What do the internet and youth ministry have in common? Quite a lot, it seems, particularly when it comes to strategies for keeping "users" engaged. But is this a good thing, and what are the implications for those of us engaged in ministry with teens?

Did you know that repeated use of the internet might be having a physical effect on your body? Research conducted in 2007 indicates that repeated web surfing can actually rewire the brain, resulting in the growth of new neural pathways particularly in the prefrontal cortex that governs decision-making. Sounds great, right? The internet is helping us expand our brain power. Not so fast:

Dozens of studies by psychologists, neurobiologists, and educators point to the same conclusion: When we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning. Even as the Internet grants us easy access to vast amounts of information, it is turning us into shallower thinkers, literally changing the structure of our brain.

When you stop to think about it, doesn't this make sense? Deep learning via the internet can be a real challenge because of the constant distraction of checking email, following links, clicking on ads, skimming through blogs, and receiving pop-up notifications from Twitter. It's the difference between reading The Kite Runner, for example, in linear book form (going page by page) or reading an on-line version where every paragraph includes links that beckon you to take internet detours to learn more about life in Afghanistan or read comments left by other readers on various turns in the plot. According to research, those who stay focused reading the traditional printed text in a book have a much higher level of comprehension than those reading on the web because, quite simply, there is less distraction.

Relatedly, distraction has been the name of the game in youth ministry now for decades, its history detailed in the recent text Reinventing Youth Ministry (Again) by Wayne Rice. Sometimes labeled the "attractional" model of youth ministry, I think a better term for what we've been using with teens is the "distractional" model. In its simplest form, the "distractional" model implies a strategy for youth ministry that encourages designing activities and events that will get teens in the door of the church and keep them engaged and interested. Most often these activities are entertainment-based and high energy. They need not even be faith-based, as long as they open the possibility of reaching youth with the gospel message at some point during the event.

Not unlike the constant clicking of links on a website, this approach leads to youth ministries with programming centered around rock concerts, skateboard parks, lavish mission trips (I think that might be an oxymoron) to exotic locales, wacky games and movie nights, road trips, and youth facilities crammed with state of the art video screens and the hottest video game systems. All of this is done in the hopes that, in between the endless rounds of "Halo," rocking out to the latest Christian band, and playing games that involve somebody getting a face full of peanut butter, you might get the chance to mention Jesus and offer a prayer.