I’m going to be very blunt. I get sick and tired of hearing folks of any age disparage the state of young people in the church. You’ve heard it all before. The young people want to change this or the young people are wanting to do that. There may not be anything scripturally wrong with it but it steps outside of the traditional norm and so its frowned upon as a matter of preference. Granted there are some matters of truth and error that are sinful and must be avoided, but is the factor really one of age?
Though not by any means a scholar, I have done some significant reading in the history of the church, ancient, restoration, and more recent in nature. What I’ve noticed is that from the beginning there have been agents of change, most of whom were well aged adults who carried authority in the church. That reality is not limited to ancient days but is common both to the restoration period and recent times. Particularly disturbing to me are the generations of Christians who themselves were young people when past changes were being made now blaming the problems of the church on the youth today. Ah inconsistency, thou hast reared thy ugly head again!
No, I’m not blind to the issues that plague the body of Christ but what I see is people more willing to cast blame than offer solutions. As someone who works alongside Christian young people on a regular basis in Bible class settings, summer youth series, youth devotionals, church camp, etc. I am actually far more impressed with their level of spirituality and absolute doctrinal soundness (not yielding to Pharisaical traditions) than I am with some of our older brethren. I see them studying their Bibles, being willing to bring friends to church services, speak openly about the faith, and volunteer selflessly to serve in various capacities. It seems they have a greater grasp of 1 Timothy 4:12 than many of our older Christians – “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” Yet that is exactly what many of us do – we despise them and blame them for problems that have existed since long before they were ever born. Instead of despising them maybe we should start defending them; after all we need them to grow up and fix all of the problems many older Christians have caused to begin with!
-Andy Brewer
Well said