Youth Worker Blog .com

The Matrix

Go into any room of Christians and ask how many of them were discipled and I prove my point.

Somewhere in the history of our faith, discipleship died.  Actually, it got eunuched -- and so did we. What's left is a pabulum Bible lesson in a nicely decorated living room followed by a plate of brownies.  It's yummy, but you have to check your manhood at the door.

How did this happen?  How did the most dangerous revolutionary known to man have his agenda hijacked by church ladies?

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Comfortably Numb

In case no one's asked you a provocative question lately, I've got four of them for you.  Take your pick:

• When was the last time you did something for the first time?
• Do you care more about other people’s expectations or what’s right?
• Have you paid attention to your dreams and followed them at a great cost?
• What is the rut that is you?

It used to be that survival was an issue.  In prior generations, you got a job because if you didn’t, starvation was an option.  Now, food takes up just 6% of the average person’s budget.  We have the luxury of following our dreams because failure has little downside.  We’re not going to starve.  The only thing at stake is our destiny.

But we’re groomed to be timid, risk-averse souls.  We’re anesthetized, made numb to a world of possibilities.  Here’s the typical 5-step process that a would-be world changer follows:

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Answers for Youth Pastors in Recovery

The average youth worker got into the field because he or she wanted to disciple young people.  But something happened along the way.  The youth pastor embraced a flawed model of discipleship, and so, charted a course to ineffectual ministry and ultimate burnout. 

That doesn’t mean that many youth pastors aren’t successful; it’s just that the most prevalent model of youth ministry sets youth pastors up for failure.  They are trapped by expectations, calendars, and a risk-averse evangelical culture which embraces a theologically sanitized, politically correct version of Jesus.  A Jesus who would never take on religious authorities, much less try to cast out a demon or raise somebody from the dead.

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