Teaching

Students shuffle into the room where your group meets for Bible study. The room is the same as the last time they came and they feel a little comfort with the familiar surroundings. They sit in the same chairs they always sit in, each next to the same friends they always sit next to. You begin the lesson the same way you always do: by asking them about their week. After a few minutes of silence, a younger student remembers that he made the 7th grade basketball team this week. You all congratulate him. One or two others share an event. Then everyone leans back to try to stay awake as they listen to you share something about the Bible.

Your students come to your youth group because they love you, are interested in the Bible, and truly want to know Jesus better. At least, some of them come for those reasons. But they really don’t expect much to happen when they show up for youth group. Since students are comfortable, this must be a good strategy, right? To be honest, I don’t think so.

Someone told me a long time ago that every time you meet with the youth group, it should be an event. I have come to believe it. I don’t always accomplish it, but I believe it. Students should show up at youth group with the anticipation that God is going to do something in their lives that day. They should expect to be stretched and should never be quite sure what is going to happen when they walk through the door. If students walk into an event every time they come to the youth group, I believe they will be more open to God moving them, changing their hearts, and refining their character.

To create a youth ministry event, the first issue is you have to start early. If you are planning your Bible study for Sunday morning on Saturday night, you don’t have much opportunity to really plan something that will shake up their world. Start planning your Bible study at least a week before you will teach.

Make sure you know what you are trying to teach. Develop a clear, one-sentence statement that describes how you want students to be changed based on the experience of this Bible study or meeting. To plan an event without a clear purpose would be a big waste of time, energy, and resources. Your statement should grow directly from the Scripture passage you plan to address in the study. That means you need to spend enough time with the passage (and reference books about the passage) that you are clear about what it says and what it means.

Pray for God’s guidance. Think about what experience students might have that would make the truth clear to them. You will need to tell them what the passage means, but don’t stop there. Discover ways to help them to experience it. You can use active strategies, like games and mixers. You can also use reflective strategies. Get as many adults involved as you need. Adults are usually willing to help if you can give them specific instructions about what you want them to do.

Use your space well. Change the room around. Put things on the walls that help you to reinforce the ideas. Make the room scream, “something different is happening today” when students first walk into the room.

Brainstorm with other people . . . preferably people who are helping you teach. For some reason, most of us do our best thinking when we are bouncing ideas off of other people.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the process of discipleship with teenagers in a small youth group. (Okay, the process is not really all that different in a small youth group from the process in a larger youth group, but I think some of the dynamics are different.) I said that you probably work with kids at four different spiritual places. Some of them are Lost, some are Converts, some are Disciples, and some are Disciple-Makers. (I called them level 0, level 1, level 2, and level 3 kids.) The goal in youth ministry is to help teenagers move from their current level to the next level.

Of course, your group is not evenly distributed among these groups. My guess is, your youth group has more level 1 kids–Converts–than anything else. They show up at church. They give Sunday School answers to your questions. They have positive feelings about Jesus and have made a commitment to him. However, their relationship with Christ is hardly what defines their life.

So, how do you help teenagers to move from Level 1 to Level 2? How do you help them to begin to really pursue Christ as His disciple?

I wish I knew a simple formula. It would be nice to give you three steps that help a teenager move from being a worldly Christian to being a full-on disciple. I just don’t really think that formula exists. I will share a few principles that I think are important.

First, a lot of students don’t become Disciples because they don’t know what that looks like. They assume everyone is focused on what kind of tennis shoes they wear and what kind of phone they use and has Jesus to turn to when life gets really stinky. Your students need a chance to see a real Disciple up-close and personal. Ask yourself: How much of your spiritual life do kids really get to see? I’m not suggesting you invite them to move in with you, but I am suggesting that you provide opportunities for them to see you living out your faith when you aren’t at a Jesus meeting.

And not just you. What other believers do you get your teenagers rubbing elbows with? When I was a teenager, one of the biggest influences on my desire to follow Christ daily was a kid who was a little older than me. He was the kind of kid who just couldn’t get enough of God. I always assumed my youth pastor was a spiritual guy, but he was old. He was 25 or something. When I saw a guy my age living out the call of Christ, it made me think about my faith in a different way.

Second, level 1 teenagers need challenge. They have bought the status quo of faith and need to realize that there is more than consumer-driven, feel-good religion. Help them to see who Jesus really is. Rip away the Santa Claus veneer than people seem to have about Christ, and give them heart-ripping pictures of the God-man, His heart, and His mission. I think students will respond differently when they see Jesus differently.

