What are we trying to accomplish with youth ministry?
What do you think of when you think of youth ministry? I suppose it depends on what kind of church tradition you are used to. Many think of a high-tempo time of singing, something like a concert. Others think of a series of social activities run each week. There are all kinds of structures, and like with so much other ministry, the structure you choose to use is secondary. What we need to be clear on is what we are trying to accomplish with youth ministry. How will we know if the ministry model we are using is effective if we don’t know what we are trying to do?
Having a successful youth ministry cannot be measured in how many kids come along to whatever is run. We need to think bigger than that. Youth ministry is not really different from ministry to anyone else: churches should aim to make disciples (Matt 28:16-20). We want people to be come to trust in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and we want those who are already Christians to be growing as disciples of Jesus.
How do we do this most important task? Clearly it is God who changes hearts, not us, so there needs to be prayer involved. As for what we do, we need to make sure that youth ministry teaches the Bible clearly and faithfully to those who come. Whether the youth who come are from Christian backgrounds or from outside the church, they need to know what God is like and how to live as one of God’s people. That requires the Bible.
I don’t think this should be a controversial stance to take, but I am always interested to see that many churches don’t have the Bible as a central part of what they do with their youth. Often the larger Pentecostal churches have extended times of worship with a short verse or two in there. Many youth groups focus on the social aspect and the teaching is a little haphazard or shallow. Yet we have a responsibility before God to ensure that our kids are well taught. We cannot make them Christians, but we can ensure they have all the information they need to make them wise for salvation in Christ Jesus (2 Tim 3:14-17).
We must not underestimate what our youth are capable of understanding. They study advanced subjects in school and can often tell you detailed content about history, science and maths. They are more than capable of learning what the Bible says and getting a handle on theology. This is what will equip them for life (2 Tim 3:17). The only weapon in the armour of God in Ephesians 5 is the word of God. The way to equip our young people for the future is to make sure they know the Bible to the extent that we are capable of teaching it to them.
A focus on entertainment might get people to come to your youth ministry. But, in the end, we cannot out-entertain the world. We will also set the kids up to look for entertainment as the main measure of what church is rather than help them have a hunger for the word of God above all.
There are lots of ways of helping our youth to understand the Bible. Some churches have no designated youth ministry and the teenagers learn in the church service like everyone else. Others have Bible study times, or extended teaching at camps, or some kind of mentoring run by older believers. It can be done in many ways, but we must aim and pray at making disciples, not on entertaining teenagers. There is no reason youth ministry cannot be fun while teaching as well!
How do we know if youth ministry is effective? We want to make sure that kids who come through our youth ministry are well-taught in the Bible and understand it. They see the reality of sin and know the promises in the gospel. We would like to see many of them profess their own faith; we cannot make it happen, but it should be common for people exposed to God’s word with the Spirit working. And we would like to see them engaged with the wider church community, not just looking for the next exciting experience. Let’s pray that our young people come to love Jesus at an early age and do all we can to teach them well.