Stop Segregating Your Youth

That's right - Stop segregating your youth! Half a century ago, churches thought that the thing to do with youth was to put them in a youth group. And the results have been devastating. Both to the youth and to the church.

Let me explain.

First - the Bible never sanctioned separating youth from adults.

Check out Deuteronomy 16:9-14, where Israel was commanded, during the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths, to "rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter," 

When Joshua renewed the Covenant, "he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones" (8:34f).

Under Ezra, when Israel confessed their sin, it was "a very great assembly of men, women, and children" (10:1).

I could go on.

See also 2 Chronicles 20:13, Nehemiah 12:43 and Joel 2:15-16. The point is well taken that the Bible always expected children to be part of the worshiping, studying, and serving community.

Second -  In a study conducted a couple of years ago, "Fifty-five percent of American Christians [were] concerned with modern youth ministry because it's too shallow and too entertainment-focused, resulting in an inability to train mature believers."

Adam McManus, a spokesman for the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches, wrote:

American Christians are finally waking up to the disconnect between the clear teaching in Scripture in favor of family-integration and the modern-day church's obsession with dividing the family at every turn. Age segregation, especially during the tender and impactful teenage years, not only hasn't worked, it's been detrimental.

Third - As everyone knows, most youth drop out of church. The reasons they drop out are multitudinous, but one reason is that they have been separated in youth groups, and see no reason to "graduate" from youth ministry to the church. It is so unnatural.

Fourth - Recent research validates the efficacy of intergenerational discipling. See, for example, Holly Allen's Intergenerational Christian Formation: Bringing the Whole Church Together in Ministry, Community and Worship. 

Youth need to build a large number of relationships with authentic Christian women and men. One or two youth leaders cannot get the job done. If you really want to disciple youth, put them in meaningful relationships with adult Christ followers. And it will happen. It worked for ancient Israel. It worked for the church in its first 1,950 years. And it will work again. Just try it.