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Can You Hear Me Now? Postmodern Dangers

There is a distinction between youth ministry done in the context of a postmodern world and youth ministry characterized by postmodern assumptions.

This is an important distinction, as there are certain postmodern assumptions that are inconsistent with, and opposed to, a biblical worldview.

One of the most dangerous tenets of postmodernism is the notion that truth is either non-existent or, if it does exist, is impossible to discern and articulate.

The first position makes truth relative, the second makes it irrelevant.

Revelation from God

The historic Judeo-Christian perspective has always affirmed Scripture as a unique, objective revelation from God. This is not a new or “modern" notion. The biblical witness consistently portrays God as the unchanging source of truth. God is truth and chooses to speak truth to us in a way that is both intelligent and intelligible.

To say God speaks intelligently means simply that what God intends to say has definable meaning. To say God speaks intelligibly means it’s possible for the intended recipient of the message to understand its meaning.

When God said, “Let there be light," those words were intelligent. They meant a certain, specific, and limited thing. God wanted light as opposed to trees. But the words were also intelligible. The universe responded with precision, and the result was...light! Message received.

Community and Communication

True community requires communication that’s both intelligent and intelligible. All of the newly-created languages at Babel were intelligent, but they were intelligible to only a limited number of people. Communities then developed around the languages that were intelligible.

Further, a community of faith requires a common conviction that God has spoken both intelligently and intelligibly. Central to the Hebrew covenant is the idea that God has communicated his expectations (laws) to the people in a way they can understand and obey. The New Testament drives home that point in the incarnation. Jesus is the “word" (God’s intelligent message) made “flesh" (God’s intelligible message).

Philosophy of Truth

All man-made philosophies carry elements of both truth and error. As you consider both the merits and pitfalls of postmodernism (and there are merits), you must do so with a discerning eye. When postmodernism rejects the notion of absolute (intelligent) truth (and not all postmodernists do), it has crossed the line into heresy and should itself be rejected. Similarly, when postmodernism declares that truth is unintelligible and impossible to discern or articulate (and not all postmodernists do this), then it has crossed an equally dangerous heretical line.

Please understand. I am not saying the way we think about or do ministry shouldn’t change in a postmodern world. I’m saying that our understanding of truth and how we know it (our epistemology) should be firmly biblical and not anything else.

Many, if not all, of your youth already question the concept of absolute truth. Of the few who affirm the existence of truth, many doubt our ability to discern it. All of these young people are living with no real reason to believe that God cares…or even exists. Their experiences and observations are just as likely to suggest that either there is no God or that God hates them.

Only the firm, biblical conviction that God has spoken the truth intelligently and intelligibly will provide your kids with the necessary values to live in a way that honors God.

My prayer is that you’ll understand postmodernity and develop a ministry to youth that’s effective and fruitful in a postmodern world. Beware, however, of developing a youth ministry characterized by postmodern assumptions—they are not the same thing.

Rick Edwards is a 25-year ministry veteran with experience as both a youth pastor and Senior Pastor. He now serves as Associate Publisher for Salem Publishing/CCM Communications and Executive Editor of Youthworker.