The Latest in Academic Youth Work Part 1: Fatherlessness and Discipleship

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This week is a study week for me. I’m in my old Bible College Library for 5 days working through Youth Ministry and Theology issues. Hopefully at some point I’ll get to grill some of my ol’ lecturers too!

Oak Hill has simply the best Bible-driven, theological education Britain can offer – so I’m starting off by working through the last couple of years worth of the the Youth Ministry Course’s top scoring Dissertations. One from 2013 on Fatherlessness and Discipleship stood out for me today:

“An Approach to the Discipleship of Children and Young People with Absent Fathers, Particularly Considering Their Understanding of and Interaction with God as Father” by Mellissa Christine Tuthill.

This is a brilliant, grounded and fantastically helpful approach to nurturing and growing young people who have grown up without a father.

Mellissa starts with devastating statistics which show that 50% of young people no longer live with both parents by age 15. The result, particularly for those who grow up without dad (whether he is physically or emotionally removed), is a fundamental underdevelopment of spiritual, emotional and psychological well being.

She then goes on to paint a picture of the Biblical picture of dad in the Jewish home as teacher, provider and protector and shows how each of these find their source and fulfillment in the person of God the Father.

To move us towards application Mellissa outlines a three-pronged model for discipleship that would be particularly effective for the Fatherless:

  1. Teaching and applying doctrine
    Correcting the distorted image of the Father from Scripture – particularity passages that speak to adoption, unconditional love, the trinity, perfection and God as Father.

Further to support this, working through important relational theology such as sin and idolatry and the nature of Grace.

  1. Biblical counselling
    Allowing the young person to work through and discuss the issues they face as a result of fatherlessness and work to a place of acceptance and forgiveness.

Mellissa takes us through Kübler-Ross’ classic stages of grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, and encourages us as counsellor to help young people through this process.

Some key phrases stood out to me here, specifically the importance of validating emotions and being as specific as possible in the healing process.

  1. Mentoring
    What Mellissa says is arguably the most significant and most effective method of discipleship for fatherless young people. The key to this is sharing life with young people, being something like a Father to them and following the practices of Jesus and Paul.

Much of mentoring comes from being a loving role model, not just from a mentor but from exposure to a whole, loving family unit. This latter point is what is often missed in conversations about mentoring. This can happen though intentional time together, but often happens through just ‘going shopping’, ‘washing the car’ or ‘going for a bike ride.’

 

The Latest in Academic Youth Work Part 2: Emerging Church and Youth Work

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Still happily embedded in my study week, enjoying dissertations from the best young academic-theological minds in the youth work world in Britain – moving on to my highlights from and thoughts on another Youth Ministry Thesis:

“Can Some Aspects of Emerging Church Culture Result in De-Emphasising The Bible In Contemporary Youth And Children’s Work?” by Philippa Ruth Wehrle. 2013.

Emerging Church? A preliminary thought.

It’s worth saying that this massively helpful critique of the ripples of the emerging church in youth work is really only based on the Brian McLaren aspect of the emerging movement. Although in many ways McLaren is the figure head of much of the emerging church and specifically emergent village, he is certainly not representative of all of it.

Philippa says “Whist emerging church proponents will slightly differ on their scriptural stance…” however my experience is emerging church proponents differ massively and wildly in their approach to scripture. Worth keeping in mind methinks.

The Reclassification of The Bible

Philippa begins by walking us through the reclassification of Scripture by McLaren as a Library rather than a Constitution. Another way of putting this might be useful and informative, but not authoritative and instructional. McLaren therefore treats scripture as an ongoing conversation which we are invited into but doesn’t hold the weight of sola scripture evangelicals classically have with it.

There are many beautiful things to learn from such an approach – mainly not allowing ourselves to read our own presuppositions into it. However as Philippa points out, taking this approach can also mean that the bottom drops out of the Word and our anchors and foundations start to disappear. The Word no longer has authority over believers and we need no longer to place ourselves under its instruction.

 “The authority Word of God is inseparable from the authority of the Person of God.”

I might find myself being more open to and favorable of much of McLaren’s approach than perhaps Philippa is, especially the conversational reading of God’s Word as timeless and relational. However I share her thoughts on the danger of ambiguity and downplaying of the authority present in the Word of God.

