What is successful youth ministry # 5 - Multi- Generational Discipleship.

In the last post on youth ministry, I observed that by God’s command and design, parents are called to be the primary “youth pastors” of their children.  When this God ordained foundation of youth ministry is minimized or ignored, regardless of how well intentioned it might be, it can only result in harm to our youth.  There is no doubt in my mind that this minimizing of the parents role has been a primary factor in leading to the current crisis in youth ministry.  Biblical Youth ministry must begin with the family. 

However, the fact that parents have the primary responsibility to disciple and train their children does not mean that they have the only responsibility.  The broader church has an important role to play in the discipleship of her youth as well.  In this post, I introduce the second key foundation of youth ministry: Multi-generational Discipleship.  

Let me begin with a question. How important to your spiritual growth is the larger body of Christ?  Or to put it another way, what role does the larger body of Christ play in your sanctification?  Scripture indicates that our relationships with the larger body of Christ is of vital importance.  Consider the following Scripture passages:

• Proverbs 13:20 - “Whoever walks with the wise, becomes wise...”     
•  Heb 3:12 - “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, so that you will not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” 
•  Heb 10:24 - “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” 
• Gal 6:1 - “Brothers, if any of you caught in transgression you who are spiritual should restore him...
• Heb 13:7 - “Remember your leaders, consider their outcome and way of life, imitate their faith. “

All of us need older, wiser, more mature saints to speak into our lives as we grow in Christian maturity.  We need our brothers and sisters to gently restore us when we are caught in sin, to model for us faithful walking with the Lord through good times and bad, to help us apply God’s word to our everyday lives and decisions, and to comfort us with the promises of God which have comforted them.  How impoverished would we be spiritually if we had no relationships with or access to other brothers and sisters in Christ?   This reality, which is true for Christian adults, is also true for Christian youth.  They also need to be connected with older, wiser, and more mature members of the body of Christ.  They also must walk with the wise, that they might become wise.  They also must have friends and mentors whose way of life they can consider, and whose faith they can imitate.

            In Titus 2 the Apostle Paul indicates his expectation that multi-generational discipleship will be present in the church.  He sets forth the principle that the older men and women in the congregation have responsibility for, and play a vital role in, the discipleship of the younger generation. 

 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,  and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,  to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.  Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.  (Tit 2: 2-6)

This is a picture of personal, multi-generational, discipleship.  It is important to note that what Paul requires in this passage cannot be accomplished simply by having older youth mentor younger youth.  A 17 year old girl cannot train or model for a 14 year old what it means to be a godly wife and mother.  It actually takes a wife and mother to do that.  Similarly, an 18 year old boy cannot adequately train or model for a 15 year old how the Gospel empowers the constant fight against the world, flesh, and devil.  It takes a godly man.  

            What are the implications of this second core foundation for youth ministry?  I will list just one, namely that a primary focus of youth ministry must be to connect youth to the larger body of Christ.  There are a variety of different ways this can happen, but it must be a priority. There is a serious problem of isolation in much youth ministry today.  Many churches, in a well-meant attempt to reach youth, have created a completely separate youth culture, complete with a separate pastor, building, events, small groups, church service, missions trip, etc.,   The result of this segregation is that the youth of the church effectively become a separate congregation.  Little, if any, participation with adults is expected or encouraged.  Multi-generational relationships are not formed.  Worse, adults in the church begin to think that they do not have a responsibility towards the youth, because “that’s the youth pastor’s responsibility.” The problem with this approach, of course, is that (just like us) youth will grow spiritually when they are connected to the larger body of Christ, not removed from it.  

Thus, a biblically based youth ministry focuses on exposing youth, not merely to Christian teaching, but also to Christian men and women.  If youth only build meaningful connections to the youth group, and not to the larger church, then a key foundation of God’s design for youth ministry is being missed.  And again, this can only be to the detriment of the youth. 

The Parent As Youth Pastor

“Doing youth ministry without parents is like driving a car without the engine.” -  Mark Devries[1]

It’s no secret anymore, youth ministry is in a state of crisis.  Polls of recent years report over and over the dire percentages of youth who leave the church after high school.  Whatever the exact percentage actually is, what seems clear enough is that more young people are choosing to leave the church than choosing to stay.[2]  The million dollar question is, of course, “Why is this happening?”  And while there are certainly multiple factors involved in this mass exodus, I believe that a primary contributing factor is the loss of emphasis on the central role of the parent in the spiritual nurture of their children.  Much of the youth ministry done in recent decades seems to have forgotten that parents are commanded to be, and by God’s design will necessarily be, the primary youth pastors for their children - for better or for worse.  And when the central role of the parents is neglected, a major deviation from God’s design for youth ministry has taken place that can only be harmful for youth in the long term.      

