Youth ministry: emphasis must be spiritual
For a good deal of my 25-plus years in youth ministry, I held to an underlying philosophy that has changed over the past seven years. Fundamentally, I believed that if you bring young people (children, adolescents, young adults) into an environment where good people with good thoughts, good motives and good activities existed, good things would happen. And while good things often did happen, an entire arena of spiritual focus and value was missed.
I think for instance of the basketball tournaments that I used to organize. I teamed up with Al Barr, now district superintendent in Atlanta, Georgia, about 20 years ago to put on an enormous Youth Opportunities United (YOU) basketball tournament in Chicago, Illinois. We had about 40 teams with almost 50 representatives (coaches, parents, players, cheerleaders) per team in attendance. It was really terrific. And we played basketball. Lots of basketball. But we didn’t have a praise and worship session. We didn’t have a special chapel. And we really didn’t look at the experience intentionally as an opportunity to share the gospel.
Richard Dunn and Mark Senter make the following observations about youth ministry in their seminal work Reaching a Generation for Christ. "Youth ministry begins when adults find a comfortable method of entering a student’s world, happens as long as adults are able to use their contacts with students to draw them into a maturing relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and ceases to happen when either the adult-student relationship is broken or the outcome of that relationship ceases to move the student toward spiritual maturity."
In business, a phrase that the so-called quality gurus helped to introduce into mainstream business-speak was "start with the end in mind." The definition of youth ministry that Dunn and Senter provide helps those in youth ministry to focus, intentionally, on the important outcome of helping each young person to develop a maturing relationship with Jesus Christ. Anything different than that may be valuable, but it is not youth ministry.
I look back at the thousands of young people I’ve worked with over the past few decades. I believe I was one of those good people with good motives coordinating good activities, and in some cases, it led to some pretty good stuff. But I also look at it somewhat as a missed opportunity to intentionally preach the gospel.
More recently, I am impressed with Discovery Weekends and SEP camps to see how willing young people are to be fed a spiritual diet. This is the essence of true youth ministry.
Jeb Egbert
The New Evangelist
Two years ago my wife, Tina, and I were attending the Joliet, Illinois, church alone as our children, Alex and Nicole, searched for a place where they could worship.
They came home one night from a youth group and asked if they could start their own group in our home. Not wanting to disappoint them, Tina and I allowed an invasion of our personal space, not to mention our comfort zones. Or should I say, we surrendered to the will of the Spirit, because what has transpired in our little family room can only be described as miraculous!
From a group of just 10 teens and the commitment from our pastor, James Newby, the fledgling youth group that started two years ago has grown to a group on the average of 25 faithful young people. Every week our home is invaded with laughter as teen after teen walks in the open door announcing his or her arrival with a hug and a "Hello mom and dad."
They make their way into the family room, where everyone is greeted with another round of hugs before the room is filled with songs praising God and a lesson on life principles.
From the original 10, only three were from our fellowship. Most were invited from school by two of the youngest girls. Since then we have had five baptisms, and four of the older ones are counseling to become ministers.
Most of the teens participate in three other youth groups, fellowshipping with countless other teens professing their love for God. Diversity spans racial and secular lines encompassing various faiths. One girl was into Wicca and now is asking to come with us to church.
The Joliet church was quick to open their hearts to the young people with prayers along with accepting a contemporary service. Now we bring with us on the average eight teens, and at times we have enough to make up a third of the congregation. That alone would be enough to give praise to God about, but there is so much more!
From out of the youth
group came a need for a worship band. Three teens organized a band called
Cranial Halo. In the past two years they have played at three youth conferences,
for more than 15 churches of various denominations, at four summer festivals,
and at our fall festival in Davenport, Iowa. They also have opened for Ace
Trouble Shooter and Daniel’s Windows, two mainstream Christian bands.
Alex Davis, 20, is the bass player and vocalist. Jared Hobson, who just turned 20, is the lead vocalist and guitar player. He lives in Indiana when he isn’t sleeping at our house. Meghan O’Connor, 16, is the drummer and backup vocalist. She comes from a nonpracticing Catholic background and is grateful to be a new believer.
Their messages are simple: No matter who you are or what you have done, God loves you and he cares about you, so "Live for him."
I see evangelism as an open house were the love of God abides, where teens wear T-shirts to school, professing they are saved and inviting others to that salvation. And the rock and roll beats of a drum, bass and guitar, praising God, leads others to dance, jump and scream for the one who came, died, rose and will come again.
I see evangelism as the surrender of everything you have and know so you can watch God at work. The last two years have been an incredible ride. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the next two years and beyond.
Dave Davis
Copyright © 2002
YOUTH GROUP—Some of the teens
who meet in the Davis home.