Part 1 - What is Youth Ministry?
Pizza. "I built that youth group with pizza, lots of pizza, and we had a tremendous time!" an older friend once said to me. I don't quite recall the exact words but that was the gist. My friend, whom I highly respected, was recounting his days as a youth leader, regaling me with the great things that had happened. He was half-kidding but I got the point. You got to bring the youth together and they must be fed! Would youth ministry be possible without pizza? What would a youth minister do if he couldn't have food delivered for an army within minutes by just making a call? Thank God for the whole pizza system: the telephone, the delivery man, and the fact that you hardly need plates and silverware.
If you put these two words together, pizza and party, one conjures up the same images many visualize when they hear the words "youth ministry." One may replace pizza with burgers or ice cream, or party with fellowship or social but it's the same animal with a different name. Combine all this pizza consumption with a few rally services, conventions, youth revivals, and trips to the ice skating rink or bowling alley, and you get “youth ministry."
This is what suffices for youth ministry to many minds and I am as guilty as the rest. My wife and I, as well as our co-conspirators in youth ministry, have consumed hundreds of pizzas, besides other foodstuffs, and attended dozens of such youth events in the glorious pursuit of doing youth ministry. I thank God for all the good times, the pizza, the fun, the games, and the rallies and conventions we've enjoyed. And we'll certainly keep on eating pizza, going to conventions and rallies, and entertaining ourselves in generally harmless ways—so don't think that stuff will stop. I'm certainly not interested in a boring and bland youth ministry! But it has been slowly dawning on me that this basic model as a concept of youth ministry is wholly inadequate by itself.
The problem is with the concept itself. Notice that it is essentially based on events alone and as a matter of principle these events must be cool, fun, and entertaining. I like the cool, the fun, and the entertaining but you really can't tell how effective a youth ministry is by how many events are hosted or how cool, fun, or entertaining they are. If that were so then MTV would be the most effective youth ministry model in the world.
It seems that the basic strategy has been to throw parties within the boundaries of the church building, see to it that young people show up and sit on our pews, entertain them in relatively harmless ways, strive for reasonably good behavior, and call that youth ministry. We tell ourselves “kids will be kids,” and comfort ourselves that at least they come to church, never mind that some have nasty attitudes, and never crack open their Bibles!
The truth is that we must get beyond mere externalities to see whether or not youth ministry is actually transforming the lives of young people. That is not easy because it requires a miracle beyond the abilities of pastors, youth leaders, and parents alone: the changing of hearts. I think that is why we've so often focused on what we can do (i.e events). Only God can change hearts, reorient minds, and redirect desires. So I'm preparing my own heart and mind for the challenge: I'm ready to see what God alone can do actually happen. My desire is to do youth ministry God's way and to give Him room to do what He alone can do.
All of this begs several questions that I've asked myself many times and ask you now:
What then is youth ministry?
Does youth ministry have a biblical basis?
What are the challenges and opportunities before us in youth ministry?
How does youth ministry integrate with the life of the family and the whole church?
What can WE ALL do in youth ministry?
Perhaps I'm being too radical, or challenging too much, but if you'll follow me thru this series I propose to answer these questions. I will also reveal some of the things we are going to do in 2008 but my goal is to provoke you to thought and prayer concerning our youth ministry. I'm not so much concerned with the particular events we may do but with the heart of our youth ministry; on how we might grow—not perfect young people (we don't even have perfect "older" people)—but God-following young people. My hope and prayer is that we might be a church that produces a God-glorifying, Jesus Christ-treasuring, Scripture-shaped, Spirit-intoxicated, Kingdom-minded, serving, sacrificial New Generation.
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