I'm Not Running a Chuck E Cheese

Lex has got to be one of the coolest student ministry leaders I know. If I could trade all my youth ministry skills for someone else’s, I would trade with Lex.

Talking about entertainment in youth ministry, she recently commented that she has to constantly remind herself, “I’m not running a Chuck E Cheese… I’m not running a Chuck E Cheese….”

Why?

Because youth pastors are “so constantly bombarded with entertainment-based images and stories that even though we may KNOW it’s not the best way to go, it’s hard to maintain that conviction.”

Why do we want to give into that tendency to entertain first and disciple second? (Which can easily turn into entertain often and disciple rarely.) Is it possible that there’s something deeper going on inside us as leaders?

There is a rational reason to try to draw kids in with some excitement. Once we get them in the door we can throw them a curve ball–Jesus! Religion! Bet you never saw that coming! The ol’ bait ‘n’ switch, right?

What if there is an insecurity inside us about the size of our youth group? Is it possible that we’re afraid of what will happen if we stop entertaining? Will we feel like failures if our youth groups stop growing, or even shrink, because we played fewer games and spent more time talking about deep, rich spiritual truths?

I’ll admit that the thought definitely crosses my mind.

A few years ago I was the youth pastor for a small church in a small town in East Texas. This group was a rough, rough crowd. Most of the teens came from broken homes and very painful backgrounds. Several of the guys probably could have beaten me up if they wanted to.

When I first started, I knew I would have to learn a lot to relate with the group. So I spent as much time as I could on their “turf,” in the back allies and sitting on broken park benches, just chilling. When they came into the youth room, I wanted to make sure they had a good time so they’d at least come back, right?

I tried every game I knew and every “ice-breaker” activity in the book. Nothing worked, and some stopped showing up. Man, were they a tough crowd.

At that point I figured I had nothing else to lose. I didn’t have any money for Playstations, so I just started to dive deep.

We talked about God, love, life, pain, suffering, peace and purpose. At first, I was the only one talking, but slowly they joined the discussion. We talked about hard issues. It wasn’t easy.

A couple of times, one of the older kids–we’ll call him Dave–got mad and started cussing me out right there in front of the whole group. At first, it was because I wouldn’t let him run his mouth the whole meeting and distract everyone, but it eventually came out that he was mad about what I said about God. Dave could not sit there and let someone talk about a God that is so loving because he had gone through so much pain in his own life.

I stood for the Truth, as best as I could, as loving as I could, by God’s grace. Then I’d go home and think I’d never see him again, and that the others would leave too because of what happened.

But it was those yelling matches, strangely enough, that started to grow the group. Dave started inviting his friends. I think it was because he finally found someone that cared for him enough to dig through the dirt with him and to show him some of God’s answers.

He wasn’t just inviting friends to come to youth group for a good time. Soon, he was the one telling everyone to be quiet and to focus so we could talk about God.

If you really want to disciple your students, you have to go deep. And if you really want to bring in more new students, you have to go deep. Flashy “bait ‘n switch” games will bring a few more in the door, but if you don’t continue to keep them entertained, you’ll probably loose them.

So remember, “I’m Not Running a Chuck E Cheese….”