Cultural Christianity and Youth Groups

I just read the testimony of Charo Washer, the wife of Paul Washer, who some of you will know. It is a great insight into the dangers of cultural Christianity.

I have been thinking about this subject for some time now, and my thoughts on it are crystallizing more and more. I find it surprising that we don't heard more about it, since in my view it is a monumental issue in youth groups all over North America (at least). It is also a subject that is very close to my heart, since I came to know Christ at the age of 19 having grown up in the church my entire life and believing (and being told) that I was saved when I was not. This is also on my mind because I have the opportunity to teach a Senior High Youth group tomorrow at the church where I am currently serving, and I plan on sharing my testimony as well as some Biblical reflections on what so often happens in youth groups. Please don't misunderstand me, I am not angry at youth pastors or anything. I just think this is an issue where many of our churches have lacked discernment, and I am burdened.

I never cease to be amazed at how many completely un-supernatural reasons people find to act like Christians, join churches, serve in ministry, read their Bibles, and even witness. Some rudimentary knowledge of sociology and group dynamics is all one needs to see that if you have a community where it is expected for people to act a certain way, and those who meet those expectations are given attention, status, and prominence in the group; that in such a setting people will have the motivation to fit in and act in such a way as to meet those expectations.

And therefore, we have youth groups full of "Christians," often baptized, who maybe even go on mission trips and play on worship bands, yet are not themselves born again, regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Many of them will think they are Christians because they act like Christians (at least in public) and - this is key - are treated and spoken to like Christians.

Please don't assume that the young people in your church truly know Jesus.

That is a wicked thing to do.

And don't even say in public settings things like "I assume we are all Christians/children of God here." Just don't do it. Such comments reinforce the Satanic lie in each unregenerate cultural Christian that they are Christians, just struggling ones. That is what I believed when I was baptized at the age of 16 - that I was a Christian, just not a very good one.

What happens is that the older generation passes down the form and structure of the religion without passing along the power of the Spirit. We pass the lingo but not the reality of things behind the God-language we use.

So the result is:

- Young people who know how to pray amazing prayers but have never themselves experienced true communion with the Living God.

- Young people who know that they should ask for forgiveness but have never felt the weight of their sin or true brokenness over their sin before a perfectly holy God.

- Young people who know exactly what Christians are supposed to act like, but instead of having the Holy Spirit-produced desire for righteousness, they (maybe) desire to live that way to please their parents, their friends, or to fulfill the societal expectations of the church culture they live in.

As I read Charo Washer's testimony, I noticed that she repeatedly discerned the natural (flesh) reason for doing what she did. Consider:

Speaking of her adolescent conversion, she writes: "I prayed with a professor that took me aside after chapel and felt relieved. I was not relieved of my sin, because I had no conviction of sin. I was simply relieved to be safe from hell and in the same group with the rest of my friends."

Speaking on her desire to be a missionary: "Looking back on everything, I now realize that I was driven by the romantic thought of missions. It was all a work of the flesh and nothing more."

Speaking on her involvement in church and youth groups: "I now realize that I was motivated to continue on the Christian life by the love of the group I was in. It was a great place to be with good people and good friends."

She concludes: "I shudder with fear as I look back on my life. Morality and religious activity alone, even missionary activity are not enough to prove the validity of our salvation if there is no recognition of depravity, genuine repentance, faith in Christ, victory over sin, and a sincere desire to know and be known by God."

Each new generation must experience God for themselves. As my dear missiology teacher would say, "God has no grandchildren." I like that.

Are we really giving our young people this message? Or are we so concerned about them staying in the church and attending youth group that we are not clearly teaching them the difference between Churchianity and the true gospel?

Evangelical churches are hemorrhaging huge numbers of young people between High School and College age. The reasons are certainly complex, but I think it's at least partially because the sociological factors (groups of friends, great activities, etc...) that were keeping them in the church through High School simply aren't there when they enter College. It's not just that they are leaving churches geographically and going to live out their faith at College. No, many are leaving the church period.

And what I'm not saying is that we need to find ways to get them back... No no no! - that is the kind of thinking that kept them coming to youth group while unregenerate.

We brilliantly thought of a thousand ways to make youth group AWESOME and they came. We also thought of a thousand reasons not to tell them so many crucial, difficult, Biblical truths.

What we need to do is preach the gospel to them in such a way that they will see clearly the difference between elder-brother religiosity and a life transformed by the gospel. But in order to do that we ourselves need to understand this gospel more vividly, in order to truly see that all-important difference.

I hope and pray that we'll start to think more deeply about these things, for the sake of every new generation that arrives. As for me, by God's grace I'll share some crucial, difficult, Biblical truths tomorrow night and pray that He is pleased to reveal Himself to some teenagers who are as deceived as I was at their age.