Gospel Geeks

A Response to Divided: The Film & Family Integration (Part 1).

Amateur filmmaker Philip LeClerc noticed a disturbing trend among his peers: they are leaving the church in droves. In order to discover whether this was the fault of the church, the parents, or the youth themselves, he set out on a journey to find answers. Thus Divided: the movie was born.

gospelgeeks

The main idea of the film is that contemporary youth ministry is not Biblical. Youth ministry programs not only separate youth from adults, they influence parents to abdicate their responsibility as the primary Biblical educator of their children. The result is a generation of teens who were nursed with flashy programs, shallow Bible studies, and no real adult instruction.

Divided: The Movie raises some questions that desperately need answers. All the statistics show that our older teens are leaving the church en masse. Can this exodus truly be traced to the simple division of youth and adults in church?

This is not a new issue. The front cover of the July-August 1995 issue if Group Magazine boldly declared “Abolish Youth Ministry!” The article is an interview of then, 20 year youth ministry veteran, Ben Freudenburg. Here are some of his comments:

…the reason we have to change is that the church’s outreach to teenagers isn’t working. If we continue to do youth ministry the way we’ve done it in the past we are going to continue to see a failure rate rather than a success rate.”
“What I see youth ministers often doing, and we’ve trained them well to do, is say to parents: “Bring your kids to church and I’ll teach them the faith, and I’ll encourage their Christ-like living. I’ll shape their values. I’ll teach them how to be servants. I’ll teach them how to witness. I’ll help them to be in Bible study. I’ll provide prayer groups for them. You just bring ’em.

Ben Freudenburg now heads a family friendly ministry whose goal is to train parents to partner with the church in faith and family formation to the third and fourth generation.

See his website: http://www.familyfriendlypn.com

Divided: The Movie doesn’t break new ground. It raises questions that were raised by Group Magazine in 1995: why is youth ministry not working? Our industry definitely needs some self-evaluation. I don’t think the solution, however, is simply to eradicate youth ministry or to shut down any age divided program. Even Ben Freudenburg said: “I don’t believe youth ministry should be abolished. Rather, the way we do youth ministry does need to change.”

Like most issues, the problem is infinitely complex; and causation is difficult to ascertain. Rather then lumping the blame on youth ministry, I think we can trace the exodus to five core issues.

First, there is the Christian family issue. It was addressed at length in the Divided: The Movie. It is true that according to the Shema, the father and mother are the primary parties in charge of educating their children. It is also generally true that Christian parents are not actively teaching their kids the scripture. Outside of perhaps a dinnertime prayer, parents are not praying with their kids. Outside of church attendance, parents are not incorporating spiritual disciplines into the life of the family. Divided: The Movie is right that this is problematic.

There is a second problem. It is the Non-Christian family issue. Most youth groups are reaching youth whose parents are absent, indifferent, and not of the faith. Of course these parents are not going to be educating their children in the faith when they, themselves, don’t believe.

This was why Sunday school was created in the first place. It was an attempt to educate the children whose parents had abdicated this critical responsibility. The fact that a church has youth whose parents are not teaching them is good thing. It means that the aforementioned church is fulfilling the Great Commission by reaching the fatherless. Nonetheless, these motherless and fatherless teens do not have family role models and are statistically at a high risk of dropping out.

The third issue is an industry issue. For good or for evil, American ministry is deeply intertwined with ministerial vocation. That is, churches are hiring people to work with teens, and people are looking for jobs working with teens. The vocational side of youth ministry presents some challenges that contribute to our problem.

Unfortunately, youth ministry is sometimes viewed as the intro job into real ministry. It’s where people start. There is an unwritten belief that no one of quality would want to actually stay in youth ministry. As a young prospective minister, you do your time, gain some experience, and then move into a real job. I do not agree with this sentiment, but the industry makes it very clear. Just about every pastor I’ve ever met made his beginning in youth ministry. The majority of youth ministry positions are part-time. If they are full time, they are usually lower in pay (and in respect) than, say, the minister of music or education. I’ve even known experienced youth pastors in their fifties who were fired because the governing body decided they were too old!

This upside down industry practice does two things: One, it insures that there will be a high turnover rate for youth leaders. Two, there will always be a lack of quality people running our youth ministries. The statistics tend to vary on this issue, but the average youth pastor stays at a church for somewhere between nine and eighteen months. As many of you know, very little can be accomplished in that amount of time. Short term ministry yields little fruit.