Third, pray.The work you are doing is spiritual work. I suppose this could go without saying, but I fear that one of the biggest sins of the American church is our prayerlessness.

Finally, never give up. Students are not going to get there at the same time. Some of them are going to disappoint you. In fact, if I understand Jesus’ teaching, some of them will never get it. But, always look for the spark that will move them from being a good church kid to being a kid who is in love with Jesus.

It’s scary! Teenagers can attend church, be a part of our youth groups, attend camps and mission trips . . . and then graduate from high school and never show up again. It would appear they graduate from their faith when they graduate from the youth group.

Of course, this is what Jesus told us would happen. In Luke 8, he told his disciples that some of the people with whom they share the word of God would ignore it. The enemy comes and snatches it away. Some would embrace it and produce spiritual fruit. That’s the good news. But, others would appear to embrace the word, would accept it with joy, but then have it choked out of their lives. Either they never developed a good root system or they just became overwhelmed with the stuff of life.

So, is it inevitable that we will lose students from our youth group? Is it impossible to see all of our students growing up in the faith and producing spiritual fruit?

Teenagers will disappoint you. You will invest much time and love in a teenager only to watch her walk away from you, the church, and perhaps even Jesus. That is painful . . . maybe the most difficult thing we deal with in youth ministry. However, I believe we can help teenagers to (1) develop deep roots, and (2) develop priorities that place their walk with Christ above everything else.

In youth ministry we work with teenagers at a variety of spiritual levels. Quantifying anyone’s “spiritual level” is dangerous. Everyone is on a unique walk in relationship to Christ, and it is difficult to lump people together. So, I share the thoughts that follow with some caution.

1. You work with teenagers I would call Converts. Converts are teenagers who have acknowledged God and made a move toward him. They would call themselves Christians and they may be. However, they are what Paul called “still of the flesh” (1 Cor. 3:3, ESV). If your youth group is like most I know, the bulk of your students are Converts. They are level one students.
2. You also work with students I would call Disciples. Disciples are making an effort to walk with Jesus. They are ready to grow in their faith. They may or may not have much Bible knowledge, but their hearts are open to receiving it. They are level two.
3. Third, you work with students I would call Disciple-Makers. Disciple-Makers are actually using their own spiritual gifts and their experiences to make Christ known to others. They may not have a specific job, but they are influencing others to grow in their faith. These are your level three students.
4. Finally, you have Level Zero students. They are students who are Lost and without Christ. They may come to church to keep their parents happy or may show up at youth group events when invited by a friend, but they have yet to make a move toward Christ.

I think we lose so many students who graduate from our youth ministries because they graduate at Level One. They are Converts, Carnal and Worldly Christians at best. They have weak roots and are easily distracted by the world. I think the goal of youth ministry is to move Lost students to become Converts, then move Converts to become Disciples, and finally move Disciples to become Disciple-Makers.

I want to spend the next few weeks talking about how students move from one level to the next. It is messy and not easy to describe, but I believe there are some general truths.

Does teaching equal telling? I asked that question to a lot of youth leaders over the last month. They responded like you might. Teaching can (and probably does) include telling, but simply telling is not teaching. But if teaching were telling, the prospect of discipling the students in your group would be simple. You would just tell them what the Bible says and they would do it. The problem with teaching is that different people tend to learn differently.

Rick and Shera Melick identified four learning styles in their new book, Teaching that Transforms. I actually think what they call learning styles might better be described as learning foci (that’s the plural of focus for those of you who didn’t pay attention in 9th grade grammar). Learners focus on different things when they are studying the Bible. If your Bible study doesn’t connect with the focus of a teenager, the chances are pretty good he or she will not get much.

1. Discerners: Some learners are Discerners. They are most interested in why the passage is important. If they do not see a reason to study a passage . . . some important way the lesson connects with their lives and the lives of their friends, they won’t place much value in it. They tend to like discussions in which everyone shares his or her own perspective.
2. Constructors: Some learners are Constructors. They are most interested in the nuts and bolts of what the Bible says. If you want to capture their attention, help them to dig out the real meaning of a passage of Scripture.
3. Excavators: Some learners are Excavators. They want to understand how a concept is worked out in real life. To an Excavator, the Bible doesn’t truly come to life until they see real life examples of the concepts.
4. Activists: Some learners are Activists. To an Activist, the Bible study is just all talk until you actually do something about it. They want to put things into practice.

