Last month Dan Kimball blogged about Youth Ministry 3.0 and said something I knew deep down inside somewhere, but had never struck me until he articulated it.

“Youth Ministry sets the path for the whole church to follow.”

It’s perhaps the most important ministry of your church. The old saying is somewhat true: “Teens are not the church of the future; they’re the church of today.” Yes, they are they church of today, but they are also the church of tomorrow. And as these teens grow into adults, their church will become the church of the future. This is why you must evaluate yourself and the youth ministry and lead with a strong vision.

Something I have been wondering about and this book stirred this up in my thinking again, is how influential youth ministry is to the church at large. What I mean by that is wondering if what youth ministries do now will become what churches are like in the future. I have been interested in looking at in particular the rise of some “adult” churches in the Bible belt. This may just be my perspective and incorrect – but some of the very large ones, look almost identical to youth ministries of the 1990’s. The lights, the bands, the smoke machines, the whole shebang in what the worship gatherings are like.

Youth ministry may be critical in so many more ways than you ever considered.

Posted on June 17, 2009