After years of topical Bible study in youth ministry, recent research has found that most teenagers cannot articulate what they believe as Christians. We want our Bible study to be relevant to the lives of teenagers, but are we teaching in a way that truly helps them to understand the faith and invest their lives in kingdom living? I’m afraid that too often teenagers can sum up their faith with a few moral teachings. Don’t lie. Don’t cheat. Be nice to people. Tell the truth. Don’t have sex until you get married. Is that really enough?

I recently read Vaughan Roberts book, God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible. Roberts says that we treat the Bible like it is a book of quotations. We teach teenagers that little bits of truth can help them to live healthier and happier lives. The call of Vaughan is to teach the whole story of Scripture. The Bible is a revelation of God’s work to reclaim lost humanity and restore the perfect relationship he had with people before we fell into sin. The overarching narrative of the Bible helps teenagers to understand who God is, who people are, what sin is, what the Bible is, who Jesus is, what salvation is about, who the Holy Spirit is, what the church is, and where history is going. In short, the narrative of the Bible helps teenagers to understand biblical theology.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t teach teenagers about sexual purity, honesty, integrity, and compassion. I am saying we need to teach those issues differently. We need to teach teenagers with an eye to the big picture. We need to help them to understand how a passage of Scripture fits into what God is doing in the world to accomplish his purposes. And we need to help teenagers to ask how their lives fit into God’s plan . . . instead of asking how God can fit into their lives.

I think God’s Big Picture is an important book for youth leaders in small churches, especially those of us who don’t have a seminary degree under our belts. In 150 pages, Vaughan will give you a good overview of Scripture and help you to see the central place of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation. (He offers several approaches to interpreting Revelation, though he keeps the focus on the big picture story of God.) I think this book will help you to teach youth with the big picture in mind.

You may know of other resources that approach the Bible with the whole truth of God in view. If so, please add your thoughts to the comments on this entry.