What Do I Teach In Youth Ministry?

Image via DcJohn on flickr

I recently posted some thoughts about Teaching In Youth Ministry. I talked about personally not having good results using pre-packaged curriculum and summed up by saying that I basically try to pass on to my students what God is teaching me. That post wasn't meant as a knock on curriculum writers. I don't want to be arrogant and think that all my lessons are better than all of theirs. In fact, for the most part, I think they are providing valuable resources for those who are trying to teach youth in the church today. My approach is not the one that every youth leader should take. To raise the level of transparency a bit, I'll say that my own questioning of whether it is even the way I should be doing things is part of what precipitated that post.

So, having said that, I want to share a framework I've used to answer the question, "What should I be teaching in my youth ministry?" I don't offer this as a definitive scaffolding for other youth leaders to build on, but as a glimpse into my own heart and mind when it comes to teaching.

First and foremost, I consistently reinforce that it is not me and my teaching that students need. It is God - so the primary task I have when it comes to teaching is to answer the question, "Who is God?" Our spiritual development process starts with "revealing God to students". He is the one who makes the transformation in their lives and mine. I often use the metaphor of Wind & Water to capture this concept. Wind and Water both shape the landscape around us, sometimes subtly over the course of many years, sometimes drastically and suddenly. My teaching needs to depend on His Spirit to blow away the layers of sediment already building up in young lives and on His life-giving Son to cause growth.

With that aim clear (to reveal God), there are 5 characteristics that I want my students to carry into life that I teach toward:

1. A permanent attitude of worship. Worship is not what we do a couple times a week when we're with all our church friends - it's the life we live. I want to teach my students to offer every moment and act of living to their Creator. I want to teach them to make Him their 'magnificent obsession' for all of life.

2. A kingdom view of the church and the world. As globally connected as we are, we can have a pretty narrow view of what's going on in the church. I want to teach my students to look beyond our own front doors and labels to see what God is doing in His church all over this planet.

3. A passion for revealing God to people who don't see Him. Just as I am not the change agent for my students, they are not the change agent for their friends, either. Their responsibility in evangelism is to let their friends see what God is doing in their lives. I want to teach them to notice His work and be able to point it out to people who don't notice.

4. A commitment to local service as the church. It's been too long that youth group was some side-light ministry of 'big church'. We've mirrored our culture that pushes kids aside as the adult world busies itself with its own stuff, then wonders why they're not ready for 'the real world' when they hit 18. In the church, we wonder why kids leave when they hit college. Often, they never really were connected to the church in the first place - only to the youth group. I teach my kids that if they're disciples of Jesus, they are the church. Now. Are they complete? Mature? Fully formed? No, not yet. But then again... am I? Are you? I want my kids to know that all of us who have allied ourselves to Jesus and are living our lives in service to His mission are the church, young and old. They need to know they have a job to do now, and they need guidance in figuring out just what that is. The local church is a great context for doing that.

5. A desire for depth in their relationship with God. I don't want my students' relationship with God to depend on them getting a fresh dose of Scripture and some good worship music out of me once or twice a week. I want them to develop a hunger for His Word that's only filled when they dig into it themselves. (I've found some of my most significant teaching moments have come as a direct result of my students poring over their Bibles, then coming together with questions that come up from what they're reading.) I don't just want to tell them to read their Bibles, but I need to help them understand what they're reading, and even how to read it for the highest impact.

I know these 5 characteristics are a better representation of the intended outcomes of what I'm teaching than the actual content that I teach. But that's kind of the point. When I find a passage or resource that can effectively move my students toward adopting one or more of these characteristics, that's the content I'll use.
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As a youth pastor, I'd think this would be self-evident, but I'm not new at this... I know someone will question it, so let me just say that throughout my teaching toward all of these characteristics, the primary source of teaching material is the Bible (just as it is for any good Bible curriculum writer).

Question: What are you teaching toward? How do you decide what to teach?

Teaching In Youth Ministry

Image via DcJohn on flickr

I have a confession to make: Despite teaching students for 20 to 30 minutes every Wed. night and 45 minutes or so every Sunday morning, I haven't used a youth ministry specific curriculum in a really long time. For that matter, outside of a 1 week curriculum that was provided at a conference (CIY Move) I haven't used a pre-produced teaching curriculum of any kind for quite a while. It's not that I'm a curriculum hater, or that there aren't any good options (and there are TONS of options), but there are several 'hangups' I usually have (some of the problems are my own, some are not):

1. The publishers and writers do not know my students. In writing lessons for an unknown audience, lesson writers are forced to keep things fairly vague and general. Sometimes so general that there just doesn't seem to be much substance.
2. I have a personal aversion to short-cuts. I can be guilty of re-inventing the wheel when it comes to teaching time, but I would rather wrestle with a tough passage and how to interpret it for my students than just parrot someone else's thoughts. I don't think I can really help my students effectively apply a lesson to their lives unless I've already applied it to my own - and often, a canned lesson offers a mechanism for trying to do just that.
3. Often, there are better alternatives. One of the things that's kind of prickly for me in the youth ministry world is the 'youth edition' of whatever the new thing is. Someone writes a great book, so let's have someone else put together a replica that uses smaller words and video game illustrations and call it a youth ministry edition... Why not challenge our kids to struggle with the original if it's something through which they'd grow? Are we really doing them any favors by 'dumbing down' what we really want them to know?

