6 Things We Need to Learn from Youth About Preaching

Rarely seen, never heard is how many churches prefer to treat teenagers, confined to separate ministries. But I also know of a traditional church where teenagers sat front and center each week. It's no coincidence the senior pastor had been a youth minister and often addressed those teens specifically.

If we're serious about passing the gospel to the next generation, what do we need to learn from youth about how we preach? Here are six suggestions youth would offer to their pastors.

1. We don't know what sanctification means, but we know about the process of growing in grace.

I'm a word person. I majored in Latin and English and enjoyed SAT prep vocabulary flashcards. (Yes, I was a really cool kid.) I like big words, especially in the realm of theology. A mentor listened to a talk I gave to students and had a list of about seven theological terms the kids probably did not know. Kids mentally check out when they hear abundant, arcane jargon and the presumption that everyone knows what it means. Students need to learn how to define terms like justification, sanctification, imputation, and substitutionary atonement. Preachers should not shy away from using Christian terminology, but they should make sure to explain the terms in a way that is not condescending toward those who do not know it.

2. If you are personally vulnerable, we will listen to what you have to say.

In homiletics, many debate the level of vulnerability pastors should exercise. If you share too much, you risk sounding self-absorbed. If you never share any personal stories, you may appear aloof. Regardless, I can say with confidence that teenagers of this generation embrace people with a willingness to share their story, particularly those parts that reveal the preacher is an imperfect person with whom students can identify.    Continue at Cameron Cole

Amusing Our Youth to Spiritual Death?

I've spent considerable time thinking about the church's responsibility to teenagers in the last couple of years. As I look over the youth ministry landscape, the view is disheartening: a myriad of events meant to entertain rather than educate. Ravi Zacharias, speaking of youth in Tabletalk, said it well, "Building their faith is not a prime strength in our churches today. We seem to think that we need to entertain them into the church. But what you win them with is often what you win them to."   

Today's active youth group seems more focused on fellowship and service than discipleship. Instead of breeding future theologians (even of the ordinary type), we are producing young adults who are prone to leave the church when it's no longer a source of entertainment. Today's youth ministry culture could be a chapter straight out of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. I've already pontificated about how detrimental busyness can be to a family, which is why I'm saddened to see that youth ministry in many churches follows the trend of quantity rather than quality. It's a mentality that seeks to keep us so busy that we don't notice what we - and, more importantly, our children - are missing.

 
At the beginning of this year, my family began looking for a new church home. As we visited other churches, youth education was one of the criteria we considered in our search. My husband and I understand that parents cannot rely on the youth group as the sole source of our teen's spiritual nourishment; we must be actively involved in - no, in charge of - our daughter's theological education. Within that purview, we wanted to make certain that she will be discipled in church, as well as at home.    Continue at Melissa

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Youth Ministry + Jesus – Fun = Biblical?

Josh Cousineau published a post on the Gospel Coalition website this morning entitled “The Only Foundation for Youth Ministry” that’s getting some traction. That’s a good thing.  I thought it was a pretty strong article.  BUT, reading the comments on these type of posts can be frustrating.  I even linked it up on my Facebook and had a good back-and-forth with one of my biggest youth ministry mentors over whether or not it was actually a good article or not. 

So if you haven’t read it, use the link above and read it first, then continue reading…

Be Consistent in Critiques

 
I usually can’t stand these types of articles because I believe they take cheap shots against Youth Ministry that they don’t take against other areas of church-ministry.  What pitfall within the field of YM is not found elsewhere in the church: an over-reliance on “relevance”, replacing biblical teaching/preaching with good moralistic advice, or an unhealthy desire to draw a large crowd through fun/events/flashiness?  Isn’t that something that every church wrestles through?  If your pastor/church doesn’t wrestle with those things, then maybe they aren’t passionate about seeing God’s Word transform real people’s lives?  (yes, I really mean that… but that’s a subject for another post)

Maybe it’s just because I am a youth pastor, but it seems that whenever Youth Ministry is brought up on sites like The Gospel Coalition or Desiring God or other similar sites (both of which I read very regularly and highly respect, which is probably why it’s so frustrating to me) it seems there’s very little recognition that maybe… just maybe… Youth Ministry isn’t all about fun.  Continue at Pastor Mike

The Only Foundation for Youth Ministry

I remember sitting in the auditorium at the 2009 Gospel Coalition National Conference in Chicago. A session had just finished; we had been shown the glories of Jesus and how he is the only hope and foundation for our ministry. My heart was full, and I was glad that God had called me to minister to students. The two guys who came with me to the conference digested the content as they considered how to apply it not only to our own lives, but also to the students we served back home at church.  

