In my last post Your Soul Longs for a Higher Quality Life. Wilderness Experiences Offer a Path to Higher Standards, I talk about how wilderness experiences offer a taste of what our souls really long for. In this post, we will look at the role church-based wilderness ministry has in bringing a solution to the busyness that distracts and confuses young people from knowing their purpose and identity.
I have a very high view of the local church. And I believe most Gospel-oriented churches want to see young people grow and mature as devoted followers of Jesus. But what concerns me today, is that with such mesmerizing levels of polarization in global youth culture, what churches may not be ready and willing to squarely deal with is the unsettling reality that young people are as confused today about their purpose and identity as at any point in history.
Listen to this eerily close-to-home observation of a philosopher in the 1940’s who offered a warning to what we are now fully experiencing:
“It seems to me that the world is now more than ever dominated by the gods of mass and speed and that the worship of these can lead only to the lowering of standards, the adulteration of quality, and, in general, to the loss of those things which are essential to the life of civility and culture.” (Richard Weaver, Ideas Have Consequences).
Ideas Do Have Consequences
Through mass media and often through school, a majority of the next generation of young people are being taught that they are essentially comfort-seeking, selfishly consuming organisms who should be terrified of their future. In the words of Richard Weaver in 1948, ideas do have consequences.
Yet in complete contrast, the Bible provides a coherent, hopeful way to understand ourselves and our world in seven important ways:
- We are made in the image of God and we are made for relationship with him.
- Mankind sinned against God.
- Suffering is rooted in original sin, not in the ignorance of mankind.
- Modifying or improving people will not eradicate suffering.
- Only repentance and reconciliation with God, other people, and God’s creation will offer the peace and purpose we are all longing for…
- What is at stake in this grand experience we are all living through is nothing less our soul.
- Our souls are hungry for knowing God, not hearing opinions about God
Wilderness Experiences Can Address the Underlying Problem
How sad and devastating that the majority of young people in our world ,through education and media, are being taught that the highest tragedy that should anger and agitate them is the suffering and brokenness of the world. The problem is that this fear-mongering is great for advertising revenue but it paralyzes the mind from dealing with the more disturbing reality that our fellowship with God is broken. That is the underlying problem.
Wilderness ministry serves to disrupt this lesser view of the world and of history through loving relationships with guides and camp counselors who will introduce them to Jesus Christ and help them grow in their discipleship with the one who purchased an eternity of adventure for them. My book, Christian Outdoor Leadership goes into much more detail as to why wilderness experiences offer such a powerful remedy to the bland selfish life that many of us are so accustomed to…
We Can Bring a Solution
This blog exists to help churches and organizations that may feel like they don’t have what it takes to develop an in-house wilderness ministry. We stand in the gap and provide all that is needed to help churches grow deeper and wider by following the same pattern of Jesus in spending regular time in God’s creation.
So now that you’ve gotten a taste of how a vibrant wilderness ministry can grow your church, are you ready to get started? Please contact us and we’d love to help customize a wilderness program that fits your church and community.
