Notes from Parents' Meeting (Part II)

I know that this is new to many of us. We have lived under a different understanding of youth ministry for so long and have so many misconceptions on what it is supposed to do, that we’ve never stopped and asked what the Bible calls us as parents to be and do. But in light of this, we must begin anew. Before we do that, however, I want to take a quick look at two of these misconceptions that have dominated the youth ministry at First Baptist for so long. The first is the Entertainment Issue, and the second is the Safety issue.

The Entertainment Issue is built upon two main ideas: 1) students will not want to come to church if it’s boring and 2) lost people will not want to come to a “serious Bible study.” These ideas are very predominate in today’s Christian society, but are they true? Again we are forced to ask, what does scripture say?

John 13:35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Romans 10:14,15,17 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

How will people know about us? By the love we show one another. Why will people want to be a part of what we’re doing? By seeing our good works. How will lost people come to know Jesus? By the preaching of God’s word. We are to love one another, do good works, and preach. Entertaining people does nothing but, well…entertain them. The biblical model is not one of “Come and Experience” or “Come and See”, the biblical model, from Jesus’ mouth is, “Go and make” or “Go and tell.”

Have people been affected by an entertaining ministry? Again with Baucham, “of course there are anecdotal stories of young people whose lives were changed,” by using these unbiblical methods, “we will always have those stories. The fact of the matter is that God can hit a straight lick with a crooked stick. He can use our feeble efforts and still get His job done. However, the end does not justify the means (Baucham 182).”

God can use anything he wants to accomplish his purposes, but the question for us is, “what is he calling us to do?” Do we want to see results? Yes, of course, but God is in charge of those. We plant and we water, but God does the growing. We do not base our ministry on possible results, we base it on what God calls us to be.

The question therefore is, do we trust God’s word? When scripture says we will be known by our love, do we trust God’s word? When scripture says that people will see our good works and glorify God in heaven, do we think that God is lying? When scripture says that faith comes from hearing the word of God, do we think that God is not powerful enough to use his word to save sinners and therefore need to find something more effective? No. We will do what scripture commands. We will trust God’s word.

Now to The Safety Issue. We live in a dangerous world and we want our children to be safe. I know I don’t want anything bad to happen to Susannah. But are we correct when we say, “I want my child to be safe, so I will send them to a church event,” or “I want my kid off the street away from the evil things of the world, so I’ll send them to church”? I think that society and scripture say a resounding “no.”

You see, the church cannot guarantee safety. Studies show that drug use, profanity, bullying, and violence is just as high in the church as out. And one recent study showed that sexual promiscuity is higher among churched teens than unchurched (http://psalm8611.blogspot.com/). Simply put, the church building and programs are not as safe as we think they are. But are they supposed to be?

Scripture shows again and again that trouble and persecution often follow the church around. Not only are we sinning sinners who are preaching and ministering to sinning sinners, but these sinning sinners often don’t want to preached and ministered to. Why in the world would we think the church is going to be safe? We are torch bearers in a darkened place. We are ambassadors in a hostile, foreign land, working for the release of the prisoners. This is not a safe work. The church is not a safe-haven. If parents want their children to be safe, then they must keep them at home where they control (or at least should) what their kids watch, hear, see, and are influenced by.

With all of this said, let’s now move to what we are going to do. As we said earlier, we are here to assist and help parents. If this is truly our intention, then we will not want to keep you away from your students on a regular basis, we will instead want to put you together as much as possible. Therefore, I am issuing an open invitation: anything the ministry does, whether regular Bible studies or extra events, parents are welcomed and encouraged to attend.

[Editor’s note: during the meeting, I went through a detailed schedule, but I am not going to post that here. Once can be found at the church or by emailing me.]