a paper you may not want to bore yourself with...

So this is an ongoing research that I am doing. Recent conversations have brought it to the forefront of my mind and I thought it a good idea to post it on my new blog.

It concerns my thoughts on the development of a new paradigm for Youth Ministry. I really don't expect everyone to read it, so my feelings will not be hurt if you don't. But if you do, I hope you enjoy and I encourage constructive criticism because it is something that I plan on continuing.

The Life and Ministry of the Puritans as a
New Paradigm for Youth Ministry in the 21st Century

There is a crisis in the churches of evangelical Christianity that can go unnoticed no longer. This crisis is that of the current state of youth ministry and its failures to develop teenagers into mature Christian adults. After developing a brief summary of the cause of this crisis I will propose a solution rooted in the life and ministry of the Puritans as a new paradigm for ministry that will be more productive in developing maturity in Christian adolescents; this will be done by understanding and implementing the Puritans’ concepts of God and his salvation, their teaching and practice of the Christian life, and their doctrine of the church.
On March 25, 1681 Richard Baxter wrote:
If this world consisted of one generation, then to make that generation wise and good would be enough to make it a happy world. But it is not so…It is certain then, that the welfare of this world lieth on a good succession of the several generations…All must begin anew…Oh what a blessed world were it, if the blessings of men famous for wisdom and godliness were entailed on all that should spring from them and if this were the common case.

Baxter had it right. “It is not so!” The current generation of adolescents is not known to be the godliest and if the church continues to fail to heed Baxter’s advice, the welfare of the world will persist to decline in it’s rebellion against God.
Why is it that if a church’s ministry is well attended, it will be considered successful? The successfulness of a ministry should not be based on the number of attendees, but of the growth of the attendees into mature Christians. Jesus’ ministry was not a success because he had a large following. It was successful because it has passed through thousands of years and many generations. This phenomenon is beginning to slow and is evident in the fact that so many of our adolescents fail to take their faith further than High School.
Mark Devries is a seasoned youth minister whose experience and research is apparent in his book, Family-based Youth Ministry. Devries suggests that the intense focus of traditional youth ministries on fast-paced, exciting, attention-getting programs “may, in fact, move teens away from, rather than toward, mature Christian adulthood. ” Devries continues to explain “we can find the primary cause of the current crisis in youth ministry in the ways that our culture and our churches have systematically isolated young people from the very relationships that are most likely to lead them to maturity. ” The relationships he is referring to are those that are established with the adults of the community, not simply the leaders of the group. This isolation occurs, according to Devries, in several arenas of an adolescent’s life. Neighborhoods, schools, social activities, families, and even the church has been structured in such a way to make it convenient for the teen’s life to function with the result of nearly complete isolation from any adult interaction.
This isolation has a disastrous impact on the adolescent. Devries explains that by denying teenagers opportunities to experience maturation through repeated observation and dialogue with adults, we are sending our youth into the adult years “relationally, mentally, and morally unprepared for the challenges of adulthood. ” Devries concludes his synopsis of the crisis of youth ministry by submitting that:
Unless we are making intentional, focused efforts at connecting kids with mature Christian adults in the church (not just their youth leaders), we are more like the vultures preying on kids at rock concerts and less like spiritual leaders praying that their children’s lives would be founded upon the most eternal things.

