It’s an interesting question because I had a great conversation today with a friend in Aberdeen, SD (im on vacation) don’t ask why I didn’t go somewhere warm.
But seriously – where do you have youth ministry taking place in the Bible?
There is a good argument that Jesus’s disciples where actually very young making them a youth group of sorts, but still Jesus was probably around 30 because that was a proper age for a teacher of the law back then.
I have opened myself up again to the discussion of what youth ministry is and what forms if any are there. The only thing that I find about youth ministry scripturely is that parents are supposed to raise their children up in the Lord. What about outreach to those that aren’t Christian families? Does that take place in the context of Church families reaching out to other families with youth?
I’m not necessarily wanting to give answers but I have some real questions about youth ministry. I do know that God can and will use the format that you are doing, however, I think it’s good to question and try to revisit what youth ministry is and ways that could be better or should there be a separated youth ministry at all?
I hope I’m not scaring you because it’s not my intention to have you lose your job, but we need to be thinking openly on what the Bible calls us to do and what role as a youth leader do we really need to be playing within the church congregation.
I would appreciate your thoughts and opinions on this. I want to spend a few posts about youth ministry.
Here are some post topics:
- What is youth ministry?
- Where did youth ministry come from?
- What would the perfect youth ministry look like?
- Do we need to change the way youth ministry is done in the church?
I hope that you are as excited as I am to dive into these future topics and if you have some input right now about any of these topics, would you please contact me and share as I might want to call you on the phone and talk with you about it.
It is my prayer to give God the glory and most effectively minister to youth today and I hope that we can gather some great insight into doing this!
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Sorry I didn’t see this earlier but I just posted a post from a guest about the movie so it should be interesting to see the conversation about it.
Hey please share in the conversation on the posting that just was posted on Tyler’s comment: http://www.youthministryideas.net/2011/09/13/new-movie-divided-asks-is-modern-youth-ministry-biblical/
Hi my name is Joe if we look at 1 Timothy 4:12 and it talks about young people and it tells them to set an example in speech,conduct,love,faith and purity. That is pretty brutal for a young person to do by themselves. Which is why we have the church right…. Well the reality is when the pastor goes and preaches I don’t care if your church is a bible based church or not it mostly affect the ages 18 and up, which is the reason even in a school system they break up classes by levels because the understanding of the individual is different. So as part of the body…. as Christ is the head we create a place which is a part of the church not a separate thing but a place to explain how to live this thing called Christianity along with their parents, if there is even parents present in their homes, which we all know a single parents home is more common than having the privilege of two parents. Anyways…. Yes I agree it’s not biblical in the sense it’s not in the bible, but let’s not be to naive that there is not a need in the church for a place for young people to ask,live and mature. the bible talks about bearing fruits, if we are just having a youth group for the sake of it I would say prob re-think it, but if there is a need then by all means let’s affect and equip the next generation before the world does…… Take or leave it…… I’m pretty sure Go who’s is described as a father wouldn’t look down and say “oh no the way there affecting the body is not what I put in scripture exactly,,,, i think he knows the need of his bride and he puts this passion in our hearts To mature his bride……
A helpful and informative documentary on this subject is Divided the movie, which is free online until September 15, 2011.
The book A Weed in the Church more fully addresses the issue of age segregation in the church.
It concerns me when Christians speak out and assert that something not biblical needs to happen in the Church. It’s the same as saying Jesus’s plan had mistakes, and because we know how to do it better, it’s our job to make a correction. The reason that Youth Ministry is failing the Church overall is because it’s a worldly idea that we adopted as part of the body of Christ. We have instituted this idea and now that it has failed, we continue to make excuses that it only needs to be tweaked or have a personnel change. The percentages of lost “Christian” youth in America don’t add up. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). This clearly explains success. Is this where we are?
We as Christian parents have chosen not to follow God’s directive in raising our children. Paul told fathers to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). He did not say take them to a building and hand them off to your neighbors. If the Church continues down this road of inserting its self between the parent and child… well, it will be written that Jesus was just a teacher… and his last student died in the 21st century. We have created a new church. This church sits and awaits judgment for not adhering to His will. I wonder when He comes if he will say, “I don’t know you.”
Thank you kindly for having the courage to post this!
