The Failure of Youth Ministry

The Failure of Youth Ministry
by Mike Yaconelli

I ran across a link to this is a very interesting article by Mike Yaconelli on Scott Browns blog.

Apparently Mike Yaconelli was one of the founders of the modern youth ministry movement, and wrote this article shortly before his death for "Youthworker" magazine.

The article ends with this amazing statement:

“So let's be honest.

Youth ministry as an experiment has failed. If we want to see the church survive, we need to rethink youth ministry.

What does that mean? I don't have a clue. But my hunch is that if we want to see young people have a faith that lasts, then we have to completely change the way we do youth ministry in America.

I wonder if any of us has the courage to try.”

Amen to that little bit of honesty! Why cant the Church be so honest as to rethink the way we are doing youth ministry?