I am not suggesting that youth ministers lack quality. I am only suggesting that quality people do not stay in positions where they are not paid enough to feed their families. I am suggesting that quality people don’t stay in positions when they know they are going to be let go at the first sign of a gray hair because they supposedly can’t relate to the teens.

The bottom line is that the very teenagers about whom we are so concerned are being led by a group of underpaid, under-respected group of ministers-in-training who will not stay for more than a year. This is certainly contributing to the problem.

The fourth issue is a ministry culture issue. Churches tend to create two churches with two cultures. In youth ministry circles, a church’s main service is often referred to as ‘Big church.’ Big church has a particular order, a particular style of music, and a particular culture about it.

In attempts to better reach young people, the typical Wednesday night youth program is clearly different from the Big Church. It also has a particular order, a particular style of music, and a particular culture about it.

What churches do, then, is create two very different ministry cultures that rarely interact. There is a demographic wall of separation. It’s almost like having two churches that meet in the same building.

asdq

Consider the case of a particular high school senior who was brought up in the youth program. His parents aren’t believers so he doesn’t get Biblical role models from home. He is not necessarily comfortable with church culture, because it was not part of his upbringing. He’s not accustomed to the formal dress, and the style of music is nothing like the music on the radio. Even the way the pastor speaks is of a different culture. But that’s okay, because the youth ministry is tailored to him.

In the youth program he gets to worship God with songs that sound similar to what he listens to during the week. The environment is up to date. They sit in chairs, not pews and are guided with projector presentations, skits, and cutting edge videos. He hears sermons from a person who can speak teen lingo, but who also limits religio-speak. In short, the culture of the ministry fits him perfectly. He learns, worships, fellowships, and becomes more like Christ. Then he graduates.

Most churches do not have a strong collegiate ministry nor do they staff for it. So what is he supposed to do now? The expectation is that he moves up to ‘Big church.’ Of course he had been reluctantly going to big church for all of these years, but they had a great youth Sunday school program and all of his friends were with him. Maybe the church even had a separate youth service. Nonetheless, although many of his friends have gone off to college, his only option is to attend the under-funded and comparatively smaller college Sunday school class and attend a service that is of a completely different culture. Moreover, the service is stacked with people who are, for all intensive purposes, strangers. At the end of the story, he will be one of the eighty percent of youth who leave the church during the first year of college.

The last issue is a developmental issue. Even if our churches skirted the edge of perfection in how it reached teenagers, many high school graduates would still leave the church. Why? Because of normal developmental issues associated with the coming of age.

This is a season of testing for them. No matter how well we train them or how strong our programs, they are going to quickly be confronted with an avalanche of new ideas, new temptations, and new worldviews. Although some of these same temptations existed during high school, there were, in most cases, structures and boundaries that made it easier for them to choose the right path.

When they go off to college, it will be the first time that they have adult freedom and low levels of accountability. This time is the ultimate test of their faith and some will fail.

Divided: The Movie, while bringing to light a much needed discussion, provides limited answers.  I agree that there must be some changes in the way we practice youth ministry, but this film is an overreaction to the problem. Simply tearing down every wall of separation is not the solution.

In the next post, I will propose some solutions that are more balanced and workable.

Here’s the film’s official website: http://www.dividedthemovie.com/

You can also watch the film here:

9 thoughts on “A Response to Divided: The Film & Family Integration (Part 1).”

  1. Pingback: A Response to Divided: The Film & Family Integration (Part 2) - Gospel Geeks

  2. Ted will try to operate over and seize a fireplace axe for that battle and he’ll utilize it usually in the event you permit
    them reach it.

  3. I feel this is one of the most important information for me.
    And i am happy studying your article. However should remark on few
    normal issues, The web site style is wonderful, the articles is really nice :
    D. Just right task, cheers

  4. Thank you, I have recently been searching for info about this topic for a while
    and yours is the best I have found out so far. However,
    what concerning the bottom line? Are you certain concerning
    the source?

  5. I’ve been exploring for a little bit for any high-quality articles or blog posts in this kind of space .
    Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this web site.

    Studying this info So i am glad to convey that I have an incredibly just right uncanny feeling I came upon exactly what
    I needed. I such a lot undoubtedly will make certain to do not fail to remember this website and provides it a
    glance regularly.

