Posts Tagged ‘Outreach’

I had the opportunity to spend some time at the Dare 2 Share event in Chicago this weekend, and I had an incredible time. It was so encouraging to see teens get trained and even practice evangelism right there at the event, and to rub shoulders with some amazing youth pastors.

Props to Dare 2 Share and Greg Stier. Overall it was an amazing event. But I believe D2S missed a big opportunity to help youth pastors be even more effective.

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Some say America walked away from Christianity decades ago when church turned into habit and Christ became a religion.

For many, being a “Christian” is the family they were born into and simply why they try to live a “good life.”

The reality is that reaching this generation is more complex than trying to “get them back into youth group.” Teens are falling away from the saving knowledge of God’s love, and this trend has been happening for years, so we must be well equipped in our response.

So what can we do?

I believe that there are several principles that we need to follow in this rescue operation:

• Direction: Finding guidence and strength in the Lord
• Understanding: Knowing what makes this generation completely unique
• Relationships: Why we cannot rely on “programs”
• Turning points: Creating meaningful moments with teens

I’ll be addressing each of these in future blog posts. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to subscribe so you won’t miss a thing.

Update: All of the follow-up posts are now available–see links above.

I never really thought about what a believer from an unreached nation would think about Christmas in the US.

I just finished reading a chapter from KP Yohannan’s book, Road to Reality. KP was born in India, and he describes the wonder he felt during his first Christmas in America when he thought he was witnessing an entire country celebrate the birth of Christ with lavish decorations, events, endless gifts and too much food.

He goes on to describe the shock and disappointment he experienced when he realized it was all a big hoax. People weren’t spending all this money to remember Christ. They were spending it on themselves!

So he asks, how can a nation full of lukewarm Christians constantly pour their energy and finances into mumbling the Gospel to themselves over and over, when countless billions still remain unreached in the far corners of the globe?

Does your youth group know that their are thousands of people groups that still haven’t heard the name of Jesus Christ? Take some time to study up on them yourself. Operation World and the Joshua Project are great resources.

But it can’t stop with learning. Challenge your students to get on the mission field this summer, or take the whole group with you. Be sure your trip focuses on evangelism and the unreached–that is where you can make the greatest impact, and what will have the greatest impact on your students, too.

I love large youth events and the impact they can have on students. My own life was radically change as a teenager at an Acquire the Fire, even when I was already trying my best to live for God. I remember sitting on the floor not far from stage and for the first time hearing the clear voice of God. It was a pivitol moment in my life that prepared me to make several very hard decisions to trust in the Lord. If I hadn’t made those choices, my life would be completely different today.

Since then I have seen the monumental impact these events have had on students at all points in their faith journey. I’ve seen athiests touched by the power of God and turned into on-fire believers, and luke-warm teens rocked by the reality of Christ that make a commitment to dive deeper into their faith.

But with any large events, people always ask, “Is the change long-term? Does it really last?” The answer is simple. If youth pastors and adult leaders give teens loving and personal support to follow-through on what happened, Acquire the Fire and other events like it can be a huge catalyst for lasting change and growth in any youth group. If a church throws money at an event, expecting it to do the work of discipleship, it will quickly fail.

I just got back from the ATF in Houston and several long-time fans there told me that it was one of their best events yet. I’m a huge fan of what Acquire the Fire and Ron Luce are doing for youth ministry and this generation. If you haven’t yet, check it out and bring your students to the event closest to you: www.acquirethefire.com

The American Humanist Association launched an aggressive pro-atheism advertising campaign on city buses in Washington, DC last month. The transit agency says that they can’t reject advertising only because one individual or group finds it offensive, even after more than 200 people complained.

The message is simple: “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.”

The struggles between faith in Christ and opposing belief systems are becoming more and more blatant. Students are asking deeper questions about their faith while simple and misleading arguments like this one are catching their attention and driving wedges between them and Jesus’ message of redemption.

Our response must be two-fold. It is important that when we discuss and present faith in Christ and what it means to be a Christian, whether with a group or individually, that we dig deeper. Jesus saved us from the penalty of sin and gave us eternal life in heaven through faith. But He also created the world and put the universe in order. He gives us purpose and meaning. He gives us answers to our deepest questions. We need to study carefully and ask students to find out what those questions are so we give them relevant answers, not just our prepared “Jesus loves you” speech.

