March 5, 2010
OYAYA
Purpose of youth ministry is salvation
BY STEVE DABROWSKI (Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry)
Excited about an advertised deal on a television, I visited an electronics retailer around Thanksgiving. I was told that they only had three of those models that morning, and by the time I got there after work, they had been sold. No doubt: It was a great price. “However,” the salesperson continued, “I can sell you this other brand for the same price.” Although it may not fit the legal definition, it felt like bait-and-switch to me, and I purchased elsewhere.
I recently wrote a column that could be paraphrased, “Youth ministry is not about entertainment; it is about Jesus.” I received a larger-than-usual response to this column — most extremely positive. A few, however, disagreed, and I appreciate the opportunity this provides for clarification. Yes, good ministry is engaging and exciting, and it can be fun; however, given the importance Millennials (the sociological term used for today’s youth) place on trust, we cannot bait youth with the promise of fun only to switch our purposes once they are in the door.
John Paul II wrote of this approach in chapter two of the encyclical Redemptoris Missio:
The Church contributes to mankind’s pilgrimage of conversion to God’s plan through her witness and through such activities as dialogue, human promotion, commitment to justice and peace, education and the care of the sick, and aid to the poor and to children. In carrying on these activities, however, she never loses sight of the priority of the transcendent and spiritual realities which are premises of eschatological salvation. (Emphasis mine.)
In other words, everything we do is about salvation. We are called to take the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world; we are not called to play games with youth with an ulterior motive. We minister to youth because we love Jesus and we want them to love Him as well. If we lose sight of salvation, then we simply become social workers or cruise directors rather than evangelists or missionaries.
Michael Warren addresses this in his essay The Imaginations of Youth found in the book Awakening Youth Discipleship: Christian Resistance in a Consumer Culture. He states, “The Church is not a club. Its fundamental goals are not entertainment-centered . . . . Where it exhibits the way of Jesus, the church is often unsettling, especially to those who are new to its practices and convictions”(52).
Yet here’s the problem: We live in a world where some churches offer big bands and light shows and where Joel Osteen fills the Astro Dome and rarely mentions the name of Jesus. Similarly, if we served pizza and soda during Mass, we’d draw a larger crowd, but it would no longer be Mass. Jesus did not come to entertain us: He came to save us! Although the Gospel is compelling, preaching it should never have entertainment as its sole focus. As St. Paul states, we are to “preach Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” That is not entertaining; it is compelling.
Salvation is the bait, and it switches our outlook forever.