In order to start righting the ship, churches must first of all re-embrace the responsibility given to parents by God to be the front line “youth pastor” for their children.  In the Old Testament, the priests had the general responsibility to teach all of the people the Word of God, but parents were given a special responsibility to teach their children.  Moses commanded the people of Israel “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut 6:6-9).  The same principal is in the New Testament.  Pastors have the general responsibility to preach and teach God’s word to God’s people (including the youth), but the only command regarding the training and discipling of children is given directly to parents: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4).  This does not necessarily mean that there is no place for a church to have a “youth ministry” apart from parents, but it does mean that youth ministry must be built on this central foundation.  Proverbs 22:6 states “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” This proverb is not a universal promise that every child who is trained by his parents will grow up to be a Christian, but it is a general principal that God has given for us to live by.  Generally speaking, God uses the means of Godly parents who prayerfully and diligently seek to raise their children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” to convert them.   God has designed the home, not the youth group, to be the spiritual nursery where the Christian faith is taught and modeled to children from their earliest years.  

Secondarily, parents and churches must embrace a more sober estimation of what youth ministry actually accomplishes.  Part of what has created the current crisis in youth ministry is that churches have assumed that the youth pastor and youth programs are more important than they really are.  Again, this is not to say that there is no place for a youth pastor, youth group, or youth programs.  When these things are Biblically grounded they can be a real blessing to youth. The reality is, however, that in most cases the overall influence of a youth pastor and youth group on a child will be insignificant when compared to that of the parents.   “It’s time for a reality check,” says Mark Devries, “Youth ministries, in and of themselves, have limited power to produce lasting change in young people’s lives.”[3]  As case in point, let me use myself as an example.  One of my priorities is to spend as much time as I can with the church youth each week.  On a good week, a week that I am able to see a specific youth in several different venues, I may be able to spend 6-8 hours with him or her, although most of that time is in a group setting.  On other weeks, the only personal interaction I may have with them is at Church on Sunday morning and a text or facebook message during the week.  I pray that God will bless the time that I have with them, but I know that it is not enough. 

Parents, by contrast, spend every day with their children.  For 18 years they live life with them:  waking, eating, sleeping, praying, playing, laughing, crying, arguing, and the list goes on.   As a result, parents know their children like no other adult will ever know them, and they will have more influence on them for spiritual good or ill than any other adult ever can.  Thomas Manton, writing in the 17^th century, called on the “Heads of Families” to recognize this special influence:    

How much the serious endeavors of godly parents and masters might contribute to an early seasoning the tender years of such as are under their inspection, is abundantly evident, not only from their special influence upon them, in respect of their authority over them, interest in them, continual presence with them, and frequent opportunities of being helpful to them; but also from the sad effects which, by woeful experience, we find to be the fruit of the omission of this duty.”[4]

If a child has a negligent youth pastor, Godly parents will easily counter his influence.  But if a child has negligent parents, very rarely will a youth pastor be able to overturn the “sad effects” of which Manton speaks.  Jonathan Edwards put it boldly: “…Family education and order are some of the chief means of grace.  If these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffectual.  If these are duly maintained, all other means of grace will be likely to prosper and be successful.”[5]    

Thus, if we are going to stem the tide of youth leaving the church, I believe a key component is a fresh awareness of the centrality of the parents for youth ministry. Parents are the church’s primary youth pastors, and a central place in youth ministry today must be given to helping parents embrace that privilege and responsibility, and equipping them to do it.  Youth ministry has a valid and important supporting role to the parents, but it must never become a substitute.  Our youth are too important to allow that to happen. 

Note: This blog was originally posted by the White Horse Inn.  http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2012/06/28/the-parent-as-youth-pastor/

---

[1] Mark Devries, Family Based Youth Ministry, (Downers Grove, Intervarsity Press, 1994), 85.

[2] http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2009/summer/istheeraofagesegmentationover.html?start=1.  This is not an isolated report, the Southern Baptist convention in a 2002 Report on Family Life reported that 88% of children in evangelical homes leave church at the age of eighteen. 

[3] Devries, Family Based Youth Ministry, 78.

[4] Document online at http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html

[5] As quoted in Devries, Family Based Youth Ministry, 85. 

