You’ll have to scroll nearly all the way to the bottom, but Baptist Press’ Culture Digest takes a look at how Time Magazine examined Youth Ministry. 

Time magazine’s recent look at youth ministry in American churches concluded that during the past 20 years or so youth ministers have figured the way to attract teens to their groups was to package biblical content in pop-culture gimmicks. The magazine then identified what it calls a new trend in churches to offer more Bible-based truth than entertainment. 

“As I got into the article, I felt like the author identified correctly that youth ministry needs to have solid doctrinal foundations and teaching but at the same time needs to have a ‘fun’ aspect,” Jackson told Baptist Press. “I believe that the title of [Young Life founder] Jim Rayburn’s book sums it up: ‘It’s a Sin to Bore a Kid with the Gospel.’”

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, gives some thoughts on why this generation’s kids are different than kids in the 80s & 90s.

Now, that is an astounding approach — maybe these kids are hungry for biblical substance and something more than entertainment and pizza. Well, they probably still want the pizza, but they don’t want to waste their time in useless and superficial youth programs. After all, they are swimming upstream against an adolescent culture. In many cases, they are more seriously-minded than their parents. They have to be, because the stakes are higher. 

I am constantly asked a fascinating question by parents: Why are my children more conservative than I? The answer is complex, but when it comes to today’s youth and young adults, the fact is that they have had to think clearly about the genuine options available. They have had to make hard decisions about life, meaning, morality, truth, and significance.

 Others Blogging About It:  ysmarko, blogworship.com, Between Two Worlds, titusonenine