Final of the TGC Workshop

In the workshop I suggested that Gospel Centered Youth Ministry:

1. Recognizes that how we do ministry impacts whether or not students will plug into the church in the future.

2. Teaches students how to be the body of Christ, the church.

3. Looks to scripture to inform how we make disciples.

It is incredibly important that we take these seriously!  We are seeing studies conducted during the past decade that tell us that young adults are very much spiritual beings who are largely unconnected to the church.  I have a friend who blogs at the gospel side who swears that statistically a person who grows up in a church without a large youth program has a better chance of staying involved in the church than one who had the sort of youth program that many churches dream of.  The SBC’s Lifeway stats suggest a massive dropout of youth after high school and only half return.  My conviction is that the stats reflect the reality that many youth ministries are not preparing students to participate meaningfully in the church.

The rise of the “relevant” church in recent years is in my opinion a reflection of young adults seeking a church that mimics the youth group of their teen years.  The sort of church I am referring to usually meets in a warehouse, theater, or other non traditional church type building.  It features contemporary music played by a band rather loudly.  The pastor preaches from a stool wearing jeans.  Videos are used to introduce the sermon. The church has a name that is not “churchy”.  I can go further with this description but you probably already can think of a few in your area.  I am not knocking these churches, though some are pure entertainment and or driven by a celebrity pastor.  They simply reflect the way we did youth ministry in the 90’s.  Statistically, not many of the youth from 90’s youth groups are finding their way into these churches, which leaves a huge hole in the church.

The biggest task outside of proclaiming the gospel and teaching scripture for a youth group to tackle is that of teaching students how to be the body.  As students form their identity, it is vital that they experience the belonging and fellowship of the the body of Christ.  They must understand that they need each other and they must experience relationships that are centered around Jesus.  The church has had a pseudo fellowship in many congregations for too long.  The way to change that is to help the next generation understand how to be the church.  Then they will not settle for superficiality.

Scripture teaches us how to make disciples.  I am not (after 26 years of full time youth ministry) convinced that this generation or any before it needs different tactics.  We obviously must understand the context to which we are proclaiming the gospel in order to be understood, but we make disciples the same way the church has since the beginning.  We build relationships, open scripture, discover the truth of God and apply it to our lives.