We Want Community!
My wife and I have gone through a lot of transitions lately. We’ve moved four times in the last 18 months.
In that same time period, I’ve changed jobs twice, Christa has changed jobs three times and is now a full-time student again, and we have been regular attenders of three churches (and frequent visitors of several others).
I’ll be happy if we can stay in the same place for at least a year! But all this change has left us with a huge lack in our lives.
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Miss Universe Contestant, Role Model Malnourished, Doctors Say
How do youth pastors and parents combat the barrage of imagery in media today telling teen girls that they need to be super skinny to be considered attractive?
The latest controversy is in Australia where a Miss Universe contestant is sparking controversy for her weight (or lack of it). Her body mass index is only 15.1 (18 and below is considered malnourished), and doctors believe she probably has an eating disorder (source).
Scriptures: Since I am in Christ, by the grace of God…
This list of scriptures came from a photocopy that’s probably been photocopied a hundred times. I’m not even sure where I first got it or who put it together!
Our identity in Christ is the foundation of so much in the Christian walk. I pray that these scriptures are helpful for you in your youth ministry, as you prepare youth group messages, and especially as you spend one-on-one time with students.
Printer friendly version (PDF).
I have been justified-completely forgiven and made righteous (Romans 5:1).
I died with Christ and died to the power of sin’s rule over my life (Romans 6:1-6).
I am free forever from condemnation (Romans 8:1).
I have been placed into Christ by God’s doing (1 Corinthians 1:30).
Introducing New Faith “Perspectives”
There’s a movement in this country that’s making our work in youth ministry very interesting. This movement is trying to make relativism and multiculturalism the norm, demonizing fundamental Christianity for its claim to absolute truth.
With more and more people preaching that there are many paths to God, it’s amazing to me to see so many religions fold under the pressure.
Forgive this over-generalization, but you don’t see many other faiths putting up a big stink about absolute truth. It’s becoming the norm to encourage spiritual interest and explore “faith” in any sense of the word, but it’s becoming very unpopular to suggest that any one religion can claim the title of “truth.”
Nobody seems to truly believe in their faiths deeply enough to stand on their holy books and say, “this is what I believe.” Nobody, that is, except for some Christians. (I say “some” because many Christians have definitely gone the route of relativism.)
Different people, they encounter god differently, and if some people at a certain stage in their life need to focus strictly on Christianity, then that might be appropriate for them, as long as they don’t take anything away from those of us who feel differently.
Different people do not–cannot–encounter God through false belief systems. It’s doesn’t happen! If you think you’re encountering God through a seance, meditation, yoga class or a prayer session, and Jesus is not at the center of it, that experience has nothing to do with the true God.
What really gets me is what this quote implies, and what I think many people believe: That Christianity is a domineering, elitist religion because we’re not willing to fold and say what we believe is just one option on the path to enlightenment.
Your students probably have friends that openly and confidently tell them that Christianity is just one way to get to God, and criticize them if they don’t believe that. I guarantee your public school is filled with students that sincerely believe that they can figure out whatever they want to believe, and that to them, that is “truth.”
And your students aren’t protected just because they go to church a couple times a week. Some of them are probably even afraid to admit that they are followers of Christ, or that they believe there is only one way to heaven. Some students in your youth group are still deciding whether they believe that there is only one way to God.
This is a tough time to be a Christian, and it’s only getting tougher. Youth ministry must:
- Teach absolute truth. There is only one way to God. The truth of scripture is 100% true. Other “truths” are not.
- Focus on worldview. Our paradigm of existence determines everything else we believe.
- Get dirty spending quality time with students. We must listen to truly understand the journey our students are in, and then carefully respond with questions and challenges to help them discover the wonderful reality of Christ.
- Pray!!! Faith is not something we can muster up in our students. We need the Holy Spirit to work through us and even in spite of us.
Never Lose Sight
After reading a few chapters in Colossians, I felt encouraged to write this simple encouragement.
Remember the enormous grace that God has so freely given us. We stand today as ministers to youth and children of God because of His endless love for us.
He has given us everything: life, food, even the air we breath, and purpose to live for. And He continues to freely give to us and love us, not to make us rich or comfortable, but because His love for us is so deep.
Remember today that we were first called to know and love the Lord. As we strive to make Him known in the lives of students and through our youth groups, let it not be at the expense of our relationship with Him. That is our greatest treasure and most wonderful adventure.
Lord, please help us to never lose sight of You.
Defining Mature Christianity
How does a mature Christian student look/act/smell? This is one of those questions that has been tossed around for ages. There are a lot of opinions out there. Wouldn’t it help if we had a solid answer?
Barna says that church leaders today struggle to define spiritual maturity. I wouldn’t doubt that. Spiritual maturity is a fuzzy concept, hard to specifically define and quantify. (Maybe it was never meant to be defined or quantified, just pursued…?)
Truth Hurts
Lex posted a great post on offense and truth, so I got her permission to repost it here:
Dennis brought up an interesting thought during staff prayer time this morning. I’d heard this once before – I think Zahnd preached it – but Dennis emphasized some different aspects.
All of the gospels record Jesus feeding 5000 men (plus women and children), but only John records the exodus that followed.
Crowd Discipleship
“What are you doing to disciple your students?”
“We have a youth group meeting every week as well as a Bible study on Sundays.”
I’m going to state an opinion of mine here. You are more than welcome to disagree with me, but I wanted to warn you first that I’m going to be brutally honest.
Discipleship does not equal a meeting. Discipleship was not intended to happen “one crowd at a time.”
I’ve asked youth pastors all over the country about what they do to disciple teenagers. Few mention efforts to get to know students personally, to build strong relationships with them and even with their parents. That’s usually an afterthought. Most youth pastors list off their weekly meeting schedule.
What if we went back to the basics, set aside all our perceptions, and looked at the model of discipleship we see in the New Testament? The model of discipleship I have gleaned from scripture includes a few things, like living life together, growing strong, intimate friendships, and in reality, only discipling a few people at a time.
Examples of Discipleship
Jesus spoke many sermons and did many miracles, but when it comes down to it, the people He touched the most were His 12 disciples. He didn’t create a program, schedule weekly meetings or even write a curriculum (all good things, mind you). He lived His life with His disciples, and they gave the rest of their lives for Him.
I am refreshed every time I read one of Paul’s letters to his friends because it hints of the deep, intimate relationships he had built with those he writes to. He writes to Timothy as an older brother, and he writes to the churches with sincerity and deep longing to be with them again.
The discipleship model I see in scripture is one of strong personal relationships. It’s slower, dirtier, and takes a bit more effort than just planning another meeting. And you might spend a lot of time investing in a student that later turns their back on you. That hurts.
Intentional Ministry
What sealed the deal for me was realizing the impact of the sermons I preached at youth group. 90% of my students couldn’t remember the topic of the sermon even a week later. Yet a huge majority of the time I spent on “youth ministry” was to prepare that sermon.
Meetings are important and we can’t stop teaching truth to our youth groups. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. But let’s also be honest about what really makes a difference in the lives of our students.
I love anybody that is willing to take the plunge and wear that name badge that says “youth pastor.” I just hope that some of these thoughts about discipleship might help you focus your limited time and energy on what will have the greatest impact on your students.
The Effects of a Postmodern Culture
My brother sent me an interesting message by Jerram Barrs last week about postmodernism and apologetics. I’m not one to sit back and listen to an entire sermon unless I’m running or biking (I get stir crazy!), but this one came with a transcript so I could just read through that.
He said something that really hit the nail on the head regarding what postmodernism is, and how it plays out in people’s lives.
This is my attempt to enlighten you with two great illustrations of postmodernism from Jerram, and then apply them to the crazy world of youth ministry.
Postmodernism is the Denial of Any Standards
- The band ”2 Live Crew” was on trial several years ago for obscene lyrics. Jerram wouldn’t event quote some of the lyrics “because in the most graphic language possible the lyrics in question were encouraging men to sexually, brutally assault women.” Terrible, terrible stuff. But the charges against them were acquitted.
- A few years later, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe was on trial for blatantly obscene photographs he included in an art exhibition in Cincinnati. Again, the charges were thrown out.
Why were these cases thrown out? Because society could not impose any standards on anyone. In a nutshell, the juries of both cases later said, “I personally thought those lyrics/photographs were obscene. I would never listen to/look at them and I don’t want my children exposed to them. But who am I to say that anybody else should think they are obscene?”
The Effects of Postmodernism
Jerram also shared about a conversation he had with a friend working with InterVarsity at a nearby university. This friend was bewildered by what he saw in the college students and in the local community. He came to Jerram begging for help understanding it.
You see, this friend had spent considerable time getting to know students at the college. These were incredibly bright students, very thoughtful, and very articulate. They were attending one of the top universities in the country.
This friend also spent time with students in the poorest part of town because they often hung around his church office in that area. Many of the students there were involved with gangs and dealing drugs.
Yet this friend saw the same things in both groups of students, and he simply couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He couldn’t help but notice that these students lacked idealism. They were reluctant to commit themselves. They were irreverent to anything sacred and disrespectful to all authority. And they were apathetic, skeptical, and bored.
Students Today
That is what we have in our youth groups today. From prosporous suburbia to the gang-infested inner city, the postmodern lack of standards of every kind has made our students apathetic, skeptical, and very, very bored.
Apathetic - Nothing is worth working for. There is nothing in life truly worth grasping or striving to achieve. Instead, they expect most things to simply be given to them. So our youth minsitry can’t just be a place to “have fun and learn.” We must create a new culture that inspires students’ active engagement in their faith.
Skeptical - Students are skeptical about everything, especially leaders. It’s no longer about showing students that you’re cool. You must first demonstrate that you are trustworthy, and that you aren’t in leadership to boost your own ego.
Bored - I wrote about this in another post, too. This again highlights the need for youth pastors (and parents, for that matter) to give students practical opportunities to practice their faith.
What do you think is the impact of postmodernism on your youth group? How should we respond to this reality of student ministry?
Fix Yourself Theology
Some say that there is too much “how to fix yourself” theology coming from the pulpit.
You know, the kind of preaching that says, “We’re all sinners. You’re a sinner. In fact, you probably sinned this week. So take out your notepad and write down these three simple steps to stop sinning.”
Whatever happened to the grace of God? I thought my sins were already forgiven? What’s with all this stuff about changing?
Some churches talk so much about how to fix yourself that I worry about the impressions visitors might get.
What about youth groups? Are we teaching our students about the endless love of Christ as well as the call to live a life seperated unto Him?
F. Scott Fitzgerald said that, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” This is one of those times when we must be so careful to hold two apparently opposing ideas in our mind, or we risk leading our students off the cliff of self-perfecting perfectionism.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? …As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2:14,26)
