I started this train of thought a few weeks ago but ended up putting it on paper during an e-mail conversation with one of my pastors, John Baker. I’ve been teaching Sunday mornings at my church for years now and truly enjoy the interaction with those who come to learn along with me in whatever topic we’re going through. Those of you who know me best know that I do not use any pre-established “curriculum” when I develop my teaching notes. I did that early in my teaching experience, but I have found that forcing myself to deal with the issue head on is the most effective way for me to not only grasp the concept at play, but also to communicate that truth with more zeal and conviction because what I’ve learned has changed me first. I must first state that the following notes are in no way an attack on those folks that I love at GFBC. It is merely an attempt to communicate the frustrations I have come to know when trying to determine the best course of action for leading the local church. As an elder, I wholeheartedly believe that I must be at the forefront of driving our folks because that’s what leaders are called to do. But, I oftentimes feel like this video (Herding Cats)
I’ve really struggled over the years with the Sunday School thing. GFBC is the first church I’ve ever attended where the people just doesn’t see the need for good teaching during that time on Sunday mornings. I’ve been involved in churches before where people would show up for the Sunday School teaching and then go home without attending the service itself! It baffles my mind trying to figure out GFBC on this issue.
I think at the core is the issue that the folks here have been inbred in a lot of ways. Prior to Sunridge merging with GFBC, the environment at GFBC was very familial in nature – MANY of the folks that attended were part of large, extended families which had attended for years and had grown up in this church. Sunridge mixed that up a little and then the departure of Tom Schaive mixed it up even more. But the core attendees haven’t really changed much. I can go through a list in my mind of folks who have attended for years that do not attend any type of Sunday School class. They just don’t see the need.
My deepest concern is that if the only place they are receiving Biblical truth is from the pulpit on Sunday mornings, we are all in a world of hurt. I was just talking to Rick Connelly on Sunday about a similar topic and I kind of have a defeatist attitude right now about the current generation in our church. In some ways I almost think that we should – like God did to the Israelites – write off the current generation and let them “wander in the wilderness” until they die off. The problem is, I don’t think that the NEXT generation gets it either. Having high school kids right now, I think that they have a distorted view of what the church is supposed to be like. It is an event for them – a social activity – where they show up and interact on a social level first and foremost. The idea of opening the Word of God and studying it for all it is worth is beyond their comprehension in the church setting.
I had, what I believe in hindsight to be, a transformational situation in my life when I was in high school. My dad was the Music Pastor at Arcade Baptist Church in Sacramento under Lee Toms. The high school group had around 500 kids in it and it was an event more than anything – Son City. I didn’t know any better, though. My dad decided to accept a senior pastoral position at a small church in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Northern California when I was around 16. It was a very small church that met at a middle school auditorium. There was no “youth group” as we think of that term today. There were kids and there were folks in our church that helped the youth. There was such a natural relationship between ALL members of that church that when we met together, the kids didn’t group together, nor the adults. When we had potlucks, I was just as likely to sit next to Bernie & Jean Horne (in their 70’s) or Pete & Betty VanDePol (in their 50’s) as I was to sit next to another high-school friend. And the same was true for the older folks. Pete and Betty taught our high school Sunday School class. I have to tell you, I am SO looking forward to seeing them in heaven again someday – they are truly precious in my sight. Pioneer Baptist Church was so natural in terms of relationships, striving to study God’s word, and it was the purest example of what we call today “community” that I have every been blessed to see. I’m not sure that I will ever see that picture of the church again – and that is so sad.
The expectation today in the youth group is that there MUST be a youth pastor and that there MUST be a separate program that meets their “needs.” Which, then in turn, means that the adults must have their Primetime, Belayer, etc. We are so segregated that we don’t interact. How is “community” really supposed to be developed if all of our “programs” separate the congregation? What is a high school graduate supposed to do when they leave the high school group? They are certainly not sticking around GFBC to find out. The high school group is an END unto itself. There is no progression into what should be viewed as the a greater opportunity to serve God. There is no exit strategy for them when leaving the high school group. A program has been developed for that age group and it segregates them as their own class of existence. Let me ask you: would the youth benefit from a study of doctrine like we’re doing downstairs right now? I know that they have studied some doctrine, but what benefits would there be by meeting with the rest of the congregation?
- “Community” is established and developed
- They have an opportunity to hear their parents interact with the Word of God and others
- The adults get to hear where their kids are “at” in terms of understanding Biblical truth
- Adults will be much more accepting of kids in ministry opportunities (I have personally always been critical of the separation of the “worship band” and the “youth band” and how that has played out. The youth used to be involved – prior to about three years ago – I can tell you from direct interaction with my daughter, she is very reluctant to be involved in the “worship band” right now – very unfortunate)
- Kids will more naturally transition through the phases of their lives within the church because of the community already established between them and the rest of the body
- The church will recognize the developing leaders and will be more apt to encourage those young men and women to choose ministry options for their future goals
- The kids will be more apt to understand the ministries of the whole church, not just their part of it (case in point: I asked my kids at dinner the other night to name a missionary that our church supports. To my discredit, they couldn’t name one. Now, I am ultimately responsible to be bringing those names up to my kids which I have obviously failed in, but the fact that the youth don’t talk about missionaries by name or have the missionaries join them on certain Sundays to have teach or interact with is disturbing. We wonder why kids aren’t choosing the larger mission field for their life goal…)
I have never seen another church like Pioneer Baptist and, from what I hear, that church has diminished in those special ways as the years have passed. It was not a perfect church (as my dad can attest!), but it was the closest thing I have ever seen to being that. At its hey-day it was probably 150 folks or so – ½ of what GFBC has, but oh, what a great picture of community.
I write these things not as a criticism of the staff, nor the elders, nor…
I write these things because we are all missing out on what could be because no one can even envision something different. Well, I CAN envision something different and because I have tasted that fruit, it tears me up not being able to taste that fruit again. People at GFBC just can’t understand something they’ve never experienced.
I didn’t go to Bible college or seminary because my dad was a pastor. I went to Bible schools because the members of the community at Pioneer Baptist Church recognized something in me and challenged me and prayed for me through the years to pursue something greater than the carpenter I had become. It was that community that stuck that cattle prod into my backside to do something great for God and I literally weep that I am in a church that doesn’t grasp the concept of what could be.
I have been prodded to have “community” time during the classes I teach. I believe that “community” is not an event – it is something that happens naturally when we open the Word together and study what God has for us. “Community” is not a feeling, it is a state of mind when the study of God’s Word along with the interaction with God’s people supersede time and space for that moment in time. I once tasted that “community” and I have to tell you, I am starving to death in that aspect of my spiritual being.