ymCafe

by Anna Aven Howard

Introduction:

As I stood in the back of the worship service this morning at church I watched as the high schoolers filtered in. Some were early, bright eyed, and more awake than I felt after having come from the junior high service, which despite all of their energy, had failed to wake me up. There’s a girl who got 1600’s on her SAT’s. And here comes a boy with hair spiked higher than I knew was possible. His gait has changed in the past few months. So has his dress. I knew he was a “wanna-be,” but now I fear he’s crossed over and actually joined a gang (and no, that theory has nothing to do with his spikes). I sneaked out of the worship service to go hang out with the junior highers in their clubhouse. I talked through relational issues with one of the girls, while some of the boys were playing the Lord of the Ring’s trading card game in one corner, relational issues the farthest thing from their minds, and two of the students randomly (from where I was sitting, since I couldn’t see what started it) decided to start chasing one of the other students, who proceeded to run out of the clubhouse with the other two hot on his trail (my original and wonderful response was to turn to one of the other leaders and say, “You go after them, they’re in your small group;” what great leadership skills I’ve got!).

Random observations aside, what does a theology of youth ministry look like to all of those students from different family settings, different motivations, different drives, different ages, look like? What does it look like in a multi-cultural church, an African-American church, a Spanish-speaking Latino church, among a 1.5 and 2nd generation Asian kids? Regardless of the student, there are three over arching concepts that must be observed to have an effective theology of youth ministry. Youth ministry must be foundational, incarnational, and relational.

Foundational:

What foundation does a good youth ministry have? What basic understanding must be in place in order to provide a good foundation for the youth in that ministry? In both the Old and the New Testaments, we see examples of God using young people. We must buy into this idea as the foundation for our ministry: God wants to use people regardless of how old they are. Hence, we must then adopt equipping those young people, and building a good foundation for them, as our solemn responsibility as youth ministers.

In Jeremiah 1, the Lord calls Jeremiah to be a prophet, and he responds, “ ‘Ah, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak, I am only a child.’ But the Lord said to me, ‘do not say, “I am only a child.” …Now I have put my words in your mouth.’[1]” Paul instructs Timothy, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”[2] Here we have two examples of young men in the Bible being commissioned with a huge task. God has not changed in His desire to use young people to do His work, and we as youth ministers have been given part of the responsibility to first help kids to realize that they are called, and second, to help equip them for the task at hand.

Just prior to the verse in 1 Timothy, we find a training metaphor used. Paul urges Timothy to stay away from “godless myths and old wives tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” He goes on to state, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promises for both the present life and the life to come.”[3] This image that he paints for us is one of rigorous, daily practice. Exercise does no good if only done haphazardly. It must be done on a regular basis to affect our bodies. Paul is saying that the same thing is true of godliness. We must train every day, and train our young people to train every day. That is the only way that the rest of Paul’s commission can be true, for only when a daily practice of godliness is made is it possible to “Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Paul also instructed Timothy, “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid hands on you.”[4] Here he not only outlines the habits that are part of this godly training and striving every day for godliness, but also refers back to the recognition that Timothy had been given as the body of elders recognized his gift. This highlights two elements that are often lacking to some extent (often to a great extent) in our youth ministries today.

The first element is the gift. All of the kids in our youth group have spiritual gifts, but often no one helps them to realize this. A college girl recently came to me after having taking a spiritual gifts inventory, which helped her realize that she had gifts. She said, “Wow, I have gifts?” And I asked her, “What, did you think God left you out?” She replied, “I guess I never thought of it that way.” It’s not enough to preach that the gifts are in existence; the youth in our churches need to realize that God gave them these gifts, and that they should be used. All of our youth have gifts, but many of them perhaps think that God somehow left them out. This must be addressed in our ministries so that the kids can realize that God has equipped them to do His work.

The second element is the body of elders. The church as a whole is not as committed to the youth of today being equipped for ministry as they are committed to the youth minister equipping the youth for ministry—when they are older of course and have learned how to dress like grown-ups do. This cannot be this way. The kids need the recognition from the body of elders, or just from the body of adults (since elder is specific to leadership), that they are gifted. It’s not enough to merely have the youth minister or the adult volunteers recognize this, but the church as whole, the body, must be part of recognizing the gifts of our young people so that they can be empowered to step forward in the calling that God has placed upon them. Granted, most youth don’t know what they are doing exactly yet, and they often may not have a well-defined idea of what calling is. However, as they are given good mentorship by adults in the church, who will continually affirm the gifts that God has given them, then they will be able to start actively walking the path that God has for them.

Incarnational:

Paul outlines what incarnational ministry should look like very clearly in his letter to the Philippians, chapter two. We then, as youth ministers, are to make ourselves nothing,[5] being found in the appearance of a man,[6] and was obedient. What does that mean in our world? He came into our world, assuming nothing. He emptied Himself of all His heavenly glory and authority to come into our world and meet us where we were. We, then, need to empty ourselves of all our “grown-up-ness,” meaning that we must go against the stereotypes youth have of other adults in their world as possibly being aloof, uninterested in “kid things,” authoritarian, among others (but not implying that we have to then start acting like the kids). There’s also the insecurities that some adults also take out on kids in the form of unnecessarily displaying knowledge to the disadvantage of the youth (e.g. making the kid feel stupid for not knowing something). All of these things are potential barriers to us as youth ministers being able to enter the world of the youth.

