All Scripture quotations without a version name are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95), published by The Lockman Foundation

In today’s western evangelical culture, there’s a clear longing being expressed by young people for specific, detailed, and sensible instruction about everyday life. This can be seen in the popularity of such public figures and authors as John Comer, author of Practicing the Way, Jordan Peterson, and Andrew Tate. Especially among young western men, there has been a rise in an earnest search for wisdom on manliness, discipline, and mission. I must confess that I’m among these young men seeking godly instruction on how to grow in Christlikeness that’s appropriately expressed in our current technological, debauched, and disordered society (although I’m not seeking it from those aforementioned).

Clearly, someone and something has failed in our common expression of western Christianity, as we see droves of people in their teens, twenties, and thirties, following the teachings, projects, and lives of many men and women purporting to hold the keys to figuring out holiness as a young westerner. Sadly, they aren’t finding the examples and models they desire among their own real-life church organizations. Although part of the fault lies in their refusal to diligently seek out godly examples from their churches and Christian circles, most of the fault can be laid at the feet of spiritually experienced men who have spent decades attending churches, reading their Bibles, and serving in some ministry capacities, but have failed to take an active role in mentoring and teaching the next generation of believers.

In light of this tragedy of massive proportions that is expressing itself in the waywardness, ignorance, and deception of countless young Christians, I propose that there are two main courses of action to be taken. First, young believers that are missing mature guidance and example in more mature brethren need to take drastic action to pray for, and to ask for, the relationships they need to be mentored, discipled, and guided. This starts with personal disciplines, but must extend to the pursuit of real-life relationships with men or women in their circles. Second, older men need to wake up and realize that, while they’ve been enjoying their families, well-paying careers, and/or retirement, there are at least several young people in their congregation that are languishing under the oppression of seeking to learn the Lord’s will without fatherly or motherly figures showing them how to do so. There are a couple of generations of believers that are struggling to understand how the teachings of Jesus and the apostles can be learned, applied, and shared in this confusing, distracting, and deceiving world of ceaseless media messages, digital environments, and endless possibilities for entertainment and physical pleasure.

There are several avenues towards biblical guidance to which many young people have been turning in the past several years that are simply roads toward spiritual harm and destruction. If you read up on the trends of young evangelicals in these times, you’ll see that many of them are turning to ungodly social media influencers such as Jordan Peterson. Likewise, many of them have abandoned common Protestant and evangelical traditions in favor of the more ritualistic, ceremonial, antiquated, and hierarchical religions of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Worse yet, they’ve also sought to find spiritual direction and models from ostensibly Christian teachers who are spewing unbiblical nonsense like mysticism, pop psychology, and even Marxism and racism (known as critical race theory).

Therefore, it’s high time that we, as the body of Christ, make massive changes in our thinking and attitudes about the character of His body, our purposes, and how we need to accomplish them according to the apostles’ teaching. Let me offer some practical counsel on specific steps older and younger believers can take to work toward remedying the problem of wandering, ignorant, and disconnected Christian youth.

Pastors are Important, but Not the Answer

Before we go any further in outlining a way forward toward the work of mature Christians discipling younger ones, I want to dismiss a common notion in this matter that may have entered your mind, or which you might think about after reading. This is the misconception that the main answer to the great problems of ignorant and distressed Christian youth is the reinvigoration and appointment of better “pastors”. It’s obvious to all who understand Christianity that good “official” leaders are massively important to the proper service of the Lord’s people. I heartily grant this. We must always remember that followers are usually no better than their leaders. And pastors have an integral role in shaping the thinking and lifestyles of the congregations they serve.

However, awakening, training, or appointing better men in the pastoral office won’t meet the deepest needs of Christian youth for their social and moral lack. There are at least a few reasons for this. First, most evangelical pastors don’t even carry out the services that New Testament leaders are entrusted with by Jesus and the apostles. This is because the common western pastoral office is a devastatingly corrupted version of the New Testament model of Christian leadership. Most pastors are more like business executives, motivational speakers, or self-help guru’s than shepherds of sheep. They take very little time to actually know the brethren they serve, and seek to help them in personal ways. Secondly, it’s not even the main purpose of officially recognized overseers to seek to mentor all the young people in their congregation. According to Ephesians 4:11-12, the Lord gave us the “shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to the building up of the body of Christ” (ESV). Thus, it isn’t pastors who are the main up-builders of their congregations, but the rest of the body. And this implies that the responsibility of raising up the next generation of believers primarily falls on the shoulders of the average, unofficial, but seasoned Christian assembly member.

Older Men, Step Up and Lead!

If you’re a young Christian, please don’t stop reading, or skip ahead, because you’re responsible for knowing the duties of older men as well as them. But if you’re an older, experienced, man in the Lord, then you need to take a solemn evaluation of your character, and of the relationships you have with young believers in your close circles, and your weekly assembly. How many of your younger brethren do you see on a weekly basis that you notice have no clear friendships with older men who can teach them how to follow Jesus? And what do you regularly do for such Christians?

