Love Both Young People AND the Church

I just spent the last week and a half attending the Campus Outreach Academy in Lawton, Michigan with about 100 students and staff from University Christian Outreach. The goal of the academy is to equip students and staff workers for discipleship and evangelism on their college campuses.

Every year our teachings and discussions center around a theme. This year we learned about Christian virtues. One of our speakers, Dr. Thomas Bergler recently published a book entitled The Juvenilization of American Christianity (Eerdmans 2012). I thought I'd take a few minutes to share some reflections on the book and how it applies to my life as a UCO staff worker on the University of Pittsburgh's campus.

Bergler argues that American Christianity became juvenilized in the post-war era as a way to appeal to the youth whom adults believed the moral future of the world depended on (Bergler 5). He uses case studies from Liberal Protestant, Roman Catholic, Black, and Evangelical churches to provide examples for how different segments of the American population responded to juvenilization. He concludes by arguing that juvinilization revitalized American Christianity at the expense of individual spiritual maturity (Bergler 225).

I particularly enjoyed his analysis of the Black churches response to juvenilization. Before reading this book I knew that the civil rights movement, and particularly the sit-in demonstrations, grew out of and in a lot of ways depended on Black churches. Bergler's analysis convinced me of the importance of community (a group of people united under a common vision and mission) in standing up to juvenilization. For example, Bergler argues that, "unlike white Protestants, African Americans did not need to create a 'hip' version of Christianity to provoke young people to embrace social justice... dramatic injustices forced every young person to realize that some things were more important than fun and entertainment" (Bergler 93). 

Unfortunately, Black churches did not escape juvenilization when they decided to trade in the gospel of Christ for the gospel of racial justice. This case study forced me to think about what I've traded the gospel of Christ for in my own life? Maybe my gospel is a belief that my life is supposed to matter, so how can I make a difference with my life? What schools do I need to go to to land a high paying job? What moral compromises am I willing to make to get ahead?

Overall I found the book very helpful and accessible. He makes a thorough historical argument for the juvenilization of Christianity across social, political, and economic lines with language accessible to the youth workers he seeks to reform. His book reminded me of Romans 12 (do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind) and encouraged me to think critically about my consumption of American culture.

My favorite part of the book, however, was his conclusion were he offers advice for youth workers trying to reach out to students living in a culture saturated with the effects of juvenilization. I'm going to end this post with his tips. Then tape them to my whiteboard.

Tips for Taming Juvenilation

1. Teach your students what the Bible says about spiritual maturity (i.e every Christian need strive for it!)

2. Educate yourself about juvenilization and serve as a cultural gatekeeper for your organization (i.e think critically about teenage culture and prayerfully discern its usage)

3. Love both young people AND the church (or risk losing both the best of the new and the treasures of the past)