Just recently a former student of mine called me asking for advice in preparing for youth ministry in her church. I informed her gently that there was really no scriptural basis for “youth ministry”. She told me that her pastor had given her the go-ahead to work with the youth in church.This is a heart’s desire of hers and in no way did I want to discourage her. Also, I know that God can use anyone no matter what context so it wasn’t my place to try push the issue.
I counseled her to train the young people to be obedient to their parents. After all, she is there only as an assistant to the parents and to the pastors of the church.
This is not what she had in mind. In fact all she could talk about was wanting to help the teens out when they had problems.This is noble no doubt and I believe that God honors this. I reminded her that the best thing she could do is point to resources, namely their parents,that would be beneficial. I felt it was my responsibility to point out what the Bible says about her God-given roles.
You can probably imagine the silence on the other end when I recommended reading Titus as an outline for what the Lord Jesus called her to as a wife and mother in the church. It went in one ear and out the other.
More silence when I suggested that her husband could work more effectively with the young men while she worked with the young women. This is partially due to a recent history of an affair on her part. She is young and beautiful and needs all of the protection she can get from temptation. Her unwillingness to cooperate or even include her husband is a huge red flag for me.
The problem, as I see it, is that today’s model for youth ministry attracts youth that often lack experience and are too young to know this.
Hello, this happens to be a subject I’ve been contemplating as well. I have a calling on my life for youth ministry and question the modern youth model. Although modern day youth ministry is for the most part broken, so is the church. I’m 21 years old and being a guy who has recently been a “youth kid” can tell you, not to give up on it. Yeah there is no Biblical proof for youth ministry, but God uses it just as He uses other ministries that aren’t really mentioned in the Bible (example pregnancy crisis ministry, childrens ministry etc). The youth group I come from was called “Break 80″ because my youth pastor wanted to break the norm of “80% of youth walk away from church once they reach college age”. That number has greatly increased. I am one of four people out of approximately 75 youth students whom stayed in church after highschool. That number is scary, but I know that if the Lord hadn’t spoken to me through my youth pastor, I wouldn’t be here today.
My strong Christian mom had part in motivating my walk with the Lord which was key. But if I hadn’t met my youth pastor and actually listened to him, I would be like the other 71. He was a genuine guy who spoke into my life telling me of how it’s not a religious practice, it’s a relationship with God. How much God loves us and desires our time. That moved me to read the Word for myself instead of being a “pew dweller” on Sunday mornings. He noticed my walk and invited me into a discipleship group with two other guys. This is another HUGE factor that led me to stay strong and fervent with my God. Actually learning what I believe, why I believe it, and where it’s found in scripture. This is something I think is important that should go hand in hand with youth ministry. Discipling youth outside of church. Spending time with them, instructing them, equipping them, keeping them accountable. This is where true leadership comes in. Yes parenting is a key player in the life of a youth kid, but how many parents do their job as a parent here in America today? It is usually the world discipling youth kids nowadays because parents don’t have time. In my opinion, I strongly believe that churches need to encourage discipling, and need to encourage parents to give encouragement to their kids when it comes to Purity, Fellowship with other believers and so on.
I can’t tell you what a perfect youth group is, but what I can tell you is what it wasn’t for me. It wasn’t about “fun activities”, the “perfect lighting”, the “perfect music”, it was line by line teaching of God’s Word and a youth pastor whom spoke on my level as a kid, who didn’t say “you guys struggle with this or that” but “we struggle with this”. It’s not a JOB, it is a service and I believe that as youth leaders we need to take into consideration Mark 9:35 “And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
(Sorry I kind of wrote a book)
That’s what I respected most about my youth pastor. He never spoke down to us. He corrected us and was stern but he never put himself on a pedestal higher than us. Though many walked away from my youth group, I can tell you that without that in my life, I wouldn’t be writing this today. I wouldn’t have this love for God and desire to serve Him and His kingdom. A few people from the original youth are coming back to church and realizing its importance. But I believe the whole body of Christ needs to be functioning to bring youth group to where it should be. It’s about giving youth our time and acknowledging their existence. Not coming off as a “holier than thou art” adult, and not leading a “program led” youth group but a Christ led youth group.
