PHILOSOPHY OF YOUTH MINISTRY
Written by: Dennis Bailey, Jr.
Several recent studies have been done in regards to youth ministry in America, which have been very informative regarding the thoughts of youth in reference to religion. Simply put, my philosophy of youth ministry is based on emphasizing the things that have a high correlation to maintaining the faith of youth as they age, and conversely designing programs that are targeted at avoiding the things that decrease the faith of youth as they age. There are two chief reasons why ministering to youth and their families is important. One is because today’s church will be in the hands of today’s youth a certain number of years from now, so they will need to be prepared to carry on this important task. The second reason is even more important than the first, and that is because Scripture demands it. Specifically, the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:4 said, “…bring [your children] up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”[1]
There are three areas of focus that I want to emphasize in creating a strong youth ministry. The first is strengthening the family unit; the second is designing a strong children’s curriculum; and the third is developing a challenging curriculum for teenagers. There are specific principles that can be used to accomplish these objectives, and they will be discussed herein.
Without a strong family unit to support the youth, the task of creating and maintaining faith in youth is made exponentially more difficult. American culture in the twenty-first century has become so hectic that many families find that they do not have sufficient time to spend together and share in spiritual matters. There are activities that can be designed by the church family that can facilitate the togetherness of the individual families, and thus increase their faith.
Among these possibilities is organizing either a “Family Night Out,” or a “Family Night In.” A “Family Night Out” could be something as simple as inviting families to spend time with other church families by going bowling together, but the activity must be something where each family can easily converse together. On the other hand, a “Family Night In” may be very appealing to other families, especially those who typically have a hectic schedule and lack peaceful time to enjoy a meal together as a family. This requires enough volunteers in the church who are willing prepare a healthy meal on the church premises for each participating family to enjoy at a table for their own family. In this situation, the parents could relax as they would not be bothered with cooking a home-made meal and there would be no hassle with cleaning up and doing the dishes.
Under either situation, a family night would be an opportunity for the church family to put into play its desire for families to spend time together. Author Kenda Creasy Dean writes that parents “[G]et what they are,” in terms of faith. More opportunities for children to witness their parents putting their faith into practice can have a lasting positive effect, and these ways can be as routine as saying grace before a meal.[2]
Strengthening of the family is very important, and that is not limited to the traditional family unit. Strengthening of the church family is very important as well. One example of this is that research shows that teenagers are more likely to be highly devoted religiously if their closest friends participate in religious activities.[3] Therefore, the church can do itself a favor by allowing more time and activities for the youth to spend together, which will nurture their relationships and build friendships within the church. A common activity to this end is organizing retreats that focus on strengthening students spiritually, but there are also inexpensive activities that can be organized which can potentially build relationships that are just as strong. These include organizing sports teams in a church league and other hobby groups within the church.
Research has been done in specific regard to the Mormon community, and author Dean describes them being, “known for tightly knit, intact, and religiously devoted families.”[4] Despite their theology, I respect the Mormon culture and I believe that we can use ideas from it to improve our own religious community. More time together building relationships can be an easy way to build a more “tightly knit, intact, and religiously devoted” church. Dean makes mention of a Mormon teenager named Richard who summed up his faith in action with a few words: “Life is like a testing period for us.”[5] Richard views every decision of his life through the lens of what would make him fit into life in Heaven better. Youth ministers should set the bar high and challenge their students to make their decisions in the same context as Richard.
A strong foundation in the Word of God and the principles of the Bible is the key to building a strong future for the church. There are three points to emphasize in a children’s curriculum. One is to teach religious rituals.[6] A second point is to teach about church history.[7] Thirdly, children should learn the Bible as a story.[8] As a church, we must not underestimate the abilities of our youth, and from my own personal experience I have witnessed how children at young ages can understand basic theological concepts and can think critically about them. Youth ministers must not go too far the other way, though, and teach too much, too soon, because the risk is that the children will be confused and even bored, and it will no longer be an enjoyable experience. The key to working with children is to keep them involved and to keep them busy, and at times this can be a major challenge for a youth minister.
Religious rituals include, but are not limited to, prayer, fasting, simplicity, and service. The first of these is teaching the art of speaking to God through prayer.
I had success teaching my five-year old daughter the entire Lord’s Prayer within the span of seven days, and that shows a glimpse of the capacity of children’s ability to memorize and recite. Prayer should not be a matter of reciting learned words, as Jesus himself condemned in Matthew 6:7 when he said, “…do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”[9], but prayers such as the Lord’s Prayer must be learned and internalized before they can be practiced. This is where a complimentary study of the meanings of words in the prayer can be helpful to the students. This way, they become aware of why we recite the prayer and for what the prayer is actually petitioning God.
