By Mark LaVoie

The following questions are intended only to stimulate thought on the role and design of youth ministry in the local church:  

• Why, when we consider the spiritual education of the children of the church, do we typically think first (if not solely) of the church’s Sunday school teachers (as opposed to the fathers or parents of these children)?

• Whose is the primary responsibility for the nurturing and training of the children? Is it the youth pastor’s? Are we providing a facility for the abdication of parental responsibility? Do we expect what we ought from the parents?

• What is the standard of acceptable behavior for children and teens? Do we expect what we ought from these? Have we underestimated our children’s capacity for spiritual and social maturity? Are we breeding maturity or immaturity?

• Are we providing the best environment for spiritual growth when we separate the young people according to maturity level? Would we dream of doing the same among adults? What is the eventual outcome of such segregation/isolation? Are such divisions in the church biblically supportable?

• Where, in the apostle Paul’s model of the body, do we find support for isolating the church’s youth? Do we recognize the born again among our young people to be our brothers and sisters in Christ? Do the “one anothers” in Scripture extend to them?

• Is the typical extroverted youth leader the best model (cf. Phil. 3:17) for our youth? Whom do we desire our children to emulate? Do we provide ample opportunity for our children to learn from and associate with their elders?

• Is rebellion throughout the teen years inevitable? Is this truly youth’s destiny? Again, what do we expect from our teens? Do we expect godliness, respect, discretion, faithfulness, and honor? Or have we capitulated to the sins of youth?

• If a subculture has developed among our youth (with their own distinctive music, dress, hairstyle, language, attitude, etiquette, etc.), what means have served to cultivate it? If a “peer orientation” is present, has the church contributed? When the youth congregate, is greater godliness the outcome?

• What serious efforts are underway to equip fathers to fulfill their God-given responsibilities? Are we truly serious about youth if we’ve neglected the fathers? Are these not the church’s actual full-time “youth ministers”?

• Are we primarily advocating fun, enjoyment, and adventure, or Christ-like character? Are we cultivating sharp, Christian minds and responsible youth, or are we providing a mere outlet for youthful lusts (2 Tim. 2:22)? Do we play up amusements and entertainment, or doctrinal clarity, sound instruction, sober-mindedness, and godly wisdom?

• Are the church’s efforts truly strengthening the home? Are we encouraging our youth to pay heed to their mothers and fathers (Prov. 1:8), or have we substituted another (e.g., the church’s Sunday school teacher or youth leader) in their place?

• What means are we employing to motivate/stimulate our youth? Do our methods reflect a love for the world (1 Jhn 2:15-16) or our place as aliens within it (1 Pet. 2:11)? Are we appealing to the lusts of the flesh, or are we promoting a war against the flesh?