Does Cool Church Work?

I know when I was doing youth ministry there was always this pressure to try and be cool ... to be MTV style with Jesus content. Along those lines, I was just reading an interesting post on Church Relevance that challenges the whole idea of "cool church".

The post, which sites an article in Time, states that those who flocked to entertainment based ministry were there, not for the ministry, but for the entertainment, and, when the entertainment ends, the ministry hadn't made enough of an impact to keep them connected to the church.

So, what are youth ministries today doing if they aren't entertaining? They're teaching the Bible. Moreover, given how the teaching is described, it's not "life lessons" or Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth stuff ... it's doctrine.

Now I would assume that we're not talking an overload of Latin phrases, but an overall Biblical theology that connects the teachings of the faith to everyday life. In other words, justification by grace through faith, when fleshed out, has an incredible impact on what you do every moment of every day.

Personally, I think this is awesome and it's also something I've seen with Genesis where there have been multiple times where people have said, "What does the Bible really mean?" In other words, they've heard different people use the same passages to satisfy their own agendas and they're sick of it. They want to know the history, the context, and the threads that weave through all of the Bible. Over time these threads have created a framework (like the vertical and the horizontal) in which we can discuss other passages.

I think the quote at the end of the post sums it up beautifully: Spiritual growth is far more important than funny videos and cool games. First, focus on solid spiritual growth. Without it, technology, marketing, and the "cool factor" are worthless. And that's a principle that applies to any minister, not just youth pastors.

Amen!