"So how do you know what to teach?" Without having a weekly topic decided for me, how do I decide what to teach? Thanks for asking...

As a rule of thumb, I teach what God is teaching me. At times, this may look a little haphazard, and it's certainly a messy and difficult way of doing things. Every lesson is always "in process" and not quite finished - because I'm not quite finished. I'm ok with that because I don't want my students to think I've got it all together and everything will someday be wrapped up in a nice little package for them like it seems to be for me (which is the impression sometimes left with pre-packed lesson plans). I want them to be engaging in a life-long pursuit of knowing God more fully.

There are some difficulties with doing things this way, though.

- It's too easy to wing it. If we're working through a curriculum book and I'm not well prepared, it's obvious. But after 12 years of ministry, I can stand in front of a room of students and buffalo my way through a lot of stuff if I have to. This is a dangerous place to be, because it lets me fake it if I don't really have anything to say. Instead of winging it, I want to spend significant time in prayer begging God well ahead of time for something to deliver.

- What if I'm not really learning anything or if what I'm learning isn't really applicable to younger lives? This gets back to the last point a little bit; if I'm humbly asking God to use me, His grace is sufficient. He knows my students and knows my heart better than I do and wants them to know Him even more than I want them to know Him. I have to spend time seeking His heart for my life and my teaching. He'll deliver. But if I'm not doing that, I won't really have anything to say worth hearing.

- I have to be vigilant to not get stuck on a few issues. All of us have pet issues that we like to pull out and pass on. Often, they are things that we are very passionate about and can be more easily taught that some other issues. These are ok, and we should teach about these things, but not exclusively. This is why, for the Sunday morning class that I teach, we have been walking through books of the Bible. The last 2 we've done have been Revelation and Acts. We go through verse by verse, week after week, talking about whatever those passages bring to light. Often, these issues are not things I would have naturally brought up myself, but are exactly what the class needs to hear. This approach also opens the door to talking about issues that are tough to bring up without seeming like I'm calling out specific individuals. Our rule is that if it's in the text, we'll talk about it.

There are some specific touch points that I seems to gravitate toward regularly in my teaching. These are foundational to everything else, and we can dig into that in another post. But for now, what are you teaching? More importantly, how do you decide what to teach?

The Book of Ax?

Our high school class on Sunday mornings has been studying the book of Acts for the past couple months. I love the look in their eyes as our students hear how the Holy Spirit was moving in the first century church and as they come to understand that the same Spirit lives in the church of this century as well. But I was caught off guard a little bit yesterday.

We're just getting into the shift between Peter's meeting with Cornelius' family and Paul's travels through Asia Minor and his hope to reach Rome. It's amazing how a little splinter cell of Jews loyal to a carpenter became the multi-cultural church stretching throughout much of the known world so quickly (all without the help of blogs, mass-texts, or facebook). I wanted to recap the first several chapters that we'd covered up to this point, so I started at the beginning and asked them to "Tell me about the book of Acts."

As they began talking about Jesus ascending into heaven and the Apostles waiting in and around Jerusalem, I asked about the name of the book. "Why is it called Acts?" The one student who piped up first offered only a shrug, a confused look, and a frustrated "I have no idea what any of this has to do with an ax."

The Ax of the Apostles. The Ax of the Holy Spirit. Ax.

You need to know this is not a dumb kid. He's been to church all of his life and reads his Bible more than most adults I know - by a lot. He's not Biblically illiterate and often leads in our student ministry in many ways. He's a great young man. But somehow, when he was a little kid his mind latched on to an "Ax" metaphor instead of more of an "Actions" picture - and it stuck until yesterday!

I've been reflecting on this in a couple ways:

1. A church that doesn't Act with the Holy Spirit will soon see His Ax. That's cheesy enough to fit on a church marquee (sorry), but we have to remember the stakes are high. When we stop following His lead we're not really being the church.

2. Spelling Matters.

3. Don't assume everybody knows what you know. Cover the basics and re-cover them frequently.

4. There may be more teaching going on than learning - and that's not ok. If you teach or lead a group, be prepared when it comes time to deliver and fill in the gaps that even the best curriculum will leave. Don't settle for the Saturday night, flip through the workbook then read it Sunday morning approach. The way you fill the role (whether it's in the nursery or the nursing home or anywhere in between) is shaping the church. Shape it well.