While Devries’ call to establish the family as being the foundation of youth ministry is a well-needed observation, it is just the first step of developing maturity in the youth of our culture. A family-based ministry is needed as the foundation of a ministry with the goal of developing mature Christian adults. But how can the adolescent observe Christian maturity in an adult if the adult does not have a proper grasp on the concepts vital to the maturity they are supposed to be portraying. These vital concepts are found in Puritan thought, which must be the ‘walls’ of the church built on the family-foundation advocated by Devries.
Most current evangelical churches have reduced their preaching to nothing more than a self-help, feel good, vote-for-Bush message that does little in regards to developing a mature understanding of a God who thunders from Mt. Sinai. Today, Christians are encouraged to remove the essence of faith from the particulars of daily life and relocate it in special times and places. In this regard Dallas Willard asks, “Why is it that we look upon our salvation as a moment that began our religious life instead of the daily life we receive from God? ”
Christians, teens and adults alike, are no longer taught that their faith defines who they are. If you were to walk into the typical youth group, most likely the teenagers would be able to tell what they are not supposed to do since they are Christians. They know not to drink, cuss, or have sex and that they are supposed to read their Bibles and pray. But do they understand what it means to mortify their sins, Romans 8:13, or to long to be clothed with their dwelling from heaven, 2 Corinthians 5:2? Simply teaching the do’s and don’ts to a teenager does little to develop a faith rooted in Scripture that can be used for the rest of their life. “They need to leave the world of youth, but during their teenage years they are indoctrinated into a culture that functions to maintain their attachment to it. ” Unfortunately, the adults to which they are to look to share this same rules to live by mentality of Christianity.
The Puritans left a great legacy of a deep understanding of God and how his salvation was far more than one particular moment, but was an entirely new life that required a stricter living in pursuit of a life in heaven. It is this legacy that must be revitalized by the preaching within our churches, not just to the youth but also to the entire congregation. To the Puritans, God is more than someone who gives an opportunity of freedom, but one that works in the lives of those he chooses in order to bring glory to his name. It is in the writings of the Puritans that one will find very detailed definition of God and the implications of his salvation for the daily life.
The Puritan written Westminster Shorter Catechism defines God to be “a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. ” This definition allows them to write in the Westminster Confession of Faith of how God establishes the covenant of grace with man, saving them through the mediation of Christ, justifying and sanctifying them according to the will of the Father. Faith is seen as a grace given to the elect that enables them “to believe to the saving of their souls.” This grace “is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts. ”
J.I. Packer explains that for John Owen and most other Puritans, the achievement of Christ on the cross was central to what the gospel was. For them, Christ’s death on the cross did not open the opportunity of saving grace for all but secured it for whom it was designed. Salvation is, as seen by the Puritans, a work entirely based on the will of God. From start to finish and all the things in the middle salvation is owed to God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. There are too many books to be referred to that were written by the Puritans about how God is the author and finisher of our faith.
It is this definition of what God is and the conviction that redemption is his work that allows Owen to address a group of adolescent males with the subject of the mortifying of their sins. In this work, Owen gives an explanation of Romans 8:13 in which he teaches that having saving faith comes with the duty of entering the process of dying to your sins. This is the duty of every believer and is done by constantly weakening the habit of and fighting against the sin that still dwells inside. This biblical mandate was encouraged by all Puritans and fits with their understanding that salvation is not refined to a single moment, but is a process that cannot be secured this side of heaven.
Octavius Winslow is a Puritan protégé who continues this idea of the heavenward journey of every believer with his book Help Heavenward. As Joel R. Beeke explains, “this book provides invaluable help to Christians on their way to heaven, ” and is “a practical handbook on sanctification. ” Winslow understood that the Christian life was to be in pursuit of a heavenly world. The end objective of this pursuit benefits not just the individual but the church as well. Winslow comments that “It is one, and not the least impressive, of the many wise and condescending arrangements of God, that by human agency his Church should be gathered, succoured, and guided to its destined glory. ”
The twenty-sixth chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith also teaches that not only do believers have the duty to participate in the acts of sanctification but also that duty is performed within the context of a community. As opposed to the modern strategy of herding younger believers away from the adults the Westminster Confession claims:
All saints, that are united to Jesus Christ their Head by His Spirit and by faith, have fellowship with Him in His graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory: and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other’s gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.