We also must pray, and pray fervently. Faith does not happen because of what we say. It is the work of God in students’ hearts. Prayer must be our foundation as we rely on the Lord’s work in our young people’s lives.

You can find out more about the advertising campaign on their official website, www.whybelieveinagod.org.

A new Barna study found that the spike in church attendance most churches expect this holiday season won’t necessarily be coming from brand new visitors.

According to Barna, 27% of regular church attenders plan to attend more services this holiday season, but only 4% of those that usually do not attend plan to come. “In past decades there was an assumption that the holidays were a time when outsiders might explore church life,” adds George Barna, Christian-pollster-extraordinare. “These days, however, churches and other religious institutions are not seen as safe or value-adding places by most outsiders. They see little reason to attend seasonal events, especially since those events often highlight their outsider status.”

Just another sign that we need to get out of the church and into the neighborhood to share our faith and reach our communities. It’s another good reason to carefully coach students in sharing their faith one-on-one , because less and less people are coming to church (or youth group) to hear it from the preacher.

Picture this: You’re given 30 students from different youth groups, a co-leader, and 2 days to prepare them for a month-long mission trip halfway around the world.

This is the scenario I face every time I serve as a Team Leader for Global Expeditions. Fortunately, Teen Mania (the umbrella ministry) does an incredible job preparing me as a team leader and partnering with us to prepare our teams as they train on their campus in East Texas.

I wanted to share a few highlights of what Teen Mania does, because I believe these are some of the best strategies for training students to understand and practice evangelism.

Teaching
It starts with teaching to make sure students understand the basics of our fallen nature and Christ’s forgiveness. This is a pretty common topic, so I’m going to spend my time now elsewhere.

A simple and relevant narrative
We make sure each student knows and understands a clear and concise narrative that puts the salvation message into a memorable and clear container. This gives students something very tangible to latch onto and rehearse.

Your testimony
A great tool in creating that narrative is your own personal testimony. Have your students write out their testimony and include three distinct parts: the person you were before you met God, when you gave your life to Christ and how it happened, and the person you are now. Ideally, you want to review these individually with each student to help them grab a hold of their own story and use it as they share their faith.

Practice
Practice will be akward and uncomfortable, but it is incredibly important. Students must not just learn about salvation and evangelism, but become comfortable sharing them. Start by putting students into pairs and let them role play (it’s best to demonstrate the process by having one pair get in front of the group and go through it from beginning to end so everyone can see what you’re talking about).

Give them a simple scenario–such as, “you are with a good friend and religion just happened to come up”–have them choose one person to be the unsaved friend, and tell them to use the narrative they just learned. It’s probably going to take some nudging, poking, proding and bugging to get them focused and talking, but it is worth the effort. Do whatever it takes.

After they finish the first time, have the person roleplaying the unsaved friend share feedback. Then switch roles and do it again. And again. And again. Then again next week.

Next, break up into small groups and do the same exercise. Use different scenarios–be creative. Ask the group questions, like, What did the person sharing their faith do well? How could they improve? Did they seem like it was natural or they were forcing it or reading a script? Did they ask questions and try to understand the other person, or did they just “preach”? How can they make sharing their faith more conversational and natural?

Coach
I cannot emphasize enough how important this last part is. Coach your students! Walk around and listen to the conversations that are happening. Be genuinly interested in their concerns and questions. Do not be quick to judge or correct. Instead, compliment frequently and give ideas for improvement sparingly. Help your students take baby steps towards improving.

Consistant practice and coaching works and will make a huge difference in your student’s ability to share their faith. After spending a month with my team, I’ve seen even the most shy students sharing their faith fluently and leading people to the Lord. This is not a one-time effort–it may be something you do for several weeks or once a month. But if you put in the time and energy it takes, it will begin to make a significant impact in how often and how effectively your students share their faith with their peers.

I’d love to hear your feedback as you try using this strategy with your own group.

A new friend, Tim Schmoyer, has been working with a few others to put together an ingenios way to give every youth group in the country a free mission trip. Learn more about it at www.onlinemissionstrip.com.

Tim Schmoyer has abandoned youth group outreach events. He lists some good reasons, too. Is it not better to equip students to evangelize one-on-one? When is the last time you saw an outreach event reach a significant number of unchurched teens? Is it different for every church/community.