Obsessed with cool. Trendy. Impulsive. Self-focused. Caught up in the moment. Probably sounds like a description of some of the kids in your youth group.

Actually, um…well…this is not an article about youth culture or the world of today’s teenagers. This is an article about us—those of us in the youth ministry culture, those of us who work with teenagers—and how we seem to be sliding into an adolescent approach to our faith and mission. Look at our must-read books, listen to our conversations, go to our seminars and measure our values. Even a quick survey of the current youth ministry culture tells the story: We’re not just working with teenagers; we’re starting to think like them.

Adolescent-Driven Youth Ministry

Trendy
Let’s face it. The youth ministry culture is extremely susceptible to fads. Those of us in youth ministry are in love with the new. Add the adjectives newest or latest to stuff, and we’re interested. For example, I heard a youth worker recently defend a new book by saying it’s really edgy. OK, but what does that mean? Shouldn’t the question be, not whether something is edgy but whether it’s constructive, whether it’s helpful and (pardon me for not being edgy here, but) whether it’s true (Acts 17:11)?

Read more here.