craig ferguson

[HT: YS]

I think that Craig is on to something here.

Think of this. How much of your youth ministry is “fun and games” and how much of it is discipling teenagers in their faith? Are we just entertaining in the hopes of slipping the Gospel in? Is this the “bait and switch” Gospel? Or simply put… is your youth ministry contributing to the stupidity of teenagers?

I noticed this a few years back. We’d promo a trip by saying it was a snowboarding weekend, but fail to mention that our real [subversive] purpose was to share Christ. Once I realized how we were packaging our faith (90% fun and 10% Jesus) I repented and changed my ways. Do we still have fun? Absolutely. But am I clear about the focus of what we do? You bettcha.

Ministry for us has changed to something more about pursuing life change and less about events and entertainment. Is it an easy switch? No. Are we still refining the process with? Uh huh. Is it a necessary one? Yes it completely is.

What are your thoughts?