Book Review: Sexual Detox by Tim Challies

Pornography is one of the most pervasive sins to plague modern man. With the sexualization of T.V., Radio, Internet and magazines it is no wonder that the statistics paint such a bleak picture. It is rare now to meet a man (or even now a woman) who has not been exposed to pornography. The statistics for the church aren't much better. Many men need to go through "Sexual Detox", and Tim Challies has written a book that is a helpful step in that direction.

At 83 pages, Sexual Detox: A guide for men who are sick of porn is another helpful installation in the line of books from Cruciform Press. In this book the popular Christian blogger Tim Challies (www.challies.com) lays out the problem and then makes his contribution to the discussion of how to be rid of this terrible sin.

Challies points out the scary reality that many of the children being raised now will learn of sex not from their parents but from the internet, outside of their parents supervision and control. As of 2006  70% of men 18 - 34 have viewed pornography online. 1 in 3 viewers of pornography on the internet are women. Needless to say this issue is one that must be tackled head on.

Challies lays out the reality, "I want you to hate and fear the realities of pornography as you ought to hate and fear the sin itself. I want you to know that you cannot be a loving husband, an effective husband, or a godly man as long as your mind is filled with the lies of pornography." (p 19) 

Pornography is ultimately about self, ourselves and our self gratification. It is clearly focused on the sexual pleasure of the person viewing it. This is a total perversion of what sex is about. Sex is not meant for self gratification but for the gratification of another, namely your spouse. So when we allow pornography into our lives, we allow the pornographer's to shape our sex lives. "To give yourself over to pornography is to have your whole perception of sexuality altered, shaped by professional pornographers." (p 25)

Challies helpfully points out that the external act is merely an expression of the internal reality. So he says, "you need to replace lies with truth, and unholy practice with a holy one." (p 27) He then says that sex is a good gift from God and must be viewed that way if one is to be free from pornography. Often times in modern Christianity sex is viewed as dirty and something that must not be talked about, this view of sex has ultimately proven to be unhelpful and has hindered the discussion rather than help it. 

Throughout the remainder of the book Challies lays out steps to what he calls "Sexual Detox". He starts in the bedroom by laying out a proper view of what sex is, and encourages men to ask a series of questions. The most convicting of these questions being "Can you thank God for this?" This question is not only good for sexual sin but can be applied to sin in general. Understanding this is key, if we are to do everything with thankfulness to God then that makes sin in any area very difficult.

Challies then moves onto detox for your soul. This is where he really shines, many times in books like this the author proceeds to make a long list of things like add an internet filter to your computer or join an accountability group. But Challies starts by showing that this is a gospel issue that must have feet. He says, "Standing firm in the gospel and relying the grace and power of God to make our efforts effective, we must put off that which is of the flesh and in its place put on that which is of the Spirit."(p 70) He then moves to the very practical, "You need to stop looking at pornography. And you need to stop masturbating. Right now. As in, this instant. Not tomorrow. Today." (p 70)

Sexual Detox is a helpful tool to have for any man who struggles with pornography or any man who helps others who fight with pornography. 

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Chasing Shadows

One thing is clear about vacations:  even the best getaways aren't heaven, not by a long shot.  We just returned from a week of vacation with my family in my hometown of Des Moines, Iowa.  (Now if my Mom is reading this, I'm already in trouble.  But stay with me, Mom!).  I know, you might not expect Des Moines to be the coveted vacation destination, but we had a great time seeing family and we enjoyed some classic midwest activities.  We visited the beautiful and historic state capitol building and had a private tour by my aunt who is a tour guide there. We visited Living History Farms where my kids (and the adults) got to milk a cow, feed chickens and see what farm life is like.  We enjoyed the zoo and a great water park, and catching up with my family was wonderful.  We even had a classic midwest thunderstorm and my kids got to play in warm rain!  But as I said, no vacation is heaven.  We had a seriously delayed flight out and didn't arrive until 1:15am; my daughter Kaitlin took a fall and scraped up her leg, and did I mention that August in Iowa is HOT?  And of course, unlike heaven, the vacation ended!  Even the best vacations are filled with ups and downs.  And in summertime when we take a break and get away from it all, we easily put too much hope in these escapes, and even the best vacations leave us wishing for something more that can only be had in glory.  

Recently I read a sermon/lecture by C.S. Lewis called The Weight of Glory which he preached at a church in Oxford in 1942.  Ever since then my head has been spinning a bit with a couple of ideas that I'd like to share with you.  I'm not going to try to review or summarize the sermon entirely, but merely give a few jewels that I'm still inspecting in my own mind.  