Now, I must take some time to explain why I’m targeting older men, rather than older women. The reason is that they are far more responsible for the spiritual ignorance and confusion of young believers than are older women. While I concede that even older women have some responsibility, since many of them have bought into the world’s feminist ideals of the relationships between men and women, most of the blame for the lack of discipleship for young people in most biblical fellowships belongs to the older men. Many of them are weak, lazy, ignorant of teachings they should know, and selfishly content with attempting to enjoy their immediate families, at the expense of the group of young believers that don’t have Christian families, nor real-life Christian role models. The Scriptures are clear that it’s the responsibility and privilege of Christian men to serve as the leaders and guides both in the weekly gathering, and in Christian society in general. Just take a look at what Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:8:

“Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.”

Further, he tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 14:

“The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.” (14:34)

All throughout the New Testament, it’s both assumed and commanded that men are to be the ones in the leadership role in the body of Christ, and not women. Hence, it’s the fault of men failing to take up this responsibility that most congregations’ young people are in such a sorry condition. As numerous examples in the Scriptures show, one of the essential facets of Christian living is the heads of households leading their families in obeying Jesus, and also leading younger people in general in the same pursuit of Christlikeness. The New Testament never gives officially recognized elders and pastors the monopoly on leadership, but only the priority.

Therefore, it’s the duty of experienced Christian men to take up the mantle of mentoring and leading the young people of their assemblies. How do you do this? It’s not complicated, but it might take more effort than you’re used to. First, you need to take care of your own spiritual health. You’ll need to make sure you’re practicing the disciplines of daily prayer time, Bible reading, and deep thinking about its truths. Further, you need to make sure that your house is in order. You must be leading and loving your wife as Jesus did His people, and disciplining and instructing your children in the ways and teaching of the Lord. Third, you need to make sure that you’re walking alongside brothers of comparable maturity to you, and keeping each other accountable in spiritual growth and godliness.

As someone who can be used by the Lord to mentor young people, you need to make sure that you’re integrated in mentoring relationships yourself. This will require you to get uncomfortable, and take the hard steps of asking challenging questions about yourself and your friends. Also, you’ll want to seek to cultivate these friendships by partnering in beneficial projects, ministries, and other endeavors. You need to be actively engaged in the work of serving others for the Lord, and bringing the gospel to your unsaved neighbors, co-workers, and friends.

In addition, it’s important that you have a personal connection with the elders and pastors of your assembly. You should take the time to personally encourage them, and work alongside them in the ministry of your assembly. This means that you’re always looking for areas of need, and trying to fill them. You shouldn’t wait for you assembly’s leaders to urge you to do these things, but simply follow the leading of the Spirit through the instructions of the Word, and do them.

Once an experienced Christian man has started to seriously work on his personal discipline, his spiritual growth, the leadership of his household, his personal discipleship relationships, and his active involvement in the service of his weekly assembly, then he’s in the perfect place to start encouraging and mentoring young men. So, if you’ve yet to do this, think about those young believers in your life who seem isolated or led astray, and devise ways to help them. If you’re doing this already, encourage other brothers among your peers to strive to do the same, along with encouraging your wife and other mature women to also disciple young women. Let us build a culture of fatherly and motherly discipleship and modeling in the western body of Christ.

Young Believer – Look Around and Follow!

Finally, I want to briefly encourage you young brothers or sisters. Although it may seem that none of your older brethren understand or care about your confusion, ignorance, and struggles with the mind-numbing complexity and temptations of our modern digital society, you shouldn’t despair. I assure you that a fatherly or motherly brother or sister isn’t too far away from you, and that among your Christian community, there’s someone that has some concern about you. What you need to do is trust the Lord to provide you with the mentor, wisdom, encouragement, and instruction you need, and ask Him for these things.

Then, get to know an older, godly, and established brother or sister, and develop a friendship with them. One of the best ways to do this is to simply ask questions about who they are. Take an interest in them, and seek to learn how they got to where they are in their spiritual walk. Recognize that they have more experience and wisdom than you, and allow yourself to be taught, encouraged, and counseled by them. If you find that they close themselves off from you, either ask more direct and desperate questions about how you should think or live, or look for someone else to help you. You need to always remember that among the believers in any faithful local fellowship, the Lord has provided that group with all the gifts it needs to build each other up, and serve one another appropriately. It’s just a matter of relying on His Spirit to empower you, and to use both you and the older brethren to serve each other with your gifts.

Unite and Build

Today’s the day that we recognize the failures of older Christian generations in the West, repent of them, and work together to unite older and younger brethren together in this life in the Spirit. We need to get over the perceived barriers keeping different generations from knowing and serving each other, and diligently pursue mentoring and discipling relationships to the mutual upbuilding of the body of Christ. Older men and women, it’s on you to look out for your younger brethren, and find ways to mentor them. My fellow young brethren, it’s up to us to value the wisdom and experience of our older brothers, and seek to learn from, and encourage, them. It’s time for average leaders to lead, and for followers with extraordinary potential to follow them towards the reformation and revival of New Testament Christianity.

If you’re interested in my Bible teaching on the major areas of need in our common western version of Christianity, please consider checking out my book, The New Testament Revival of Western Christianity, available here in PDF for $2, or on Amazon in Kindle and print for a little more:

https://a.co/d/3jjtMOn