Now, I AM NOT trying to degrade youth groups in this article. In this post, I'm just going to give you my opinion and the reasons why the "youth group" never worked for me personally. I am sure that youth groups work very well for some people and teach them a lot. I'm not slamming the idea of youth groups in a malicious way or anything like that. Some of my very best friends were youth ministers! I have no ill will against people who are positively affected by them. I'm just going to give my experience and explain WHY it didn't work for me. Youth groups are probably great for some people, and not so great for other kinds of people. It really all depends on the person. I should also point out that all youth groups are probably different. But I believe most of them have several things in common.
Here are the main reasons that "Youth Groups" were not a good fit for me. So if you're a parent, your child might be different or similar.
The idea that all "Teens" are alike.
In my experience, Youth Groups are built around the idea that all teenagers who are the same age must have the same similarities and struggles. It's a foundation that says, "Since you're this age, you must have this in common with your peers, you must have this worldview, you must have this life experience, and you must enjoy this. Simply because you're this age." I totally disagree with this idea. I do agree that many children do sometimes have lots of things in common. But that doesn't mean you can just put a bunch of randomly selected kids from different backgrounds together and teach them like they are all the same! Youth groups don't understand DIFFERENCE and VARIETY. They look at "teenagers" as "teenagers." And therefore they teach all "teenagers" with the same method. And that method didn't work for me. The teaching methods I've seen so far from youth groups are frequently focused a lot on teaching kids how to survive all the junk they go through at public school 5 days out of the week. In other words, the youth group's target audience is the public schoolers. And I wasn't a public schooler. Yet, because Youth Groups often adopt a "one-size-fits-all-teens" teaching method, I was often taught like I was a public schooler, because there was no place for difference. There was no second option or mode of teaching. Which leads me to my next point.
I was not the Youth Group's target audience.
Just imagine this picture in your head. Here I am, I've been schooled at home my whole life. I only have hear-say knowledge of things like "cafeterias", "drugs", "dirty dancing" and "school drama." I don't even know how to open one of those little milk cartons! I know absolutely NOTHING about pop culture, or the latest rap music. I have absolutely ZERO friends who are not lovers of Jesus. And yet, I'm in this youth group that talks all the time about this stuff. They would teach me "Don't do drugs." I would think, "I don't even know how." They would teach me "Don't get pregnant in high school." I would think "Even if I wanted to, none of the girls I hang around do that." They would teach me, "Don't cuss." I would think, "I don't even know most of the bad words." They would say, "Introduce your classmates to Jesus." I would think, "All my friends already love Jesus." They would say, "Only date christian girls." I would think, "I don't even date. I'm only 13." They would teach, "Be the light in the dark place." I would think, "All the places I'm in are already filled with light." In short, I was unable to relate to almost anything that was taught in youth group.
So, to top it off, I don't think there is anything morally wrong with youth groups. It's just that they aren't for everybody. And sometimes, trying to fuse kids from totally different cultures together, solely based on age, doesn't work that well.
Let me know what you think.
Here are the main reasons that "Youth Groups" were not a good fit for me. So if you're a parent, your child might be different or similar.
The idea that all "Teens" are alike.
In my experience, Youth Groups are built around the idea that all teenagers who are the same age must have the same similarities and struggles. It's a foundation that says, "Since you're this age, you must have this in common with your peers, you must have this worldview, you must have this life experience, and you must enjoy this. Simply because you're this age." I totally disagree with this idea. I do agree that many children do sometimes have lots of things in common. But that doesn't mean you can just put a bunch of randomly selected kids from different backgrounds together and teach them like they are all the same! Youth groups don't understand DIFFERENCE and VARIETY. They look at "teenagers" as "teenagers." And therefore they teach all "teenagers" with the same method. And that method didn't work for me. The teaching methods I've seen so far from youth groups are frequently focused a lot on teaching kids how to survive all the junk they go through at public school 5 days out of the week. In other words, the youth group's target audience is the public schoolers. And I wasn't a public schooler. Yet, because Youth Groups often adopt a "one-size-fits-all-teens" teaching method, I was often taught like I was a public schooler, because there was no place for difference. There was no second option or mode of teaching. Which leads me to my next point.
I was not the Youth Group's target audience.
Just imagine this picture in your head. Here I am, I've been schooled at home my whole life. I only have hear-say knowledge of things like "cafeterias", "drugs", "dirty dancing" and "school drama." I don't even know how to open one of those little milk cartons! I know absolutely NOTHING about pop culture, or the latest rap music. I have absolutely ZERO friends who are not lovers of Jesus. And yet, I'm in this youth group that talks all the time about this stuff. They would teach me "Don't do drugs." I would think, "I don't even know how." They would teach me "Don't get pregnant in high school." I would think "Even if I wanted to, none of the girls I hang around do that." They would teach me, "Don't cuss." I would think, "I don't even know most of the bad words." They would say, "Introduce your classmates to Jesus." I would think, "All my friends already love Jesus." They would say, "Only date christian girls." I would think, "I don't even date. I'm only 13." They would teach, "Be the light in the dark place." I would think, "All the places I'm in are already filled with light." In short, I was unable to relate to almost anything that was taught in youth group.
So, to top it off, I don't think there is anything morally wrong with youth groups. It's just that they aren't for everybody. And sometimes, trying to fuse kids from totally different cultures together, solely based on age, doesn't work that well.
Let me know what you think.
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