YOU NEED TO READ THIS! (Understanding a Generation of Young People)

PROPS TO THE CHAPLAIN! Today we had a great chapel at good ole TNU. Dr. Tim Green got up and performed a Paul Washer esk sermon that seemed to be geared more towards the faculty than the students. He really hit on some good youth ministry subjects that I will cover in this blog post today. His entire sermon seemed to stem from a book called "The God-Hungry Imagination" by Sarah Arthur. He uses her term which she takes from other authors: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism to describe what modern/postmodern/pop-Christianity has become. The idea was as follows: Christians today view God/Religion as God helps me be a better person, God/Religion makes me feel good about myself and God/Religion is there for me when I need it. The critique of our culture's understanding is this: Yes God is all of these things, but if that is where our religion/faith stops we are missing out on the purpose of life. Tim used the analogy of a golf player trying to play soccer with his golf equipment. Sure he is on the soccer field, but he isn't actually engaged in the game of soccer. Many of us are followers of Christ, but we aren't actually engaged in the story of God because we are so focused on our own part of the story that we forget that God's story is going on all around us and we are all playing a part in it. I'm talking about a meta-narrative, overarching story, Kingdom of God, the Story of God. We are all playing a role in this story right now. The problem with our culture is that everyone is so focused on reciting their own lines that they pay no attention to the storyline. In an nutshell I am trying to teach you here how to take a teenager that is self-minded and turn them into someone that is kingdom minded.
So how do we understand this generation of people that have lost their place in the story of God?
First learn the Terms they use
Then understand how the generation X and Y see them. This is anyone born between 1965-1990

But How do we get them from this:







To this:

The answer revolves around their understanding of where they fit in. They no longer can make their story fit into the meta-narrative instead they need to see that they themselves are actually a character in a greater story. They have a role in the story of God. If you want to minister more effectively to this generation, you will need to creatively find a way to open their eyes to the story of God and help them to find their role in it. That's all I've got for today. If you are interested in seeing a great promo video for a fundraiser we are hosting for our youth group then watch this next clip!