Therefore, because of this, we have to consciously empty ourselves, and not consider our current position as something to be grasped (Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped[7]). Rather, we must let go of it and become obedient unto death[8]—death to ourselves, death to our pride, death to our insecurities—so that by our death, the youth in our sphere of influence might be exposed to life through Christ. In order to come across in the right spirit to these youth when we enter their world, we must have the mindset of a servant, the “very nature of a servant.”[9]

Two other things that are important to notice are these: when Jesus came to earth, He came to earth and He came to earth. The first involves motion, the second location. He moved from where He was, but this move was more than moving from the sanctuary to the youth room, He came to where humans were, and not just the clean, nice-smelling respectable humans, but also to the blind, the beggars, the tax collectors, the lepers, the prostitutes, in short, the unwanted, the “unclean,” the outcasts. Hence, it is not enough to be seen in the youth room of our church on a regular basis, though this is important. But we must also be seen in the malls, in the libraries, on the school campuses, at the talent shows, the basketball games, and anywhere else that youth gather. We must go because the vast majority of them will never come to us while we remain safely ensconced in the neat, clean youth rooms (okay, so somewhat clean and neat) decorated with posters of Christian bands and having Veggie Tales marathons and worship services (not to knock any of those things, after all, I like Veggie Tales).

Relational:

In the gospel of Mark, we find Jesus and many followers up on a mountainside. “Jesus… called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.”[10] There are several points that we can draw from this passage. First, relational ministry is not to the crowds. In verse seven of this same passage, we see crowds of people following Jesus. He went apart, and “called to him those he wanted.” He limited the group of people that he would spend most of His time with. Second, He called them to Him. This shows deliberate intention on the part of Jesus, and thus, we must also be intentional about how we go about our relational ministry. Third, they came to Him. This may seem obvious, but it is important that we are clear enough in our intentions toward people that we are investing in so that they want us to be in their lives in that capacity. It’s a waste of time to try to mentor someone if they don’t want to be mentored. Matthew 5:1 implies that Jesus left the crowds and went to teach his disciples. Hence, the Sermon on the Mount was more a private affair then the public one this is portrayed on movies and such.

In Acts, Paul is depicted as always traveling with someone: first Barnabus, then Silas, then Timothy joins with him and Silas.[11] As Paul went through his ministry, he brought people with him. Despite the fact that it was a disagreement that separated him and Barnabus, Barnabus also followed this model in taking John Mark with him,[12] which increased the number of two-man teams that were modeling this type of ministry in that day. The discipling relationship came before the sending out. We see this also in Matthew when Jesus sends out the twelve.[13] They had been with him, learning of Him, and then He sent them out. At some point, which is unclear in Matthew, the disciples come back to learn more. In Luke, the evangelist has them coming back to report to Jesus what they had done.[14] When they did this, Jesus took them and they went away by themselves, or tried to, but the point is that they withdrew for more time with Jesus. Again in Luke, when Jesus sends out the seventy-two, He sends them out two by two, they return and tell Him what happened, Jesus responds with more teaching.[15]

All of these examples point to a pattern in the Scripture of what relational ministry looks like. In the New Testament, we don’t find examples of people in ministry by themselves per se; they seem to at least be in groups of two. Also, as a pattern for discipleship, the disciples are taught, and then sent out. They return and give a report; they receive more teaching. They are not left cut off from relationships, and they are not left without feedback or teaching. This is key for our ministries today.

Conclusion:

A well-rounded theology of ministry, then, must include these three basic elements to provide a foundation for whatever context in which a youth minister finds him/herself. We must have a foundational understanding of God’s heart toward young people; we must have an incarnational approach to their world; and we must have a relational approach to ministry both with kids and with adult volunteers.

After all, we have an incredible model for ministry laid out for us in the life of Jesus. He first came (moved from His throne above) to earth (where the people were), and then He not only preached to the masses, healed the sick, and raised the dead, but He spent most of His time with a motley crew of twelve men, who, by the world’s standards, were not the best choices. But that motley crew went on to change the world. And Jesus, king of glory, emptied Himself and came not to rule, but to die. What love is this! This Savior calls us to follow in His footsteps, regardless of whether the path that we’ve chosen makes sense to anyone else. We can follow His example with our motley crew of assorted kids in our context—and we can change the world!

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[1] Jeremiah 1:6,7, and 9, NIV (used in all quotes in this paper).

[2] 1 Timothy 4:12

[3] vv. 7-8

[4] vv. 13-14

[5] Phil 2:7

[6] v. 8

[7] v. 6

[8] v. 8

[9] v. 7

[10] Mark 3:13

[11] Acts 13:1-3; 15:40, 16:1-3.

[12] 15:39

[13] Matt 10

[14] Luke 9:10

[15] Luke 10

(C) March 2003 Written for a Fuller Theological Seminary Class