Believers, young and old, are to “maintain a holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God; and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification. ”
A believer has a responsibility in God’s work of salvation in that he is to take the duty of killing his indwelling sin within the realm of the communion he has with fellow believers. As Owen says, “all true disciples [are] to join and unite themselves in some such church as might be helpful unto their love, order, peace and edification. ” Each believer is to help one another in their duties, collectively worshipping God, bringing glory to his name. This is why Thomas Watson can give the exhortation to join together with sanctified persons. “As the communion of saints is in our creed, so it should be in our company…Association begets assimilation. ”
Devries advises “we must not delude ourselves into thinking that we can make teenagers into anything, particularly mature Christians. What we can do is provide a context in which they can, to borrow Eugene Peterson’s wonderful expression, ‘acquire a taste for grace.’ ” This is not done by socializing them into a religious way of thinking, but by teaching, admonishing, and living a godly life before them. They must realize the incredible gift that salvation is and the responsibilities that come along with it and the only way for both parties to capitalize this is by relying on each other.
As I suggested before, we must institute the values of the Puritans, not only teaching God’s redemption and sanctification, but living it out as well. Never will adolescents understand how and why they are to die to sin nor how to live a life in pursuit of heaven if they are constantly being separated from those that are to teach this to them. There needs to be something more then just finding a new way to do youth ministry if we want to see the youth of the twenty-first century effectively grow into mature Christian. For this to happen, there needs to be not only a shift in how the church is structured, but an understanding from each individual of how they are to live in communion with one another.
In a day and age when too often church is simply something that you go to and your religious experience is only for the spiritual side of your life, the Puritan concepts of disciplines and communion may seem only for the right-wing fundamentalists. But how sad is it that even those concerned with the maturation of young Christians fail to realize the necessity of these things. Even they want to dichotomize the church, having to appease the adults by implementing more programs and teaching the youth that the most important thing about God is that he is “good all the time. ”
It is the biblical obligation of the leaders of today’s churches, especially those of the reformed, evangelical disposition, to see to it that the believer is properly equipped to engage in the fullness they have available to them in Christ. The only way that this can be done is by teaching that God is the sole cause of redemption and that with this redemption comes the responsibilities of the believers to join God in the process of sanctification and to join together for the over-all benefit of each other.
This seems like a daunting objective. It may involve completely restructuring the church or approaching what is taught weekly from a different standpoint. It is not, however, entirely inconceivable. One may not be able to consider what this type of ministry may look like but, once again, the Puritans shine as a model. Baxter in his work, Compassionate Counsel to all Young Men, comprehends that “it is most clear in Scripture and reason that there are many special duties, which the elder and younger, as such, owe to each other. ” In this book, Baxter characterizes what a church where young and old unite, learning and growing from each other should look like. He teaches that it is the duty of the elders to be wiser, teaching the younger Scripture, and living an example of a holy life. It is also the duty of the younger to submit, respecting the godly knowledge and life of the wiser. Baxter’s own ministry in Kidderminster was successful in seeing adolescents reach Christian maturity. His success among the youth saw an impact among the elders of the community as well.
Therefore, it is my deduction that it is imperative for the body of Christ to see its recent failure to develop mature Christian adults. There must be a drastic revitalization of what is being taught from the pulpit and how the people understand their faith. The great writings of the Puritans of old must be used to implement this change. God is still thundering from Mt. Sinai and his people must hear him. He has called us to a life more abundantly and we must repent of our negligence and see to it that we engage ourselves in actively seeking this life.

Works Cited:
Baxter, Richard. The Reformed Pastor. Vol. 2 of The Practical Works of Richard Baxter. London, George Virtue: 1846. Reprint, Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 2000.

Devries, Mark. Family-Based Youth Ministry: Revised and Expanded. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004.

Harrison, Graham. John Owen’s Doctrine of the Church, Edited by Robert W. Oliver. John Owen: The Man and His Theology. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2002.

Lloyd-Jones, D.M. The Puritans: Their Origins and Successors. Addresses Delivered at the Puritan and Westminster Conferences 1959-1978. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1987.

Owen, John. Sin and Temptation: the Challenge to Personal Godliness. Edited by James M. Houston. Portland, OR: Multnomah Press, 1983.

Packer, J.I. A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990.

Watson, Thomas. A Body of Divinity. rev. ed. Great Britain: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1965.

Westminster Confession of Faith. Glasgow: Free Presbyterian, 1994.

Willard, Dallas. The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988.

Winslow, Octavius. Help Heavenward: Guidance and Strength for the Christian’s Life-Journey. James Nisbet: 1869. Reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: First Banner of Truth Trust, 2000.