In the middle of our conversation another youth pastor came up to us and jumped into the conversation. I don't know who he was or where he was from. All I know is that his statements totally caught me off guard. "This stuff is really good," he said matter-of-factly. "Not much is applicable for youth ministry though. Glad we don't have to worry about using all of this with students." I don't think I even responded.

Many of you would agree with me about the absurdity of his comment. Yet, sadly, this is how thousands of youth ministries across the nation operate. Jesus is fine for big church, but he won't keep students engaged. Jesus is okay for my daily devotions, but students need something more to capture their attention. Jesus is great for those who want to go deeper, but we need to start with something else to get them in the door on Wednesday night.

In more than 11 years working with students in many different capacities in many different settings, I have found the exact opposite to be true. Ministries that focus on anything but Jesus may fill the seats on Wednesday night, but they do not prepare students to live in the real world. That guy at The Gospel Coalition National Conference, along with countless other youth ministers, failed to build his ministry on Jesus.   Continue at Josh Cousineau

Resisting the Urge to Do Cutting Edge Youth Ministry

In my early twenties upon moving to Birmingham, AL, I attended for three months a mega-church with an impressive growth rate. The pastor regularly boasted about the church’s increasing attendance in between opportunities to talk about the large audiences, to which he was speaking around the world. My last Sunday was capped by the pastor’s proclamation that the incredible prosperity of the church resulted from the “cutting edge ministry,” which they performed (and, oh yea, God too.) I exited with a bad taste in my mouth and a headache from the number of times I rolled my eyes that Sunday. 

Fast forward ten years. I had been working for six years as a youth pastor at the Cathedral Church of the Advent. During a meeting with a business leader in town, where I explained our somewhat unique approach to reaching postmodern teens through a fragmented ministry of smaller, intimate clusters of students, the entrepreneur said, “Wow, it sounds like you guys are really working at the tip of the spear.” As I burned with pride, the voice of my ego whispered, “You might even say that we are on the....cutting edge.” In the one- and only one- potentially cutting edge moment of my life (which lasted ninety seconds), I felt this rush of pride as if my efforts made the difference and as if I had distinguished myself from other ministries. (These are ironically vain sentiments for someone who still uses a flip phone.)    Continue at Cameron Cole

The Parent as Youth Pastor

It’s no secret anymore, youth ministry is in a state of crisis. Polls of recent years report over and over the dire percentages of youth who leave the church after high school. Whatever the exact percentage actually is, what seems clear enough is that more young people are choosing to leave the church than choosing to stay. ^[2] The million dollar question is, of course, “Why is this happening?” And while there are certainly multiple factors involved in this mass exodus, I believe that a primary contributing factor is the loss of emphasis on the central role of the parent in the spiritual nurture of their children. Much of the youth ministry done in recent decades seems to have forgotten that parents are commanded to be, and by God’s design will necessarily be, the primary youth pastors for their children—for better or for worse. And when the central role of the parents is neglected, a major deviation from God’s design for youth ministry has taken place that can only be harmful for youth in the long term.

