A friend of mine sent me a link this morning to a new video he thought aligned well with what I am trying to promote through my site…he was right. A young Christian filmmaker just released a video called “Divided the Movie,” which  is about the unbiblical aspects happening in many youth ministries around the country and why young people are leaving the church. Not long ago Ken Ham and Britt Beemer did a study and wrote a book called Already Gone: Why our kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it. I read the book and wasn’t as shocked as I should have been after reading it. This documentary seems like a follow up to that book (notice I said “seems,” not “is”). There are some  positives to the documentary and there are some weaknesses. Let me share with you first what I think are the positive takeaways from the documentary:

1. There were many things identified as to why kids are leaving the church, most of which were identified in Ham and Beemer’s book, but need more promotion.
2. The focus of ministry should be drawn away from program oriented youth group, back to the mandate of the family, specifically fathers.
3. Strong focus is placed upon there being no Scriptural mandate that a church have a youth group or a youth ministry.
4. Strong focus is placed upon the mandate of the family to train up their children. Parents simply need to lead their children and disciple them.

Now here are some of the weaknesses:

1. Rock music is labeled as worldly, dogmatically. (It is pretty obvious the main guy of the movie is from a pretty conservative upbringing)
2. It appears, though is probably not what was desired, that non-christians are rock concert going, believes the earth is old, or believes in evolution. Now I am by every means a young earth guy, but to present these stereotypes as people not being Christians is dishonest.
3. Frequently the Bible is spoken of and frequently in terms of how youth ministry is not biblical and how the family aspect of ministry is (all positive by the way), but rarely is actual Scripture used or quoted. It could have been more powerful with the actual reading of the Word.

So the obvious question about youth ministry is then, “what about the unchurched kid?” Who is going to reach him if there is no youth group or youth ministry. To answer this question we have to go back and answer the fundamental question of why the church exists? Fundamentally I believe the church exists to equip the saints (believers). The church exists to equip it’s people for evangelism, missions, family living, discipleship, etc. So who will reach the unchurched kid? We all can! When you meet unchurched kids you take them in and teach them and treat them as one of your own.

There certainly is plenty more that could be said and I’ll leave that for another time or for things to come up in the comments. If you are interested I would encourage you to check out the video from their site. The video is free to watch until September.

HT: Byron Aynes