At a Council of Elders meeting this past August, I was asked to spearhead the building of a national youth program for the Living Church of God. This article is intended to give an overview of where we are today and to discuss steps we can take to build an effective youth program.
It is accurate to say that if you do not know where you are going it is likely that you will not end up where you want to be. The first law of success is to have a goal. We need to have a vision of what we hope our end product will be. Our product in this case is our children. If we hope to have young adults who reflect God’s way of life, we must begin creating the atmosphere in which that end result will blossom. Or to quote another, “We must create a culture that incubates purity, since the dominant one [culture] does anything but” (See Christianity Today, July 20, 2000, “Losing Our Promiscuity”).
This is what Ambassador College did for many of us in the 50s and 60s, and to a lesser extent in later years. There we were taught the true definition of love—an outgoing concern. We were taught to raise our standards and appreciate finer things. We were taught how young men and young women should conduct themselves with each other. We strove to “Recapture True Values.” We learned that “The Word of God Is the Foundation of Knowledge.” We heard, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” And we learned manners and protocol.
When I entered Ambassador in 1965, we were discouraged from holding hands and letting relationships become physical. Hugging and kissing among singles were considered inappropriate behaviors, but by the time I graduated in 1969 these standards were beginning to be relaxed and Ambassador eventually succumbed to the ways of this world. Rules that once created a safe atmosphere and guided behavior to stay within the secure haven of God’s laws began to be ridiculed and laughed at as old-fashioned.
One might ask: What were the results of the two different approaches?” Were relationships better under the more liberal approach? Did hormone-driven pairing off add or subtract from the stability of long-term marriage relationships? While no studies have been done, empirical evidence would say the results were not good.
When you compare life at Ambassador College with that of the outside world in the mid-60s, we see that we were living in a totally different cultural environment. Outside was the drug scene, the hippies, the peaceniks and orgies called “love-ins.” Music was more a wail and a scream than a melody. Longhaired men and bra-less women, neither of whom bathed regularly, traveled the country shacking up in communes. Yet at Ambassador we lived in a beautiful uplifting culture, isolated from that insanity. Some would say that we did not live in “the real world”—and we would agree (1 John 2:15–17). The question is: “Who wants to live in THAT ‘real’ world?” We did live in a real world, but it was not the real world of this age. We were living a better way, practicing for the higher world that will soon be here. Not everyone got the message, but some of us did! The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is the announcement that this temporal evil world is going to pass away and a better, more permanent world is coming. We look forward to the fulfillment of that message when we will be born into the very family of God. The values in that Family bear no resemblance to today’s degraded society.
Our youth are swimming in the culture of this world that John condemns. They are bombarded with its messages at every turn. As parents and ministers we must define practical and specific examples of what it means to come out of this world’s culture and what it means to live within a godly culture. Our challenge, collectively, is to “sell” that better culture—that better way of life—to the children of God’s Church. How can we do this?
Our first priority must be to create a godly culture in our homes. The ministry can assist in this by helping to define and remind everyone what this means. We must learn strategies for removing Satan’s influence and replacing it with God’s influence. We need to know in understandable terms WHY the TV must be turned off or severely restricted. Then we must learn to discuss with one another HOW to use that time more effectively. Without a proper alternative we will only produce resentment and rebellion in our children. We need family sermons (on topics such as marriage, child rearing, how to work or play as a family, how to select a mate for life, how to remove Satan from influencing your family, how to invite God into your family, how to insulate your family from drugs and alcohol abuse) sent out regularly from Headquarters. Each minister with children in his congregation should also plan to speak on family subjects at some regular interval.
We must also use other available tools. For example, we could produce a series of videotapes discussing parenting at different stages in development, from infancy through the teen years. Of course, this would only be of value if parents desired such a tool and would use it. This is where we need your feedback. How do you feel we can help you the most? What constructive ideas do you have to offer? This must be a team effort! While we wait for further input from parents and other concerned individuals, here are some steps we can take.
Our youth must have regular occasions to be in the presence of other youth who are being brought up in tomorrow’s culture. We try to create this culture of tomorrow’s world at Living Youth Camp, but this is not enough. We must take the same approach at the Feast of Tabernacles. The same values of outgoing concern, of dancing decently, of making sure that no one is left out, of honoring and respecting those of the opposite sex and of dressing modestly must be taught and apply there. But, as one teen lamented, “It’s a long way from the Feast to Camp.” How right he is! Most teens can think in terms of three months, but eight or nine is another matter.
A partial solution could be to plan regional family activities—one in the winter (during the school break at the end of December) with the second one in the spring around the Days of Unleavened Bread. This would fill the gap. By doing this we would then have quarterly activities for a good many of our teens—LYC, the Feast, a winter family activity and an Unleavened Bread family activity.
We must understand that we are not talking about “throwing” activities at our teens—and we are certainly not talking about building a “sports league”-type program. Our first priority for LYC, for the Feast and for winter and spring breaks is to educate teens and their families in a different culture. This can only work if we all “speak the same thing” and promote the same values. While activities may vary, the approach to these activities must be harmonious. For example: if there is a dance, we ought to have the same rules and traditions at all locations and at all levels. We do not allow “freestyle” dancing at LYC for a reason. Therefore, freestyle dancing should not be allowed at a regional or local activity. Ultimately we hope that all families will come to understand why we do not have this form of dancing, and will adopt this cultural value in their private lives. To do otherwise would send a mixed signal to our youth. While we can make a good defense for not allowing freestyle dancing, even if someone views this as an arbitrary rule, it is better for us to agree to speak the same thing than to have a double standard.
The Internet can be a valuable tool in our present scattered circumstances. We are developing an official Youth Web page that we hope will be active and exciting to our youth, with such features as links for LYC, teen Bible studies, Festival information, and regional activity announcements and reports. In time we may want to set up a forum or chat room.
We have already published more than 20 teen Bible studies on a private web site where we have been gaining experience, and we have another 14 nearly ready to go. We plan to post one every Friday. These studies will cover doctrine as well as Christian living, giving teens the opportunity to become really familiar with the Bible and what the church teaches. Parents and teens can work through them together, or a teen may choose to do them individually. In either case, parents ought to be familiar with these studies.
We need to find every opportunity to establish the ideal of a “tomorrow’s world culture.” For example, Church youth would benefit from short and inexpensive regional camps for 8to 12-year-olds, helping them form godly values long before they are ready for LYC. If enough parents are interested and can help, this may in the future become a reality. And we hope in the future to provide more youth-oriented educational materials, such as a Bible Study Course for children ages 5-12, to help them build a foundation of true values before they are overwhelmed by the false values of this world. As God opens doors to make such programs possible, we must be ready to walk through them with the vision of just how important our youth are to God, and to the future of His Church.
We are in a cultural war—or, to put it more accurately, a spiritual war for the hearts and souls of our children. Satan is fighting the battle every day, all day long. We must learn how better to wage war against this enemy and to fight this battle relentlessly. This is a battle we can win if we work together with God’s help!