ever since i moved back to the wonderful coastline of west palm beach, i have come to realize that there is a crucial error in our parts as youth workers. long gone are the days of big youth group nights; having service then packing up 45 students to cart them to the nearest pizza stand is simply no longer reality.
don’t believe me? look at any local starbucks. you will find this generation dressed in darker colors, wearing thick framed glasses with a lofty theological book and a journal. sometimes you even find a sketch pad and some water colors. loneliness is now equivalent to status.
still don’t agree? turn on the disney channel. what are the new movies portraying? kids into the arts rather than team sports. the popular quarterbacks and head cheerleader days are long gone. now is the time to pick up an instrument, record all thoughts into a journal later to be put into a song or to paint the hours away.
so how do we even begin to meet this age where they are at? it takes so much more sacrifice, so much more time on our part. our thinking must totally turn and we must refocus our energies. students are now asking harder questions: why do you believe in predestination? how can a loving God allow my mom to die? if God is sovereign, why should i bother praying? explain to me the concept of the Trinity….and those are only a few highlighted out of an exhaustive list.
but this is so revolutionary. the book of timothy tells us to work out our salvation, and to study the Word to show ourselves approved. the thoughts on God are rapidly changing from the “identity in Christ” generation to the “i must know more” group of students. will culture ever be in a healthy balance of faith and knowledge? how do we, christians, who are called by Jesus to make disciples completely redirect our thinking and meet this culture that is swarming around? is this the brink of a new revolution?????
