The Formation of Young People

A number of tweets that Jamie Smith posted that are taken from his upcoming book "We are What We Love." (@james_ka_smith) on the importance of Christian ritual and formation in the life of a young person:

Young people are not looking for liberation from ritual; they are looking for liberating rituals.

Don't be fooled by those who stick around to be entertained--effective Xian formation of young people might look like failure for a time.

By merely entertaining young people, we only swell the ranks of those who cry, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we attend every lock-in in your name?”

We have ceded the formation of young people to secular liturgies by importing them into the church under the banner of "relevance."

We have confused keeping young people in the building with keeping them "in Christ."

Youth ministry = formation, not merely pragmatic, last-ditch efforts to keep young people as card-carrying members of the evangelical club.