Over a decade ago I began a long journey asking this kind of question. At the time I was still in a church as a ‘youth pastor’ and beginning to notice some uncomfortable trends among the students in our church youth group. In early 2011, the church I now pastor, Eastside Baptist Church, took a major risk and framed a formal statement, repenting before the Lord for neglecting the sufficiency of Scripture by employing a secular method of educating the children in our church when there was a clear directive in both the Old and New Testaments concerning the spiritual training of children. (Read HERE)
The National Center for Family Integrated Churches is currently conducting a national survey on the topic of church youth groups. Would you be willing to participate in this short survey? Click on the link HERE to begin the survey. For taking the survey, the NCFIC will give you a free e-book, A Weed in the Church and free movie Divided.
Share this with your pastor/elders and deacons in your church. Warning, this is not a comfortable path to begin. Your traditions and philosophy will be challenged. I argue that this journey is worth taking. It is less a journey of age-integration and more a journey of the sufficiency of Scripture.