Wednesday, March 28, 2012

What is a Successful Youth Ministry? Part 2

In the last post, I defined a successful youth ministry in light of Col 1:28 as a ministry that helps equip youth to make a transition to mature Christian adulthood. But what are the characteristics of such a ministry? This is an important question that I will address in the next several posts. This post identifies what I believe to be the pivotal foundation of any successful youth ministry: Dependency on God’s Sovereignty and His Promises.

All church ministries, including youth ministry, should approach ministry with a humble confidence. Humble, first of all, because we recognize our complete dependency on God for any lasting success. Without God’s sovereign work in the lives of people, any ministry endeavor that is undertaken will fail to produce enduring fruit. As the Psalmist says: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). Youth ministry must be done with the clear recognition that no program, method, formula, curriculum, or event will ever by itself produce growth and maturity in Christ. As Paul reminded the Corinthian church: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Cor 3:6). Nevertheless, youth ministry can be done with confidence because the Lord who is sovereign over salvation has given his church great promises that we can depend on. God promises that as we faithfully plant and water he will bring growth. God promises that his word never comes back to him void. God promises His church will never fail. God promises that generation after generation there will always a people on earth to declare his praise until he returns.

This dependency on God's sovereignty and promises have important implications for how youth ministry should be done. First, it highlights the central role that prayer must play. If only God can change the hearts of our youth, then we ought to spend just as much time interceding with him for every youth at our church as we do planning ministry activities. Second, it implies that we must stick to God’s plan for youth ministry and not come up with our own. In youth ministry it is sometimes claimed that God’s word does not address the methodology of youth ministry and therefore churches are free to do “whatever works.” As a result, contemporary youth ministry is often innovative, centered around the latest cultural trend, and rapidly changing. Whatever is “cool” in culture is “Christianized” and brought into the service of youth ministry in an effort to be relevant. I completely disagree with the assumptions behind these innovative approaches. The Bible is not a handbook on youth ministry, but neither is God silent on youth ministry. God has given us a broad outline of how youth ministry should be accomplished, he has provided “tracks” on which the church should operate. Our responsibility is to run our ministry on his tracks and not our own ideas of what works.

No comments:

Post a Comment