Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

9 August, 2005   comments: (0) Today's Pragmatism   Attracting Modern Youth With Spiritual Junk Food It was Easter week several years ago, in the Seeker Sensitive church that I used to attend. I decided to stop in at the mid-week youth outreach event that our church was offering. Our youth pastor called it "Ugly Easter", and if we were to determine the success of an evangelism method by a head-count, then this popular event seemed to be fruitful. Although I was accustomed to what I thought were "progressive" evangelism techniques at the time, nothing prepared me for what I experienced at Ugly Easter. It was a multi-media drama that was much closer to a rock concert than church. Our church had just installed a powerful new sound system in it's auditorium, and Ugly Easter seemed to test the very limits of it's capabilities. In between the "teen-relevant" skits being acted-out by our youth group kids, photos of Christ being tortured on the cross were displayed on the large overhead screen at the front of the church. The violence of these pictures was emotionally bolstered with acid-rock music blaring at near ear-bleeding levels. I remember distinctly, the fixtures on the walls vibrating with every beat of the music. Sure, these youth outreach methods really draw in the kids, using methods that they can relate to, but is it right to use worldly and fleshly "bait" to entice people towards the kingdom of God? An expert in this area is Kathy Mickels, author of the book Spiritual Junkfood and a shocking website by the same name. Kathy believes that modern church youth groups are moving away from sound doctrine. She feels there's been an abandonment of truth that undermines authority, particularly the authority of the Word of God, in exchange for creating an "experience" for youth. On today's CrossTalk program on WVCY, Ingrid Schlueter interviewed Kathy Mickels on the trends we're seeing in modern youth groups. This radio show is archived on the CrossTalk website, and you can listen to it online for free, by CLICKING HERE. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.19   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism