Youth Ministry has been a constant concern for those servants who help serve youth in all churches. Fr. John Peck, in this blog entry (link at the bottom), looks at this failed experiment of youth ministry and what this failure is based on. By feeding our kids milk and never challenging them to eat solid foods we begin to lose many kids as they begin to un-church themselves at a young age. How does the church try to bring kids back? One point Fr. John makes is that the church begins to install multimedia forums within the church or even at some churches sets up food stores. Church then has ceased being a church but instead has become a place of attraction. As this model is pushed on the kids, defining what the church is, kids slowly begin to forget all together what the church really means. Once kids see that church is nothing more than presentations, activities, a place to buy food, and the list goes on, kids will realize that all of this stuff can be "purchased" at the comfort of there own homes. Kids begin cutting out the middle man and they begin to "do it themselves" because the failed experiment has redefined the meaning of the church in our modern age. These concepts of multimedia and other "attractions" that the church tries to bring into the church are a means to attract kids but what that really creates is an environment of individualism, nationalism and dare I say capitalism? Of course, these concepts are foreign to our liturgical theology.
Solution? Well to come up with a "solution", using that word a bit loosely at this post, is to first establish what the church is? The church, on the pedestrian level, is of course an eternal entity that Christ established for us through his incarnation, death and resurrection. This we know for a fact because Christ final words to humanity when He was dying on the cross was to behold the church and to take care of it based on His sacrifice. "Mother behold thy son, son behold thy Mother" (Mother being church son being the entire world). We are made to behold this glory within the church. The church then as a definition and solution is based on the liturgical participation of the entire community in the body of Christ. The church is what Christ established since the beginning of time. How then can we bring in aspects within the church that are agents of time and will return to the the ground where they came from? Of course we cannot incorporate anything of the world into the church. Rather the opposite is true that we take the church and bring it into the life of the world. This is why we are called to live out a liturgical and prayer life in the world and not the opposite way around. Bringing the world into the church reduced the beauty and participation of the community in liturgy and prayer. Now I am not saying things in the world are bad. Actually I am saying quite the opposite in that all creation is good because it is made by God. If then it is made by God and it is good then all humanity needs to be engaged with creation in the life of the world. However, as liturgical beings we need to be aware that the church stands outside of time and if the church stands outside of time then the church is not of this world. The church not being of this world means nothing from the world can offer the church beauty and depth in the liturgical participation of the community. The youth are engaged in the world.
Why has it become a "solution" to give them the world in the church when they already have the world in all other aspects of there life. We need to offer Christ to our youth in order to see that to live the life in the world is based not of things of the world but rather to live out the liturgical and prayer life in the world. Once we teach our kids and show them that Christ is our starting point then ministry wont be a failure but rather Christ will be made present all in all. Kid are leaving the church because the Church has stopped becoming the source of life for them. The church needs to be what it was always meant to be-the source for the life in the world. Community, participation, and becoming one with God is incorporated in the life of the church which culminates in the body of Christ. An excellent book that describes the different titles of Christ is a book written by the late Father Matthew the Poor, the abbot of St. Macarius Monastery in Wadi-el-Natrun. The Titles of Christ (picture below) is a good resource talking about Christ and the different titles of Christ. This is a good starting to understanding the different titles of Christ.
"The church's only role is to present to you Jesus the savior to get to know Him, to offer His person through the bible and the sacraments..through liturgies and heritages. Its aim is to acquaint you with Jesus in love. And, its mission starts and ends at this specific point. However, your role is to get to know Jesus on a personal base through out all the sacraments. Your worship has to be out of love, your love has to be opened out of faith and your faith has to be through the knowledge of whom you worship.....Thus, the church brings about Jesus as John the Baptist introduced Him to the people, a slaughtered lamb: slaughtered out of love to you in particular to redeem you from your sins." Fr. Matthew the poor.
The following is the link to Father John Peck article:
http://frjohnpeck.com/youth-ministry-the-50-year-failed-experiment/
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