2 Obstacles & 1 Solution for Effective Preaching, Teaching, & Youth Ministry

If you've been involved in youth ministry in just about any capacity for very long, you know 2 feelings all too well... The feeling that nobody is listening & the feeling that you're on your own. You can hear the words coming out of your mouth. You know it's English (or whatever the first language is of the students you're with) & you've even taken out the confusing words, but as you look at your kids, the glazed eyes looking back toward you (or not) cause you to wonder, "Is anybody listening?" Sometimes, I'm amazed when a student that seemed completely checked out was actually paying more attention than a hawk locked in on an absent minded jackrabbit. But still, the feeling persists that what I'm saying just isn't getting through.

Img: "Let God Speak" via Justin Stagge on creationswap.com 

Couple that with another feeling I often come across and you have a train-wreck waiting to happen - the feeling that we're on our own. It's just you and a couple semi-neurotic volunteers to ensure the spiritual well-being of the next generation. Where is the rest of the church? Why don't the other leaders care more about the teens? Why is the single ladies' knitting guild so concerned about the 20 year old carpet? Stain is ok for the benches and windows, why not the floor, right?

I know that sounds a little over dramatic, but feelings aren't objective. Feelings don't just stick to the pure, untainted facts. Sometimes, they lie. But, the truth in your ministry is they ARE listening. They may not be hanging on every word you say, but they are hearing the message of your life loud and clear. The truth in your ministry is you're NOT alone. The leadership may need some explanation of why you just spent $200 with your kids at a pizza place, but they're not against you. The people in your church may not be knocking down your door to volunteer for the next youth group lake party, but that doesn't mean they don't care.

The Spirit pulled Ezekiel aside to begin his prophetic ministry and God gave him some words that we need to live by in youth ministry:

Do not fear them... Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls... You must give them my messages whether they listen or not.

To be clear, these messages that God wanted Ezekiel to deliver weren't received as good news around the campfire. He warned of impending judgment and implored the people to repent of their rebellion and turn once again to their God. Ezekiel was opposed... fiercely. God told him people would reject what He had to say, their hard hearts unwilling to accept his instruction.

But look, I have made you as hard and stubborn as they are. I have made you as hard as rock! So don't be afraid of them... Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Then go to your people in exile and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says!'

I wish every preacher, pastor, teacher, youth speaker, & volunteer would hear that well. Let His words sink deep into your own heart first... Then go. Then speak. Then teach. We only have something worth saying after we've allowed His message to take root within us. Don't just speak because it's Sunday (or whatever your main teaching day is). Speak because His message has grown within you to the point where you can't hold it in. Teach because there is no levy strong enough to hold back the grace you're being given. Then, you'll have something to say worth hearing and you'll know you're not standing alone.

Are You Waiting For Superman?

Last night, LuAnn and I watched Waiting for Superman. Actually, Emily and Dakota watched most of it as well, even though it's not really a kids' show - they caught a few minutes and were hooked. It's an interesting look at the American education system - what's broken and some of what's working. Statistically speaking, we're falling behind, and the film takes a look at why that may be and what can be done to improve. There are some great examples of schools that are doing better - and some sad stories of the heartbreak for those who can't get in to them.

As I watched, I just kept thinking of how fortunate I have been. My kids have had some great teachers in the past few years. And that's really what it boils down to in Waiting for Superman; we cannot have great schools without great teachers. But our educational system doesn't do enough to foster great teaching... and often sticks rigidly to practices and procedures that inhibit them, instead. In most careers, if you do a good job, that merits a raise, a bonus... some type of recognition. Not so much in teaching. In most careers, if you don't do a good job, you don't keep your job. Again, due largely to the influence of the two major teachers' unions... not so much.

I am thankful for my kids' teachers, and the school systems that have given them enough space to teach well. I'm thankful for my own teachers through the years and the extreme efforts they gave to educate me and my peers. I think of Mrs. Washenfelder. I was a straight A student - but I was skating, and she knew it. She pushed me to do my best, not just settle for better than the next kid. I think of Mr. Staffileno who had a way of pushing into some of the less interested students and engaging us all - no one slept in our Algebra class! I think of Dr. Brown & Dr. McCoy who forced me to dig into ancient texts like I'd never done, and of Mr. Cravatt who drew our youth ministry classes deep into discussions that still echo in much of what I do every day.

I also think of the teacher who refused to give me anything to do. Nearly every Spring afternoon of second grade was spent staring at the back of the kid in front of me - done with my work and not allowed to even read an extra book or two I'd snuck in from home. I think of a Geometry teacher who didn't even care enough to brush his teeth or make eye contact with us - and still doesn't seem to 20 years later. I think of a teacher whose idea of American History consisted of little more than whatever video was easiest to pull of the shelf of the school library.

But this is not some vendetta against what I, or the filmmaker, perceived as a bad teacher. I hope Waiting for Superman will open up more dialogue about how education in our nation can be improved for everyone involved. Check out the website, watch the film, and do something to recognize and help a great teacher you know.