Is the Era of Age Segmentation Over?
Dear Greg Linscott,
I agree with the article that saved teenagers and saved young adults need to be discipled by mature Christians in the congregration. This can occur during Sunday School (some churches have separate teenager and young adult groups) and other events. There is Biblical support for this stance:
“Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
‘God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble’ ” (1 Peter 5:5; NKJV).
Love,
In Christ,
Matt
I agree with the article that saved teenagers and saved young adults need to be discipled by mature Christians in the congregration. This can occur during Sunday School (some churches have separate teenager and young adult groups) and other events. There is Biblical support for this stance:
“Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
‘God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble’ ” (1 Peter 5:5; NKJV).
Love,
In Christ,
Matt
Christ Saves Sinners is my evangelistic website.
I think part of the issue we should be dealing with is if ‘adolescence’ is actually supported by the Bible, and should we as Christians even acknowledge it.
I’ve been reading and researching a book- http://drrobertepstein.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=10&Ite…] The Case Against Adolescence by Dr. Robert Epstein PhD. You can read a short interview with him http://drrobertepstein.com/pdf/Trashing%20Teens%20-%20Psychology%20Toda…] here .
Adolescence was largely an invention of http://books.google.com/books?id=5jJAbcK11QgC&pg=PA391&lpg=PA391&dq=ado…] G. Stanley Hall . There is almost no validity for the basis of his theories, and certainly no Biblical support. How many young people who did great things for God were most likely in their early teens- not to mention how many kings gained the throne before they were 20? Why should churches continue to operate under these faulty suppositions- that teens need to have ‘special treatment’ in the church?
IMO it is no wonder that we lose them. We keep them pacified, controlled and entertained until they are 18-20, and then we pull the plug and demand they act like mature, responsible adults. They’ve got whiplash from getting jerked around.
If we were to say that we wish to restrict ourselves to a Biblical pattern, it is clearly that of gender segregation, not age segregation, with older men teaching younger men, older women teaching younger women. I would be happy to see youth groups, as we usually define the term, to go the way of the dodo.
I’ve been reading and researching a book- http://drrobertepstein.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=10&Ite…] The Case Against Adolescence by Dr. Robert Epstein PhD. You can read a short interview with him http://drrobertepstein.com/pdf/Trashing%20Teens%20-%20Psychology%20Toda…] here .
Adolescence was largely an invention of http://books.google.com/books?id=5jJAbcK11QgC&pg=PA391&lpg=PA391&dq=ado…] G. Stanley Hall . There is almost no validity for the basis of his theories, and certainly no Biblical support. How many young people who did great things for God were most likely in their early teens- not to mention how many kings gained the throne before they were 20? Why should churches continue to operate under these faulty suppositions- that teens need to have ‘special treatment’ in the church?
IMO it is no wonder that we lose them. We keep them pacified, controlled and entertained until they are 18-20, and then we pull the plug and demand they act like mature, responsible adults. They’ve got whiplash from getting jerked around.
If we were to say that we wish to restrict ourselves to a Biblical pattern, it is clearly that of gender segregation, not age segregation, with older men teaching younger men, older women teaching younger women. I would be happy to see youth groups, as we usually define the term, to go the way of the dodo.
Discussion