Does Everyone Really Win?

Imagine a world where…

                          …everybody wins

                          …nobody loses

                          …there are no deadlines

                          …you don’t fail…you just don’t finish

Perhaps you have seen the commercial of the little league ball players sitting in the dugout reminding each other of the reward awaiting them when they lose the game. There are a plethora of articles referring to Millennials as “trophy kids,” explaining how everyone gets a reward rather than designating a winner in a variety of venues.

Last year I read The Trophy Kids Grow Up by Ron Alsop. In his book, Alsop (a columnist for the Wall Street Journal) makes some insightful observations about the emergence of the 80 million strong millennial generation into the workplace.

More recently, articles like Failure is impossible for high school students! (No, really) have raised the issue again. There are good people on both sides of this discussion.  Neither this book nor the articles are the final word on the subject but they should challenge us to think about this in relationship to our ministries.

Some of the questions we need to consider might look like this:

• How do we teach Christian character in light of this concept?
• Where does grace fit with judgment?
• If nobody fails then does sin really have a penalty?
• The Bible teaches about rewards. Does everyone get one?
• If we want to develop leadership then can we have requirements?
• Can we cultivate students of influence if we lower our expectations?

So what do you think? Is this idea overblown? Are Millennials miss-cast?