Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 10
October 16, 1958
NUMBER 24, PAGE 5c,7c

Another Youth Meeting

Bob Franks, Beaumont, Texas

A great deal of emphasis in being placed on the importance of training our young people to be better servants of the Lord. I would be the last to condemn such training. However, there is a place and time for such things and we must be careful to consider the will of the Lord in such matters. We believe that some of our brethren have more zeal than knowledge and this zeal has led them to do many things contrary to the Lord's will relative to the teaching of our young people. We hear much today about "youth" rallies and "youth" meetings that are held over the country as a method of teaching our children, especially the teen-agers. Brethren are building camps that promote such things as swimming, tennis, boating, fishing and are encouraging people to support them. The plea is usually made that the Bible will be taught daily and the young people can enjoy "Christian" fellowship along with the other activities already mentioned. While we recognize the importance of relaxation and entertainment for all ages, we cannot endorse such as a church activity. The responsibility of providing such things rests entirely on the home and not the church. The Bible teaches us that we have a responsibility as the church to teach God's word to the young and old but I have failed to find where the church is obligated to provide entertainment.

Before me is the Firm Foundation dated July 22, 1958. On the back page there is an advertisement about a "youth" meeting that will be conducted by the Procter Street church which began the 18th of last month. In hold type it is stated that it was overseen by the Procter Street Elders of Port Arthur. "Fellowship" was between the young people in the Golden Gulf Coast Area. The churches that participated are as follows: Westside, Beaumont; Gulf St., Beaumont; the church in Nederland; Broadway, Galveston; the church in Port Neches; South Park, Beaumont; 9th & Elm, Orange; Archie St., Vidor; and of course the Procter Street church in Port Arthur. Each day the meeting began with a "devotional" service. A class session followed and then the noon meal. At 12:30 a tour of the Gulf Refinery was provided for 32 people. That is the first time I ever heard of the elders of the Lord's church overseeing a tour through an old refinery. But such is liberalism. If the elders of the Procter Street church in Port Arthur can "oversee" a tour of an oil refinery and do it scripturally, brethren from all over the country need to wake up. Just think what the brethren that live in Carlsbad, New Mexico could do. They could arrange and oversee a tour of the Carlsbad Caverns and invite young people from all over the country to come and have some real "fellowship." They could even ask churches over the country to send them funds to support such a setup and possibly could invite Pat Boone to sing for them. I'm sure that Pat would not refuse if he could possibly take time off from his night club and movie dates. Who will be the first to sponsor this deal?

"Tend the flock of God which is among you . . ." (1 Pet. 5:2.) Peter applies this to the elders of the church and we would to God that they would learn to abide by these words. Let each group of elders recognize their responsibility to train young men to be preachers of the gospel and to do so as a work of the local congregation. The elders should see that young women are taught those things that are essential for her to be a good Christian, either as a wife, mother or whatever she chooses to be when she becomes a woman. Those things that pertain to spiritual matters and the soul of man are to be stressed by the elders, while the parents of boys and girls are to not only teach their children those things that are right but to provide them with wholesome entertainment. Entertainment must never be supplied by the church. Yet it is being done everywhere. We urge gospel preachers to cry out against such evils that will turn the church that Jesus died for into just another denomination with the emphasis upon the physical rather than the spiritual.