In the eighteenth century God shook the American colonies in a revival movement known by historians as the First Great Awakening. In his treatise entitled Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England, written to describe and defend the movement, Edwards observed the role of youth in this revival, while indicting older believers for their indifference:
“The work has been chiefly amongst the young; and comparatively but few others have been made partakers of it. And indeed it has commonly been so, when God has begun any great work for the revival of his church; he has taken the young people, and has cast off the old and stiff-necked generation.”
Stern words for our day as well!
I believe God has opened before the leaders of the church today a great and open door to see a generation of radicals unleashed on the culture. I believe God has assembled an army:
–an army utilized by cultists (think Mormon missionaries), but often spurned or patronized by the church;
–an army enlisted by our government in times of war, but too often left on the sidelines of spiritual opportunity and risk;
–an army chosen to represent nations at the highest level of athletic endeavor (think teenaged gymnasts, for instance), but pushed aside into secondary status in the body of Christ;
–an army challenged academically in school while often given baby food spiritually in church (if they can learn trigonometry, they can learn theology);
–an army poised to live for Christ, but too often told just to stay out of the way.
The army to which I refer is the army of young people in the nation today. Why young people? First, my study of spiritual awakenings historically has caused me to wonder why more has not been written on the role of youth in the activity of God (perhaps because old people write church history texts!). Second, discussions with colleagues and many, many student pastors have led me to the view that what we have done in student ministry has not been effective at producing what we hoped. Entire cottage industries related to youth ministry have produced a subculture that is financially lucrative but spiritually anemic. Student ministers, including many in my classes as well as scores with whom I have talked over the past two years, indicate a growing dissatisfaction with the present state of youth ministry. Who can blame them, with a church culture that treats teens like fourth graders, and youth pastors like baby sitters?
The meteoric growth of student ministry in the church over the past generation calls for analysis, evaluation, and reflection. Note the following as a real, although perhaps exceptional, example:
“Although her family was only nominally involved in the church, Jenny came to our youth group faithfully throughout her teenage years. She went on mission trips and attended Sunday school; she was a regular fixture in our program. We had been successful with Jenny, or so we thought.
Jimmy, on the other hand, never quite connected with our youth ministry. We really worked to get him involved with our youth programs. He had no interest in retreats or mission trips; Sunday school bored him,; and youth groups seemed a little on the silly side for his taste. He sometimes attended another church across town. On my little scoreboard of kids we had been effective with, Jimmy was on the “lost” side.
But Jimmy had one thing going for him–every Sunday, he was in worship–with his parents at our church or with his friends at another church. Jimmy didn’t need our outrageous and creative youth ministry to lead him to faith maturity.
But for Jenny, our youth ministry was her only Christian connection. Unlike a real family, the youth group “family” forced her to resign when she was too old to fit the requirements. She now looks back on your youth group experience as . . . a fun, even laughable part of her past, but something that belongs exclusively in the realm of her teenage years.
There is something wrong with the standard of success that prematurely rates a leader’s work with Jenny as the example of success and Jimmy’s as the example of failure.”
Young people, when treated like young adults preparing for lifelong service to God rather than children emerging from the cocoon of childhood, will rise to the bar we as spiritual leaders set for them and live before them. Negatively, if we keep doing what we have been doing, we will keep getting what we have been getting. That is, we are not currently raising up a generation of soldiers ready for spiritual battle.
But a second, far more positive motivation exists today that should likewise spur the church to action. The current generation of young people, dubbed Millennials, display some of the most hopeful characteristics of any group so studied in the modern era. The Millennial generation offers great promise for the church.
I live with the hope that what we read about 200 years ago in New England could be seen in this generation. The first of a series of revival movements in the course of Jonathan Edwards’ Northampton ministry was the Valley Revival of 1734-35. Edwards referred to the role of the youth in its origin: “At the latter end of the year 1733, there appeared a very unusual flexibleness, and yielding to advice, in our young people.” This came after Edwards began speaking against their irreverence toward the Sabbath. The youth were also affected greatly by the sudden death of a young man and then of a young married woman in their town. Edwards proposed that the young people should begin meeting in small groups around Northampton. They did so with such success that many adults followed their example.
Edwards wrote:
“God made it, I suppose, the greatest occasion of awakening to others, of anything that ever came to pass in the town..news of it seemed to be almost like a flash of lightning, upon the hearts of young people, all over town, and upon many others.”
Beyond the impact the awakening had on young people, most of the leaders of the revival were touched by God personally while young. Edwards himself began his passionate pursuit of God as a child, and his precocious spiritual zeal was obvious in his teen years. The First Great Awakening would include further the work of George Whitefield, in his twenties at the height of his influence, and the Log College of Presbyterian William Tennent. Tennent’s log house. built to provide ministerial training for three of his sons and fifteen others, made no small mark on the leadership development of ministers during the awakening.
From the log college advanced several who would be leaders in the First Great Awakening. These included sons Gilbert, the most prominent revival leader among Presbyterians, John, and William, Jr., along with Samuel Blair. In addition, many graduates established similar log colleges of their own. The Log College, which ultimately evolved into the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) has been called “the forerunner of modern seminaries.”
At the turn of the nineteenth century the Second Great Awakening spread across the emerging United States. A major precipitating factor in this movement was the outbreak of revival on college campuses. Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia experienced the first in a series of college revivals. The Yale College revival began under the leadership of president Timothy Dwight, the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. The movement there spread to Dartmouth and Princeton. At Princeton three-fourths of the students made professions of faith, and one fourth entered the ministry.
I believe in students today. I believe God is working. May we help them see how big aged is, how amazing is His grace, and how nothing matters more than surrendering all to Him.
-the above is adapted from my book Raising the Bar.