In a later section, Philippa shows how the authority Word of God is inseparable from the authority of the Person of God – to reject one is to reject the other. My suspicion though is if we find place for living authority in McLaren’s conversational approach to scripture we would learn boat loads!

Straw Men and False Antitheses

Very importantly Philippia critiques McLaren’s ethically questionable approach to argument and discussion. She lists off some of his false conclusions drawn from questionable arguments and identifies straw men opponents made in much the same way.

This is absolutely vital as McLaren’s foundational belief is in conversational theology, but his own approach to conversation and discussion is far more manipulative and dogmatic than can comfortably sit with this.

Much of his opponents are people or positions that he has either misunderstood or unfairly represented, but in his characteristically playful style he judges and demonizes whole schools of thought without proper discussion.

The result?

Having downplayed the authority of the Bible, and downplayed further intelligent defense of this authority we are led “into an ambiguous Christianity that tends to be idolatrous and autonomous.”

The Effect on Youth and Children’s Work

McLaren’s approach to scripture, says Philippa “means [young people’s] lives needn’t be challenged by biblical propositions which are often countercultural in today’s society; when the world and the Bible disagree, they needn’t choose between them, because the emerging church approach appears to offer both.”

She raises two important questions:

1st. “Is the emerging church approach and it’s de-emphasis of the Bible going to attract young people to Christianity?”

2nd. “Is it going to transform young people’s lives so that they become committed and mature followers of the true God who seek to serve him with their whole lives?”

“Personal faith in Christ, for it to be genuine and saving must have propositional content.”

To answer these Philippa points out the obvious important point which is that the world already offers them this form of ‘Christianity’; warm, simple, and compromising communities. Further she points out that ambiguity and uncertainty are not helpful for young people in this culture – they need structure, guidance and authority, especially now when the rest of the world is giving them less and less of this.

“Young people cannot be genuine believers simply because they are involved in social action, or have a vague notion of who God is: “personal faith in Christ, for it to be genuine and saving must have propositional content” says Philippa (quoting also DeYoung and Kluck, Why we’re not emergent, 74).

Philippa’s Conclusions

Young people need both ‘heart’ and ‘brain’ religion concludes Philippa. The Bible must be understood as the “true self-revelation of God to his people, though which the essential gospel truths are revealed, and by which Christians are authoritatively taught and corrected.”

The Bible is our way to understand Jesus and how we have salvation – so it must be protected as authoritative and taught as such.

My Final Thoughts

There is lots to admire about Philippa’s thesis. The Bible is certainly God’s own revelation; beautiful, true and authoritative. It is creative and life giving and communicates to us the very heart of God.

Further, her passion to teach the Bible wholly and counter-culturally to young people is excellent and needs to be mimicked across the youth work spectrum if we are to see young people be fully cross-carrying, God-exalting Christians.

However, there is some agitation I have at lack of engagement with the Bible as an organic book with relational, timeless, conversational aspects that are new and newly creative every morning. The Bible without the Holy Spirit is a book – simple as and no more. Dead and molting. But when the Spirit of God shines through the pages and meets with us then theology and Christianity comes to life.

In short the Bible is big enough to be subject to our humanity and God is big enough to protect His words through the grandest of scrutiny and the softest of liberal engagement.

The Bible does not save – God does. And He has a whole tool-belt to do that with. God has spoken yes – but God also speaks. The Bible is received, yes – but God is organic and takes all the time and space he wants to open and not close our perceptions of him. The more we nail down, the less we know God.

A Biblical Mandate For Youth Ministry

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If you’ve seen parts 1 & 2 you’ll know that I’m on a study week looking through the most resent, top scoring dissertations from probably the most academic, Bible-driven Bible College in the UK. Today I’m highlighting and summarizing the important argument in favour of Youth Ministry from the Bible in:

‘A Biblical Mandate For Youth Ministry’, by Andrew Cook.

This short thesis is broken into three parts:

1st – an opening discussion of adolescence
2nd – an outline of the argument against doing Youth Ministry
3rd – a Biblical defense of and model for Youth Ministry

I will go through each.

 

Adolescence

Andrew looks at both the sociological and Biblical approaches the adolescence question.

