Today we are joined by OFC Wrangler Ethan Arbuckle.
Steak, the gold standard of an iconic American meal. It is full of nutrients, filling, and most everyone likes to eat it. Imagine if you could eat a balanced meal with steak or some other form of meat every day? It’s the backbone of a good diet and helps to build our muscles and strength. Now think about if all you had everyday was milk. Yes, just like our babies. You wouldn’t grow very big or strong, in fact you would probably be emaciated. This is what has happened to the Youth inside many churches today.
Now I know many of you may be skeptical of this, but I’d like to ask you a question. When is the last time you went to a Youth Bible study that went deep? Got down in the weeds and talked about not only good biblical truth but some of the harder truths that youth have to deal with today. Many of us would like to act as if the “adult problems” of drug use, sex, porn, depression and others are unique to adults. Unfortunately, we are wrong, these “adult” problems spread to our children. In fact, many times they are worse because youth aren’t meant to handle these and they can feel trapped because they know they aren’t supposed to do something and feel like they can’t get help. Or their parents are part of the problem and they can’t get out.
I’m 21 and not only can I remember my friends dealing with these but in my time working with youth ministry I have meet so many kids that have had to fight battles that I never had to fight. One particular young man came out to the ranch with his church group and it broke my heart to hear him tell of us what he struggled with just the year before. This young man, not even 14, had attempted suicide the week before. He admitted to his addiction to not just alcohol, but sex and wept in front of our eyes at the pain it had brought him. He was from a broken home without a dad, and his mom was busy trying to find a man, and he had been left to deal with these “adult” problems all alone.
This young man had grown up in church. He had been to Sunday School. He knew about the stories, in fact he was one of the more vocal members of his group during our daily devotionals. In spite of all these things he didn’t have any depth to his faith. Where he was raised (thankfully not the church that he was currently going to, Praise the Lord) his teachers had feed him spiritual milk. They had stopped at the rules, the what, and never gone beyond to the who and the why. Our Youth don’t need to just know about the stories (while they are certainly important and helpful) they need to know the who and why of Jesus. They need to know that even in the darkness of sex, porn, drugs, and all other temptations that we have a savior who is willing and able to save them. They need to know about the struggles of these temptations before they get there so they can be prepared for them when the time comes.
Is it hard to discuss these subjects with immature youth? Will it be awkward? Will there be times that you do not feel it’s working or question if it is even worth it?
Yes.
Is it Worth It?
A thousand times Yes.
So, I urge everyone (not just our youth ministers) to be genuine with our struggles. To show our children how we bear our heavy burdens, and that we are there for them. To teach them the details of our faith, so that they have an answer. Let them know that asking questions about what we believe is okay, so that we can give them an answer and not leave them to “figure it out” from the internet or their friends because they won’t always be helpful or right. Let us be open with our problems so that we can help our youth grow up to be strong discipled warriors for the Kingdom.