The "Weird" Youth Group

One Sunday afternoon, I was doing my usual routine and picking up students for youth group. After I had just picked up my first student and was in route to pick up another, this student and I were discussing youth group and just life in general. During our discussion, my student tells me that recently, her friend told her that our youth group was weird. She told me this comment hurt her feelings a bit, because she loves our little youth group. (As do I!) When she asked him what he meant by it, he did not give much follow up, but we both knew why:  our youth group looks different than many.

No one particular crowd attends our youth group. We have some students who are well-known and others who are not. We have students who are well-liked by their teachers and others not so much. We have students who come from affluent families and others who would be considered impoverished. We have students who wear brand name clothes and others who couldn't care less about the label on their shirts. Some kids are loud and outgoing and others barely speak a word. The beauty of it all, though, is although our tastes, interests, family situations, fashion choices, and personalities are all so different, God has made a family out of us. In my humble opinion, this is how it ought to be.

What hurt me most about my student's friend's statement was not that he called us "weird." What hurt my soul most, was what went silently unspoken in that moment. It was clear this student had an idea of what Christian people should be. To be in community, you must look like me, think like me, and have the same interests as me. To not have that, is to not be worthy of my community. Praise be to God, though, the community was never yours or mine to claim:  it's His.

The most beautiful attribute of our youth group, in this humble youth pastor's opinion, is not its conformity to itself, but in its God-ordained diversity. Jesus came not solely to the rich, but to the poor; not exclusively to the Jew, but to the Gentile; not predominantly to the male, but to females alike. Jesus was never about leaving anyone behind. Rather, Jesus purposefully sought the lowly, the excluded, and the lost. Jesus loved the misfit.

In God's presence, the excluded becomes welcomed; the estranged becomes united; the misfit becomes a friend; the enemy becomes a loved member of the family. This is the Kingdom of God. This is what Jesus came to do. The Kingdom values the inherent worth of all kinds of people, from all kinds of places, with all kinds of gifts. In fact, this very thing He described as His Body, with varying capacities, roles, and purposes, all of which were needed for the Body to fully bear the image of Our Father.

All this to say:  I'm thankful for our weird youth group. In my twelve years of ministry, my favorite part has been, and always will be, seeing the kids who struggled to fit in find their home. My prayer has been, is, and will continue to be, that we are a place where all those God loves can feel seen. Where each person made in the image of their Creator can feel safe and worthy. Where all peoples can come exactly as they are and taste and see that the LORD their God is good.

Some may call it weird seeing a group like ours share meals together, play games together, explore the Word together, and love the world together. I, however, think it's more accurate to call it "a small glimpse of Heaven." May we be weird in the world's eyes, as we live lives not conformed to the patterns of the world, but ones that have been transformed into the image of God.