In order to start righting the ship, churches must first of all re-embrace the responsibility given to parents by God to be the front line “youth pastor” for their children. In the Old Testament, the priests had the general responsibility to teach all of the people the Word of God, but parents were given a special responsibility to teach their children. Moses commanded the people of Israel “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut 6:6-9). The same principal is in the New Testament. Pastors have the general responsibility to preach and teach God’s word to God’s people (including the youth), but the only command regarding the training and discipling of children is given directly to parents: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4).   Continue at Mark Devries

When Are We Going to Grow Up? The Juvenilization of American Christianity

The house lights go down. Spinning, multicolored lights sweep the auditorium. A rock band launches into a rousing opening song. "Ignore everyone else, this time is just about you and Jesus," proclaims the lead singer. The music changes to a slow dance tune, and the people sing about falling in love with Jesus. A guitarist sporting skinny jeans and a soul patch closes the worship set with a prayer, beginning, "Hey God …" The spotlight then falls on the speaker, who tells entertaining stories, cracks a few jokes, and assures everyone that "God is not mad at you. He loves you unconditionally."

After worship, some members of the church sign up for the next mission trip, while others decide to join a small group where they can receive support on their faith journey. If you ask the people here why they go to church or what they value about their faith, they'll say something like, "Having faith helps me deal with my problems."

Fifty or sixty years ago, these now-commonplace elements of American church life were regularly found in youth groups but rarely in worship services and adult activities. What happened? Beginning in the 1930s and '40s, Christian teenagers and youth leaders staged a quiet revolution in American church life that led to what can properly be called the juvenilization of American Christianity. Juvenilization is the process by which the religious beliefs, practices, and developmental characteristics of adolescents become accepted as appropriate for adults. It began with the praiseworthy goal of adapting the faith to appeal to the young, which in fact revitalized American Christianity. 

But it has sometimes ended with both youth and adults embracing immature versions of the faith. In any case, white evangelicals led the way.

Saving the World

Juvenilization happened when no one was looking. In the first stage, Christian youth leaders created youth-friendly versions of the faith in a desperate attempt to save the world. Some hoped to reform their churches by influencing the next generation. Others expected any questionable innovations to stay comfortably quarantined in youth rallies and church basements. Both groups were less concerned about long-term consequences than about immediate appeals to youth.   Continue at Christianity Today

See also: Two-Dimensional Youth Ministry

Reforming Youth Ministry

For too long we have blamed the rebellion of our young people on such things as our school system, broken homes and the influence of the media. As a pastor and youth worker I refuse to point the finger at society anymore. I am not saying the declining morality of our society and the break down of our family structure has not affected our kids. It definitely has had a large impact, but part of the blame is a little closer to home than we like to admit. It is time we stop pointing the finger at our world and point it right back at the church. 

J. I. Packer wrote, "Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul." Without a proper understanding of God, our youth will "stumble and blunder" their way to hell. What truths do we want to instill in our kids when they attend our church youth groups? Sex, drugs, peer pressure, dating and other such topics are OK, but are we really meeting our kids' needs or are we just applying a Band-Aid to a gaping wound? If our church youth group is not attempting to teach our kids the attributes and actions of God our Father, then it is we who are at fault for the rebellious acts of our young people.

Paul reminds us, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one (Rom 3: 10b-12)." If no one is seeking after God, why are we afraid to offend the non-believer with our message? If no one is seeking after God, then the students in your youth group are there because God has drawn them (Jn 6:44). Unless God changes their heart, there will never be a true outward change.

We must be faithful to preach it!

 

The Holy Spirit will help your students with even the most difficult passages (Jn 14:26). We must be faithful to study and present the complex truths of God's Word and allow the Holy Spirit to use it and apply it to their life. We must be faithful to preach all of God's Word on their level!

It is time we teach our students the heart of God's Word. I am not talking about Christianity 101, but the no-holds-barred approach to the truth. It is time our youth groups tackle issues such as: the holiness of God, the total depravity of man, divine sovereignty, justification and sanctification. Some people feel these issues are too lofty for our young people, but I think it is the cure for which we have begun searching. Until we begin to tackle a proper study of God and the deep, rich truths of His Word, we are guilty of sentencing our kids to a life with no direction and no understanding.   Continue at David Fields

Why Theology and Youth Ministry Seldom Mix

Editors' Note: Everyone has an opinion about youth ministry. Parents, pastors, and the youth themselves have expectations and demands that don't always overlap. But the rash of dire statistics about the ineffectiveness of youth ministry has prompted rethinking in these ranks. So we devote one day per week this month to exploring several issues in youth ministry, including its history, problems, and biblical mandate. The Gospel Coalition thanks Cameron Cole and the leadership team of Rooted: A Theology Conference for Student Ministry for their help in compiling this series. Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, will host their 2012 conference from August 9 to 11. Speakers Ray Ortlund, Timothy George, and Mary Willson will expound on the conference theme, "Adopted: The Beauty of Grace."

