Remember The Good News Pt 2

I could spend a lot of time sharing the many reasons why the Good News of Jesus Christ must be foundational and the Bible must be at the heart and core of all teaching. But for now, let me just share one more. If the Good News is not foundational, your ministry will not grow. I realize that this is a brazen statement, but I am more than willing to sign my name to this one.

Countless youth ministries think that if their ministry is fun and cool enough, teens will fill the building and come to their programs. Sure, I’ll admit that a church may attract gobs of teens with that tactic, but how long will they attend the youth ministry? Will they stay when the gospel message convicts them of sin? Will they leave when another church throws a bigger party? This gets to the heart of the problem.

Let me give you an example. Some time ago I visited a wonderful church with a Godly pastor. The church was primarily senior citizens, but they were making a real attempt (to their credit) to involve young people and families in their church. They had just invested in the hiring of a youth pastor and were more than enthusiastic in seeing growth. The pastor led me through their facility and brought me to the new “youth room.”

“And here is our brand new youth room, Greg. We certainly will have lots of room to work with. This entire area has just been remodeled at a cost of $16,000. That should give us a good start,” he proudly announced.

I GULPED big time when I heard that cost. $16,000 dollars! Obviously they thought that a trendy youth room would mean an effective youth ministry. But they were wrong. To this day they still have a small and ineffective youth program. I am in regular contact with that church and none of their youth ministry goals have been met yet.

We have to understand that unless the Good News of Jesus Christ is foundational and the Bible is the heart and core of all teaching, then teens are not going to stay in our ministries long term. We fail in truly understanding our teenagers. I am convinced that they are not nearly as interested in “cool and exciting” as we think they are. In fact, I’ve taken groups of teenagers on trips all over the country and even to some primitive places outside our boarders. And do you know what I’ve discovered? They always find some thing or some way to be entertained. Teens aren’t as committed to “cool and fun” things as much as we think they are.

What teenagers are committed to (whether they realize it or not) is finding answers to their toughest questions. They want to know that they are loved and that their life can have meaning. They want to learn how to navigate this thing called “life” at a time where they are being bombarded by crazy temptations and challenges.

When a youth ministry is committed to giving teens what they really need and not merely what they think they want, then those teens will stay in the ministry. And what teens need most is the Word of God poured into their lives.

Now that we’ve discussed what it means for the Good News of Jesus Christ to be foundational, let me offer some practical thoughts in the next articles on what this looks like in a weekly youth group.

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