{"id":789,"date":"2014-11-10T14:11:31","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T20:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focuspressblog.com\/?p=789"},"modified":"2014-11-10T14:11:31","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T20:11:31","slug":"millennial-monday-no-more-minor-leagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2014\/11\/10\/millennial-monday-no-more-minor-leagues\/","title":{"rendered":"Millennial Monday: No More Minor Leagues"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the exciting things about being a dedicated sports fan is getting to keep an eye on minor league teams to see the next wave of talent before they make the leap to the big leagues. It\u2019s a source of hope for the future of your team when you see talented young players get drafted, knowing that eventually they\u2019ll work their way up to a starring role for your team. This minor league system is something that works great in sports like baseball and hockey. It\u2019s not, however, a good idea for the church, no matter how hard we try to make it work.
\nHow does the church have a minor league system? Consider what happens when our young people get baptized. Generally speaking, they remain a part of the youth group but are given no role of service in the church. In so many congregations, nothing will be expected from these young people as long as they are in high school and living at home with their parents. Then, as they enter their college years, they are still considered too young to take an active role in the congregation, so we try college and singles groups. At some point they have to enter the \u201cbig leagues\u201d and be part of the regular church, but we\u2019ve been terrible at facilitating some kind of transition and so they never truly connect with the church. They never make the jump from our arbitrary, man-made minor league system into being fully active, serving members of the body.
\nConsider the disconnect between the youth and the rest of the church in a large number of our congregations. If there is a men\u2019s meeting, the men are expected to be there\u2026 but the baptized young men aren\u2019t expected to attend. In most congregations, the women find ways to serve by taking meals to those in need, teaching children\u2019s classes, and organizing ladies Bible studies\u2026 but what do we expect of the baptized young women? If there\u2019s a service day, the church counts on its members to turn out\u2026 but unless it\u2019s announced as a youth function, the youth aren\u2019t there. The problem isn\u2019t that we have youth functions, it\u2019s that young Christians aren\u2019t expected to be a part of the church outside of those functions.
\nWhether we like to admit it or not, we see young Christians as a different type of Christian. They weren\u2019t baptized into a minor league version of the church, though. What we forget is that no matter how much we try to simplify their church experience, they\u2019re still facing the very real issues of temptation and distraction in their walks of faith. To continue the metaphor, they\u2019re facing major league pitching while receiving minor league coaching.
\nSo, we need to start to consider one of two options.
\nThe first option \u2013 maybe we need to reconsider baptism at such young ages. If we really think young people are incapable of growing into functioning members of the body, maybe they aren\u2019t ready to become Christians. I\u2019m not saying we expect them to get up and preach or teach a Bible class a week after baptism, but since the church needs every member to serve in their own way (see Romans 12, Ephesians 4), we can\u2019t keep having baptized members that we feel don\u2019t fit into the church\u2019s work. While this is undoubtedly true in some cases, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the solution. I don\u2019t think the problem is that these young people aren\u2019t ready to serve, I think the problem is that we aren\u2019t letting them.
\nSo, we need to consider the second option \u2013 start coming up with ways to develop the young people we have into active members of the body, not minor leaguers who might someday be able to contribute to our efforts. As I\u2019ve cited before in this column series, a large amount of the research done on Millennials indicates that they don\u2019t feel challenged in the church and that they want to serve. The question is whether or not we let them. In fact, it\u2019s that attitude \u2013 \u201cwhether or not we let them\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s the problem. Service is something that we don\u2019t let<\/em> Christians do, it\u2019s something we should expect out of all Christians, no matter their age. If they\u2019re mature enough to understand their sins and understand the commitment of following Christ then they\u2019re mature enough to serve.
\nUntil we start raising our expectations and finding ways to help them serve the whole church (not some artificial, minor league version of it that we hope they\u2019ll leave \u201cwhen they\u2019re ready\u201d), we will continue to struggle to connect with them as they transition into adulthood. A Christian is a Christian, no matter the age. God doesn\u2019t lower His expectations for Christians, and neither should we.
\nBy Jack Wilkie<\/strong>
\nThis article appears in the November 2014 issue of “Think” magazine.<\/em>
\nJack Wilkie is the author of \u201cFailure: What Christian Parents Need to Know About American Education\u201d<\/a> and is the speaker for Focus Press\u2019s \u201cThe Lost Generation\u201d seminar. To schedule a seminar at your church, contact jack@tampaseo.expert.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the exciting things about being a dedicated sports fan is getting to keep an eye on minor league teams to see the next wave of talent before they make the leap to the big leagues. It\u2019s a source of hope for the future of your team when you see talented young players get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,32,179],"tags":[49,23,215,54],"class_list":["post-789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-church","category-millennial-mondays","tag-church","tag-jack","tag-millennial-monday","tag-youth","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nNo More Minor Leagues - The Focus Press Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Millennials and teens - part of the church, or just minor league members?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2014\/11\/10\/millennial-monday-no-more-minor-leagues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"No More Minor Leagues - 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