Rethinking:YM: Are We Playing It Safe?

My old ritual, as youth group would wrap-up on Sunday evenings and the young’ns were heading home, was to say to them “Be Safe.” Isn’t that a strange way to say goodbye? Of course, all I meant was “Have a good week and come back in one piece” but is that really the best advice we have to give to our youth? They live in a world of school violence, AIDS, drugs, computer predators, terrorism. Is being safe all it’s cracked up to be? What about when it comes to our faith? Is teaching our youth to “play it safe” our best option? Probably not, but are we willing to lead youth ministries that encourage real risk?

One of my favorite passages in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe finds the young protagonists chatting with Mr.. and Mrs.. Beaver. The Beavers are trying to describe Aslan, the Lion (a metaphorical stand-in for Christ in the story). Lucy, taken aback by the notion of meeting a lion, asks, “But is he safe?” Mr. Beaver replies. “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t. But he’s good.”

Do our youth ministries too often offer a Jesus who is “safe?” A Jesus who asks little of us beyond giving intellectual assent to a list of religious beliefs? A Jesus who says, “Just agree that I’m your Lord and Savior and then I’ll leave you alone to your video game nights and your road trips and your skateboard parks?” We know that for the early church, following Jesus was not just about committing to a list of do’s and dont’s or pledging allegiance to religious dogma. For them following Jesus meant walking through life the way he walked, living and loving as he lived and loved. Theologian Paul Tillich describes this as making the spirit of Christ a reality by “participating in his very being.” In other words, following Christ is not primarily about abstract belief but about a way of being in the world.

And if we dared to do this in our youth ministry, we’d better be prepared for trouble. Because following Jesus with our youth — really following Jesus — will be anything but safe. Because here is what it would look like:

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RETHINKING YOUTH MINISTRY: Are We Playing It Safe in Youth Ministry?