There have been many articles arguing that children should remain in the main worship service, but few have directly addressed teen church. We need to integrate teens into the main service once they’re old enough to do so. But doesn’t it make more sense to never send them out, in the first place?
Doesn’t it make more sense to never send teens out, in the first place?
If you come away from reading this article and prayerfully consider stopping teen church and including teenagers in the main worship service, you will rightly be questioned. The pastor, teenagers, and parents at your church will want an explanation. Whatever your feelings on the matter, you need to be prepared with a theological and biblical answer in support of your actions. Below I’ll try to help you to do so by stating that teen church doesn’t:
- Teach the whole counsel of God
- Administer the sacraments
- Properly carry out church discipline.
For these reasons, just like a small group, teen church doesn’t constitute a church. Finally, however, please remember that your answer mustn’t only be biblical; it must be humble. Be persuaded in your own heart by the text of scripture, and state your case with confidence. But recall that elders are called to gentleness (1 Timothy 3:3).
Teen Church Doesn’t Teach the Whole Counsel of God
The goal of teen church is to take teenagers outside of the main service in order to teach them the Bible at a level that they can understand, in a way that applies specifically to them. No matter your opinion concerning teen church, this goal is admirable; and we should aim to achieve this in our own churches (Nehemiah 8:8). However, we should seek to accomplish this in our main service, because separating the teens from that leads to at least two problems.
The first problem is that what we are suggesting, when we say that we need to preach to teenagers at their level, is that the preaching in our main service is too complex. Pause and consider what this means. It is self-evident that the majority of teenagers in our churches are from Christian families. If predominantly Christian teenagers cannot understand the sermon, how can we expect outsiders or unbelievers to be able to follow? Preacher, are you limiting God’s word? Are you withholding his truth from the young, the simple, and the outsider?
Ministry to teenagers need not supplant the Sunday service, but instead can supplement it.
Perhaps your church gets this balance right. But there’s another danger to avoid: limiting our application of God’s word. This is the second problem. When we send teenagers out, we remove the need to apply God’s word to them in our main service. This means that the adults aren’t hearing the Bible applied to teens; and the teens won’t be hearing God’s word applied to adults. This limits God’s word and makes us poorer as a congregation.
Consider the blessings of applying God’s word to teenagers and adults alike. Hearing God’s word applied to teenagers makes others aware of their needs. Are we not better equipped to pray for them, within their specific context and challenges? Moreover, teens benefit from hearing sermons even when they are not mentioned. Lord willing, every teenager in our churches will grow up to be a faithful follower of Christ. Surely hearing the scriptures applied to adults will equip them for that?
Even so, reconsidering teen church doesn’t mean we cease ministering to teenagers. We recognise the value of mid-week Bible studies for studying the word of God. Perhaps we should consider Friday night youth groups just as valuable. It is both realistic and attainable to include teenagers in the service and to minister to them according to their particular needs. Ministry to teenagers need not supplant the Sunday service, but instead can supplement it.
Teen Church Can’t Administer the Sacraments
My second objection to teen church is that it lacks the sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptisms are performed in the larger congregation, even in churches that practice infant baptism. The Lord’s Supper requires faith, and it is therefore perfectly sensible that isn’t administered to teenagers, apart from a public confession of faith.
What is easy to miss, then, is that though teenagers may not be partaking of the sacraments, there is great value in witnessing them as signs of God’s grace to his church. One argument for sending children and teenagers out from the main service is that having visuals is valuable for their learning. Only by sending our teenagers out, we’re depriving them of the pictures of the gospel visibly represented in the sacraments.
By sending teens out, we’re depriving them of the gospel picture visibly represented in the sacraments.
Consider the Lord’s Supper, since teens are usually still in the main service during baptisms. Surely we want our teenagers to see in picture form Christ’s body broken for them and Christ’s blood shed for them. Surely we want our teenagers to see the corporate application of Christ’s death for his people signified as the elements are held up in the sight of all; and to see the specific application of his death to each believer signified in receiving the elements, eating and drinking by faith. Surely we want our teenagers to see the promises of God not only signified, but sealed to their believing parents as they eat the bread and drink the wine.
The proper administration of the word and sacraments is only by ordained ministers of the gospel. While teen church leaders are faithful and willing, they are often neither trained nor ordained. They are not suited to administer the sacraments, nor should they be the normative preachers of the word—if teen church is church, then the teaching is preaching! Even in the cases where the leader of teen church is an ordained minister, we should recognise that the sacraments are not and should not be present at teen church.
Teen Church Doesn’t Carry Out Church Discipline
Elders in the church are also to exercise church discipline. Part of this is determining who is and who is not a member of the church. Negatively, this would involve excommunication; and, positively, local church membership. Churches have varying requirements for membership. But, biblically, excommunication is for Christians who have unrepentantly sinned to the point where we must no longer consider them saved. Praying for their salvation and rehabilitation, the leadership removes them from membership (1 Corinthians 5:1-5). In short, excommunication is removing someone from the church community.
We would chuckle in disbelief at the suggestion that everyone over 65 is too old for regular church.
It should sadden us, then, that we do this to our teenagers without cause by ejecting them from teen church when they reach a certain age. Moreover, it’s easy to make an argument against this practice. We would chuckle in disbelief at the suggestion that everyone over 65 is too old for regular church and must go to “seniors’ church” instead. This simply isn’t biblical.
Putting It All Together
For reasons above, we cannot consider teen church to be a real church. It limits the word, while also lacking the sacraments and church discipline. In every sense it is inferior to the true church, as appointed and ordained by Christ. Now, if you are persuaded not to begin a teen church, or to close your teen church, good. But please don’t end your efforts there. Recall the goal of teen church: teaching teenagers the Bible at a level that they can understand, in a way that applies specifically to them. That should be our goal. I’m not advocating that we do less for our teens. Far from it. I’m advocating that we do more.
Preach in order that you are comprehensible to teens. Apply the God’s word to them.
Allocate the resources that you have put towards teen church to youth ministry. Send the leaders to Friday night youth. Establish something for teens before or after the service. Dedicate the hours of preparation to your Friday night youth and other youth events. Encourage teenagers to participate in the service. Find ways for them to serve and to get involved. Preach in order that you are comprehensible to them. Apply God’s word to them. Finally, trust the Lord. Remember, whatever ‘watering’ you do, it is God who gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6).
