Reaping the fruits of youth ministry. . .

I grew up in the generation in which youth group at church was pretty tame and pretty lame.  We went roller skating once in a blue moon and had a Bible study every now and then and that was about it.  When my generation had kids, we thought their should be something more.  But what?  So we invented more ways to entertain our youth all in the name of Christ.  The fruits of youth ministry have not been so good.  We entertained them to death -- literally sacrificing their eternity for the sake of the moment.  What we should have been doing was doubling down on catechesis.  The problem is that we did not really know what catechesis was.  Yes, I learned the Catechism -- 1943 edition -- as memory work but was not quite taught the catechism.  When something approaching learning the catechism did happen, it was head centered, meant to impart knowledge but not quite strengthen faith.  There was little to tell me why we worshiped the way we did or that the sacramental life of the Church was the font and source of my own life in Christ (new life and piety).  Now we have congregations with children's church to make church fun and large scale youth events with a heavy dose of fun and so much more.  Has it helped keep our kids in Church or in the faith?

The real youth ministry is not what happens at the church but in the home.  Real youth ministry is kids watching their parents pray, love, forgive, be attentive to and participate in worship, and place a high priority on what happens in worship.  This is the first line of faith strengthening and this is the hill to die on -- not the fun stuff designed to perpetuate the lie that worship is fun, church is fun, and the Christian life is about fun.  Real youth ministry happens when the husband is the spiritual head of the home and when he displays in his own life what it means to love sacrificially.  Real youth ministry happens when the wife reciprocates this love and loves sacrificially.  Real youth ministry happens when parents bring their children to worship and Sunday school and sit with them in the pew and ask them what they learned in Sunday school.  Real youth ministry is when parents do the catechism homework and memory work with their children and who honor God's man in the church as someone worthy of their prayers and their respect.

No, I am not against having fun.  I am not even against the ever present screens.  But the Christian life is not about what makes us happy.  It is about what makes us holy.  And the nature of our life together is not around digital things but the means of grace that bestow what it is they sign.  It is high time that we focus the resources of the churches and of the home on the things that will make a difference.  I recall a meme which says something to the effect that few of our children will make their living as sports superstars or actors or singers but every one of our children will sin and die.  So what should be the most important  thing in our lives?  That which conveys Christ's forgiveness and that which conveys His life -- the Word and the Sacraments.