3. Youth Ministry that is effective revolves around content and context. It is my conviction that everything we do must center on those two aspects of what we do and are. The content is the gospel and by that I want to encourage others to think very broadly because the good news is not just that one can pray a prayer and get a place in heaven, but to see all of scripture as God’s redemptive story. If we have not discovered the fact that everything from Genesis to Revelation points to Jesus, then we have not seen the beauty and fullness of scripture. The content then is God’s word… His revelation of Himself… His plan of redemption. From it we learn everything we need to know about God and our relationship to Him. From there I want to assert that getting students into the Bible is the most important thing we can do! Why do I say that? I’ll let scripture speak for itself…
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:14)
And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:16-18)
Not only do we need to get students into God’s word, we need to allow scripture to inform the way we do youth ministry. So much of youth ministry is built on culture which changes so rapidly and when that is our primary guide on how we do what we do, it does not produce lasting results. Yes, we need to understand the culture to communicate more effectively, etc but the foundation, the principles, the main idea of what we are trying to do must be informed by scripture “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8 )
That should be enough to chew on today and so I will continue this tomorrow on the context…
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