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Everyone knows the stereotype of the youth minister as a big kid with an expertise in games and an affinity for creative facial hair and body piercings. Despite the stereotype, many youth pastors are passionate and intelligent. Yet youth ministry has a reputation for not doing serious theology. In the book The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry, Andrew Root describes a discussion about a PhD program for youth ministry at his seminary. A biblical scholar asked, "Who is going to teach the seminar on group mixers?" Root goes on to describe the perception of youth ministers as theologically "lightweight." The National Study of Youth and Religion notes, "The vast majority of teens, who call themselves Christians, haven't been well educated in religious doctrine and, therefore, really don't know what they believe." Certainly, these results, at least to some degree, reflect the typically shallow theological culture of youth ministry. Why, then, does there seem to be a gap between youth ministry and theology?   Continue at Cameron Cole and Dave Wright

Youth Ministry's Tendency Toward Legalism

Editors' Note: Everyone has an opinion about youth ministry. Parents, pastors, and the youth themselves have expectations and demands that don't always overlap. But the rash of dire statistics about the ineffectiveness of youth ministry has prompted rethinking in these ranks. So we devote one day per week this month to exploring several issues in youth ministry, including its history, problems, and biblical mandate. The Gospel Coalition thanks Cameron Cole and the leadership team of Rooted: A Theology Conference for Student Ministry for their help in compiling this series. Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, will host their 2012 conference from August 9 to 11. Speakers Ray Ortlund, Timothy George, and Mary Willson will expound on the conference theme, "Adopted: The Beauty of Grace."

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I have walked for ten years with Allen, who was my closest Christian friend in high school. During our senior year we were "on fire" for God and set out to walk with Christ throughout college. After our freshman year, I watched my poor friend weep often about why he did not experience Christ in a real way. His youth ministry had sold him a message that faithful obedience before God would yield an experiential intimacy and spiritual euphoria, which he failed to encounter. In spite of tireless religious striving, Allen felt as if his pursuits resulted in a tumbling spiral into a deep, dark void.

Not surprisingly, Allen became disenchanted with Christianity and the church. Only after ten years of courageous waiting and honest reflection has he been able to re-engage church without resentment and wounding. He synopsizes his youth ministry's message with a story, which his youth pastor used to tell kids. The story basically involved a sad man, sitting in a corner, disappointed and hurt by his children, who he wished would come pay attention to him.  Continue at Cameron Cole

 

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MTD: Not Just a Problem with Youth Ministry

Editors' Note: Everyone has an opinion about youth ministry. Parents, pastors, and the youth themselves have expectations and demands that don't always overlap. But the rash of dire statistics about the ineffectiveness of youth ministry has prompted rethinking in these ranks. So we devote one day per week this month to exploring several issues in youth ministry, including its history, problems, and biblical mandate. The Gospel Coalition thanks Cameron Cole and the leadership team of Rooted: A Theology Conference for Student Ministry for their help in compiling this series. Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, will host their 2012 conference from August 9 to 11. Speakers Ray Ortlund, Timothy George, and Mary Willson will expound on the conference theme, "Adopted: The Beauty of Grace."

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That a youth ministry "teaches the Bible" does not necessarily mean it teaches the gospel. Many mistake the gospel with moralism---being a good person, reading your Bible, or opening the door for the elderly in order to earn God's favor. But the gospel is altogether different.

This is a problem across the youth ministry landscape. It's not because teenagers and youth leaders have misunderstood the church's teaching of historical-confessional, gospel-infused Christianity. It's a problem in youth ministry wherever the American church has not preached Christ crucified and has catered to a pragmatic, entertainment-driven, and numbers-oriented model of church growth.  Continue at Brian H. Cosby

Generation Me and Youth Ministry Today (Part 2)

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post on some of the concerns surrounding youth ministry as it is often practiced in Evangelicalism today. To read part one click here.