  6. For those of you who like to play gambling of course, if
    you usually are looking for partners within gambling activities, Mabosbet
    is the right choice. Mabosbetransfer You can contact the customer service and make transactions with us.
    Mabosbet livechat is available 24 several hours
    nonstop and is ready to serve you that help you online with betting.

    Mabosbet. com as a new responsible gambling agent, all
    of us always provide an option link to mabosbet to ensure members feel comfortable.

    You no longer need to have trouble obtaining
    an alternative Jababbet link with regard to access, it is already
    available for you.

    We also always give priority to the safety regarding our members, very strict protecting all the privacy regarding members of Jababbet.

    Reliable Mabosbet From 2010

    Together with good praise, the services from
    the Headquarters will be no doubt. Friendly, quickly response, under 3 minutes.

    Mabosbet is highly appreciated by gambling bettors through
    Indonesia because whatever success you get will be recognized by mabosvip.
    We usually want to provide typically the great for members
    with optimum service. The site mabosmail. com can also be very simple to access, as you only require internet access and alternate
    links mabosvip, no need to use proxies, news letters, or troublesome applications.

    Of which is why many folks join mabosbola and create deposits, then, win typically
    the match. The best in addition to quality alternative mabosbola alternative site.

    Come join mabosbet. com the trusted on the internet gambling agent in Dalam negri.
    Contact livechat mabosbet now in the lower correct corner to get
    the user ID. Welcome to the club.

    MABOSBET is a Trusted Online Wagering Site that has been established for more compared
    to 9 years with the particular biggest quantity of online gambling players.
    This gambling web site also provides the most satisfactory online gambling
    game with the most popular betting providers in Indonesia.
    On the internet Gambling Games that could be played at MABOSBET are Sportsbook Soccer Gambling,
    Live Casino, On-line poker Credit card Gambling, Online Slot Wagering and Online Togel.
    Mabosbet itself has provided a variety of excellent facilities
    for gambling online players in Indonesia ranging from 24-hour
    Live Chat Assistance, Bonuses with the least
    difficult conditions, additional wins for True Gambling Players.

    This specific MABOSBET Gambling Site also proves to get very
    reliable, while this Gambling Site can also pay regarding
    any winning player without the deductions. So you will play
    gambling comfortably plus safely without anxiety about spending.
    In addition to the definite win at MABOSBET, you will also provide additional bonuses to provide a different experience actively playing online gambling.

    JOBI BASKETBALL OFFICIAL SBOBET ONLINE WITHIN INDONESIA
    Online Soccer Wagering has become a extremely popular online gambling game within Indonesia where every game
    has a market with regard to betting. MABOSBET is now a great official partner of SGD777 Indonesia, where more than 7 years has provided
    soccer gambling games for wagering players in Indonesia.
    This specific SBOBET Soccer Gambling Industry allows a reasonable where gamers will actually be
    provided a new live market through the official match directly.
    Which means you will certainly be very lucky in order to play SBOBET in this
    particular MABOSBET.

    RELIABLE ONLINE SLOT MACHINE SITE SITE WITH MANY PROFITS
    Online slot gambling is usually currently popular in Dalam negri, where online slots are extremely lucrative
    with huge jackpots and freespins that are simple to win. Because of that this MABOSBET very first provided Online Slot Online games
    from 2012 for wagering players in Indonesia. Exactly where Jackpot is provided more than USD $ just one,
    000, 000 for slot players who register in MABOSBET.
    The Slot Sport machine at MABOSBET doesn’t just use your Balance,
    the Slot Game provides been built with the FREESPIN
    Bonus that comes out more often, so an individual will probably be Fortunately.

  7. Daftar Situs Judi Online Terbaik in Philippines
    Situsalternatif are a collection of provides of the finest
    online gambling sites from all popular bookies / providers in Indonesia.
    Home elevators online gambling internet sites listed on this page
    is always altering, because we simply provide sites that will get good reviews.
    Each site gives some informative about the games accessible, deposit transaction alternatives,
    and alternative hyperlinks.

    Collection of Situs Alternatif and Daftar Judi Online Terbaik
    Enjoying on gambling websites is not completely smooth,
    one of the problems frequently experienced by players will
    be difficulty accessing typically the site where
    you can play due to site blocking. Therefore, the choice Site collects alternate links here which are extremely useful to be able to help gamblers to easily login in addition to daftar judi online.
    In addition, you avoid need to be worried about the link alternatif judi that we provide,
    obviously you can access this easily and for free.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.