I spent most of my grownup life as an atheist and as soon as I finally decided Christianity was true, I jumped in with each ft. I volunteered in Youngsters’s Ministry and ultimately turned a ministry coordinator. It wasn’t lengthy earlier than I used to be enrolled in Seminary, and inside a number of years I discovered myself pastoring a youth group comprised of each junior excessive and excessive school-aged college students. My first yr was a catastrophe. Don’t get me flawed, my college students wouldn’t have essentially described it negatively, however trying again at it, I did little to guard or put together them for what they’d face in college. The truth is, a lot of the college students in my first graduating class of seniors left Christianity earlier than the Christmas break of their freshman yr. After I found this was the case, I made a decision it was time to rethink my strategy.
Within the first yr, I leaned closely on my background as an artist somewhat than my background as a skeptical cop. I spent 9 years within the arts, finishing an undergraduate diploma in design and a graduate diploma in structure. I’m additionally a musician and have performed on quite a few worship groups over time. I needed to have fun the humanities and create emotionally shifting weekly experiences for my college students, and my first yr as a youth pastor was an journey in creativity. Sadly it was gentle on content material. All that modified as soon as I spotted how poorly my graduates have been surviving once they left us. At this level I re-examined my priorities and shifted from artistic artist to essential investigator. I additionally stopped instructing and began coaching.
Like most of you who’re main or instructing youth ministries throughout the nation, I had issue discovering pre-designed curriculum assembly my wants. As I surveyed the challenges dealing with younger folks, I recognized three areas of concern, however I used to be unable to seek out curriculum matching these priorities. I knew I used to be going to need to create my very own materials, and I knew it was going to take some work. Given my artwork background, I attempted to create a content-rich, centered, sturdy, visible studying expertise, whilst I tried to tailor the curriculum to particular journeys I deliberate for my group (the important thing to turning instructing into coaching). I divided my annual coaching calendar into eight six-week collection (leaving 4 weeks for holidays and particular events). This meant, over the course of 4 years, I’d have a chance to discover thirty-two collection. However what could be our focus? Our strategy was three-pronged:
Theology
We generally assume the one problem dealing with our younger folks is from forces exterior the Church, however this merely isn’t true. If our college students don’t have a correct understanding of orthodoxy, they’ll be simply persuaded by false lecturers who declare to be Christians. Why is the trinity essential? What does Christianity educate about grace and the character of Salvation? What does the Bible educate concerning the nature of hell? In the long run, I needed my college students to be theologically articulate. I knew they may very well be eloquent and expressive about any variety of common (and comparatively ineffective) cultural points, I needed them to be a minimum of as articulate about a very powerful metaphysical fact claims. I developed quite a few six-week collection exploring creeds and doctrinal points and I tied these collection to missions journeys (just like the Utah Mission) that will in the end check their information.
Apologetics
If I needed my college students to develop into good thinkers, I knew they would wish to know the right way to assume, somewhat than what to assume. I additionally knew a lot of the objections to Christianity they’d face of their faculty years could be largely philosophical in nature. For that reason, I needed to show my college students the fundamental legal guidelines of logical and easy logical fallacies. Past this, I needed them to know one thing about the character of proof and the philosophical rules used to assemble an evidential case. I developed a number of six-week collection centered on philosophy, logic and apologetics, and tied these coaching classes to missions journeys (just like the Berkeley Mission) the place we put what they realized to the check.
Habits
Concepts have penalties. In the long run, what we consider should be obvious in the best way we dwell and behave. I’ll be trustworthy with you; most dad and mom couldn’t care much less what you educate their children so long as you tackle the habits points. However if you happen to make habits your focus, you’ll seemingly fail in an excessively legalistic try and influence your college students from the outside-in. However, if you happen to might help your college students perceive the foundational theological, rational, philosophical points associated to Christianity, you’ve obtained a great likelihood of impacting them from the inside-out. I developed a number of six-week collection centered on specific Biblical instructing associated to social justice, sexuality, compassion, delight quite a few “sizzling subject” cultural points. Many of those points have been related to our Utah and Berkeley missions journeys, and we added a number of internal metropolis ministry journeys to our calendar to offer a goal for social justice coaching.
Theology, apologetics and habits. These have been the three areas I repeatedly addressed as a youth pastor. I did my finest to construct compelling and stimulating collection round these three areas of concern. I checked out packaged curriculum for concepts, however discovered myself writing a lot of my very own materials, tailoring it to my group. I bought books, surfed the web and borrowed concepts from different youth pastors. After I couldn’t discover precisely what I wanted, I created it from scratch. Typically I succeeded and generally I failed. A lot of what I taught my college students ended up on this web site and in my books. I centered on these three areas and watched my college students blossom of their potential to grasp the problems and articulate the case for Christianity, and I nonetheless consider these broad classes can kind the inspiration of any youth ministry curriculum.
Concentrate on these three areas and watch your college students blossom of their potential to grasp the problems and articulate the case for Christianity. Share on X
For extra details about methods that will help you educate Christian worldview to the subsequent technology, please learn So the Subsequent Technology Will Know: Coaching Younger Christians in a Difficult World. This e book teaches dad and mom, youth pastors and Christian educators sensible, accessible methods and rules they’ll make use of to show the youngest Christians the reality of Christianity. The e book is accompanied by an eight-session So the Subsequent Technology Will Know DVD Set (and Participant’s Information) to assist people or small teams look at the proof and make the case.
