Concerned Parent Speaks With Modern Youth Pastor!

Fight For Truth

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Hey guys, Collin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real

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Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video. Hey there, youth pastor, thanks for meeting with me,

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I really appreciate it. No problem, dude, I like totally love meeting up with the parents of my youth group kiddos.

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They're so rad. Yeah, that's uh, really good, I think. But in any case, I was just wanting to ask you a few questions about the youth group if that's alright.

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Yeah, 100%, go ahead and ask away, compadre. Okay, sure thing. So I noticed that the youth group has been spending a lot of time playing games and pretty much no time at all studying

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God's word. Is that normal for you? Absolutely it's normal. I mean, before we give them the word of God, we like to show them how to have some fun and kick back and unwind, right?

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So we like make sure we get all of our games done and all the fun stuff before we do any kind of preaching and praying and all that stuff.

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You know what I mean? But there's the problem. Don't you think that we should prioritize sound teaching of God's word and praying to him before we do any youth group games?

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I mean, isn't our main goal supposed to be bringing up the children in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord? Well I think

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I agree with you, man. But I might need to get a dictionary to figure out what admonition means, but like seriously, the games are the way that we minister to the kids.

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They just love it, man. Well shouldn't your ministry to the kids look more like actual biblical ministry to children?

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Like for instance, I don't know, just thinking out loud, teaching them how to be mature Christians, for example?

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Isn't that your whole job? I hear what you're saying, but like trust me, some of these kids come from some pretty hard family backgrounds, and like a lot of these little guys need more games than they need to hear me preach, you know?

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So you're supposed to be a pastor, and you literally just said that the best way to help a child who comes from a bad home is to play games with them instead of teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ?

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Do you really think that's okay? Whoa, easy there, man. Man, I'm sensing this getting like a little intense, bro.

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We need to have good vibes right now. Okay, I'm not really sure what that means, but alright.

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I have other questions to get to anyways. For instance, several young men and women in your youth group are posting inappropriate pictures on their public

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Instagram accounts, as well as drinking while underage, doing drugs and participating in sexually charged activity, and inappropriate dancing on TikTok.

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Is that not something that you find concerning? Well of course it's concerning. All those things are definitely no bueno.

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That's not what we're all about here. Okay, I'm glad you agree. But how are dodgeball games going to rebuke them and correct them for this kind of sin in their lives?

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Wouldn't you agree that talking to them about God's word and rebuking them lovingly is the only biblical way of solving this problem in the church?

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Whoa, slow down, homie. We don't want to be about that correction and rebuking stuff in this youth group.

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We like to keep things loving and peaceful here. This is like a safe place for the kiddos to kick back and relax, you know?

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We don't want to make this all dark and gloomy. So the kids in your youth group are participating in all kinds of sinful activities with each other,

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I might add, and the only way that you've found of solving that problem is to basically do nothing but play various board games and sports with them?

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You think that's going to work? Yeah, that's like pretty much what we do here, but I mean think about it. Jesus didn't call people out for stuff.

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He was loving and kind to everybody and he just lived with them and walked with them. He kept the good vibes going, you know?

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That's what we're trying to do. Oh really? Jesus didn't rebuke sin? What about Matthew 4, 17 when it says, quote,

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From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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Jesus literally began his entire earthly ministry calling people out of their sin. I thought they still taught that kind of thing in seminaries.

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Whoa, seriously bro, you're being like really hardcore and intense right now and I'm really coming down with a bad case of the sad and gloomies.

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You gotta stop manifesting this negativity over my spirit, bro. It's getting hecka sad in here.

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Okay, again, I'm not really all that sure what that means, so we're just going to move on to the rest of my questions. So if you never convict these kids for their sin and you just let them play games and sing songs, how are you helping them as their pastor, exactly?

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Well honestly, my whole philosophy of ministry is to be a friend first and their pastor second.

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I mean really, I learn just as much from the kiddos as they learn from me, dude. What on earth are you talking about?

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You're the one who's supposed to teach them. They're children. You're supposed to be the adult in the room.

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If they're teaching you as much as you teach them, that means that you're not teaching them enough. Honestly, what on earth did the church even hire you for here if you refuse to do your job?

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Whoa, let's turn that frown upside down, cousin. You're like being totally divisive right now, bro.

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We need to create a culture of unity in this youth group, not an atmosphere of division. So basically, you're using an unbiblical and ineffective strategy to minister to other people's children, and when

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I question those strategies, I'm the one causing division and disunity in the church simply for asking you to do your job and actually lead children to Christ?

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Yeah, pretty much. This is absolutely unbelievable. But I do still have a few more questions. For instance,

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I notice that when you guys sing songs with the kids, you never teach them any of the great hymns that have blessed the church for hundreds of years.

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You really avoid any theologically deep songs, for that matter. You only play the simplest, catchiest modern songs from Bethel, Hillsong, and Elevation Church, pretty much those exclusively.

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And some of those songs are doctrinally inaccurate, like Reckless Love, for instance. Why do you do that? Well, we find that the kiddos can really sympathize more with the newer songs than those old songs because they don't understand the old hymns, they're so outdated, bro.

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Well, maybe the kids would be able to understand those hymns if you spent time actually teaching them things instead of watching them play

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Monopoly. Maybe these hymns would offer you a great chance to explain some of these deep theological concepts to the kids through music.

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Did you ever think of that? Well, we really don't get into the deep stuff until they get to our young adult college crew ministry, but that won't be for like a few more years, so we just like to, you know, play games and stuff and keep it pretty simple.

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So many of these kids have been Christians for years and years at this point, and they still aren't familiar with anything doctrinally deeper than the simple gospel, and all of this because you refuse to teach them those deep theological concepts.

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You know, things that are actually in Scripture. And then when I ask you why you don't teach them these things, you say it's because they won't understand.

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But you haven't even tried to help them understand at all, which is part of your job. So they don't understand because you don't teach them, and you don't teach them because they don't understand.

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So basically, you've created a vicious cycle where the kids get to learn nothing and you get to do nothing.

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Yeah, that's pretty much what it is, but like, why are you being so harsh, man? I'm being harsh because you were hired by this church to help shepherd the eternal souls of their young children, and instead of actually doing that, you're letting them do whatever they want.

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You're not helping them live for Christ, you're helping them live for themselves. And that's extremely dangerous. Wow, you're like pretty judgmental, bro.

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Yeah, I figured you'd say that because that's what modern Christians almost always say when they know they have no argument to offer.

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Well, if you're so smart, then like, what do you think I should do? I think you should do what the Bible says.

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I think you should instruct the children both in biblical doctrine and practical holiness. You should show them what words like justification, sanctification, and propitiation mean.

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Give them robust theological education. You should call them out of their sin and call them to repentance in Jesus Christ.

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You should have them sing songs to the Lord that have deep theology, and songs which have ideally been written by doctrinally responsible authors.

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Basically, not always Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation. But like, you don't understand, bro.

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If we start doing these things, then the parents are going to complain, and the kids are going to stop showing up. So we can't help anybody if they're not here.

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Oh, so now we get down to the root of the problem. The reason you do all the games and sing all these weak, shallow songs and don't call them out of their sin, the reason you do all of this is because you want more kids to show up.

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It's not about what's most biblical, it's about what works best. It's not about quality, it's about quantity.

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It's not about being holy and righteous, it's about being cool and relevant. And the problem with all of this is that you've designed a youth group around fleshly human preferences and not around the

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Word of God. And until you realize that, your ministry will always be a failure, no matter how many kids happen to show up.

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And until next time, fight for truth, never surrender, and keep your eyes open. Thank you and God bless.