In making my wish list of things to change about the IFB, I figured I would have a few things on my list that some would find offensive. As I begin this particular contribution then, let me remind you that the “F” in “IFB” doesn’t stand for “Fragile.”  We in the IFB have taken our share of beatings from those outside our movement, especially those who have left it. I don’t write these things to give them props. I’ve pushed back against them plenty. But in some ways, we have lost the ability to be self-critical, evaluate our traditions, and say, “This part of ‘old-time religion’ isn’t really Biblical.” 

So, I want to add a couple more things to my list of things I wish we would change. Some commenters have suggested that I have forgotten what the “I” means in “IFB.”  I have not. In fact, some might consider these comments to be a mark of my own “Independence.” This is my list. I offer it for your consideration. If you disagree, let’s talk about it.  

And now, for the fifth and sixth items on my wish list (you can access the first two points here and the second two here).

Silly songs

I know that many of the regular readers of this blog find contemporary worship music distasteful. And I have written enough in the past that my opinion of this kind of music is well-known. But many who reject contemporary worship for its style have embraced the silly-ditty songs of the revivalist era, even though this music is probably the forerunner of modern worship music. 

I understand that you were raised on some of these songs. But we shouldn’t let the sentimental become our dictator. If you reject contemporary worship songs because of their style alone, then by all means, change the tune and sing it. But if you (like me) also reject it because it tends to be silly and trite, please hold on for a minute. Because the church hymnal our church uses (published by the Nazarenes of the early-to-mid 20^th century) sure has a lot of trite stuff. And the chorus book we use is far worse. 

“I Want that Mountain,” “Mansion over the Hilltop,” “I’ve got the Joy, Joy, Joy” – these songs don’t age well. And though our hymnal has (mercifully) left out these kiddie songs, we still find that a fair share of junk theology made its way into the Fanny Crosby collection. Crosby isn’t actually the worst offender. C. Austin Miles, Johnson Oatman, Charles P. Jones, William O. Cushing, Elton Roth, Eliza Hewitt – I’ve probably offended everyone by now. But these hymn writers didn’t exactly elevate our worship music with some of their more popular songs. Maybe they don’t denigrate worship music like the good folks do at Elevation Worship, but they aren’t raising the bar.

Without a doubt, many enjoy this kind of revival music, and I’m not arguing that we should discard it altogether. Cupcakes are great for birthday parties. But our worship should aim towards hefty, rich, majestic hymns that invite us to reach for God – the music of Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, John Newton, Reginald Heber, Robert Grant, Walter C. Smith, and others.

We should aim higher with our music. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us, when we gather to worship and offer the sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15), we have not merely gathered with the visible assembly. 

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)

In the presence of such a great cloud of witnesses, what kind of songs should we sing? How can we approach the majesty of the heavens with songs that sound like they are one step above junior church? 

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29)

Our God is higher than the heavens, yet when we worship Him, we often sound as if we are reaching down, not up, as if we are offering praise to a man and not God. Christian worship should include transcendent hymns, for our God is altogether higher than us and above us.

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! (Romans 11:33)

Let’s have done with the trite and treacle and get back to singing what rightly expresses the glory and majesty of the God Who cannot be contained in the heaven or in the heaven of heavens.

Entertainment-driven youth ministry

I’ll try not to go to extremes in opposing modern-day youth ministry. Our church has a youth camp and a teen Sunday School class, and once in a while, we get the teens together for a fun activity. But we don’t attempt to build our teen group by providing great activities. And in my experience, nothing has more potential to produce shallow, self-centered teens quite like the monthly teen activity ritual.

If you want to fill the sheep pen with goats, make it all about the teens. Have lots of fun, tack a little Bible on the end to keep some semblance of “spiritual,” and in general, keep the scales tilted closer to the carnal than the spiritual. You might not have the godliest teens, but you will have more teens than others. And, the way ministry works in this day and age, more is always better. “God must be blessing: we have lots of people!”

But surely by now we realize that the popular approach to youth ministry in the 80s and 90s has born bitter, bitter fruit over the past 30 years. Hopefully, we recognize (to our horror) that many of the young people who filled up the activities never experienced anything related to the new birth. We have watched as many of them loosed from their moorings and went the way of the world, crashing and burning spectacularly. Of the young people in my youth group growing up (more than 30 in the group), maybe half are still faithful to the Lord. The others want nothing to do with Him. 

Our church doesn’t entertain the kids. Our young people sing in the choir when they hit 9^th grade (and they can’t wait to join). They are part of our regular evangelistic efforts – usually going with their parents (no, we don’t have a “teen soul-winning” time, separate from when the church goes out). They help at every work night and pitch in to help at the camp our church owns. 

We don’t encourage them to hang out together. They do plenty together, but they aren’t off doing their own thing apart from the adults. In fact, we encourage them to get to know the adults in the church, and most of them have developed close relationships with our older members. 

We teach them the Word of God. They dig in and dig deep. We don’t make Sunday School entertaining. We give them meat and teach them to love it. We have regular discussions of the Bible and culture and politics, all within the framework of a Christian worldview. Not only are they not bored or disinterested, they are delighted. 

I have watched as entertainment-driven ministries churned out the reprobates. We haven’t participated in that terrible fruit. After more than twenty years of pastoral ministry, the vast majority of our young people follow the Lord faithfully in adulthood. Very few – I can think of three – of our young people who graduated from our Academy and went through our youth group have turned their back on the Lord today. I don’t say this to boast. God is my witness. I say this to encourage you: you don’t need a lively youth pastor with a notebook full of fun activities to build a great youth group. Teens don’t need to be entertained. They need to be discipled.

Entertainment-driven youth ministry is a prop, a crutch. We tell ourselves that we have to have it and persuade ourselves that it will produce growth in the church. Maybe it will. But rarely the kind of growth that pleases the Lord or advances His kingdom. And in fact, entertainment-driven youth ministry is nothing more than carnal weaponry. It is the method of the world – “give them bread and circuses” – that doesn’t even remotely resemble anything we find in Scripture. God works through His Word to draw the hearts of young people to Himself. He doesn’t need your really chill youth activities. 

And if you attract them with those, you probably aren’t drawing them to Christ.