In general his sermon is about the idea of glory in the Scriptures, particularly as it relates to us (the hope of glory that is held out for us).  We have in all of us a deep longing for glory, a desire to be with Christ in heaven, and nothing else can satisfy this desire. The problem is that we try to find other things that serve as a replacement on earth.  We chase shadows, so to speak, seeing in earthly pleasures the echo of the only thing that will truly give us satisfaction.  Lewis reflects on the way we tend to observe and enjoy beautiful earthly objects as though they were the goal:

"The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing.  These things - the beauty, the memory of our own past - are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers.  For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited."  

How helpful this is in understand how idolatry works!  As a musician I know this struggle deeply.  I love great music, and the beauty and power of a well-crafted composition is captivating.  In the midst of enjoying such music, there is a kind of longing that can be felt.  But it is easy to assume that the longing felt means that what we really seek and need is more music!  The desire that is produced should instead move us toward God himself, since the desire awakened in us cannot be fully satisfied by the earthly pleasures we enjoy.  In this way the beauty of a piece of music is to be a pointer to the Author of beauty.  The enjoyment of some earthly beauty is a good thing and not to be spurned because of the possibility that I might turn it into an idol, but it can easily become the thing on which I place my hope.  

It is in this context that Lewis pens one of his most famous quotes, which is worth mentioning if you've not read it before:

"If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

Paul speaks to Timothy about the basic goodness of all things mixed with the warning against making them ultimate things:

"As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy" (1 Timothy 6:17).

Great help is provided here to maintain the proper balance in the use of the things of this world.  "Riches" seems to be broadened by Paul in its application when he says that God "provides us with everything to enjoy."  Several points to consider: 

1.  The things in this life can be a detriment to our holiness if not used properly - "as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty..."

2. The things in this world can easily become a god to us - "charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches..."

3.  All things are a gift from God, and such a view will enable us to hold them with an open hand - He "richly provides us with everything..."

4.  The things of this life are meant for our JOY!  "He provides us with everything to enjoy."

I believe Lewis is making this point when he says that "these things - the beauty, the memory of our own past - are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers." Likewise we find ourselves content in the mud puddle, setting our hope on worldly things and not seeing them as good gifts from God designed to turn our eyes toward Him.  

So let's end with a question:  what are the things in your life that are good gifts for you to enjoy?  If we're honest in our self-assessment, we know exactly how and when we set our hopes on them.  We lose them and we get angry or frustrated.  They don't provide all we want, and we get bitter or disappointed.  The good news is that these things are still good gifts, but never designed to bear the weight of being God in your life.  Jesus is the only One who can give us what we desire!  

"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth" (Psalm 50:2).

Today as you enjoy the good things God has provided, look through them with the eye of faith to see the beauty of the Savior.

There is more to chew on from this sermon by Lewis,  perhaps in a subsequent post.  

Blessings,

Pastor David

God's Work in the Broader Church

North City Presbyterian Church is a member church in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).  I'm so glad that God is working in so many Gospel believing, Bible proclaiming churches and denominations around the world.  But I'm especially thankful for the PCA and the opportunity to serve in a biblically grounded, doctrinally sound, Gospel focused and mission-driven denomination (yes, that was a mouthful!).   One of the many benefits of being in the PCA is the connection and accountability we share with other churches.  Every June (Lord willing) I have the opportunity to participate in our yearly denominational meeting known as the General Assembly of the PCA.  Pastors and elders from the entire denomination gather for 4-5 days to pray, worship, and discuss the work of God in the PCA. This year over 1000 commissioners met in Louisville Kentucky to celebrate 40 years since the birth of the PCA.  Here are just a few of the things that happened this year at the 40th PCA General Assembly:

Worship, Teaching and Fellowship


Every year there are three evening worship services with the entire assembly and many other guests - between 2000-5000 people worship together every evening!  This year one of my favorite historians Sean Lucas preached a sermon on Ephesians 1. My thanks for helping to jump start my sermon series!  There are also many seminars to provide training for pastors and elders.  Pastor Matthew Bohling (who preached for us earlier this spring) led a great seminar on church revitalization, particularly helping us more effectively fulfill the great comission.   One of my personal highlights was the fellowship with other men in ministry.  This year I was privileged to reconnect with our own Emma Kiwanuka who flew in from Uganda to be a representative to the assembly for the PCA's work in Africa.  It was a huge blessing to speak with him about the progress of Westminster Theological College and Seminary.  God is richly blessing this great work!  I also had the privilege of speaking with two team members who went with Heather Gideon to India this summer and hear a wonderful report of how God worked through this missions effort.  Many men who once were interns at NCPC also attended the assembly, and it was exciting to hear how God is using them in ministries all over the world.