I am a youth slash student pastor whatever you want to call it to fit our culture and make youth slash students feel comfortable. The new testament local church never knew of anything of youth ministry because the bible never speaks to it because its always in the context of parents having the primary job of raising the children. I have been to our mainstream youth conferences, workshops and they all say the same thing “the local church youth ministry has the primary task of training adolescents to become disciples of Jesus Christ” no where is that found in the scripture. Fathers raise their children Ephesians teaches not the “youth/student pastor. We are not talking about the order of a service or what we should wear to church on Sunday, we are talking about the family which God ordained before the church. We do not have the right to create something God does not even give us a principal about. Fathers are the key to reaching the youth God gave them the responsibility and that is clear in scripture. God help us to believe that He is enough and what He has in scripture is enough (plus nothing minus nothing). When you answer a question or ask a question concerning this topic ask yourself this: “Do I have a cultural answer or a Biblical answer”.
I know from experience that our youth do not learn to be spiritually mature from their peers. They learn from mature adults. Unfortunately, many youth groups today do not engage/involve the parents and other spiritually mature adults in a meaningful way (ex. making cookies or watching the kids play meaningless games is not meaningful) or in enough numbers. The fact is that generally speaking youth pick up things their parents would not want them to learn from their peers (granted, some can be a good influence, but there is something about kids getting together in a large group of peers that doesn’t seem to bring out the best in them…peer pressure? sinful nature?
). A much more biblical and natural model is for families of youth to be doing things together OR youth to be involved in the church with their families (what better way to grow in your knowledge of the bible than a bible study with adults or to serve along side adults and peers). And while we are at it, let’s be sure our church is equipping our parents as they are the MAIN teachers of these children – a youth pastor’s role is supplemental. In addition, are we really going to produce mature Christians if we send them off to youth group and cater to their every need? No, we are teaching them to be selfish and “entertained.” I give kudos to Alex and Brett Harris to challenge teens to rise above the low expectations of society regarding teens. Many kids will raise up to the challenge and eventually others will follow along. I’ve spoken to more than a dozen families in the past year who are so tired of the low expectations of youth group and who question whether this model is biblical (some of whom have chosen to not be involved in youth group). Lastly, let’s be honest here. If we feel we need the gimmicks to keep the kids in our youth groups, then we are failing miserably in trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the word of God. Let us rely on His word as the foundation of any ministry, and not just in word, but in practice and as the core of our ministry.
Thanks Joey! Don’t think you sound harsh – I think making your thoughts known the way you want them to be known is good!
I just enjoy sharing ideas about youth ministry that may or may not help. Hopefully the ideas spawn us to decide how we want to do youth ministry.
I would say that i’m not sure about scripturally there being “youth ministry” but culturally, Jewish children were taught scripture intently and intensely at an early age, then from my understanding went to follow and learn from their rabbi at the age of 15, I don’t think the rabbi made them drink soda through a sock or play games that make them puke or shoot t-shirts from a cannon at them, they taught them about God. Maybe youth ministry should look like that. I mean we’ve got Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help us, did he go to the cross and come back for puzzle nights and “x-box praise band” nights. If God can’t keep them in your youth group, the stupid things we youth pastors try to trick them with aren’t going to keep them long either, especially once there parents stop forcing them to come. Sorry if that sounds harsh, just a little frustrated with the silly things I’ve been trying lately.
The only Scripture that I have found that addresses a group of young people and a spiritual leader is in 2 Kings 2:23-24.
2 Kings 2:23-24 23Then he (Elisha) went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and (AB)mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!” 24When he looked behind him and saw them, he (AC)cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number.
I think youth ministries are good as long as the students don’t make fun of the youth minister. Also it would probably be better if the student minister was not bald.
That’s about all I have found on youth ministry. I am obviously kidding. I am a student minister and am encouraged by what has been said. I have found Deut. 6:4-9 and Mt. 28:18-20 to be great foundations for ministering to students. Deut. 6 emphasizes the role of the family and Mt. 28 emphasizes the role of the Church. I wish I had time to discuss more but thought you might like the 2 Kings passage.
Blessings!
youth ministry is necessary for a local church to grow. it is wherein the youths can express themselves to the fullest.the strategy is based on what really fits them.it is not necessary to copy one’s practice when not applicable to them
I feel like one thing that is important is connecting the youth to the whole church, or at least having the youth and the older people in the church get to know each other. I’ve just recently became the youth director at a church. They have always had the youth be in the main service with the adults and then they would all go to their separate Sunday School classes. There would also be a Sunday night “youth group” time, which was more like games/Bible study (traditional youth group things).
