Youth Ministry

Way of the Fathers has an post about Youth Ministry. Open Book has some interesting thoughts.

My problem is that grown ups always tell us how things should be and they rarely live it. I don't believe them. Simple as. It's easy to tell others how things should be done, but not actually do it.

Have you ever done something just because someone told you to? It's boring. Think about the people who inspire you. They never tell you what to do - they just be. It's a people problem, not a youth problem.

On the Monastery Revisited last night, one of the participants talked about how he had not found a church that he felt comfortable in. He described the churches he had been in as fake. And it is so true. How many people do we know who attend church, do all the actions, say all the words, and yet ... you just know that they don't believe it? The Y Church report, talks about how young people recognise and just discount this kind of thing. It's not real.

Life is a challenge. Anyone who says or does otherwise is only fooling themselves. Young people know this and and acknowledge it. Too many grown ups have forgotton it. If we want to teach young people about our faith, all we have to do is to be ourselves and keep it real.

Which is what Jesus did.