Posts Tagged ‘Entertainment’

Lex has got to be one of the coolest student ministry leaders I know. If I could trade all my youth ministry skills for someone else’s, I would trade with Lex.

Talking about entertainment in youth ministry, she recently commented that she has to constantly remind herself, “I’m not running a Chuck E Cheese… I’m not running a Chuck E Cheese….”

Why?

Because youth pastors are “so constantly bombarded with entertainment-based images and stories that even though we may KNOW it’s not the best way to go, it’s hard to maintain that conviction.”

Why do we want to give into that tendency to entertain first and disciple second? (Which can easily turn into entertain often and disciple rarely.) Is it possible that there’s something deeper going on inside us as leaders?

There is a rational reason to try to draw kids in with some excitement. Once we get them in the door we can throw them a curve ball–Jesus! Religion! Bet you never saw that coming! The ol’ bait ‘n’ switch, right?

What if there is an insecurity inside us about the size of our youth group? Is it possible that we’re afraid of what will happen if we stop entertaining? Will we feel like failures if our youth groups stop growing, or even shrink, because we played fewer games and spent more time talking about deep, rich spiritual truths?

I’ll admit that the thought definitely crosses my mind.

A few years ago I was the youth pastor for a small church in a small town in East Texas. This group was a rough, rough crowd. Most of the teens came from broken homes and very painful backgrounds. Several of the guys probably could have beaten me up if they wanted to.

When I first started, I knew I would have to learn a lot to relate with the group. So I spent as much time as I could on their “turf,” in the back allies and sitting on broken park benches, just chilling. When they came into the youth room, I wanted to make sure they had a good time so they’d at least come back, right?

I tried every game I knew and every “ice-breaker” activity in the book. Nothing worked, and some stopped showing up. Man, were they a tough crowd.

At that point I figured I had nothing else to lose. I didn’t have any money for Playstations, so I just started to dive deep.

We talked about God, love, life, pain, suffering, peace and purpose. At first, I was the only one talking, but slowly they joined the discussion. We talked about hard issues. It wasn’t easy.

A couple of times, one of the older kids–we’ll call him Dave–got mad and started cussing me out right there in front of the whole group. At first, it was because I wouldn’t let him run his mouth the whole meeting and distract everyone, but it eventually came out that he was mad about what I said about God. Dave could not sit there and let someone talk about a God that is so loving because he had gone through so much pain in his own life.

I stood for the Truth, as best as I could, as loving as I could, by God’s grace. Then I’d go home and think I’d never see him again, and that the others would leave too because of what happened.

But it was those yelling matches, strangely enough, that started to grow the group. Dave started inviting his friends. I think it was because he finally found someone that cared for him enough to dig through the dirt with him and to show him some of God’s answers.

He wasn’t just inviting friends to come to youth group for a good time. Soon, he was the one telling everyone to be quiet and to focus so we could talk about God.

If you really want to disciple your students, you have to go deep. And if you really want to bring in more new students, you have to go deep. Flashy “bait ‘n switch” games will bring a few more in the door, but if you don’t continue to keep them entertained, you’ll probably loose them.

So remember, “I’m Not Running a Chuck E Cheese….”

I caught this quote from a Time article from 2006 called In Touch with Jesus:

“Youth ministers have been on a long and frustrating quest of their own over the past two decades or so. Believing that a message wrapped in pop-culture packaging was the way to attract teens to their flocks, pastors watered down the religious content and boosted the entertainment. But in recent years churches have begun offering their young people a style of religious instruction grounded in Bible study and teachings about the doctrines of their denomination. Their conversion has been sparked by the recognition that sugarcoated Christianity, popular in the 1980s and early ’90s, has caused growing numbers of kids to turn away not just from attending youth-fellowship activities but also from practicing their faith at all.”

I was chatting with a new friend about my post on the slippery slope of entertainment, and he mentioned a similair article from a few years ago that asks some very similair questions:

Entertained to Death: The Case Against Entertainment in Youth Ministry by Ken Moser

Ken makes a strong case and points out 7 reasons we shouldn’t use entertainment to reach non-Christians:

• It’s Deceptive.
• It Hides the Real Source.
• It Hides Christian Community.
• It Distorts the Call.
• It’s Hard to Keep Up.
• It Takes Resources.
• It Produces a False Dichotomy.

These can be some very hard ideas to take in. Does he go too far or is he right on? How do we really apply this? Take a look at the article and come back here to post your thoughts.

Read original post: Entertainment at our youth group meetings

Apparently there’s a “greater” debate out there between whether today’s teens are the smartest or the dummest generation America has ever seen.

I’m not going to lie: There are a lot of things to worry about. To put it plainly, this is the most ADD generation we’ve probably ever seen. Attention spans range from 3-5 seconds, and if they’re not entertained, they’ll leave you in an instant.

How should that affect our youth group meetings? Many times we scramble to keep teens’ attention and draw them into the message or Bible lesson with games and other entertainment. But let me warn you: Entertainment is a slippery slope.

When you entertain a young person, they only want more. One video game, TV show, movie, or iPod is never enough. It’s always about the next one, the latest and greatest, what’s hot and what’s new.

The same happens in youth group. Make them laugh this week and they will ask for more next week. When we use “entertainment” to draw them in, to some degree, that’s what they’ve come to expect. Then they fall into their usual cycle: That was fun, but what’s next? I want something better!

The truth is that we just can’t keep up. We’re competing against MTV, Apple and Hollywood. So many teens leave youth group because it’s just not cool anymore and there’s more fun to have other places. We tried to keep them entertained didn’t take them deeper.

Entertainment cannot be our foundation. It must be something more: The forgiveness and peace of the Lord, and the excitement, passion and purpose that comes only from Him. Now that’s something the world can never compete with! When a young person truly catches on, they’ll never leave. (Dear Lord, help us! Work in our students’ hearts!)

Entertainment is a great seasoning, but it’s nothing without meat. This can be the greatest generation in history to make a stand for Christ, and we’re in the perfect position to help them get there.