One thing I’ve been thinking about is not having a Sunday night thing, but having a separate Sunday morning worship service for the youth. True, it isolates them from the main church service, but do they really feel like a part of that service and a part of the church because they go to that service? There are so few youth and so many more adults that the youth get overlooked and aren’t asked to do many things (since I’ve been here that has increased – in some ways they’ve become the workhorse, which is just as bad in the opposite direction).
That’s why I feel like it would be more successful if there were multi-generational (or multi-aged) Sunday School classes. It would be a smaller group and they would actually get to know eachother’s names… and personalities. I could still see the adults taking over the class when it comes to discussion, but a good discussion leader wouldn’t and shouldn’t let that happen.
I don’t know exactly what needs to change, but I feel like we need to have a combination of something that relates to the youth in which they can be excited about and engaged in (not bored out of their minds and about to fall asleep), but they also need to be connected with the older people in the church.
I’ve thought about having “mentors” so that a youth and an adult can get to know each other, but a lot of the youth are too busy (and the adults) and it just ends up falling apart.
Honestly, I don’t know if there is a “general” solution to this “youth ministry” problem. Each church is going to have it’s own specific needs and will need it’s own specific solution to relate to the youth. Even then, after a few years, new youth will come in and will have different needs. It needs to be always changing.
I really think the key is to get the youth involved in the ministry itself. It’s really hard to do because you need those who are truly dedicated, know how to be critical, and are willing to speak up and have their ideas potentially shut down. It’s hard for teenagers to do that.
Just keep trying new things. If you really care about each youth and get to know each one (if that’s possible due to size of the group), then you will always be working hard to help them and you can’t fault yourself if things don’t go well.
i would like to learn some tools to reach some youth in india thanku
Jason, Thanks for your response!
I agree with what you are saying and I’m all for youth ministry – I love it – but we definitely got to do some evaluating to make it the most effective as possible and it looks like you can clearly articulate why we have youth ministry today.
There are still many though that make youth ministry a totally separate thing from the church, from helping parents, and in most cases there is this double thing we got going on for example:
Students in many churches have this:
-Sunday School or whatever people call it now
-Church – usually following that sunday school thing
-Youth Group – weekly meeting
-Small Groups
-Outreach events
Now the adults do that too except for a separate youth group or should I say adult group service mid week – they would just call it small groups or something.
But the point is that it’s like the youth have two services: church and youth service. At least this is how I see most churches and youth ministries operating.
I’m currently reading Simple Student Ministry and am liking what is being written.
I must say, I hear Jim’s point and agree with Kierra, too. The biblical culture had no public schools or any of the other institutions that are prevalent in our culture. The primary institution for everything was the home. Church or synagoge only supplemented what children were taught at home. I agree that it’s possible that the first disciples were probably a youth group of sorts. But I disagree that God perceives a modern 13-year old as an adult. How can we expect adulthood from a 13-year old in a culture that recognizes 18 or 21 to be the magic age(s) that make you into an adult? I believe modern youth ministry was an answer to a paradigm shift as families started to change after World War II. You had more homes with both parents outside the home and more teens being raised by television. Schedules also began to get busier and churches needed something that would compete with other activities. Do i think our modern youth ministry model is what God would want ideally? Probably not. But given the state our culture is in and the mentality of most of our modern families, the modern youth ministry model is effective. Two factors that make it more effective, though, are strengthening the family through the youth ministry, and connecting students to the larger church, not just letting the youth ministry be a mini-church all by itself.
So Jim what does this mean for youth ministry? Should we be having separate youth groups with their own worship, games, and teaching or should youth ministry just be something where we equip parents how to raise up their kids and for those that don’t have parents that go to church – do outreaches and bring them into the church underneath a spiritual mom and dad?
I definitely believe a change needs to shift out of the current youth ministry programming.
Where is teenage in the Bible? In the eyes of God when you turn 13 you are a man or woman. Teenagers are a subculture created by the world system. When you consider teenagers they are inherently irresponsible, rebellious, poor decision makers. Why is that? Because they are rising to our expectations.