Another area of importance is fasting, which can be misunderstood by the church as a whole, as author Ivy Beckwith describes.[10] So much emphasis is put on healthy eating habits for youngsters in the twenty-first century, aimed at avoiding the development of bad habits such as anorexia and bulimia. Some may think that fasting is not a proper concept to be taught to young children. However, fasting is not something that is exclusively done in reference to food, but rather a fast can be the avoidance of anything that takes one’s focus off of God and potentially can attempt to take His place in one’s heart. One type of fast can be teaching children to give up playing a certain game for a given amount of time and pray instead.
A second type of fast can encourage healthier eating habits, by giving up candy and other junk food. A fun activity is to encourage children to say a prayer every time they reach for a piece of candy, and they can even make a game out of it. They can see if they can wait five more minutes before eating that piece of candy, but no more than that one piece; in this way, they can develop the art of delayed gratification, which can pay off huge dividends in the future when they are faced with even stronger temptations. It should be made clear to children that although rituals can be made fun, they are serious nonetheless. This is a lead in to simplicity, teaching children that they do not always have to have what they want, when they want it, and through this character is built. Teaching them to live simpler lives at a young age often makes living simpler lives at an older age much easier, because it is obviously easier to live life without more things when one is not used to the luxuries than when one has to give them up.
Service is another facet that many children may actually enjoy doing. One way that youth ministers can teach service is to practice charitable giving. During the years in which children develop their world view, there will be a time when they realize that everyone does not enjoy the same circumstances in life. American children may be surprised to learn that there are people in the world who are unsure of their next meal. This is just one example of service, and volunteering time to a variety of Christian causes at a young age is a great way to create a culture of service in children.
Next, church history is sometimes neglected by the church for a variety of reasons, and oftentimes it can be taught in a very dry fashion that lacks excitement. However, it need not be this way. Church history can actually be taught at a level that is understandable even by very young children, and the learning process can be a fun one if the teacher puts forth the effort to make it so.
One way in which church history can be made fun is to incorporate costumes and to put on skits to demonstrate the actions. Church history can include anything recorded in the Bible, and even events that occurred after the canonization of Scripture. The early Christian church endured a lot of hardships, and many of these are not recorded in the Bible, but rather are captured in works written afterwards. These are very important nonetheless. Of just as much importance is the history of specific church buildings and the history of the congregation itself. It is important to impress upon children that history did not begin at their birth, and a lot of hard work went into progressing the church to its current level.
Just as history is basically a collection of stories, it is imperative that the Bible and church history itself be taught as a story. Parents read bedtime stories to their children because it develops their minds and it can capture their imagination in a way that nothing else can. When children become acclimated to reading books or having stories read to them, they realize that books contain a great deal of intrigue and fascination. This love of books at an early age will hopefully translate into a love of reading the Word of God as they age, because the Bible is more or less a collection of stories.
At an early age, it is helpful and fun for children to color pictures of scenes in Biblical stories. Then, as they mature and develop critical thinking skills, the stories can be accompanied with questions designed to put the children in the position of the character(s) in the story.
As children grow and mature further, they will eventually come to a point where coloring pictures of Noah and Moses are not appealing any more. They will move on to more challenging curriculums, and this graduation to higher levels should not go unnoticed by the church body. I agree with Dr. Powell’s suggestion to celebrate these rites for entering and later leaving adolescence.[11] A good suggestion is to have a ceremony with the entire congregation present, at which each child is presented with an award or certificate commemorating the completion of a certain level of work, just as often happens for students who graduate elementary and middle school.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beckwith, Ivy. Formational Children’s Ministry. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010.
Dean, Kenda Creasy. Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church. New York: Oxford. 2010.
King, Mike. Presence-Centered Youth Ministry. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. 2006.
The New Student Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1992.
Powell, Kara and Brad Griffin, Cheryl Crawford. Sticky Faith: Youth Worker Edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 2011.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The New Student Bible: New International Version. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1992), 1,055.
[2] Dean, Kenda Creasy. Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church. (New York: Oxford, 2010), 39.
[3] Dean, 60.
[4] Dean, 59.
[5] Dean, 58.
[6] Beckwith, Ivy. Formational Children’s Ministry. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010), 73.
[7] Beckwith, 43.
[8] Beckwith, 23.
[9] The New Student Bible: New International Version, 861.
[10] Beckwith, 109.
[11] Powell, Kara and Brad Griffin, Cheryl Crawford. Sticky Faith: Youth Worker Edition. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 2011), 62.