Some Practical Suggestions for Ministering to Youth

For those who may be weary of the extraordinary and want to invest more energy in rethinking how we engage in the ordinary ministry for all generations, including the next, here are a few suggestions. I’m sure others, more experienced than I, can come up with others.

1. Turn the youth group into a nursery for faith. In our culture, the “youth culture” is in the driver’s seat, with the goal even of older people to be “forever young.” According to the Scripture, though, sanctification is all about joining the rest of the church in “growing up in Christ” as our head, through the ordinary ministry of pastors and teachers (Eph 4: so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph 4:10-15). In The Lost Tools of Learning, Dorothy Sayers notes how children learn at first by parroting. This stage is perfect for rote memorization, building the stock of Christian grammar that they will use the rest of their lives. Then they begin to question things, looking for the logical connections between different beliefs and reasons for them. (We call this being a teenager!) Finally, they enter the “rhetoric” stage, where they understand, express, explain, and live the faith for themselves. We shouldn’t let our culture’s child-centered educational philosophy keep us from emphasizing rote memorization. However, we also should be ready to accept and even to encourage the questioning stage, so that they can embrace Christ and his Word for themselves.
2. Are we preparing younger believers for the communion of saints? When do they actually share in the public service, learning in growing stages to participate in the corporate prayers, confession, praise, giving, hearing, and receiving the Supper? When we include them in the service from the earliest possible years, they grow from fidgety toddlers to gradually appreciate what is happening and that they are equal sharers in it. We should not create alternative services for different age groups during the ordinary worship service, but bring them into the service and worship of the Triune God with his people.  Continue at Michael Horton

Give Up the Gimmicks, Youth Pastors

It's amazing what youth will eat. I love sushi, but it's quite different than eating a live goldfish. I sat near the back of the crowd and watched with a curious sea-sickness---gazing at the teenage wonder while keeping one eye on the nearest trash can! A loud unified chant shook the entire room: "Mar-cus, Mar-cus." And down it went, to the praise of cheering youth. He was the envy of every guy and the disgust of every girl. The champion collected his prizes and walked off the stage with a hero-notch on his belt.

"So what can we do next week," I thought to myself. "There's no way I can top eating a live goldfish." I was helping out with the youth program at the time, and we had been gradually escalating the "shock factor" to attract more youth. And, for all intents and purposes, it seemed to work. Every week, we saw new youth, who occasionally seemed to embody a little of the "shock factor" themselves.

Over time, though, we began to run out of ideas and started getting desperate. The youth seemed bored, and we had to think of something fast. We didn't have much money in our youth budget, so we decided to be good stewards and spend the rest of it on bringing a "Christian" rock band to the church (though nobody had ever heard of the group). The band arrived, set up, and did a sound check from a stage in the church gym---and topped the show with choreographed dancing. I was pumped! "The youth are going to love this," I thought out loud.  Continue at Brian H. Cosby

Youth Ministry Done Well for the Benefit of the Church

In my last article, I argued that the family—not youth pastors—must come first as the church seeks to disciple and evangelize its children. Christian fathers and mothers must both be called to these spiritual responsibilities and intentionally equipped by the church to perform them.

One might get the impression, however, based on the family-centered emphasis of this article, that the biological family is a kind of atomistic entity somehow more fundamental and basic than the church family. In other words, one tendency for people who strongly agree with the family-focused idea is to begin seeing the family as the place for one’s fundamental spiritual identity, with the church existing merely to provide some “spiritual tools” as the real work gets done in the home. That is not a correct understanding of the family’s interaction with the church. The primary and most fundamental “family” for a believer in Jesus is the church family. My identity is as a child of God through Jesus, even more than as a child of my father and mother. Indeed, many people come to faith as children in homes where their parents do not know Christ. Their most fundamental “family” becomes the church, the family of God in Christ. The argument made in the previous article is for the primacy of the Christian family’s role in shaping, teaching, and training children, even as those children belong to the family of the church in a far more fundamental and eternal way.   Keep Reading...

