I'm afraid I've been browsing church websites again. I'll stop short of using the phrase "I defy you to," but I think you will have a tough time finding a church website whose youth ministry page does not say something about "fun," "excitement," "high energy," etc. Those things are not wrong or even necessarily bad, but why do we have to insert those into most children's and youth ministries? Why can we just not make our ministries about exalting Jesus?
Why do I even care? Because we spend 12 years conditioning kids to feel that church (and therefore Christianity) is all about fun, excitement, energy, and feeling good. After that, they get into the "real world" and adult discipleship programs and suddenly they are no longer having fun. It's no wonder so many of them end up dropping out of church. How could we expect anything less when we've worked so hard to get them in the doors and keep them coming back with food, games, parties, trips, and big events but no expectations of what discipleship really means?