Youth groups facilitate all the above characteristics by keeping them in a room with their peers. Unfortunately many of the attendees at youth groups aren’t there to grow spiritually but in fact are there to play games or “hit on” the other youth.
You can play rock worship and entertain with humorous messages all you want and it wont’ change these adolescents to mature adults. You can have all the alter calls you want and watch them cry and repent but that still won’t result in change.
What does produce change is a young adult sitting in the main service and learning from the senior Pastor and interacting with the adults they try so hard to avoid.
Interesting how teenagers only want to be with their peers. It is because our culture teaches them to learn and be like their peers.
However a Biblical view of a young adult would be that they learn from the mature men and women they are suppose to become.
There is direct and definitive instructions in Titus for the young men and women to be submissive to and learn from the older.
Until we bite the bullet and get back to the Biblical model we will continue to have the Christian youth backslide and flounder through life.
We are doing them a great dis-service by letting our culture dictate how we should raise them.
I have to say that you might not find a biblical scripture on youth ministry and that’s because, well there aren’t any. Youth minsitry is new to the world, it’s only been around a little while. Why? Because it’s a needed ministry. Youth are so different from adults today and constantly changing. Those going into youth ministry are like missionaries in a culture they can not fully understand. Thats where it comes from and since i think God calls us to proclaim the world to all cultures, youth is included. Hope that helps a bit. feel free to email me at Kierra.lambert@hiu.edu
The perfect youth ministry?
loving God, loving people, and teaching while equipping others within the youth to do the same.
thats what i believe. i think people look too much into these questions like how many events will we have? what artists are we in touch with to hold concerts? or what i see alot of is lets make this place look better. if people are in need of a church home and come to your church…they arent looking for new stained glass, projectors and a smartboard. theyre looking to be loved, comforted, and to feel like they have a safe place to go share their faith with others without facing persecution like they may at school.
that sound really rude and arrogant. im not trying to be. im just looking at how church is defined in the Bible and how society today looks at church. idk about some of you but i would much rather have a loving church family like in the Bible than the business church of today.
Great questions. Ideally, I think us youth pastors would work ourselves out of a job. Ideally, parents know they are the spiritual leaders in their home and they life lives to show it, working hard to raise their children in a Godly way. If we as youth pastors and the church are able to fully equip them and raise them up, many of the needs for youth ministry would go away.
That’s the ideal case scenario for sure, though
Some question applies to many other common ministry areas: Children’s ministry? Worship ministry? Singles? Young adults? Sunday school?
Our methods will always change, but praise God His grace never does!
as far as your last question is concerned, “Do we need to change the way youth ministry is done in the church?” may i point people in the direction of a collection of talks given by Mike Yaconelli called “Getting Fired for the Glory of God”. in there he says many great things about what his vision of youth ministry was. one point that stuck with me, as youth ministers many of us despise the “mtv culture” yet some of our biggest youth conferences use the same methods to entertain. So many times our youth ministries have turned into a show, something to keep teens amused. We, myself included need to get out of the entertainment business and back into ministry.
God bless you sir; youth ministry is all about the youths in the persiute of thier vision as a group or individual.
-Youth ministry a giving by God the the greator of all things, vew to the fact that you can’t be talking of ministry without a vision, and visions are giving only by God.
-A perfact youth ministry where the youth are serving and worshipping in spirit and in truth(John 4:23-24).
-I think there a great need to change the way youth ministries are done most of our chuches, for there is a lot of portencials and gift deposited inside the youths for them to be use to the glory of God but unless they discover it they can’t lay hold of it, some of the youths think the youth ministry is a man made think and for show.
There is purpose for everything that God has created,and there is a goal for every activity in the body of chrsit. my number is 237 75 08 21 31 thanks and the bless you.
Yeah we most certainly would mess it up [Kevin], but what would be ideal – I’d like to know what is in peoples’ brains when they think of the perfect YM. Maybe there can’t be such a thing but certainly we can think of things that would look different for the better.
What would the perfect youth ministry look like? Is that even possible? If you’ve found it, leave right away because you’ll mess it up. The perfect ministry will be when Christ returns. But these are my thoughts.
Thanks – I will contact you!
Feel free to contact me through our website or E-Mail would love to talk about this a while.
Sorry but do not want to hang my phone # out to all….