“Lost Gospels” And Their Relevancy To Youth Ministry

Plenty of books come out each year that 99% of our students will never read but some of our students will hear about and be curious about.  “The Lost Gospel” is one that might generate curiosity among Christian youth. Why?  Simply because young believers tend to be interested in novelty and can be captivated by the ‘what if’ sort of thinking that goes along with being young, imaginative, and curious. While plenty of our students are far too absorbed in their adolescent world to notice such books being published, the reality is that this sort of stuff tends to get a lot of attention on social media and that is where the curious will read about it.  What, if anything, should we be doing as we minister to students in light of books such as these? Is there an opportunity here or a need that is not being met that becomes more obvious when such books get attention? Here are a few thoughts and a link to a blog post that addresses “The Lost Gospel” in particular.

First, I see a teaching opportunity when a book like this comes to market. The reality is that few youth groups teach on the canon of scripture and how we got the Bible that we use today.  When a student discovers that there are other so called gospels out there which are not in our Bible, it tends to call into question the authenticity of or the credibility of the Bible if (and only if) students don’t understand how we got the Bible we study today. We ought to teach students how the scriptures were canonized and the whole history surrounding that if we want them to view the Bible as reliable.

Second, I see an opportunity to help students develop critical thinking skills (or a more PC way to state that might be evaluative thinking skills).  This book gives a simple opportunity for that.  Despite the claim of a lost gospel, it is easy to point out that the book is neither about a gospel nor a lost text.  The manuscript the book is based on has been known to scholars for years, it is not a gospel account but rather a story, and Jesus is not in it.  The writers are reading the manuscript as an allegory about Jesus and Mary Magdalene but neither are mentioned.

Third, we can use such opportunities to help students understand that everything we need to know about Jesus has been revealed to us and can be found in the Bible that we have today.  So, we have a chance here to affirm the authenticity of the Bible and help students gain a perspective that it is reliable and sufficient. We can help students see that the gospel is not about some ancient writing but is the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection, it is God’s redemptive plan being fulfilled, it is the truth of God…

The blog post that my thoughts came out of his here.