Chapter One
Youth Ministry in One WordDear Jonathan,
I just graduated from high school, and now I'm working as a youth
intern at my church. I've been reading a lot about youth ministry.
There are so many different theories as to what is important. Some
people say worship. Others say outreach. Others say discipleship.
Others say all of those-but make sure you know your purpose.
This is all cool, but the bottom line is that there are a
bunch of my friends who have never even come to church. And
now that I have graduated and work with teenagers, I see a bunch
of the kids at the school in our area who never come to our youth
group and activities. What about those kids?
To be completely honest, most churches I've been in are so
focused on the kids inside their walls that they've forgotten about
the kids outside. And for those of us who do try to do outreach-let's
be honest-the outreach ministry of most churches extends
only as far as the friends of church kids, and there are a whole
lot still left.
I'm thinking we're missing something here. I think we're
missing the big picture. I don't want ministry programming tips .
just tell me what you think youth ministry is all about. As a matter
of fact, just give me the one word you think youth ministry is all
about!
Thanks,
Bryan
* * *
Dear Bryan,
LOVE
Jonathan
* * *
Dear Jonathan,
Hey, thanks for getting back to me so soon.
Okay, you took me seriously. Now forget all that stuff
about one word. Love isn't the answer I want. I mean-it's cool
and all-it's probably even right. But I just need you to expand
on it a little bit. How do we reach the kids outside our church
walls? How do we reach unchurched students?
Bryan
One Word
How do you sum up students reaching other students in one word? How
do you verbalize-in one word-youth leaders reaching out to youth?
Let's go to the only place I know to go: the Word of God. Jesus
was asked basically the same question in Matthew 22, Mark 12, and Luke
10. The conversation went something like this: "Okay, Jesus-then what is
the most important thing? Don't give me the long answer, just what is the
bottom line?"
Jesus answered, "Love God . love others."
That's what it comes down to. Love.
Bringing God to People
Our church has a missionary in Laos named Jim Gustufson. Jim told us
about a church he visited in Thailand. It was a church founded by Westerners
from America, reaching Thai people. Jim told us about a Sunday when he
arrived at the church early. Other than himself, the first person to arrive
was a woman who walked in dancing, singing in Thai, and praising God
for what he had done that week in her life. Two more people walked in
singing together and praising God. This happened more and more until
the audience was filled with people singing songs in Thai and praising God
for what he had done.
Then Jim told us about someone else who walked into the church.
This person didn't dance or sing. With his head down, he walked in and
stepped onto the stage-and the Lord left! The place went silent as the
American pastor took his place on stage, opened the American hymn book
as stoically as possible, and announced, "Everyone turn to page 256 and
let's begin worship this morning." Ironically, that call to worship ended
any worship that was going on.
Many of us use the terminology "bring someone to Christ" or
"lead someone to Christ." However, Jim made an important point. In the
Bible, the Gospel of John says that when Jesus came to earth, "the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us." Jesus left his seat next to God to be
with us-to come to us. Let's not forget about the greatest act of love in
history-God brought Jesus to us! This American pastor simply brought
Western rituals and religion to an Eastern culture. He didn't let the people
meet Jesus where they were. Instead he tried to bring them to Jesus via a
Western tradition they didn't understand.
We don't need to bring people to Christ; we need to bring Christ
to them.
A fast-food restaurant by my house just went out of business. Every
time I went in there, the people behind the counter were always rude and
preoccupied with their own business. Many times, as I was trying to order
my combo number three with no pickles, the cashier would start arguing
with the fry guy. Often customers would be waiting for service while the
manager was trying to resolve the most recent scheduling problems or
employee strife. Well, it wasn't long before they were out of business.
I know why.
They forgot what they were there to do.
They forgot that a fast-food chain does not exist in order to
highlight the concerns of those who are working behind the counter. The
whole reason a fast-food chain exists is to provide food for the people out
there-on the other side of the counter.
Sadly, that can be true of us today. As believers we get so caught
up with what's going on inside the church walls while we're shepherding
our own people that we forget about the people out there. We forget one of
the main reasons we still exist on this planet is to "go and make disciples
of all nations."
So how do we reach those who aren't coming into the walls of the
church? How do we bring Christ to them? It starts with compassion.
(Continues.)
