TIMELESS YOUTH MINISTY
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A Paper
Presented to
Professor Geukgeuzian
Liberty University
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In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for YOUT 301
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by
Brandon Smith
Bgsmith1@liberty.edu
1 February 2015
Chapter 1 1. “Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice.” (Page 3-4) • This statement really jumped out at me because it is so true. We as a nation have found ourselves just accepting to everything and anything that happens in our society we should just conform to and be okay with. I disagree with that because we should be teaching our youth the one and only truth. That Jesus died for us and that the only way to God the father is through him. 2. “In studying the Bible as a young man, I found intimations of the idea that forms of media favor particular kinds of content and therefore are capable of taking command of a culture.” (Page 9) • This quote really speaks to youth culture and even every in person in all walks of life. The Bible talks about certain things to stay away from and not let your mind conform to. Therefore as a youth pastor we should strive to teach our kids to stay close to the word and follow after Jesus and his guidance on our lives.
Chapter 2 1. “Besides, we do not measure a culture by its output of undisguised trivialities but by what it claims as a significant.” (Page 16) • In today’s society we will judge our culture on what is most significant or what is most “liked”. As a youth ministry leader we have to strive to show our students that we don’t have to be a part of culture to be significant. Yes we can be culturally relevant but we do not want to conform to culture. 2. “The irony here is that this is what intellectuals and critics are constantly urging television to do.” (Page 16) • This is what is sad about our society today. We are forcing students to drown themselves in television and their minds get wrapped around things that aren’t true. But as for youth pastors we should be showing the love and grace of Jesus which is the real truth. The only way this will happen is by being culturally relevant without conforming to it.
Chapter 3 1. “When we were first drawn together as a society, it had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far as to see that some doctrines, which we once esteemed truths, were errors, and that others, which we had esteemed errors, were real truths.” (Page 30) • What our focus was when our nation was first established is what our focus still needs to be. As a society and as a culture we have strayed from that and our youth today are buying into the lies of these errors in society. We have to stay strong and present the truth the gospel. This nation was founded on Jesus and that’s the only way it can function correctly. 2. “Whatever else may be said of those immigrants who came to settle in New England, it is a paramount fact that they and their heirs were dedicated and skillful readers whose religious sensibilities, political ideas and social life were embedded in the medium of typography.” (Page 31) • We need to be teaching our students to get back into the word of God and not settling for television or social media. Those things have drowned our culture and we have to teach out students to get back to the roots. History proves that those men were much smarter than our men today. That is because they read and read a lot. This what we as pastors need to relay back to our students.
Chapter 4 1. “The reader must come armed, in a serious state of intellectual readiness.” (Page 50) • This is how we should train up our students in youth ministry. We should get them involved in the word and make them ready for any prosecution that comes there way. If we get students locked in the word then they will be capable to defend it and live by it daily. 2. “Of words, almost nothing will come to mind. This is the difference between thinking in a word-centered culture and thinking in an image-centered culture.” (Page 61) • As a ministry we need to get our students back into a word-centered culture where we are in the word of God. If we stay in the word up God we will prosper as a nation. If we stay in an image-centered culture then we will continue to fall as a nation.
Chapter 5 1. “Television has become, so to speak, the background radiation of the social and intellectual universe.” (Page 79) • We have to strive daily as youth pastors to show our students the love of Jesus and not let them get sucked in by the nonsense of social media and television. Most things on there will only corrupt their minds and slow them down from reaching their goal that God wants them to reach. We need more students to step up and get in the word. We need more Jesus followers not culture followers. 2. “Television, in other words, is transforming out culture into one vast arena for show business.” (Page 80) • All television is, is a way to draw kids in to make them believe things that aren’t true. T.V. gives them a false image of what life is like and gets their hopes up only to see them fail and fall short. God is the truth and the only truth. So as leaders we must show that to students in a way that’s exciting and will not make them turn back to the social media ways of this world.
