In the past few weeks I have been reminded of my mission and urgency to teach sound biblical doctrine to teenagers. This reminder didn’t come to me in the form of a Sunday morning sermon, the latest youth ministry article or website. No…the reminder came from none other then “teenagers.”
It all began a few nights ago when I spent two hours listening to, encouraging, and praying with a teen struggling with their faith. Their biggest question of the night; “How can I study the Bible and understand it when there is no one to show me how to study the Bible?” They shared with me their struggle with finding the “right” youth ministry to join. In recent months she has visited two different church youth groups only to leave discouraged as she felt the lessons either had no “real” application for her life or consisted of “dumb-downed” lessons. During the course of our conversation, her talking and me listening, she asked; “don’t youth leaders realize we need to be taught the bible and how to live our faith, not childish object lessons or quick 20 minute lessons with no clear direction?”
Over the course of this week I have had several conversations like the one I had with teenagers all sharing the same frustrations and concerns. One even added they felt their youth group has turned into a social club, and that many of their peers are “walking away” from their faith, giving in to sin and following their unsaved friends. Ask the average church going teen basic questions about Christianity ie…, what is sin and how does it impact my life and my relationships with others, why does God allow evil in the world, or how do I defend my faith, and many can’t give an answer.
These teens along with many others are struggling and hurting. They want and need to be preached to, not given “dumb-downed” lessons with no application. We need to work together with urgency in our mission to equip our teens to understand God’s Word and apply it to their life.
When a teenager is crying out to be taught the Bible, then something is seriously missing. Youth workers, parents (myself)…can I have your (our) attention? Are we growing deep in our faith by spending time with God and reading the bible? Or are we relying on those quick two-minute emailed devotionals in between multitasking to get us through our day? If you are spoon feeding yourself “dumb-downed” devotionals instead of the solid meat of the Word of God, then that’s exactly what you’ll be feeding your teenagers.
If we want to see our students sharing their faith then let’s feed them solid food. As they dig deeper they will be more equipped to share their faith. The more they share their faith the more they will dig deeper into God’s Word, feed on solid food and have a healthy balance of evangelism and discipleship in their daily life.
My prayer is that in my own ministry I never give into “dumb-down” devotionals that produce “dumb-downed” lessons, and that I continue to teach only one curriculum and follow only one standard, the Bible!
How and what do you do to prepare each week to teach your students? How do you prepare your own heart?
Dig in deep. I’ve been challenged by much of what I have read from pastors all over with the need for deep study and preparation. Teaching teens in the midweek deserves great preparation just like the Sunday morning message.
Preparation is important for any lesson we teach, but I have found the best lessons (messages) I have preached have come from my own time with Jesus and what he has said to me personally and then applied it to my own life first. Sometimes not only can we get caught up in quick preparation of easy dumb-downed lessons, but we can also get caught up on too much preparing. I know of many who spend days in their office preparing a message and writing out pages and pages of notes, turning into a task and possibly missing out on vital time to marinate on what they are reading. I’m not saying taking time in a quiet place to read and prepare notes is not important, but not at the expense of it being another to-do list item during the week.
Totally agree and that’s where I’m at too. I fear that and never want to make lesson and sermon preparation a task on my to-do list. I have really been striving for that and think and speak on living out faith not just knowing it intellectually. It is my goal to teach people what is that I am already doing. Not just something that is from Scripture and is good to do but something that is real to life. Your article was great on hitting that piece as well.
Thanks Isaac, I appreciate it. Check back often on this blog for some more great articles by some of my colleagues.
AMEN!!!! I spent two full days several months back looking for deep, expository biblical material to use as a curriculum for both mid-week and youth Sunday school, and was literally nauseous at the end, making me wonder why publishers can’t see the desire of teenagers to study God’s Word.
Matt – Sometimes we can work to hard at preparing and lose out out God working on us as he speaks into out lives. Keep up the great work and continue to allow God to speak through you.
Most of the time when I am trying to prepare my lessons I try to think about ways to make it relateable to my class. I have taught classes beofe and had them leave and not come back to church. Usually, God will speak to me something through a song that helps bring out a message they understand. My favorite (and several of my teenagers’ favorite) came from the song by Kerrie Roberts “No Matter What” I also find it easier to prepare my lessons when I spend more time listening to what they are saying and prayinb for God to help me show them answers from the Bible they can apply to real life. I really appreciate your emails and this blog. They are a great help to me and my teens. May God bless you for helping others who are trying to reach teens and keep them interested in church and serving God. I love reading your messages.. Keep up the good work
Really listening to your students is key in preparing lessons each week. I used to be fan of creating a series of messages but listening to our students and what’s going on in their lives helps us prepare. I learned it was okay to deviate from a series if it meant preaching a message God place in my heart as a result of listening to my students. Listening to our students takes spending time with them and building relationships. I’ll be praying for you and your ministry.
As a parent, I get frustrated with the dumbed-down lessons, too. It’s not just with the youth…it’s in the Bible Studies that are published for adults. But, back to the youth…as a parent I want my teen to be grown and stretched, too. Obvious answer stuff doesn’t make the teen think, and our teens need all the prep they need to think for themselves when they get to college WITH a firm Biblical foundation (worldview). Great article!
Rachel, if our students aren’t wrestling with and asking questions they are most likely only being fed milk and not solid food. Look at the disciples and the questions they asked Jesus. The disciples wrestled with many of the things Jesus told them. When a student contacts me with something they are wrestling with or a deep question I get excited because I know they are not only reading God’s Word but looking deeper. It’s always my prayer that students not only ask their youth leaders questions but also their parents. What I wrote about in this article should also be applied in our homes. I encourage parents to ask the tough questions and take “family devotions” deeper and move away from the Chicken Soup for the Family Soul books. Thanks for your comment and I pray we all focus on laying a firm biblical foundation for our students and children.