youth ministry
Should we give our youth a seat at the table?
Robin Barfield
How do you decide on your youth group programmes? Perhaps it is a sense of, ‘I would like to teach this part of the Bible next.’ I know that I have done that through the years. And that is okay; if I am enthused and being changed by Jesus from the text, then that will be infectious.
Perhaps it is a sense of, ‘I think the young people need…’ This is also okay, as it considers the young person, and it is seeking to address a perceived need or issue. Do we include the young people in shaping the programme?
youth ministry
How should we approach 'preaching' to young people?
Robin Barfield
In my last article we considered the importance of considering Scripture as a dynamic where our young people encounter God. It is not primarily about God or about them, but about how God communicates with them. If it were just about God, then it would be a lot longer! How does that affect our ‘Bible talks’?
youth ministry
Do we need 'less Bible' in our Youth Ministry?
Robin Barfield
Evangelicals love the Bible! We know that God speaks through it, and we love hearing from Him. That’s why we love being ‘Bible-centred’ and we are keen to make sure that shows in our ministries and our programmes. This is all wonderful but I wonder if sometimes, in youth ministry, we push this dynamic too far in a way that hampers what we are doing.
Part of the problem is that we can easily lose sight of the dynamic which the Bible sets us. In the 70s and 80s the Bible became a book about us. The reaction to this was that in the 90s and 00s we were told this was wrong; the Bible is a book about God. This has led to a model where the adult teaches, and the young person passively sits and listens. Rather, the Bible is how God speaks to us. There are two people in this encounter: the giver and the receiver. What is occurring when the Bible is opened is that we encounter God!
