Q and A with Kara Powell

Our friend, Matt Hudson, has written an insightful review of a fascinating article entitled, "Is the Era of Age Segmentation Over," He pin points a fatal flaw in the thinking of modern evangelicalism. It always asks what’s new and what works instead of asking what saith the scriptures.

In the original Article, "Leadership Journal" editors, Marshall Shelley and Brandon O'Brien, spoke with Kara Powell about her research and its consequence for the local church. In the interview, she documents the rise of the modern youth ministry movement which proliferated age segregated worship and discipleship to be a sort of "gospel."

Q: Where did the popular age-segmented paradigm of youth ministry come from?

A: In the 1940s and post World War II, there was a real burst in parachurch organizations focused on ministry to teenagers and young adults, such as: Young Life, Intervarsity, and Youth for Christ. In many ways, they led the way for the church in realizing that we need to focus on specialized discipleship and teaching for teenagers.
 

Q: Why did the church adopt this age-segmented model of ministry?

A: Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life, liked to say, "It's a sin to bore a kid with the Gospel." So he developed some amazingly creative models of youth ministry that took root and bore fruit. I think a lot of churches saw the success of groups like Young Life and started thinking, ‘If the parachurch folks are tailoring their ministry toward young people's interests, then we can—and probably should—too.’

Read Kara Powell's interview HERE.

Read Matt Hudson's review HERE.