The Work of the Assembly


Every year there is a combination of informational reports from the various agencies of the PCA and overtures that are brought before the group concerning doctrinal and ministry questions.  It is always encouraging to hear how God is extending the work of missions at home (Mission to North America) and abroad (Mission to the World) as well as many other Gospel endeavors.  There were several main issues that were discussed and acted upon:

1.  Theistic Evolution.  There has been increasing debate and discussion about the relationship between evolution and creation recently in our circles.  An overture was brought from several presbyteries asking the PCA to make a formal statement against Theistic Evolution as a biblically viable view of the origin of the human race.  Interestingly, on both sides of the debate no one advocated in favor of the theistic evolutionary view, but after much debate the assembly voted to not make such a statement, instead affirming that the Westminster Confession of Faith speaks sufficiently to this issue.

2.  Paedocommunion.  This is the practice of giving all children (even infants and small children) the Lord's Supper regardless of whether they have made a profession of faith.  The PCA has historically always said that this is a non-biblical practice, affirming that a profession of faith is necessary before a person takes the Supper.  This year there was discussion that centered around the question of whether an elder can hold to this view while not practicing it, and whether a presbytery ought to ordain a man and grant him an exception provided that he does not practice paedocommunion in his church.  At this point elders who hold this view can continue to be ordained provided that they do not practice it.

3.  Intinction.  This is a particular practice in the serving of the Lord's Supper where instead of having an individual cup, a person takes the bread and dips it in a common cup of wine or juice.  There are a number of churches that serve the Lord's Supper in this way, and an overture was brought before the assembly asking us to amend our church constitution (known as the Book of Church Order) so that this practice would no longer be allowable.  The motivation behind this overture was that Jesus' institution of the Supper involved two separate actions which each have unique significance.  This overture was approved, but now it must be sent for a vote to individual presbyteries to ratify the decision.

4.  The PCA's membership in the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).  An overture was brought asking the PCA to withdraw from the NAE because of some highly questionable activities and positions taken by them in recent years.  The assembly voted to stay in the NAE for the time being but closely monitor the situation and revisit the question at a later assembly meeting.

5. Insider Movements.  This is a phenomenon that is beyond the space allowable here, but the bottom line is this:  An insider movement is a group of people in a non-Christian community who have embraced Christ as Savior and yet remain relationally, culturally and socially part of the religious group into which they were born.  This seems to be happening more in some Muslim, Jewish and Hindu groups.  They reject the non-biblical views and practices of their ancestry and yet remain embedded in those communities (hence the term "insider movements").  There has obviously been some debate in missions circles about whether a person in such a movement can remain faithful to Christ.   The issue brought before the PCA however had to do with Bible translations.  Some translations developed by non-PCA entities are specifically targeted to Muslims in these movements and have removed common terms such as "Father" and "Son" when referring to God the Father and to Jesus (evidently in an attempt to reach them more effectively). These translations have replaced them with terms such as "representative" and "guardian."  The PCA voted overwhelmingly to urge missions and translation organizations to retain the original common terms of "Father" and "Son" because of their rich theological importance in learning how we relate to God and how the persons of the Trinity relate to one another.

Something was clear to me as I observed and participated in the work of our General Assembly:  this is a group of leaders who truly desire to be faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission.  Even when there were long and sometimes tedious reports and debates, the Gospel still remained at the center of all our work.  It is an honor to be in the PCA, an honor to represent North City at our General Assembly, and a privilege to be a part of what God is doing in and through His church around the world.  Do you have questions about the PCA and why we do what we do?  Let's get coffee and talk!

Glad to labor among you,
Pastor David

What is a Successful Youth Ministry, Part 3

 In the last post I identified a radical dependency on God’s sovereignty and his promises as a key foundation for successful youth ministry.  Apart from the sovereign work of God’ grace replacing hearts of stone with hearts of flesh, our youth ministry will ultimately fail.  Given this, it is vitally important that we submit our plan for youth ministry to God’s plan for youth ministry.  Since only God brings the growth (1 Cor 3), our goal in youth ministry must be to do the planting and watering work in the way that he has appointed.  Put another way, we must look to the Bible to provide more than simply the content of youth ministry, but also to provide the direction for how we are to do youth ministry.  True, the Bible does not give specific instructions regarding the types of programs that churches should have for youth ministry, but it would be a serious mistake to think that the Bible does not address how youth ministry should be done.  It does not provide all of the particulars, but it does give us core foundations to build upon.     

