Pop culture doesn’t need to be metastasized in us just because we’re trying to maintain relevance as a youth minister. Relevancy comes from relationship, not knowledge. I want to know what truths teenagers are taking in so I can help them find ways to compare or contrast it to real Truth. And sometimes I even like pop culture. I loved the entire “Harry Potter” series. Sure, I read it for youth ministry, but the books were also entertaining.
Youth Pastor: Avoid Holy Cocooning!
It’s okay to like pop culture…as long as you guard your heart. And isn’t that what every youth pastor is trying to teach our students—to be in the world but not of it? I confess: Some areas of pop culture I just won’t explore. For example, I don’t listen to music with lots of explicit lyrics. And I still walk out of movies that are too “mature” for me, regardless of their rating.
Recently I was immersed in secular music. I love a good diva tune and songs that make you want to do car karaoke and distract other drivers at red lights. But I was also becoming cranky, irritable, dissatisfied. As I attempted to pinpoint the source, I realized maybe I hadn’t guarded my heart diligently enough. The music I listened to wasn’t “bad.” But neither was it uplifting or pointing me toward Jesus in any way.
So I pulled back a little, varied my entertainment diet, and established some guardrails about how much culture I consistently consumed. I discovered that guarding your heart isn’t the absence of culture; the distillation is what purifies the process.
Holy cocooning isn’t the way of Jesus. He bumps up against culture all the time…Zacchaeus, the woman at the well, even his own disciples. When he does so, Jesus always keeps his personal holiness in check. And he uses culture as a tool to engage in fearless conversation. Sometimes that can be just the “oculus reparo” someone needs to see Jesus in a clear light.
This article by youth pastor Darren Sutton originally appeared here.
