Boozing Epidemic Among Young Adult Church Groups
Fri, 01/12/2007 - 10:40pm
In discussing her book “Thrill Of The Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On” on the Albert Mohler Show, journalist Dawn Eden made an observation that many young adult or singles ministries are centered around drinking.
This author is to be commended for exposing what is probably a little known and shocking fact.
I myself came across this startling truth when I was visiting a PCA Presbyterian Church (a supposedly more conservative denomination) off and on a few years back.
Though I never attended any of the functions since I could just as easily stay home and feel like less of a total outcast since hardly anyone in the Sunday school class would hardly even speak to me at church so why bother elsewhere, it always seemed an inordinate number of the e-mail invitations for class social functions mentioned alcohol would be present.
Interestingly, this shortcoming was never brought up in class even though I was reamed a new one in discussion and in an email exchange with the Associate Pastor of the church that led the Young Adult class about my short coming of exhibiting"individualistic tendencies" and not becoming a dutiful member of the COMMUNITY, and one student from China was excoriated on the listserv for questioning the propriety of holding a babyshower for a member of the class that spawned outside of marriage.
However, the blame cannot be placed solely on the indiscretions of youth.
After all, for in this case, they are only mimicking the behavior of their elders.
And in this case, I literally mean elders. For eventually pictured on the pages of the Washington Post in a story about a men's book discussion was a photo of two elders of this church in question boozing it up in some bar.
Though one does not like to see people injured or maimed, can you imagine the almost comic irony of a headline reading something like "Family Killed By Drunk Driver Leaving Church Function"?
by Frederick Meekins
This author is to be commended for exposing what is probably a little known and shocking fact.
I myself came across this startling truth when I was visiting a PCA Presbyterian Church (a supposedly more conservative denomination) off and on a few years back.
Though I never attended any of the functions since I could just as easily stay home and feel like less of a total outcast since hardly anyone in the Sunday school class would hardly even speak to me at church so why bother elsewhere, it always seemed an inordinate number of the e-mail invitations for class social functions mentioned alcohol would be present.
Interestingly, this shortcoming was never brought up in class even though I was reamed a new one in discussion and in an email exchange with the Associate Pastor of the church that led the Young Adult class about my short coming of exhibiting"individualistic tendencies" and not becoming a dutiful member of the COMMUNITY, and one student from China was excoriated on the listserv for questioning the propriety of holding a babyshower for a member of the class that spawned outside of marriage.
However, the blame cannot be placed solely on the indiscretions of youth.
After all, for in this case, they are only mimicking the behavior of their elders.
And in this case, I literally mean elders. For eventually pictured on the pages of the Washington Post in a story about a men's book discussion was a photo of two elders of this church in question boozing it up in some bar.
Though one does not like to see people injured or maimed, can you imagine the almost comic irony of a headline reading something like "Family Killed By Drunk Driver Leaving Church Function"?
by Frederick Meekins
