Wake Up, Look Up

[Music]

hello everyone thanks for listening to

Wake Up Lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the gospel of Jesus Christ i'm Zach

Hayrock and in today's episode we're

asking the question are we losing middle

schoolers this is prompted by a pretty

thought-provoking article I read in the

Atlantic this week by Jenny Anderson and

Rebecca Winthrop and it was talking

about a coming crisis of middle school

students as it relates to education now

I'm the father to one current middle

schooler and two future middle schoolers

this is especially relevant for me and

what we're seeing is that more and more

middle schoolers are disconnecting from

traditional education they're going

through the motions in what they

themselves are calling passenger mode

meaning we're there and we're doing what

you want us to do but we're not super

engaged in fact studies are showing that

65% of parents in this age bracket

believe their kids love school but 26%

of middle schoolers say that they get

really anything out of school i mean

that is a staggering stat i mean I don't

know about you I don't remember junior

high being the pinnacle of my life but

26% of kids saying school is worthwhile

is a pretty staggeringly low amount and

it's leading to now a 2 or threeyear

window of kind of meaninglessness and

apathy and of course it doesn't follow

that a kid who checks out of sixth

seventh eighth grade then becomes the

most engaged high school student it's

tough to flip that switch after three

years of developing a pattern that I go

through the motions in school but I

don't really engage and what Anderson

and Winthrop are arguing is it could be

that the traditional educational model

just isn't working for that generation

that kids need more ownership more

application more autonomy and less

sitting in a classroom and staring at

the wall now listen I'm not an educator

so I think about this as a parent but I

also think about it as a pastor because

I think it falls to me and to all church

leaders to make sure we're effectively

engaging the next generation and we're

rethinking traditional models of how we

even as a church have engaged middle

school and high school students and are

making sure that the way we're doing it

makes sense for the generation we're

actually trying to reach because part of

what middle schoolers are saying is they

just don't feel any purpose when they go

to school that school's like a conveyor

belt you just kind of check the box and

move downstream towards what they hope

is future excitement and what I hear in

that is that they're hungry for purpose

they're just not finding it in school

and they should be hungry for purpose

that's what the Bible is offering each

and every one of us when God made Adam

and Eve he gave them the purpose of

dominion over the earth even in the book

of Revelation Jesus says in Revelation

21:5 "Behold I am making all things

new." God is giving his people the

purpose of earth renewal cultural

renewal with our eyes on the horizon

waiting for the return of Jesus that's

an incredible amount of purpose are we

teaching that to middle school students

though because in churches if we adopt

the classroom model we're going to lose

them just like anyone else if 26% of

middle schoolers think education is

working in school I have to imagine that

number is even lower in church we have

to continue to push this generation to

experience Christianity not just be

taught it we got to get them out in the

mission field get them out in the

environments where God is on the move if

I'm wearing a sweatshirt from one of the

churches that our church has planted we

got to get middle schoolers into the

world of church planting let them see a

God who is on the move let them see

neighborhoods that are being affected by

the gospel moving them to ownership of

their faith and not just conveyor belt

compliance which is what I worry we're

after as parents and as educators and as

pastors sometimes we're just looking for

very little disruption but that's the

antithesis of actually teaching of

training middle schoolers to own their

faith and to think for themselves after

all Jesus gave his church the great

commission in Matthew 28 when he said to

take the gospel to the nations a

generation of apathetic overly compliant

passenger mode people is not going to

lead to great commission fulfillment so

if you're the parent of a middle

schooler of an upcoming middle schooler

rethink the way you're teaching them the

Bible let's get more handson learning

happening and less classroom approach if

you're a children's ministry volunteer a

student ministry volunteer or a member

of my staff let's make sure the ways

we're reaching this generation are

tailored to them and not to generations

years and years ago middle schoolers are

too important to the mission of Jesus

and to the kingdom to lose them so we

cannot be complacent ourselves no more

passenger mode we're shifting to mission

mode to reach and help middle schoolers

find their purpose in Jesus hey thanks

so much for watching this episode of

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