Meeting the Needs of the Youth

Y bring outh in my books would be defined as roll 8 Grade 12. What makes this a challenging ministry, is the ever changing make-up of the youth. It seems that every 6 months or so you keep an holyly new youth group. It is non new in the normal sense as most of them have been In the youth ministry for a while, It Is that they have all changed and it seems like a new group. They speak of the generational theory, stating that each 20 years or so we have a opposite generation.I however see a new generation every 2 3 years. The culture we live In Is changing at a pace never before experienced. Simply looking at the advancement of technology over the last decade demonstrates for us the enormity of our current growth spurt. Although I fall in the same generation theory category as many of my youth, they are vastly different to me. A change has definitely taken place. I am not sure when It was that I moved out of the cool to boring category but It seems that it has happened. As all t his change takes place one can only expect that the ineluctably will to a fault shift.What I wanted as a youth is most definitely not what the youth wants today. And it is herein that the difficulty lies, assessing the needs of the day. Meeting this Need at once that the greatest need has been identified, how are we to meet this need. Let me suggest the following methodology 1. Clear concise exposition of the Word. There Is no other appearance to bring a person to the point of repentance. capital of Minnesota while ministering to an Idol riddled generation, did not s frequently the truth. No In Acts 17 we see that Paul does not shrink in declaring the whole counsel of God. Paul even goes s far as telling the hostile audience that they need to repent.Too often today those ministering to youth do not want to teach on so called hard truths found In scripture. We are being told by the experts that doctrine too much doctrine is not good. At a recent youth dieshop we were told that te aching systematically through a book of the record is Just wrong. We were told that the youth wants fun filled stories and entertaining challenges and nothing that actually breaks down their self esteem. In saying this however, I do agnise that some systematic teaching can be done incorrectly, so as to bore or put anyone off.The clear concise exposition that is ask is one that requires much preparation. The preacher needs to know his audience and has to be diligent to bring the message to bear on that audience. Just as it is no use teaching speed reading to 4 year olds, it is no use teaching Supernaturalism to your youth group. It is my opinion that it takes much more work to teach the scriptures to youth and children than adults. More illustrations are needed, more explanation is needed and bridging the gap requires more work. But at he end of the day Is that not what preaching Is all about? 2.Diligent discipleship 1 OFF to convert the nations. The youth worker needs to work har d at discipline his youth. This takes the form of personal discipleship and the arranging of other discipleship relationships. It is not a dereliction of duties to ask some of the adults in the church to help with discipleship. One youth pastor cannot himself disciple the entire group. This is the primary reason I prefer not to have the main youth meeting on Sunday nights when the adult church meets next door. No, the juvenility people need to get to now the church members and see how they live their Christian lives.This is not a new concept, but simply the Biblical modelling of having the older men and women training the younger members of the church. (Titus 21-8) Discipleship is hard work and time consuming, but also the most rewarding part of my ministry. What a bliss it is to see a young man growing in his walk with the ennoble and seeing the same young mans discernment consistently growing. Loving check It is often difficult to find fault with one of the people we love an d enjoy. We perceive that our admonishment will create barriers in our relationship.However faithful are the wounds of a supporter. During my ministry I have seen that even though the initial reaction is not always what we would desire, the long term affects are rewarding. The youth sees that you are willing to admonish so that they can grow in Christ. You are not simply standing by and condoning (sometimes nonverbally) their obvious wrong behavior. This should always be done in love though. Admonishing must be done carefully and lovingly always addressing a pattern of sin and not one isolated incident. As a parent I feel the tension of loving and disciplining daily.None of us parents or youth workers delights in admonishing, but we are commanded by God to admonish. darn admonishing I always keep the following two Proverbs in mind Proverbs 1324 He who spares the rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly and Proverbs 89 Do not rebuke a scoffer, lest he hates yo u Rebuke a wise man and he will love you. 4. Purposeful ministry The saying is true, if you aim at nothing you will be sure to hit it every time. In order for the youth ministry to be successful it needs to have a defined purpose.A narrow repose, having a large youth group is not specific enough. Each youth ministry is going to have a different local purpose I say local as the ultimate purpose should be to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Some local purposes will be to establish an initial vibrant youth ministry others will be to effectively reach the local High School, or even to establish spiritual growth in a core group. Whatever your purpose, it needs to be defined and a plan of action developed. It is grievous to know how you plan to achieve your purpose.What steps are you going to take so as to assure (realizing it is God who builds His church) that your ministry meets the intended purpose? Conclusion opus I agree that doing the same today as we d id 10 years ago is not going to cut it, I argue that at the emotional state the ministry is the same. The youth of today has the same fundamental need as the youth 30 years ago regeneration. If you are serious about meeting the needs of the youth this is where you must begin. Take the above begin to minister to the youth of today. Always keeping 1 Corinthians 10 31 as your guide.