Actually, Bible study should appeal to each of these learners. Start your Bible study by making sure teenagers understand what the relevance of the passage is. Then, help them to dig into the truths of the passage and discover what the Bible means. Next, help them to find ways to apply the principles they dig out into today’s world. Finally, help them to come up with a plan for actually using the principles they developed this week in class. Do that, and you will teach the Discerners, the Constructors, the Excavators, AND the Activists in your group.

Pseudo-stupidity.

It is when a student looks back at you with a completely blank look and shrugs when you ask him . . . well, anything. Your teenagers don’t have to be rocket scientists or brain surgeons, but one of the goals of adolescence, according to Robert Havighurst, is to develop intellectual skills. So, does the development of intellectual skills have anything to do with what we do in youth ministry, or is that one of those issues we can just count on other people to address?

Adolescent brains are changing. Teenagers are gaining the ability to think and reason in ways they never have before. (If you doubt that, ask their parents. Teenagers invent new ways almost daily to argue every possible point with their parental units.) In the middle of all of the changes going on in an adolescent’s body, what happens in her head may be the most significant part.

While the brain is developing quickly in adolescence, some research seems to indicate that it doesn’t just happen automatically. The cognitive processes (that is, how kids think) develop best when teenagers are guided to practice the hard work of careful consideration. When you ask a young teenager why he did what he did and he tells you he doesn’t know, the truth is, he doesn’t know. He is just beginning to develop the ability to figure all of that out.

One theorist suggested that for teenagers, higher reasoning is like going through a jungle with a machete. The first time through is hard work. You have to hack your way through dense undergrowth in order to clear a path. However, the next time you walk the same path, it will be much easier . . . and will get easier with each repeated effort. As teenagers practice firing the synapses that help them to think through a difficult problem or look at alternatives to their actions, it may be tough for them at first. Gradually, they will be able to do this thinking automatically, much as adults do.

So, how do you help teenagers develop intellectual skills?

1. As you are teaching and discipling younger youth, take it slow. You may have to ask them several follow-up questions before they can put the pieces together. They need you to lead them to think all the way through an issue and not just give them the correct answer.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask youth hard questions . . . especially as teenagers get older. Ask them to wrestle with issues of faith and come up with answers that make sense. You can cover more verses in the Bible study if you just explain the point to them, but you will teach them more if you give them time to figure it out.
3. Find ways for them to articulate their faith. Too many teenagers graduate from high school (and occasionally even college) still living on the faith of their parents. Ask them to examine why they trust God, what experiences and what evidence leads them to put confidence in God and in His Word. Help them to wrestle through the implications of their faith on their lives.

In many large churches, teenagers sit in a big room while someone six rows away teaches them the Bible through a loud speaker. Teenagers may engage in the Bible study and enjoy the setting. They may take good truths home with them. In the small church, you have the unique opportunity to do more than tell your students what to believe. You can challenge them to think through the lesson and tell you what is true based on their understanding of Scripture. Help them flex their intellectual muscle as you teach and you will make a tremendous difference.

The thing that makes youth ministry different than other ministries in the church is . . . well, that we work with youth. Challenges exist in ministry with kindergarteners, ministry with college students, or ministry with senior adults, but teenagers face some unique challenges. Contextualizing biblical ministry into the lives of teenagers means addressing those issues that make adolescents unique. Robert Havighurst suggested a series of developmental tasks that adolescents need to accomplish if they are to be productive adults. While Havighurst was not particularly interested in the spiritual maturity of teenagers, His developmental tasks definitely are issues we need to think about as we disciple teenagers.

One of the tasks Havighurst said adolescents must accomplish is to accept their physique.

People come in lots of shapes and sizes. Some of us are tall, some are short. Some of us have big noses, some of us funny little turned-up noses. Some of us have big feet. Some of us even have an extra toe. I know, that’s over-kill. You all know that we don’t look alike. The problem for teenagers is that they are just getting good at introspection and most of them are starting to think about how they compare to others for the first time in their lives. Add to that the fact that some teenagers grow a lot faster or a lot slower than their peers, and you have the makings for a teenage crisis.

Teenagers have to learn to be comfortable in their own skin. A teenager may not be excited about being short, but height seldom determines how productive and effective a person is in life . . . unless he or she happens to be a professional basketball player. The shape of a person’s nose may not be to their liking, but most of us discover that people love us regardless of how well our noses fit our faces. In fact, we are likely to discover that some people like a “Roman nose.”

