Jesus isn’t the problem – you are!

/1 Comment/in /by

Ouch, right? I felt it too. But I’m supposed to, because I’m also the problem.

I’ve been a youth worker for over fifteen years, and for more than a decade of that I’ve been a full-time youth evangelist working with unchurched young people. In all my time I’ve never – not once – met a young person who didn’t respond well to Jesus. They think He’s epic, interesting, radical, rebellious, kind-hearted, solid, and trustworthy. They might only think He’s a story character, but that doesn’t make them any less interested in finding out about Him. That is until they get passed the Jesus bit to the ‘us’ bit.

And it’s not just ‘us’ as youth pastors, right? It’s churches in the town, vicars in the news, and preachers on the streets. It’s when weird Christians do weird Christian things that weird Christians often do that cause the biggest ongoing roadblocks to faith.

One of the hardest things I struggle with, as a youth evangelist, is having to introduce young people to Christians after I introduce them to Jesus, and then try to explain away the disconnect between the two of them.

Get out of the way

‘Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”’ [Matthew 19:14]

In my first full-time ministry position, there was a stained-glass window based around that verse. In the central pane was Jesus, looking very white and middle-class, complete with perfectly straightened brown hair, a cool soul-patch, and blue birds twittering around his head. Pudgy blonde children and respectful looking teenagers surrounded him, running around his legs, and clutching onto his fingers.

In the left pane were the children’s parents happily looking on as this strange single man played with their kids. The right pane depicted the disciples, watching pleasantly like they were learning an important lesson.

Are you kidding?

If you are a parent or have done any children’s work, you might imagine a more accurate version of this scene: bedlam. Screaming, freaked out children with goo dripping from their faces being manhandled by their parents away from the strange man, while other ‘helicopter’ parents soared in to get a magic blessing from the miracle worker for their little Beatrice. All the while the disciples – in black bow ties and florescent vests – took on the role of bouncers, forming a cordon to keep them away.

In the middle of this chaos, Jesus effectively yells “Shut up! Get out of the way and let them come!”

There are two important challenges to pick up form this verse. First, Jesus says “let them come.” He doesn’t say make, bribe, force, trick, coerce, pay, or dope up on sugar. They don’t need ‘attracting’, they just needed to be allowed to come. I’ve never met a young person who didn’t express interest when told about Jesus. They might turn off at the first mention of religion, church, or the idea of being a Christian – but Jesus fascinates them.

There is something naturally attractive to a young person about Jesus. My belief is that if Jesus was walking the streets today, young people would follow Him. They might not fully embrace, or totally give their lives over to Him – but they would totally check Him out.

The problem, of course, is that Jesus is walking the streets today – at least technically speaking. The physical embodiment of Jesus today is His church! 1 Corinthians 12 calls the church the body of Christ. We are His witnesses, called to display His character and goodness to the world. If we truly are supposed to look like Jesus, then where are the young people? Why are they not breaking down our doors to figure Him out? Of course, one answer to that is our doors are often locked. Even aside from that though, if the church today truly looks like Jesus in the 1 Corinthians 12 sense, then why are young people not flocking in to find out more?

The second challenge from this verse is contained in Jesus’ second clause, “do not hinder them.” Another way of translating this might be Get out of the way!

The idea that we could get in-between young people and the Author of Life is terrifying! That our practices, attitudes, traditions and sometimes our plain rudeness to young people could actually stop them meeting Jesus is terrifying. Hungry, needy, desperate young people are looking for a direct way to Jesus – but if we are standing in the middle of that road, as bouncers or security guards, then those young people remain hungry, needy, and desperate.

If the disciples, who knew Jesus best, could get this so horribly wrong, then I know that I certainly could too, and I think we as Christians, either passively or actively, often do.

We could easily distil this down to one golden rule for church-based youth work: Point people to Jesus and get out of the way. It sounds good – and it’s a great start – but it’s not the whole story.

I’m writing a book right now as a response to the two challenges of this verse – to look closely at where we might be the problem, and suggest ways to change. If you’re interested to find out more, do comment, get in touch at timgoughuk@gmail.com, or sign up to follow the blog.

 

Photo by Jason Betz on Unsplash

We need to dial down our altar call language.

/0 Comments/in /by

I’ve been to more Christian youth events and festivals than you could swing a weasel at, and invariably there is always some form of “altar call.”

Whatever you (or I for that matter) might think about an altar call-type response for decision moments, I’m always troubled (translation: ticked, irked, vexed, miffed) by the language we use for a very particular phrase. It sounds something like this:

“If you can’t [stand up, walk to the front, put up a hand, pray out loud, dance the funky chicken—delete as appropriate] then you won’t be able to face the real challenges of living as a Christian.”

What on earth?!? I mean, seriously, are you kidding me?

There is no connection, at all, whatsoever, in-our-wildest-dreams, between standing up in a freakishly scary way at a youth event, and daily walking with and worshipping Jesus. Unless, that is, you’re trying to draw an immediate straight line between their conversion and their potential impending persecution or martyrdom.

Becoming a Christian is starting a relationship with Jesus. It needs a light touch. It’s new, it’s vulnerable, it needs time, love, patience, nurture, mercy, and even more love. It’s immensely personal, and it’s the first step on a long journey. Why would we double-underline that step with a moment that’s going to guilt-trip a bunch of young people, terrify a bunch more, and unhealthily inflate the egos of a lot of the rest?

I think, however, that we tend to see these conversion moments, metaphorically speaking, as marriage ceremonies, rather than first dates. When we give young people the opportunity to follow Jesus, we are inviting them into the earliest stages of discipleship. There will come times for public declarations of commitment, but that’s not the first step. We’ve got to give new converts time to find their feet, and really establish their relationship in a healthy way. We’ve got to set them up for a win!

When a young person accepts Jesus for the first time, it should come with a sense of joy, peace, and excitement to begin a new chapter of their lives. It should come with reflection, openness, and consideration. It should be presented with gentleness and hope. They should never, ever, ever, ever feel bullied into it, or feel pressured into furnishing that moment with unnecessary stress.

Discipleship is the process of preparing them to live as worshippers in a hostile world. Let’s not make that a pre-condition of beginning their new relationship with Jesus.

Ranty-Tim-out.