By David Smith
As a new millennium
approaches, our church faces complex issues affecting teens in their media-driven
culture. Times have changed and so must our methods of youth ministry and
evangelism. A Feb. 3 Christianity Today article explains how the church must
rethink its course if it is to reach the Millennial generation for Christ.
It gives examples of successful teen ministries that focus on personal relationships with Jesus and his relevance to teen lives.
Integrating young people into the larger worshiping body concerns most evangelical churches.
"More faith commitments are made during the teen years than in any other age group. But huge numbers leave the fellowship after high school, most never to return," said Ron Luce, author of Are Your Kids Bored With God and the Church? Discoveries are being made to reverse the trend.
The busy-ness of our lives leaves teens yearning for positive relationships. They see a life-style of confusion and fragmentation.
MTV is a trusted adviser to a generation that trusts it more than the adults in their lives. However, youths in the Millennial generation are looking for more than a relationship with a television network. We can reach them with the gospel.
We cannot simply occupy teens with activities. In the 1980s and early 1990s nearly 90 percent of our teens left our fellowship after Youth Opportunities United (YOU).
Today's teens want to be with their peers and caring adults and for the Bible to be made relevant to their lives and problems. They will respond only when it's real.
The only way we can be credible to them is when they see our passion for Jesus--when his love for them is reflected in us and our actions. Youth workers must have a significant and trusting relationship with the young people.
Our young people must be evangelized and discipled. Our past programs were not generally successful in imparting the essentials for spiritual growth to our youths. Program-based ministries tend to just keep teens busy, but don't always challenge them to action with the gospel.
Youths are looking for intimacy and maturation. They require sacrificial love, a challenge to action, not passive observation in a church service.
The success of a youth ministry must be evaluated on how well it leads youths to a deeper commitment to Christ. This is how nonchurched youths enter the Body--not simply through activities, but through relationships with churched youths. Activities are simply a way to get people together to share their need for Christ.
This relational approach with our teen group in Pasadena began to bear fruit last summer during a camping trip. Discussions about many things went late into the night as teens shared their ideas, fears and problems with many of the adults.
Since then the spiritual transformation has been phenomenal. Yes, we do activities, but the focus is on relationships, with Jesus first and each other second. We teach them that Jesus calls us friends and empowers us through the Holy Spirit to follow him. That a relationship with him is an energizing relationship based on God's pure love, and that it is real and available to them now.
Once committed to him, they have begun to bond as a group and to open up to our youth workers. Some are making accountability commitments to each other. Many have asked Jesus into their hearts and lives and have been baptized.
Others who were hurt in the past and some whose parents are in splinter groups are starting to return as our teens practice relational evangelism.
Some of our teens who have been secretly battling drug addiction, apathy, depression and other major problems are working through their problems with the support of adults in the congregation.
In many churches the teen church is where reconciliation, healing and renewal are most recognizable. Teens are action-oriented, so when reconciliation with Christ occurs, the new relationship begins to affect every part of their lives.
Teens often go back to their schools and begin evangelizing their friends. Their faith has a visible and immediate effect.
For more information please call me at 1-818-304-6199, extension 5061.
In the Pasadena congregation we established teen church to try to meet their specific needs, such as:
*Teens want to feel safe to participate, ask questions or just keep silent during worship and discussion.
*Teens have a penchant for questions and answers that are sometimes hard for us adults to listen to.
*Teens may not always want to sing hymns during a worship service, or they may wish to worship through the message of a music video by Jars of Clay, Three Crosses, Big Tent Revival or Lil Raskull.
*Teens may wish to challenge the message of the day (this has led to some deep discussions in our case).
*Teens wish to be challenged to take action on what they believe or to decide what they believe.
We alternate weekly between celebration services and interactive groups. This allows teens the most freedom to have the gospel message reach them. Teens also appreciate follow-up when they make a commitment. So we try to remain in contact with them throughout the week.
But establishing a strong teen church isn't an end in itself. Many who find their identity in teen church fail to make the transition to the larger fellowship, but exciting things are happening on this front.
Many churches are finding a solution in small group and mentoring ministries. The goal is to prepare the young person for assimilation into the main body after high school. Younger teens are placed with mature, older peers in small groups or with solid adult members who mentor them in preparation for their entry into the adult congregation.
Teens are encouraged to participate in Bible study groups and other Christian groups on junior high and high school campuses. Those who go away to college are urged to stay spiritually connected through campus ministries, and those who stay in the area are included into young adult small groups.
Most Christian bookstores have youth sections with teen Bibles, magazines, videos and books by notable authors such as Ron Luce, Doug Fields and Josh McDowell. We also recommend books by Ron Fields, Mark Oestreicher, Mike Yaconnelli and Jim Burns. The Contemporary Journal for Youth Ministry is full of informative articles and ads.
We encourage you to find out which churches in your community have strong youth ministries and draw from their experience.
Ministries such as Youth for Christ, Teen Mania, Miles Ahead Ministries, World Vision and others, can be valuable in bringing youths to Christ and discipling them toward a deeper faith commitment.
The Holy Spirit began to move powerfully in our group after they attended an Acquire the Fire teen convention (Feb. 18 WN). Many of our teens have made life commitments to Christ since their experience at ATF.
DC/LA, a youth conference on evangelism, will take place in Los Angeles, June 25-29, and in Washington, D.C., July 16-20. Each day is full of small groups, prayer, seminars, worship and Christian music.
It is fairly expensive, so fund raising should not be delayed. For more information call DC/LA '97 at 1-800-735-DCLA.
The church does not need more and better youth programs--we need more effective parenting. God gave the responsibility of rearing children to parents, not to the church. The church's role is to support the parents. We need to emphasize family ministries.
We in no way mean to imply that teen ministry attempts to replace good parenting. For some families, good parenting is sufficient. For many families, however, additional support from the church is needed. Youth ministry not only fills gaps that exist in the structure of many families, it ministers to many teens whose family situations are beyond repair.
For example, in Southern California, only 25 percent of teens live with both their birth parents. Even in the church, parents are not always able to supply the kind of parenting that is needed, so it is important for the church to reach the teens directly with a ministry designed for them.
By the age of 11, children have begun to become individuals, and they are beginning to look outside their immediate family for role models and meaningful friendships.
Add to this the adolescent difficulties of puberty (hormonal changes) and distrust for adults (because teens are beginning to see the imperfections of the adults in their lives), and you can see that Teen Ministry has several reasons for reaching teens directly.
Many parents understand this. In fact, nearly all our youth workers are parents. Also, we regularly meet with the teens' parents to discuss what we are doing and why. And we spend a lot of time helping teens learn how to have a better relationship with their parents as Christians. The primary focus is Jesus Christ.
Second, as you said, the answer is not in youth programs. Youth Opportunities United (YOU) programs have not worked, and while we still have activities and ball games, they are no longer a major focus in youth ministry. Our Pasadena teen ministry mission statement gives these goals:
*Evangelism to our teens, and through them, the community's teens
*Relationship with Jesus Christ
*Discovering their gifts
*Ministering to others by getting involved
The key to youth ministry is not just ministering to teens, but teens ministering. It is positive relationships with Jesus Christ, parents, other adults and peers.
Third, God has always worked with teens and even young children directly: Joseph, Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Mary and many others. In some cases, their parents are not even mentioned. This is not to say parents are unimportant, but it shows that young people are quite capable of having their own relationship with God.
April 22, 1997, WN, page 13
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