Sociologically Andrew points out, adolescence as a transition from childhood to adulthood has always existed in some form and is often referred to as ‘storm and stress.’ This term, coined by the largely discredited work of G. Stanley Hall has nevertheless been a useful term to describe this often tumultuous time of transition. The massive changes both socially and biologically during adolescence makes this transitional age group a very distinct people.

Although their is much disagreement, Andrew suggests a broad age group surrounding (just before, during and just after) puberty to be our focus.

Biblically, we find few places speaking directly to this transitional time, however historically they do exist. The Jewish education system celebrates times of transition for instance. Further, in passages such as 1 Chronicles 23 and Leviticus 27 we find that the age of 20 is a significant time for adult value and responsibility.

A category of ‘young men’ or ‘young adults’ also exist in places like Deuteronomy 32 and Jeremiah 6 – where such a group is seen as a sub-category of Children. In 1 John 2:12-14, categories include ‘children’, ‘young men’ and ‘fathers.’ ‘Youths’ is another term found many places such as Job 31 and 1 Timothy 4.

The adolescent ‘youth’ or ‘young adult’ stages of development Biblically are seen as time to grow away from youthful sin and temptations (1 Cor. 6; Prov. 5:3, 8; 1 Tim. 5:11; Prov. 1:10-19) and grow into wisdom and maturity (Prov. 1-9; 1 Kings 12:8; 14:30; 1 Pet. 5:5; 1 Tim. 5:1-2).

 

The Argument Against Youth Ministry

Instead of segregated youth ministry some say that we should look to integrated and inclusive whole family ministry.

Those supporting this argument (Andrew notes particularly the online film, ‘Divided’ by Philip Leclerc) say the crisis of young people leaving the church is largely the fault of what they call the ‘godless, pagan, Darwinian’ invention that is age segregated youth ministry. They note that only age-integrated worship is seen in Scripture where the youth-specific ministry and discipleship is given through parents alone.

They see age segregated youth ministry as undermining corporate worship and undermining parental ministry.

It’s worth saying, that even though the Biblical arguments presented by advocates of this argument are pretty weak they do raise some important challenges about integration and parenting.

 

The Biblical Basis For Youth Ministry

Andrew starts this section by helpfully saying:

“The argument against youth ministry cannot be supported biblically, but this does not in itself ratify all approaches to adolescent discipleship.

The spiritual poverty of some approaches is obvious: the gospel is not proclaimed, the Bible is not taught, young people are not included in the community of faith, there is little if any spiritual growth, and the only legacy seems likely to be some very high scores at Mario Kart and a few broken church windows.”

Andrew outlines (very basically) three of the most frequently used youth work models in the UK and their drawbacks:

– Incarnational model – prefers sharing stories to preaching the gospel.
– Worship model – encourages faith based on subjective, emotional experience not propositional truth.
– Funnel model – prefers entertainment to Bible study and content.

This is a useful set of thoughts to have in the backs of our minds as we continue.

Andrew finds Biblical examples of ministry happening with adolescents outside the nuclear family but within the church family. For instance in Deuteronomy 29 there is a communal approach to sharing responsibility for each other – specifically the elders for the young people in the whole community. Also, in Nehemiah, Ezra groups people according to their ages in order to teach God’s word (Neh. 8). Further, in Proverbs there is a communal nature to teach wisdom to youths outside the nuclear family unit. Finally, in the New Testament there is a big push towards shared community life and specifically Andrew gives us Titus 2 as an example of the young being taught communally and Luke 2:41-52 where the 12 year old Jesus is sitting with the elders – away from his parents – discussing God’s word.

All this said, there is a prominent push in Andrew’s model to integrate young people into the church and support parents as much as possible – not exclusively (like the proponents against Youth Ministry might say), but heavily.

Andrew therefore goes on to find a prime but not sole responsibility on the parents to disciple young people (Deut. 6; Prov. 1-9; Eph. 6) and some age-specific applications of Biblical truth outside the sole parental structure (Eph. 6; Col. 3). Finally Andrew demonstrates how Church is family just as important as the nuclear family (Mark 3:31-35; Luke 14:26; 1 Tim. 5:1-2) and shows how special space is given to ‘youths’ (1 Cor. 12:21-26).

