If, as Martin Saunders said here, youth ministry needs a revolution, and if, as Ali Campbell said here, discipleship needs to be more about the how than the what, then maybe we need to start digging deeper and ask ourselves some serious questions.
Mark Yaconelli tells a story of when he met a nun and asked her what she does when she felt like she had nothing left spiritually. The nun said she digs deeper, because there is always more. There is always more of God to know and enjoy and worship. There is always more to understand from his word. There is always more to learn from him about ministering to young people. It will be challenging and involve dying to ourselves, but it will also be a beautiful revolution as new life in us, through us and around us is born.
Maybe Ali is right to call us back to a 'how' in our teaching, but maybe that's about more than 'how to read the Bible' sessions, valuable as they are. Maybe it's going to require a deeper sharing of our lives with young people.
Maybe this is a time for revolution. As those who have contributed to youth ministry maybe God wants us to review everything we are and everything we do because he has more for us, for our churches and for our young people. And by our young people I mean all of them in the UK now and in the future; they are our spiritual sons and daughters and we need to receive Gods heart for them all. So let me ask you: do you feel a sense of calling to the young people of our nation? Do you take some responsibility for the state we are in?
Martin asked us this question: what are you going to do about the state youth ministry is in? I am going to start by praying. To confess and repent of my own mistakes and weakness that has contributed to the mess. I am going to praise God for the glorious moments when he used me and young people benefited. I am going to thank God for the privilege it is to work with him to affect young people’s lives.
I am going to be silent in awe of God’s mercy, grace and kindness to me and to young people through me because I think it's pretty miraculous that youth ministry works. Because we know it does some of the time. We know the investment is huge and the outcomes are not always predictable and proportionate to the inputs. It's messy because it's about people’s lives, and that's fine, as long as lives are being transformed by Jesus who uses us as we do ministry with young people.
We need to see clearly where we are now in youth ministry and ask ourselves some questions: who are we? Do we need to review our character as individuals? Do we need to change how we are when we gather together as youth ministers? What are we aiming for with our youth ministry: transformed lives? Church attendees? Missionaries who make missionaries? How are we going to get there?
It's healthy to ask ourselves as we think about how we do ministry: what are the weaknesses? Have we stopped pioneering? Got lazy? Or too tired from boundary-less work addiction? Lost passion and hope in the gospel and Jesus to change lives?
On a national scale: What is the root of the problem we perceive? Did we put youth ministry on a pedestal and get discouraged when it fell off? Did many of us come to Christ through effective youth ministry and then idolise youth ministry instead of recognising it as a human construct used beautifully by God?
On reflection I spoke of youth ministry as though it were the saviour of the world. My attitude to ministry with other age groups in church was not always right. I think I may have set youth ministry up to fail thanks to my misrepresentation of this tool in the hand of Jesus.
We need to be visionaries who can inspire our churches to adopt and love young people from our communities, but the vision is not youth ministry, the vision is Jesus. The vision is Jesus filling young people with his love and restoring their relationship with him. The vision is Jesus inspiring young people to follow him every day in every moment of their lives. The vision is Jesus using young people to bring his kingdom on earth, to love and serve the poor, to bring wholeness and healing and resurrection. Youth ministry is just us working with Jesus to see these miracles happen.
We know Jesus said he would build his Church so we can trust that Jesus is at work in young people’s lives through many means: their parents, their peers, their education, their local community, the media, as well as through youth ministers and the local church. We can pray and partner with God in every area to speak life into young people’s lives.
Maybe a youth ministry revolution will mean less jobs for youth ministers but more people ministering to teenagers. What is it we really want? A thriving industry or a healthier church family?
As I said at the start, I am going to start this revolution by praying:
Please God lead us to surrender everything to you. Help us see Jesus more clearly and follow him more closely whatever it means for youth ministry in our nation and in our lives. We know you love young people more than we do, give us more love for them, and more wisdom to perceive the way forward. Jesus, you are our vision, you have changed our lives, please help us see what you are doing and help us be obedient to your will so many more lives will be transformed by knowing your love and living your way. Amen.