My Thoughts on Youth Ministry and Vacation Bible School

Let’s be honest: The very foundation of most VBS and youth ministries is nothing more than pragmatic, unbiblical, man-centered, entertainment-style programs designed to lure youth into church, baiting the hook with promises of fun and excitement with the purpose of switching from fun and frivolity to deep matters that aren’t so fun and amusing; subjects like sin, death, judgment, Hell, eternal torment, and a bloody and battered Savior hanging from a rugged Roman cross in order to take on our sins (and absorb God’s wrath) while imputing His own righteousness to an undeserving people. How one can effectively make the transition from amusement and frivolity to the grim realities of the gospel to a group of kids hyped up on Mountain Dew and pizza provided by the church is beyond me (this is presuming, of course, that there are still some churches out there that are even attempting to present the gospel in such an unadulterated fashion). Read the rest HERE

Divided the Movie

Your church is heavily influenced by evolutionary thinking. It is founded on principles created by pagans and for pagans. You have succumbed to hellish thinking and imposed it upon your church. At least this is the case if your church has a nursery or a Sunday school or any other kind of program that involves dividing people by age. That is the rather audacious claim of Divided, a documentary that is being heavily promoted by the National Center for Family Integrated Churches (NCFIC). Divided is a film about youth ministry. Kind of. At its heart it is a movie that promotes Family Integrated Church (FIC).

Divided follows a young filmmaker named Philip Leclerc as he seeks to find answers to the tricky question of why young people are abandoning the Christian faith. This journey quickly leads him to the leaders of the FIC where he learns that age segregation is at the very heart of our problems while family integration is the key to rebuilding the church and recapturing the next generation. Keep Reading...

See Also: Tim Challies' Harsh Review of Divided the Movie

5 Foundations of a Truth-drenched Youth Ministry

The following is from my notes at Kempton Turner's session yesterday at the CDG conference.

1. Be a truth-drenched example.

1 Timothy 4:16

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

The example of your life is the hammer that drives your message home. If your life doesn't exemplify what you expect, your message will not be believable.

2. Have a truth-drenched marriage and family life.

1 Timothy 3:4-5

He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?

We shouldn't see if someone is fit for the ministry by how they do in seemingly less important ministries. Rather, we should see what kind of husband and father he is. If he leads his family well, then maybe he's fit for the ministry. 

Paul assumes that a church leader first leads his family. A truth-drenched youth ministry will get the overflow of the youth minister's leadership of his wife and kids. Keep Reading>>>

The State of the Youth of the Church

When we decry the current condition of the youth in our churches (and the church as a whole) we are usually met with angry resistance. Now the condition of the youth (and the church) has gotten so bad that even secular news outlets are sitting up and taking notice. The Wall Street Journal has recently reported on the sad state of the youth in American churches in an article aptly titled The Perils of ‘Wannabe Cool’ Christianity.

Increasingly, the “plan” has taken the form of a total image overhaul, where efforts are made to rebrand Christianity as hip, countercultural, relevant. As a result, in the early 2000s, we got something called “the emerging church”—a sort of postmodern stab at an evangelical reform movement. Perhaps because it was too “let’s rethink everything” radical, it fizzled quickly. But the impulse behind it—to rehabilitate Christianity’s image and make it “cool”—remains.

And what does “cool” look like?

There are various ways that churches attempt to be cool. For some, it means trying to seem more culturally savvy. The pastor quotes Stephen Colbert or references Lady Gaga during his sermon, or a church sponsors a screening of the R-rated “No Country For Old Men.” For others, the emphasis is on looking cool, perhaps by giving the pastor a metrosexual makeover, with skinny jeans and an $80 haircut, or by insisting on trendy eco-friendly paper and helvetica-only fonts on all printed materials. Then there is the option of holding a worship service in a bar or nightclub (as is the case for L.A.’s Mosaic church, whose downtown location meets at a nightspot called Club Mayan). Read it all HERE

Youth Ministry with Roots

7 Reasons I Love Youth Ministry