.  He delivered his message with Bible in hand and referenced several passages.  In the final minutes of what was a good 45 minutes or so message, he wrapped it up with some piano music playing in the background.  The “service” was over and everyone got up and left. The music blaring on the way out was Jimmy Hendrix. In all, we heard music by “The Doors”, “Led Zepplin”, Hendrix, and other classic rock bands.  We heard two worship songs as well. On the way out, we discovered that “the green room” stand was a welcome spot for visitors.  Those who stopped by and filled out an info card got a free t-shirt.

I think those who have been in and around youth ministry for several decades can see the influence on the way this church operates.  I’ll post my thoughts on it in a few days.  Meanwhile, what do you spot that is likely a direct result of the way youth ministry has been done in America in recent decades?