A Revelant Message in a Change Culture

Doesn’t it seem that we live in a culture that changes quickly?  Take fashion for instance – look back at pictures of yourself from five years ago.  Are you wearing the same type of outfits now as you were in those pictures?  Are you looking at your hairdo wondering what you were thinking?  Or take music – bands that were popular a few years back – more than likely they’re not the same ones playing on the top 100 countdown today.

Change in our culture happens quickly.  And if we stay completely focused in our same track of doing ministry, never looking up to see if change is happening around us, we could easily find ourselves a few years outdated and not effectively communicating or reaching the youth of today in a relevant way.  Webster defines “change” as the following:  to make different in some particular; to make radically different; to give a different position, course, or direction to. 

In your own youth ministry, I would encourage you to embrace change.  Change can sometimes be the key to truly connecting with your students in a relevant way.  Now, please hear my heart – there can be a ditch on either side of this topic – refusing to change and still using CDs from your high school years as the opening song, or changing so much a student wouldn’t know the difference between a show on MTV and your youth service last weekend.  There needs to be a balance. 

The best way to see how to connect with your church’s youth today is to observe your very own students.  Are your students communicating through Facebook, Twitter, or texting?  Are your students into playing sports, writing music, creating their own videos, longboarding?  Tune into your students to see how you can bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them in a relevant way.  And don’t be discouraged if change seems to happen more quickly than you’d expect.  Remember – only a few short years ago, you were sporting that ever-fashionable hairdo.

Ruth