Friday Thoughts: Aaron Salvato- GoodLion Theology- One of the most sacred things we can do for young people is prepare them for the quiet, unglamorous beauty of ordinary Christian life.

Aaron Salvato posted this on Substack on 9/8/25. (https://aaronsalvato.substack.com)

After more than a decade in youth ministry, I’ve come to believe this: One of the most sacred things we can do for young people is prepare them for the quiet, unglamorous beauty of ordinary Christian life.

Not the noise, not the lights, not the crowded rooms filled with energy and music and adrenaline… but the slow, faithful rhythm of simply being with Jesus in the ordinary.

Because if we teach them that Christianity is mostly about spectacle—games, events, emotional highs—what happens when all of that is gone?

When the music fades?

What happens when they graduate into a church that isn’t built around their preferences?

What happens when they get older, get married, have children, and find that the space once filled with energy and freedom is now filled with diapers, dishes, exhaustion, and responsibility?

What happens when following Jesus doesn’t feel exciting, but just feels… hard?

If we’ve given them a faith built on fireworks, we shouldn’t be surprised when they struggle to find God in the silence.

So we must teach them now:

How to sit still.

How to pray simple prayers.

How to open the Scriptures and not rush.

How to confess without shame.

How to repent without despair.

How to sit through a sermon that doesn’t entertain but might, quietly, transform if they have ears to hear.

How to ask for help from someone older, gentler, wiser.

How to serve in ways no one sees, and to find joy in the hidden places.

These are the quiet practices that carry us through adulthood.

These are the threads that hold a soul together when life unravels.

Youth ministry must be more than noise.

It must be a gentle invitation into the deeper waters.

Real life with Jesus is not always loud.

It is often still, slow, and mostly unseen.

But it is there—right there—that Christ meets us.

And if we can help them find Him there… we’ve given them something they can carry for the rest of their lives.

My Thoughts:

Aaron Salvato’s website is https://goodlion.org/aaronsalvato/

There is a lot of good things there: articles, a blog, etc.

I live in a retirement community where many people have spent decades in ministry leadership.

We are at a phase in our pilgrimages where others are making decision that we used to make.

We need to learn to live a life of reflection, closeness to God, and behind the scenes unnoticed service.

This should be a beautiful period of our lives.

Please pray for us.