Avoid Setting Gluttony Examples at Youth Group (cont.)
In youth ministry, the priority is helping students know Jesus. But we don’t need to jeopardize their health to do it. So I’ve worked to remove gluttony examples from our program.
We have gone caffeine-free. The free soda is gone, and so are the vending machines. Trying to get a group of sugar-high, caffeine-filled 13-year-olds to sit still long enough to experience something meaningful was the very definition of foolishness.
We’ve dialed back on sugar for the same reasons. (And because we were tired of finding Skittles everywhere.)
Maybe the next thing we need to address is the pigging out we enable—and the gluttony examples I’ve set for students. Because it’s true: I eat like a glutton only at youth group. But kids don’t know that. All they know is that I seem to eat an irresponsible amount of food whenever they see me eat. And if teens decide they want to be like me, that’s not a habit I want them to emulate.
How about you? Do you indulge in gluttony only at church events? Or have you succeeded at responsible eating when surrounded by mountains of free food?Â
