Photographs That Were Never Taken
I am planning on putting together a 20 Year Reunion for my old church’s High School Youth Group back in Phoenix. It has been a delight getting in touch with friends that I have not spoken with in such a long time. As I was working on this Reunion it struck me that it would be cool if I could find pictures that were taken from that time period of my life to share with the group. In fact, it would be great if all of those attending the reunion brought their pictures and we could get a good laugh at how old we look now. Time does take a toll on a person! As I started thinking about where some of my photos might be it occurred to me that I would be fortunate if I could find any pictures from that stage of my life. That's when I began to get philosophical and ponder why I don’t have any pictures of me and my friends in my High School Youth Group. Of course I must face the facts, the number one reason is that I just didn’t take any pictures. In other words, I have myself to blame. But then I realized that there was another reason for the lack of pictures; there was an unfortunate disconnect between my activity in the Youth Group and the involvement of my parents. Please don’t misunderstand me; this is not a matter of blaming my parents for my problems. That was just the way the church worked, parents dropped off their kids and left it up to the “professionals” to do their “job.” Nowdays it seems many people are wondering what's the price for such a disconnect between the Youth Pastor, the Youth and the parents? A sign once seen in the University of Colorado Library seems to say it all, “The generation that knows only itself is destined to remain adolescent forever.” The price is pretty steep.
As a church we recognize that passages like Deut 6 teach us that the greatest disciplers of our youth today are the parents. Therefore, we firmly believe that we have to do a better job of equipping and encouraging our parents to be involved at the very time in a youth’s life where they would prefer to be left alone with their peers. Family Ministry is a topic that we have a heart for because we want desperately to see the children and the youth of our church grow up to love mom and dad and above all to delight in and love Jesus Christ.
As my children grow up and experience the joys of youth, they are going to be shocked at how dad is always trying to squeeze his big head into all their photos just so that they don’t have the same Reunion problems that I am having currently. But my most sincere hope is that mom and dad are not just in their photos but that we are intimately involved in their lives as well.