I read an article yesterday that I found quite interesting. The title was “Generation Diva,” and I initially thought it was going to be another article that talked about how we’re raising a generation of spoiled kids.
Yes, we’re raising a generation of divas, but this article doesn’t really harp on that problem. Instead, the article focuses on the beauty issues that girls are growing up facing and the subsequent impact on girls in the upcoming generation.
The thing I found most interesting in the article is this statement (but it doesn’t really deal with beauty):
“This is a group that's grown up on pop culture that screams, again and again, that everything, everything, is a candidate for upgrading.”
I hadn’t thought about it that way.
That single statement made me think about how that concept of upgrading might play itself out in girls’ ministry and the Church. The next event must be bigger and better than the last. The latest technology is a “must” for reaching kids. When our “old” Bible wears out (“old” is defined as being more than a year old), we purchase a new one. If a youth minister begins to get “old” (say, over 35), we begin to wonder if he’s past his prime instead of valuing his years of experience and perspective of ministry over the long haul.
Things of lasting value are rare. Simplicity is an anomaly.
I am just as guilty as mainstream culture. If I have a two-year-old computer, I lust over the newest, fastest, lightest model (I travel, so I like light!). I like a change in wardrobe. I constantly keep up with the latest things people are doing to reach teen girls. By itself, that doesn’t seem bad, but constantly looking ahead puts me on the treadmill of upgrading. That mindset doesn’t leave room to cultivate the truth that some things don’t change.
The Gospel doesn’t change—Jesus really did pitch his tent among us and did die in our place. God’s mercy or holiness or righteousness never needs upgrading. The wages of sin is death despite any upswing in inflation. The best method for reaching girls stays constant—love them.
Everything around us may be rapidly changing and "evolving for the better" (which I question on many levels!), but those truths remain the same.
I wonder what would happen in our churches and in our girls’ ministry if we purposely and methodically stepped away from the principle that everything is a candidate for upgrading. If we seriously evaluated events, programs, and approaches to see what really matters. I wonder how things would change if we focused on those things that have lasting, eternal value. And I wonder what would happen if we just stopping doing thing that result from of a commercialized, consumer mindset within our Christian culture.
I wonder whether we’re worshipping the idol of the Newest and Latest—and if we're teaching girls to do the same.
The drawing alone made me want to read this blog post. But then,wow! I've not thought about how everything continues to need to be new and improved in my mind--it is true, without realizing it I am always looking for more. It is cloaked in wanting to pursue excellence and other worthy sounding motives, but the reality is a sense of discontent or failing to appreciate what is already there (and actually many times working well and not really in need on immediate improvement).
What a great post. At this very moment we are discussing ways to "upgrade" our girls ministry. But maybe that's not the right word for us...we just want to figure out a way to get their attention so we can share the Gospel with them.
"The Gospel doesn’t change—Jesus really did pitch his tent among us and did die in our place. God’s mercy or holiness or righteousness never needs upgrading. The wages of sin is death despite any upswing in inflation. The best method for reaching girls stays constant—love them."
What a great reminder. Thank you for this, I needed it today as we are in the planning stages.