Picking a Fight: SYATP is Stupid! |

Picking a Fight: SYATP is Stupid!

Posted by stuartdelony at 1st October, 2007

meet Picking a Fight: SYATP is Stupid!

Once every year, students from around the world get up early in the morning to stand around the flag pole of their schools to pray. It’s an amazing symbolic event. It encourages and binds together the Christians. It leaves to revival. I wish.

I’m going to go ahead and say it. I think that See You at the Pole is really STUPID!

I’m sorry, call me the youth ministry cynic, but I’ve never really seen the point of this event. I’m glad students can nominally stand for their faith once a year for ten minutes. It shows nothing. It proves nothing. It just makes us feel warm and fuzzy as Christians. “They can pray and stand for my faith on this day,” some may say. “Do they pray any other day?” I say.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men… Matthew 6:5

Did the other students know these youth were a Christian before they stood praying in the morning? If not, then they are not living for Christ and a showy morning of prayer won’t change that. “But God can use this event,” you may say. Yes, but God can use anything. He’s God, that’s why. I could fart and lead someone to Christ. That’s not the point.

We’re teaching our kids to have a shallow and hollow faith. A once a year show means nothing. It takes real courage to live out your faith daily, not on an annual basis. In youth ministry, I’m afraid, we teach our youth that their faith comes in emotional, event size bites, not a step by step journey. I don’t care if they can stand for a morning. I want to see them walk it out for the rest of their lives.

Tell me I wrong…

57 Responses to “Picking a Fight: SYATP is Stupid!”

stuartdelony November 20, 2008

Just keep thinking! That’s the best thing we can all do.

Jim September 4, 2009

Wow. Stepping out a little? If you are saying that we need to do more than stand around a flag pole once a year in order to have God work in our schools. then I agree with you. Daily prayer combined with serving others and balanced Christianity are the real culture changers. Its teens living for Christ in their every-day walk that makes the difference.

If you are saying it is stupid for Christians to pray in public or make an occasional stand in front of others peacefully then I disagree. I was a youth minister for 16years an I can tell you the accounts we received from this event were nothing but positive towards the teens who participated and many times opened the doors for strong relationships between students and the school administration. SYATP was just one thing in many that were done to bless the school. Your use of Matthew 6:5 is a gross example of hyper-contextualization if you are applying to SYATP and the students that participate in it. A 101 class in homiletic study would show this. This scripture was Jesus speaking in reference to religious people, who denied Christ and God’s power. People who claimed a personal knowledge or God and His precepts yet did not practice them. Jesus was addressing a pride issue and a motivation that said, “Look at me, how spiritual I am as I pray well and often.” Jesus Himself prayed in John 11:41-42 in public so people who know he was seeking God and God was doing the great work. If i was to follow your reasoning and scripture example…Jesus was “stupid” in doing this. There are other mentions of public prayer and God’s blessing and approval on it. I could easily go on for quite a while but a simple search online can help you with this.

I do agree we should be private prayers before we become public prayers in that all things spiritual should begin within and then move outward. The millions of kids who will swallow their pride and become a target for discrimination and ridicule in order to pray and make a statement should be encouraged. Their statement is done in boldness and faith not hidden behind an internet blog. I respect your opinion but I respectfully disagree.

stuartdelony September 7, 2009

Jimmy, thanks for the reply.

“This scripture was Jesus speaking in reference to religious people, who denied Christ and God’s power. People who claimed a personal knowledge or God and His precepts yet did not practice them.”

So you’re saying I’m taking the scripture out of context?

Hmmm? Am I?

stuartdelony September 7, 2009

And yes, it’s that time of year again to start the SYAP arguments….

April September 8, 2009