Christian Chronicle (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 10, 1967 Page: 2 of 11
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Christian Chronicle and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Abilene Christian University Library.
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I
1
February 10, 1M7
CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
Page 2
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J. C. Choate
1'
• ) •
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By Robert Meyer*
Wichita, Kama*
It occurs where the preacher does
not identify with the youth. He shows no
Look around and see how interested
are the teenagers in your congregation.
Volunteer your help and home! Pray for
this mighty force with which God could
change the world. •
Somehow, some way, by whatever
necessary Biblical means, the “teenage
tune-out” has to become a “teenage
tune-in.”
■
I
■
I
1
COMMENT
S
■
P
_
It’s too late to assess the blame. It
may be worthless to define the causes.
But the actual condition exists and thou-
sands of intelligent, sensitive, questing
teenagers have “tuned u»out.”
Call Made for Family
To Begin Work in Laos
Tif ........
' •
There are countless congregations
and thousands of Christian teenagers
where the above scene will not be ob-
served. We have editorialized about the
faith, dedication and involvement of the
church’s young people in previous is-
sues. But the sad fact of the “teenage
tune-out” is a reality in many congrega-
tions today.
$4 50 except missionaries receive
- - —-r---_,—i re-
quest; 3 years. WOO; S year*. «1*M; Club Plan
<2 ar more) 1 year: $3 00 each; Congregational
Plan, $25 per month per family and church office
. .. - ---—] edition*
xiMicatlon should
-----Christian Chroni-
-----is 70*04. Special Dellv-
1st St., Abilene, Texas 79004 Phone:
L j
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"Vietiane is a safe place to
live,” said Choate. "Surely if
more than 1,000 Americans can
go there to work and if Peace
Corps volunteers and tourista
can go and safely return, mis-
sionaries can take Christ to the
people.”
The consequences of this condition
are too vast for any of us to fully
realize. First, “the future” of the
church everybody keeps piously talking
about is blown-up, save for the overpow-
ering purpose of God. Second, our se-
mantic battles must cease draining the
manpower and thinking of a brother-
hood that can RECAPTURE its youth
with clear, compelling, convincing pres-
entations of Christ’s gospel. Third,
church leaders and preachers can not
continue assigning the nurture of young
people to “homes” that are nothing
more than “houses,” and to schools that
have openly and repeatedly repudiated
their obligations for moral and spiritual
training. Fourth, parents must begin
asking/some questions, and then listen-
ing to some answers about what their
teenagers really think about Bible
classes^ worship services and other cur-
rent activities of the church designed
for them. Fifth, the “teenage tune-out”
is every Christian’s responsibility.
We were surprised and pleased at the
“man of the year” selection by Time
magazine (See "The Inheritor,” January
6, 1967, pp. 16-23). We were also troubled
-, by the picture Time painted of many
members of the “twenty-five and un-
der’’ generation. The Chronicle called
attention editorially to youth as the
“Power We Cannot Ignore” on Novem-
ber U, 1966. At that time we suggested
that all the laments and criticisms
about youth are worthless in the face of
a group that holds the “numbers” edge
if no other power!
But the reason for our continuing
concern is the frequency with which one
observes all over this country within all
kinds of congregations “the teenage
tune-out.” After unannounced observa-
tions in congregations in California,
Tennessee and Texas, we propose the
following experiment for any preacher,
elder, Bible school teacher or parent. Sit
in some part of the auditorium in which
you worship next Sunday and observe
the behavior of your junior and senior
high schoolers.
Be prepared for a disappointment (in
many cases) which will swell up in your
heart as you see young people not
participating in the singing, not listen-
ing to the sermon, talking through the
invitation and whispering during the
communion. For the most part, these
activities on the part of older teens will
be quiet and restrained, but it will
constitute a total “freeze out” of the
collective worship!
i• •
O*or0a; Phillip Morrieon, Florida.
. tubeer>pt.one 1 year (U.S. and Canada). $4 00; 1
year foreign, f* ** ------- : ■
complimentary bMUmafl" subacription* upon
<3 or more) 1 year: |3.M each; Congr.
Plan, $.28 per month r - - - - - '
| receive* statement (include*' regional
where applicable). Material for publk-ati
be sent to the Managing Editor. C_.
ele. Box 173®. Abilene. Texas 7®f*‘ "
ery: Ml South f t
ORchard 4-13*3 (Area ®13).
r"'
________________________________________________________________________'
We do not quite know what to do with curiosity. We say in one
breath, “Curiosity killed the cat,” by which we hint that too much
questioning may be fatal, while in the next we agree with Samuel
—Johnson’s dictum: “Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain
characteristics of a vigorous intellect.”
Some of us have painful memories of that irreverent curiosity
which violates all that is fragile and lovely, which leaves nothing
holy, and which is confident that nothing is valuable which it
cannot dissect so completely as to leave no mystery at all.
Remembering forms of curiosity which lack reverence for God and
life, we shudder in spite of ourselves at certain questions.
But we are far more likely to sin through too little curjosity
than through too much. Most men ask too few questions, not too
many. Totalitarian governments (and churches) know this and
encourage it because it guarantees their continued domination.
