It’s no secret that being a teen in today’s world is difficult. As more teens are seen leaving church and losing faith, churches across the country are trying to figure out how best to meet the needs of these young people. The most common response seems to be to customize programs to teenagers’ needs. Youth Bible studies, youth service projects, youth conferences, and other “youth-centered” events are created and grown to connect young people to the church.
As a pastor’s daughter who, at 21, is not too far removed from teenhood, I’d like to suggest another option: Start treating teen church members more like adults.
Certainly, giving teens the opportunity to grow in faith with a group of their peers has value. But to churchgoing teens, even the most mature youth program can sometimes feel like a kind of “kids table” that bars them from true adult membership at church. Especially for confirmed teens, who have technically been received into “adult” membership of a sort, being confined to youth programs can call into question when, if ever, they will be considered worthy to join the ranks of the adult church. Encouraging adult participation in church alleviates this sort of doubt.
Moreover, even those who don’t resent this “kids table” confinement must grow up and leave it at some point. If the goal of youth groups is to keep teens involved in church life and encourage them to remain in the church as they grow, then it’s not unreasonable to start nudging youth toward the “adult” side of church at a younger age. After all, the people the church calls “youth” are very close to being grown up. They are beginning to face adult problems and take on adult responsibilities. Why not acknowledge this reality by offering teens more adult responsibility in the church?
What can be done to end this “teen quarantine”?
Let teens participate in worship services in a greater capacity than just sitting in the pew.
In one sense, you can’t get a better Sunday morning job than simply being one of those whom Christ serves in His Word and Sacraments without added responsibilities, but there are many tasks necessary to worship, and the pastor can’t do them all. Some needs, like musicians and ushers, are common to most churches, while other congregations may have more specific and unique opportunities. For example, when my small home congregation found itself without an organist, a few of the teens “played the organ” by running recordings of the hymns and service accompaniment from a smartphone. These behind-the-scenes roles in worship can give teens a welcome sense that they are contributing to something larger than themselves.
Invite teenagers to attend adult Bible studies.
As a high school student, I loved being allowed at the adult Bible study; in fact, I preferred it to the high school class. I had a lot of questions about faith as a teen, and my more seasoned Christian brothers and sisters could often give me better answers to those questions than my equally inexperienced peers. Even more, I learned that even those experienced adults had questions to ask in Bible studies, and I got to learn from those questions as well. When young and old study Scripture together, we can learn from one another as well as from God’s Word.
Get teens working with the church’s younger children.
Nothing makes teenagers feel responsible (or learn responsibility) like helping and caring for little ones in VBS or Sunday School. And don’t feel the need to restrict teenagers to “babysitting” roles; let them take the lead and share their faith when it’s appropriate. When I was in high school, I helped teach VBS Bible stories and write skits, and the fact that I was trusted with this kind of responsibility meant a lot to me.
Finally, encourage teens to participate in church charity work with adults.
Many youth groups do wonderful service projects together, but be sure to invite your youth members to work in mission alongside the adults as well. I was often the only teenager in a group of older ladies stocking a food pantry or helping in the church kitchen. It benefited both parties: they were thrilled to have a younger pair of legs in the kitchen with them, and I got to have meaningful, advice-filled, often hilarious conversations with older women of faith that I would not otherwise have had.
But aren’t many “capable” teenagers also lazy, frustrating, selfish, and irresponsible? Yes, and so are many adults. It’s part of being the poor, miserable sinners that humans are. In fact, that sinfulness is even more reason to invite teens into the adult life of the church, where they can gather with other sinners around the cross of Jesus Christ, receive His forgiving love, and carry that love out into the world.
As young people grow out of the programs they’ve known since childhood, they desperately need some assurance that the church is going to grow with them. So please, show them. Show your teens that the church can teach something more enduring than action songs or the latest popular music. Show them that it can feed people something more satisfying than donuts and juice during coffee hour or pizza at a youth lock-in. Most importantly, show them that they, too, are an important, capable part of the mystical Body of Christ, working to teach and feed God’s children.
I’m quite sure it will do them, and the world, some good.
Find even more tips and tools for developing teens into leaders in Connected for Life.
Megan Scott is a senior at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, and the daughter of LCMS Pastor Bradford Scott, who serves Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Toledo, Ohio. During her college breaks, she can be found rehearsing with other adults in Good Shepherd’s choir, helping the adults with church Christmas baking, or (occasionally) teaching as an adult at Sunday School.
