Teens:  The FUTURE of the Church??

Orginally published on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 at 1:07 PM
by Brian Hennon

Can I help lead a Bible study? That was the question he asked. He was 17-years-old student, excited about his faith and chomping at the bit to help me lead a study on something…ANYTHING. Not being one to discourage a student from actually reading the Bible, I agreed to help him. That is when all heck broke loose. I was a sophomore in Bible College interning at this particular church and was about to have my first battle with a group of parents. We have all run into these kinds of people. They want us to run the youth ministry, but they really don’t want us to LEAD...

These parents were upset that I would be so naïve as to allow a student to lead a Bible study.  They had a list of reasons why this was just not acceptable.  He doesn’t know enough. He’s too young. The Bible is too hard to understand. These were just a few of their arguments.  In the middle of the meeting I had an epiphany of sorts and I scribbled something down on a piece of paper. 

Only three short months before this incident occurred, I was sitting in a room with some of the same parents and church leaders for an informal interview.  They didn’t ask many questions, but instead, made speeches.  Their speeches were full of platitudes and clichés.  Spend any amount of time in church and you will inevitably hear the same things.  We value our youth here. Our youth ministry is very important to us. Then, there was the coup de gras, the granddaddy of all youth ministry catch-phrases, the one thing every adult says which is supposed to prove how important youth are to their church.  THE YOUTH ARE THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH.

The thing I scribbled down was exactly that – with one minor change – a question mark at the end.  What I wrote on that piece of paper that day almost 12 years ago revolutionized my thinking in regard to youth ministry.  Are the youth really the FUTURE of the church?  The answer I came up with is a resounding NO!  Not only is that statement biblically wrong, but it is damaging as well.  Let me explain.

What is the church?  Even more to the point, what is THE Church?  Is it only those who have reached the age of adulthood?  Is it only those who have gone through a membership class and signed a membership covenant?  What makes someone part of the Church?  Is it regular tithing?  Nope.  According to the Bible I read the Church is made up of everyone who has claimed Christ as their Savior.  They have been washed.  They have been sanctified.  They have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).

Teens are not the future of the Church.  They ARE the Church.  They have been washed by the SAME blood.  They have been indwelled by the SAME Spirit and they have been made into a new creation by the SAME Savior.  God does not dispense the Holy Spirit on the basis of age.  He doesn’t “card” us before showing us the meaning of a passage in Scripture.  He doesn’t look at our date of birth before speaking to us.  He doesn’t require ID before convicting us of sin.

So, why do we refer to our children and teens as the future of the Church?  My only guess is that it sounds nice.  It sounds spiritual.  It’s one of those churchy phrases that we know will elicit shouts of AMEN.  It’s most likely also meant to motivate teens to prepare themselves – to take their faith seriously.  I think it does exactly the opposite.  Here’s why:

First, telling teens they are the future of the Church diminishes their perceived importance to the Body.  It teaches them they will be important to the Church, but not now.  It’s like telling a benchwarmer they are important to the team when they know they will never see any playing time.  How can we possibly expect our students to value their faith when we don’t take them seriously?  You may be thinking:  “Whoa!  Hold on a minute.  We don’t take them seriously!?” No, we don’t.  We pander to them and tell them how important they are to us, but like a lab experiment that is not quite ready for its unveiling we consign them to the youth room until they are ready for grown-up stuff. 

Second, telling teens they are the future of the Church diminishes their perceived importance to God.  I am not at all suggesting that teens are not important to God.  What I am suggesting is when we tell them they are the future of the Church, we unwittingly assign a lesser value to them.  We teach them that God is more concerned with the adults.

Finally, when we teach teens they are the future of the Church, we are giving them license to slack off.  We are telling them they don’t have to be ready in season and out.  They can take their faith seriously after they graduate or after they turn 18.  We all know that is far from the truth of Scripture.

The next time a student asks me if he can help lead a Bible study I will give the same answer - yes.  I am certain I will meet with some of the same resistance from adults as well.  The only difference will be that this time I will fight a lot harder to make sure it happens.

The youth in your church are not the future of the church.  They ARE the Church.  Treat them that way.  Challenge them.  Encourage them to serve.  I am not just talking about babysitting for the young married couple’s Valentine banquet or doing things the adults don’t want to do.  Let them exercise their gifts.  Let them show you what they can do.  You will be surprised.

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Brian Hennon currently serves as the Student Ministries Pastor at Living Water Community Church in Harrisburg, PA. He can be reached at .

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