Disclaimer: I personally feel that this note is kind of a "stream of consciousness" and doesn't really follow a logical train of thought. I hope y'all can still understand what I'm saying.
I know this is a blanket statement and is therefore inherently false, but it is so true in general that I am going to make it anyway.
People today, especially teenagers, have no clue what the real purpose of church is.
(Notice I use "church" with a lower-case "c", so I mean the local assemblies and services, not the Body of Christ in general)
Case in point:
The majority of the youth in my youth group don't go to the main service. They go to youth group and that's it. Despite the fact that Don highly encourages everyone to go to the main service, a lot of them don't. I'm not trying to judge, but I see a lot less youth in service than I do in youth group.
Recently, the seniors of the youth group have been trying to set up a time to get together and pray together for our youth group ("The Attic"). One of the suggestions has been to skip main service and pray during that time instead. The people who support the idea have been saying things that go along the lines of "Well, I don't usually go to service anyways, so..."
Personally, I find this attitude horrifying. They probably don't realize it, but what they are really saying is, "I don't want to go to main service and now I have a "Christian" excuse to skip" I know that this post will get imported to facebook and someone will read it there and probably think I am being harsh and judgemental. I will be the first to admit that yes, I am struggling with a "holier than thou" attitude. Please, pray for me. And then please listen to what I have to say.
In the early days of the church, age groups were not separated. In fact, for most of church history, age groups have not been separated. I am not an expert on church history, so it could be that there were some age group separations, but if they were, they were very large and very general, i.e. children and adults. It is not until recently that churches have become so split up by age groups. At our church alone we have preschool, grade school, middle and high school, college/young adults, young couples, young families, "older" families, seniors, and I'm sure I missed something in there somewhere.
I don't doubt that each of these groups have specific needs that the Sunday School classes are tailored to, and thus are a great resource. However, if we only focus on the Sunday School classes, we miss the amazing blessing of getting to worship with, learn with, and grow with, multiple generations of Christians. That's what the main service is for. I firmly believe that one's church experience is sorely lacking if one is only fellowshipping with Christians in his/her own age group. In Hebrews, it is clearly stated that the purpose of the church is for the mutual edification of believers: "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Notice, the purpose is mutual edification. In order for edification to be mutual, all the people in the relationship need to be GIVING edification as well as RECEIVING edification. The major problem with what people are doing with the church today is that they are on receiving, they are not giving. This is why you will see a lot of youth in youth group but not in main service. Youth group gives to them. Can they give to other believers in youth group? Absolutely. But giving and receiving only in one's age group will give one an incomplete experience. An older Christian adult with much more life experience can give something one's peers cannot. Likewise, there is an energetic dynamic that I have found often comes from the youth that, when added to the main service, gives it a renewed energy and different dynamic.
But, as I stated at the beginning, people in general do not understand what the purpose of the church is. They think the church is for THEM. The church has become the equivalent of a spiritual Burger King, where we can have it our own way. THIS IS NOT THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE!
We probably all know the quote, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Well, we need to start applying this to the church. We need to quit being church consumers and focus on what we can give to the church.
Now, as I said before, you can definitely serve your peers and your age group. However, there is a certain level of comfort when you are around your peers. Serving your peers, to be completely honest, is not that difficult. You're all in it together, you understand each other. What needs to happen, and what I'm praying to see happen, is people stepping out of their comfort zones and serving people of all age groups.
In summary, there is a problem in our churches. The one I described in my youth group is only one of many numerous examples throughout the nation. These problems arise from 1) A "burger king" mentality where the church is there to serve us (kind of similar to my last post), and 2) A lack of understanding of the need to fellowship with other age groups. Never before in history have our churches been so segregated according to age.
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1 comment:
I agree with what you're saying here! Although Don is encouraging us to go to the main service, I see that it is at times hard to pay attention, but yet, the main service is where church is more like a family. There's multiple generations in a family and in the main service, there's multiple generations. There's a unique atmosphere in the church when people of all ages come together but the fact that God is a never changing God can bring us all closer to each other. I hope this has made sense.
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