How do we help teenagers with this developmental task? First, be accepting of teenagers. Whether a teenager is a candidate for the next teen model or has trouble finding a spot on their face that doesn’t have a pimple, show her by your words and actions that she is very valuable to you . . . and to the Father. Second, teach students that the Bible claims they are greatly loved by God and are created to be useful to him. Third, encourage teenagers to focus on things they like about themselves instead of focusing on what they dislike.

When Samuel went to Jesse’s house to anoint the next king of Israel, he was draw to the tall and well-built sons. He was sure that one of those would be the man of God’s choosing. It was strange that God chose the little brother who no one even bothered to call into the house. God’s instruction to Samuel is good for us to hear as well: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7).

Is money tight for you this Christmas? It is for me. I have several friends who are feeling the crunch of the loss of a job. They are either unemployed or under-employed. It is frustrating for those of us who like to buy and give gifts to be unable to do that. We know that gits are not what Christmas is about . . . but being able to give gifts is . . . well, fun. Maybe you would like to do something special for your youth group, but you just don’t have the ability. Maybe it is harder this year for your teenagers to buy gifts for an Angel Tree child or contribute to a food box for a needy family. Maybe the tightening of the belt that many of us are having to do at Christmas this year is a blessing. In a culture where kids are looking for a new iPod Touch under the tree instead of a dolly, maybe we need to revisit ways to celebrate Christmas that are a little less commercial.

As you teach your youth group this Christmas, emphasize gratitude and contentment. I know, some of your kids will get the new iPod Touch for Christmas. Extravagance may not be a great way to celebrate Christmas, but our Bible study on simplicity may not penetrate heir adolescent brains. However, ask them what a person really needs to be healthy and happy. Help them to think through whether new gadgets and toys really make a person happy. Encourage them to be grateful to God for the things he has given them and content with what they have. Of course, it is a great time to mention people that lack those things a person really needs.

Encourage youth to give . . . to parents, family, and friends. But encourage them to find ways to give that don’t cost money. Often gifts that are given from the work of your hands or the sweat of your brow mean more than gifts that are given from your wallet (or your parent’s wallet). Encourage students to think of things they are good at and give those things away. One student might bake sugar cookies, while another prints and frames a picture of the family he has taken. A third student might offer his brother help with his homework for Christmas. Maybe it would be a good thing for us to practice this as well by thinking of some gift we can give our students that would be a gift of love from our hands, not our money.

Ultimately, Christmas is not about gifts. it’s not really about family meals or love between each other. Ultimately, Christmas is about the love of a Savior, lavished on us when we were lost in our sins. Ask your students how they can share THAT gift . . . a gift that is not their own, but comes from Jesus.

A teenage girl bounces out of her room and heads to school . . . dressed in a skirt so short it hardly covers the essentials. When her mother stops her and sends her back to her room to change, she rages. “Why are you trying to make me look like you? That’s not who I am!” She has mistaken her clothes for her identity. But that’s actually not that common a mistake for a young teenager.

Theorist and human development specialist Erik Erikson said that human development involves eight tasks. When a person successfully navigates the task for a phase of life, he or she is capable of moving on to the next task. When a person fails to successfully address the task, they end up suffering with that development task indefinitely. For adolescents, Erikson said the task is identity development. If they fail to determine who they are, teenagers will struggle with role confusion. So, how do you help the teenagers in your youth group navigate the developmental task of building their identity?

Identity development is not a simple task. We can tell teenagers that they are designed by God and that they need to build their sense of self on their relationship with Christ, but that Bible study will not give teenagers all they need to end the quest. For most young teenagers, the task of identity development involves some level of experimentation. They “try on” different identities to see what feels right to them. (A friend of mine used to call this phenomenon “trying on hats.”) Identity building will require some time and may involve some failures . . . some funny, some frustrating. Teenagers need our patience and understanding. They also need our input.

Tell youth that they are valuable. Help them to know that they are made in the image of God. Make sure they understand some of what that means. Teach them what it really means to be “in Christ.” Guide youth to see that they have a purpose in the kingdom of God, that they are useful to God, that their life counts. Help them to see the work of Christ in their life to make them righteous, to make them holy. Tell them and keep on telling them.

Confront in love the faulty attitudes that teenagers develop about their identity. Give them experiences that help them to understand that ministry to others makes them a richer person than living a selfish life does. Help them to understand that their identity is not found in what they do on the outside, but on who they are on the inside.

Be a role model for your teenagers. Show them what a real Christian life looks like. Don’t expect perfection of yourself but be intentional about living your life for Christ and seeking forgiveness when you sin. Help students to see that a life lived for Christ is a rich and full life.