The church, with its ^'institutional lag” (always dragging
behind the insights of its choicest spirits), has opposed a great
many advances in medicine and religion on the grounds that
excessive curiosity is wicked. To ask too many questions, the
church has said, is to pry into God’s mind. "If He’d wanted us to
know, He’d have told us,” has been the common rejoinder to those
who believed in searching.
The story of the church's dealings with Galileo constitutes one
of the most bizarre episodes in-this whole business of curiosity
versus the status quo. When Galileo tried to get a professor of
philosophy at Padua to look through his glass at the moon and
planets, the man refused to do so. The good professor, meanwhile,
lectured to various audiences on how silly it was to suppose there
were these things in the sky which Galileo claimed.
It all seems ridiculous to us, but only because we are so far
away from it and because it is not now our problem. Answers are
still being sought in areas which frighten us and which we would, if
we could, close. The church still finds ways to shush questioners
and squelch the curious. The adults say to the children, "Now we
just don’t ask questions like that”; and the adults say to other
adults, who aren’t docile enough yet, "Asking questions like that
will only get you into trouble.”
Religion is not this fierce guarding of hoarded truths at al). It
is not a high wall thrown up around a carefully cultivated plot. It js
not the staking out of a territory, but an endless pioneering toward
the ever-receding frontier. It is a grewing in closeness to, and
knowledge of, the Eternal.
A proper curiosity leads us step by step up the terraces toward
that place where the secrets of God are. Far from creating
arrogant people, it leads us better than any other attitude toward a
lasting and beautifpl humility.
It was our own Master, remember, who praised for all time the
happy result of curiosity: You *b*ll know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free.
STAFF
Glover Shipp, Assistant Editor. Don Batt*, Circu-
lation Manager. Mr*. Carol Fulton, Advertising
Manager. ■ ■
Regional Edition Editor*: Edgar Orman, Mid-
South; Will Ed Warren, NoYth Central; James H.
Sewell, West Coast; Gen* Robinson, Midwest; J. M.
Mankin, Tennessee Valley; Henry Seidmeyer, High
Plains; Elta Huffard, East Coast; John R. Stew-
art, Oklahoma; Clarence DeLoach, Jr., Ohio
Valley; Ottle L. Hilburn, Northwest; James Lundy,
For further information write
to Parker Henderson, Box Ml,
Bangkok, Thailand or to Curtis
Ix>gsdon, c/o Air America, APO
San Francisco 96352.
The Teenage 'Tune-ouf
“outside, unofficial” interest in them as
authentic people. He never teaches their
Bible classes and can call few (beyond
the elders’ children) by name. The
“tune-out” is occurring where church
leaders do not secure the cooperation of
the teenagers. Elders often overlook the
strength of the congregation’s youth in
their planning and programs. Youth are
refusing to relate in congregations
where stale, unspiritual, unprovocative
teachers spend their “one hour” each
week attempting to overcome the disci-
pline problem.
Finally, the “teenage tune-out” must-
be partly caused by the general adult
church member attitude (including par-,
ents) toward the youth of the church.
Pose the experiment mentioned ~
above to the average church member
and you will immediately get a vocal
denial that any such behavior would be
observed. If faced with the undeniable
evidence, most adults will simply ex-
press embarrassment and change the
subject! Then there are always the
excuses (offered by the adults, always):
- “We were like that”; “They don’t dis-
turb anybody”; “This rock and roll
music is ruining all the kids”; “We’ve
- tried everything we know to do” and
“It’s the parents’ responsibility.”
Chrislian4feCbronicle
An international weekly newspaper, with 12 re-
gional news editions, established June 2, 1943 by
Olan L. Hicks. Now in its 23rd year as a publica-
• tion for churches of Christ. It is circulated in 50
states and some 50 countries. Published on Friday,
except the last week of June and DecembepK,by the
Crown Foundation t (formerly Fidelity Press) Sec-
ond Class postage paid at Abilene, Texas, and at
additional mailing offices.
Jam** W. Nichols Executive Editor
Jam** Batts Managing Editor
Garnar Roberts News Editor
———
VIETIANE, Laos — "A fami-
ly is needed to help establish a
congregation among local peo- ‘
pie in Vietiane,” J. C. Choate
reported recently.
Choate and Parker Henderson
conducted meetings in Vietiane
on January 20, 21 and 22.
“Sister Vina Hall moved to
Vietiane a year and a half ago
to work with the U.S. Embassy
staff,” Choate continued. “In
July of 1966, she and Sister
Ellen .Ronnel, a Peace Corps
worker who lived on the other
side of the Mekong River in
Nongkai, Thailand, began to
conduct worship services.
“Since that time the Curtis
Logson family has moved there
to work with Air America. The
work has grown, and Sunday
morning there were 20 present
for worship.”
Vietiane is a city of more
than 100,000 people. Laos has a
population of around 3 million.
The people speak Lao, Thai and
some French and English. Pres-
ently there are approximately
10 denominational missionaries
there.
The American missionaries
have commissary and APO
privilege®. There are around 1,-
000 American couples in Viet-
iane with the U.S. Embassy,
U.S. A.I.D. and other organiza-
tion®.
.....<(i
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Nichols, James W. Christian Chronicle (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 10, 1967, newspaper, February 10, 1967; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1320699/m1/2/?q=music: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.