A Different Way to Do Teen Ministry Campus Ministry Church: Orange

We need to talk about Orange. I’m a fan of Orange. I don’t think it’s the complete solution to the problems churches have with teen ministry, but it’s a major step in the right direction.

But I have to warn you: I detest the marketing that goes with Orange. For example, I hate the use of the word “orange” to describe this concept, because it conveys no content whatsoever.* (And it doesn’t help that orange is the color of the University of Tennessee Volunteers and one of the two Auburn colors. Why pick the one color that people in Tuscaloosa can’t abide?)

So here is how Reggie Joiner explains Orange —

Orange is what red (representing the warm heart of the family) and yellow (representing the light of the church) can do when they combine efforts. Orange is our strategically combined influence on the spiritual direction of the next generation. If you paint only with red, you will get what only red can do. If you paint only with yellow, you will get what only yellow can do. When you paint with red and yellow, you’ll get new possibilities, fresh solutions and vibrant outcomes.

Uh, huh … 😕

Fortunately, when we get past the bad metaphors, it starts to make excellent sense —

· Kids need parents who will help them advance in their relationships with God. (No one has more potential to influence and monitor a child’s relationship with God than parents!)

· Parents need churches that will help them know how to be spiritual leaders. (Maybe the greatest gift a church can give parents is the confidence and courage to do what God has wired them to do!)

· Churches need leaders to do less for kids and more for families. (Church leaders have a limited amount of influence on children. Parents have lifelong influence!)

It gets better —

I think a big part of the answer lies in offering our students a bigger story to live in. Everyone needs to experience something bigger than themselves. The question is not whether they will find these elements in the story they choose. The question is whether the story they choose will be God’s story.

One of the reasons some students are walking away from the church is that they have found something more exciting. When there is nothing dangerous or adventurous about your style of faith, you begin to drift toward other things that seem more interesting and meaningful. Students should get the chance to realize what they are capable of doing when God is moving in them. If they experience God at work in them, they’ll have a hard time getting over it.

This is can both understand and agree with. Amen.

So here’s what I like about Orange —

* Intentionally thinking in terms of family rather than segregating parents from their children.

* Walking alongside parents to help them be better parents and to build stronger families.

* Thinking in terms of children, teens, and college — not just one program at a time. Seeing growth from infancy to adulthood as a single process that requires a unified strategy.

Amen, amen, amen.

Here’s what I don’t like —

* Limiting the concept to church leaders and families with kids in the children’s, teen, and campus ministries. I think it only works as a whole-church concept. Those without children at church need to be part of the solution. You see, disciples love each other. If only those with a direct stake in the outcome are involved, then we’ve only shown a love for our own children in the flesh. Even the pagans love their own children. Rather, we need a form of ministry where we love other people’s kids like our own.

God loved us enough to let his Son die for us. We must love families with young children enough to get involved in ministry to them. Families are not the responsibility of the parents and leaders. They are the responsibility of the entire church. And that’s because we love each other to imagine not helping if we can.

Some want to say “It takes a village.” Others prefer “It takes a family.” I think the biblical concept is “It takes a church.”  This is not at all to diminish the importance of family! But the world has families. It doesn’t have the church.

The church is not just a body of teachings and place to get preached at. It’s a community that loves one another and therefore sacrifices for one another and serves one another. It’s a fellowship with love so intense that the love spills out to serve those around the church who aren’t even a part of it. And that’s the only kind of community that can raise disciples of Jesus.

In the next post, I’ll try to offer some examples and get very concrete.

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* Metaphors that provide no clarity until explained aren’t good teaching devices. Rather, they only serve to confuse. If I tell you your sister is a “pig,” I’ve communicated something about your sister in very vivid tones long before I’ve explained what “pig” means in this context. But if I tell you she’s a “gnu,” I’ve communicated nothing at all. By the time I’ve explained how she’s like a gnu, I could’ve made my point two or three times — and done so better — without once mentioning “gnu.”

So Orange is good. The effort to turn Orange into a brand is clumsy and unhelpful.