The process of identity building is tough and it can be frustrating for youth leaders. It is disappointing to see teenagers trying on hats that don’t square with who God says they are. Don’t give students over to the voices of the world. Give them some good hats to try on and encourage them to replace the foolish ones with the ones that will lead to a Christ-centered life.

The Apostle Paul was talking late into the night. He was in a third story room with the church at Troas for what he believed would be his last message. I suppose he must have felt like every word was essential. Luke wrote that Paul “talked on and on” (Acts 20:9). One of the teenagers, Eutychus, was sitting in the window. Probably the First Century equivalent of leaning back in his chair. He fell asleep. Paul was preaching for the last time in Troas and the teenage guy fell asleep. Typical. I’ve been in youth classes when someone fell asleep while they were leaning back against the wall and ended up crashing to the floor. Falling asleep in a third-story window is a bit more hazardous. Eutychus slid out the window and fell to his death. Fortunately, God used Paul to restore life to him. I’ve warned teenagers before that I wasn’t sure I could do what Paul did so they had better not sleep during my lessons.

Do you wonder what Paul thought? I mean, how do you think Paul felt that one of the young heroes of the Troas church slept through his heart-felt lesson . . . the last he would give? I wonder if he felt like he would have spent his time better if he had gone to town and taken in a movie. If you have been in youth ministry very long, you have probably experienced what it is like to spend hours praying over, studying, and planning a lesson . . . only to be met by yawns and questions like, “How much longer is this lesson going to be?” How do you keep doing youth ministry when that is the response of your youth?

First, let me assure you that we have all been there. If the Apostle Paul couldn’t keep a teenager awake for his lesson . . . if Jesus could teach the disciples and have them completely miss the point . . . if compassionate Barnabas could take his teenage cousin on a mission trip only to have him bail out and go home when things got tough, then we are in good company when our teenagers are unresponsive. Over and over again, God called out his people for being “stiff-necked.” Times are not really all that different. Churches . . . even youth groups . . . are still filled with stiff-necked people.

Second, check your motives. I know, you got into youth ministry because you love teenagers and want to see God working in their lives. That’s a good motive, right? Truthfully, the right motive for doing youth ministry is that God has called you to it. Like Jeremiah, you share truth with teenagers because God gave you the truth . . . whether they listen or not. Know that your Heavenly Father is pleased with your obedience even if your teenagers would rather be watching “Hannah Montana.”

Third, keep your sense of humor. Your teenagers probably don’t mean to discount your efforts when they fall asleep in your class. They assume you know they were up all night playing some game that had them crashing their cars into street lamps. Tease them instead of railing at them. It will usually win them over.

Finally, be faithful. Don’t give up. Don’t quit preparing. Don’t deflate. And don’t allow the enemy to convince you that your work as youth leader is having no fruit. Trust God. Pray. And value every moment you get to spend with students. Trust that God will use his word to tender their hearts in his time.

Ever sit in one of those Bible study classes where someone reads a verse and then everyone talks about what the passage means to them. I’m all for reading the Bible together and I like using discussion as a teaching tool, but I just can’t picture Jesus teaching the Bible that way. I think Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived, so maybe we can learn some things about teaching from him.

1. Jesus was a living example of what he taught. Most of your students have heard impassioned talks. They have done the fun activities that come out of the Bible study books. What they need are real-life examples of what it means to walk with Jesus.
2. Jesus was a master story-teller. Stories are more than just illustrations. They are word pictures. They help students to see principles fleshed out in real life. Some people say that teenagers today are less responsive to logical arguments. They are image-driven. If you want to convince them to follow God they are probably going to be more moved by pictures of what that looks like than arguments about why they should care.
3. Jesus was not afraid to confront. He may have been a little slower to address the adultery of the woman at the well than he was to call Peter, Satan, and to tell Peter to get behind him, but he addressed sin head-on. I think people received Jesus’ rebukes because they knew how much Jesus really loved them. We have a responsibility to address sin in the lives of our students. If our students know how much we love them, I think they will receive that from us.
4. Jesus taught the crowds, but he discipled the Twelve. I don’t know how many youth are in your group. I think you have a responsibility to share truth with every teenager your ministry can touch. But, you can really invest in a handful of students. Don’t neglect discipling your “Twelve” (even if there is only one in your Twelve) in order to invest in the crowd.

Jesus did so much more. I suppose we could write books about the teaching of Jesus and never exhaust what he taught us about teaching. Learning to teach as Jesus did will be a lifelong pursuit. Hopefully, these ideas will give you a place to start.