Evangelicals Now
Christian news worldwide
magnifying glass Search archives
home Home check the archives Archives Subscribe Subscriptions Advertising Information & booking of classifieds Adverts Find a local evangelical Church Find a church for the search engines and extremely curious! About us Contact us Site Map
Printable
Version

Monthly youth leaders column

A new slant?

Apparently those working in the world of advertising are always looking for a new slant. Some years ago BP paid an agency a lot of money to discover that ‘BP’ looked better in italics than in ordinary type.

Youth ministry has always been open to new slants for young people. In these days of spin, people are constantly trying to say things in a new a way which gives a product a new life. We have seen things drift into the church from this kind of area. Leadership style is in danger of wandering from the servant model of the Bible to the management model of the 21st century. There are things that can be learnt but that is not the way we should do things. A group with God at the centre operates in a very different style from those seeking a good return to their shareholders.

Let me entertain you?

In similar vein, it is very easy for us to drift into the culture in which our young people live where we are forced to ask — what can I do to keep these young people entertained? After all we say, Robbie Williams wants to ‘entertain us’. We must not be boring, but our primary purpose is not entertainment nor is it ‘trying to please men’. Anyone in youth leadership should have a clear vision of what the task is — namely to let young people hear God’s voice. If that’s the case, one of our primary tasks is try to understand God’s Word.

There are dangers here as we look at those around us who seem to have so much greater knowledge of the Scriptures than we do. Don’t let that deflect you from your primary task because Jesus’s words of encouragement to the lady who anointed his feet were, ‘She did what she could’. There are many faithful people up and down this land who turn up every week to teach young people and who deserve every bit of encouragement they can get. Such people need support, prayer and access to training, such as The Good Book Company’s Big Issue conferences, and courses like Root 66.

My experience

We may feel we need a new slant. But the task remains the same. I have been doing this task for nearly 40 years and some things have changed but I’ve never found a short cut around getting out my Bible, preparing a talk as carefully as I can, and then looking at ways I can present those ideas. There may be some good big events to go to but they are no more than the icing on the cake of what the local church is doing.

So, as we come to the end of another year (and I hope you get some time to relax over Christmas), ask God to renew your passion for teaching our young people and giving them some idea of how to live in their world as faithful followers of the Lord Jesus. Some of them make it. When you get to my age you know of some people with whom you spent many hours and worried about their lives, but they are still serving God. I know of many who drifted away from the things of God and who have returned as repentant sinners to the Lord Jesus and are following him.

As we celebrate the Incarnation of Jesus, what else can we do except tell people the gospel that he came to bring and of which he is the ‘author and finisher’. I have nothing else to say that would be of benefit to young people.

Dave Fenton