   

What are these core foundations?  I believe the model of youth ministry that the Bible lays out for us to follow involves two key components: (1) Faithful nurture in the home by parents, and (2) Multi-generational discipleship in the church.  As I will demonstrate in upcoming posts, these are the two pillars which undergird a biblically based ministry to youth. Put another way, biblically based youth ministry is first Family-Based and second Church-based.  In my opinion, it is the removal of one or both of these pillars that has created the current crisis in contemporary youth ministry.  The problem with much of contemporary youth ministry is not that it is not well -intentioned, but that it has undermined or ignored these God-given foundations.  Parents either turn their child’s spiritual well-being over to the “youth-pastor” (thus ignoring the first pillar), or a church allows a separate youth culture to exist alongside the rest of the congregation (thus ignoring the second).  

To sum up: there is a lot of room to operate in youth ministry, but we must operate on the foundations that God has provided.  If we jump off of God's foundations in an attempt to be more "relevant," it can only result in long term harm for our youth. In the next post I will take a closer look at the first foundation of youth ministry:  Faithful nurture in the home. 

Bringing the Gospel to Covenant Children, Part 2 (Book Review)

In the first post on this subject, I reviewed Beeke’s explanation of the need our covenant children have of being evangelized.  In this final post, I first overview his instructions on the content that should be taught to covenant children, and second his description of the means we should use to bring the content to covenant children. 

Teaching the Content of the Gospel:

      In a nutshell, Beeke exhorts parents to teach their children the whole counsel of God.  Parents should not be content that their children know a few bible stories, but we should impress upon their hearts the biblical teaching about:  

1.      God
2.      Seriousness of Sin
3.      Hell
4.      Necessity of the New Birth
5.      The Law of God
6.      The atonement
7.      Faith in Christ
8.      Teach them about Jesus
   

Using the Means:

Armed with the content of the gospel, Beeke’s final section is an encouragement to parents to make the most of the means that God has provided for the evangelism of their children.  While he lists several, two of the most important are prayer and catechizing.  

Prayer:

Since it is God alone that can bring the new birth to our children, prayer is an essential privilege and responsibility of parents for their children.  Parents should make it a point to pray for their children as well as pray with them on a consistent basis.   Chares Spurgeon once wrote: “How can a man be a Christian, and not love his offspring?  How can a man be a believer in Jesus Christ, and yet have a cold and hard heart in the things of the kingdom towards his children?...It is our business to train up our children in the fear of the Lord; and though we cannot give them grace, it is ours to pray to the God who can give it; and in answer to our many supplications he will not turn us away, but will be pleased to regard our sighs.”  

Catechism:

Unfortunately, Catechism is a lost practice in many Christian households today and badly needs to be taken up.  Catechism, teaching bible knowledge and doctrine to children through a question and answer format, was a backbone in the reformed church for many centuries.  Puritans especially believed that the ministry of the Word on Sunday should be reinforced by personalized ministry through catechism.  Parents were expected to set aside time each week, in addition to family worship, to catechize their children. Behind this was the desire of the parents and churches that their children do more than “ask Jesus into their heart” but actually understand who Jesus was and what he had done for them.  Properly understood, evangelizing our children is not merely bring our children to make a profession of the Gospel, but teaching them what it means to live in light of the Gospel.  Parents should be looking for more than a quick and easy conversion of their children, but rather be committed to building up lifelong believers whose hearts, minds, will, and affections are won for the service of Christ. 

Practically, Beeke gives several suggestions for catechizing children today:

1. Do it at least weekly with your children, 30 - 45 minutes. 
2. Use a good catechism like the Heidelburg or WSC 
3. Use illustrations from Scripture and daily life to help the children understand the answers they are learning
4. Persevere even when you do not see fruit. 

Conclusion:

Christian parents should remember that leading a child to Christ is a journey, sometimes a long journey, in which they are dependent upon the Holy Spirit.  We cannot bring about the new birth in our children, but we can faithfully take hold of the means that he has given to us to use.  Our hope is that the sovereign God will delight to convince and convert our children from generation to generation, which he has promised he will do.