Chapter 6 1. “Television does not extend or amplify literate culture. It attacks it.” (Page 84) • We should strongly stress this point to our students. You can’t grow in anything or gain anything from watching T.V. other than weight. Students growing in Christ and staying in the word will only amplify their literate culture. It’s time to tell students to drop the remote and pick up a bible. 2. “Television is our culture’s principal mode of knowing about itself.” (Page 92) • This statement is so true and yet very scary. We find ourselves wondering how we should live by going to the T.V. Never once do we try to go to the Bible anymore where the real truth is. This can be a good tool for students to realize. We have to learn that our identity is in Christ and not on a T.V screen.
Chapter 7 1. “One can hardly overestimate the damage that such juxtapositions do to our sense of the world as a serious place.” (Page 105) • Television and everything thrown into it like commercials and music play such a role in how we see things. Most people tend to overlook this but it is so true. Deaths for example are so over exaggerated on T.V. everything is just feeding non-sense into a person’s mind. 2. “The damage is especially massive to youthful viewers who depend so much on television for their clues as to how to respond to the world.” (Page 105) • This statement resembles the culture we live in today. Our youth of today are so sucked in by what is going on T.V and they are taught how to react to that situation based on celebrities who are on T.V. This is why our culture is progressively going downhill and it’s going to take future pastors like us to step in and shift the gears once again.
Chapter 8 1. “Television, religion, like everything else, is presented, quite simply and without apology, as an entertainment.” (Page 116) • As much as we would like religion and Jesus to be fun for people, there is also a sense of seriousness behind it and what the story of the Bible is. Without the raw seriousness then we take away what Jesus did for us on the cross. If you make it so entertaining then you take away all the history and raw power behind the gospel. This is how television tries to dumb down everything. 2. “It is true that some of the religious men on television are uneducated.” (Page 117) • This also effects how non-believers see Christianity. They watch these non-educated “pastors” on T.V and think that this religion stuff is fun and easy. When in reality there is much more to that. We have to strive to constantly let people know how powerful and mighty Jesus is and not make it seem like a cake walk like they do on television.
Chapter 9 1. “What we are confronted with now is the problem posed by the economic and symbolic structure of television.” (Page 141) • Television has strongly taken over our eyes and ears and is conforming our minds daily. What we see is not always true and neither is what we hear. T.V can sometimes be a good thing but in most cases not so much. That’s why we have to watch what we are seeing on T.V and ask ourselves. Is it biblical? Does this point back to Jesus? 2. “Television does everything possible to encourage us to watch continuously” (Page 141) • Directors and producers will do anything to keep you glued to the T.V. They will make sure they stay on top of the hottest trends to keep you interested. What is seems cool may not always be right. We as pastors have to stress to our students that very statement.
Chapter 10 1. “This is why I think it is accurate to call television a curriculum.” (Page 145) • The author says this because a curriculum means to persuade and influence the consumer. Therefore, what people are putting televisions are consuming the minds of young adolescence. It overrides the school system by throwing in kids like and not what they need to know. We have to strongly urge our future students to be aware of this problem. 2. “The name we may properly give to an education without prerequisites, perplexity and exposition is entertainment.” (Page 148) • Without a curriculum or learning tool for students then it’s all non-sense and doesn’t need to be seen my students. Television only kills brain cells and pulls students from the truth. In our ministry we have continue to pour into students the truth of Christ through the bible and not what they see on television.
Chapter 11 1. “Educators are not unaware of the effects of television on their students.” (Page 162) • The teachers today know what it takes for students to get well educated. Yet, they fail to do so and the question is why? Pastors should help train teachers and other educators to stand firm in their faith and invest into students and be that shining light in the classroom as well as in the church. This can help change the schools and change the world and how we view our culture. 2. “We are in a race between education and disaster.” (Page 163) • This race can only be won in our church and in our schools. The television and social media are the enemy and they need to be stopped. As pastors and educators we have to show our students the truth and hide their hearts in the name of Jesus. Without him they will stumble and fall.