 

Concluding Thoughts

All this goes to show that youth ministry within a inclusive church family structure is a Biblical model for Youth Ministry. Youth Ministry should never be solely segregated, divided or exclusive – and the parents should not be undermined. However the growth of adolescence is the responsibility of the whole community with a Bible-driven passion for youth discipleship. This vital for the health of the whole church – and vital to the health of successful youth ministries.

Thank you Andrew! Lots of helpful things in here and a wonderful grasp of the Bible’s role in defining what youth ministry actually is.

I would love to see a longer thesis with room given for models of general discipleship, spiritual healing, sanctification and growth and how they would apply to this model – and I’d really value a look at culture differences and how these application might look in today’s unique world. Finally I’d also like to see what role Bible-drive, but culturally specific young people’s mission looks like in this church-integration model. My suspicion is it would struggle somewhat without some more cultural wiggle-room.

Well worth the time in the Word! Cheers.

Teaching The Trinity in Youth Groups

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“It seems that Jesus is popular by reason of being anchored in history, rather than floating in metaphysics.”

Such is the drive behind ‘The Trinity, the historical Jesus and youth ministry’ by Angus McLeay in ‘Towards a Theology of Youth Ministry‘ from The Ridley College Youth Conference Papers, 1998.

The Trinity by its very nature is taught as metaphysical and abstract with little or no tangible relationship to our experiences in reality. Trying to teach the Trinity as a knowable and relevant entity within youth groups is therefore incredibly difficult!

The Trinity on one hand is often communicated with metaphor, image, object lessons and concepts, and on the other hand with mystery and difficulty. This paradox is at best confusing. The analogies themselves (water, ice, steam; plant, root, flower… etc.) are always found wanting in its wake.

Rather than using the Trinity as a conceptual idea of God, McLeay says that ‘The Trinity is a statement about the relations that form the essence of God’s being.’ The Trinity is a statement of relations and relationship. This makes the doctrine far more teachable and applicable to young people.

The key to teaching the Trinity therefore is relationship. God is a relationship God – absolutely, necessarily, essentially and in eternally. He is many and one in community. We must teach Trinity by teaching the relationships between the members, and specifically how they play out in the Kingdom of God.

McLeay points out several of these Trinity-Kingdom relationship dynamics that are worth unpacking in a youth ministry setting (which I have fleshed out somewhat). These are all tangible and applicable and as such make the Trinity much more teachable rather than abstract:

Kingdom – God’s rule through Jesus over us His people and the world. Jesus has God the Father’s own authority for us to know Him through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We work with Jesus, through the conviction and strength of the Spirit to be a steward of the world the Father created. The Father gave this Kingdom to His Son, Jesus – secured through the raising of Him to life by the Spirit.

Allegiance – Jesus calls us to know the Father though Him – to commit to Him through the power of the Spirit and live with ‘radical, personal allegiance’ to God.

Father/Son – The relationship spelled out in the Old Testament as the King and Son of the King – the God and Son of the God (Psalm 2:2-9). Jesus’ identity is caught up in the identity of the Father. His confidence is in the surety of the loving, protective bond between them and His activities are the fulfillment (through the Spirit’s power) of the Father’s wishes.

Crucifixion & Resurrection – The Kingdom of God is secured through the powerful act of substitution on the cross. Jesus the Son, absorbing the wrath of God the Father in eternity though the eternal nature of their relationships, then brought back to life by the creational breath of God through the Holy Spirit. The resurrection also secures the Kingdom rule of the Son, as death itself (the biggest enemy) is placed beneath his feet.

McLeay ends with a whole bunch of practical steps to teach the Trinity which I’ll simplify here:

– Start with a Gospel story that picks up on Kingdom-Trinity relationships (something that shows how Father, Son and Holy Spirit relate).
– Refer to the oneness of these three beings in the course of other Bible Studies constantly asking the question, ‘what does this tell us about God?’
– Link any relational teaching and concepts back to the Trinity, and particularly examples in the Gospels.
– Look for Trinity links when teaching Kingdom concepts like identity, authority, independence, identity, individuality and outreach.

 

The Bible And Young People, Stephen Hale

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The Bible And Young People, Stephen Hale

Quote from ‘A Theological Model Of Youth Ministry’ from Stephan Hale in ‘Towards a Theology of Youth Ministry‘ from The Ridley College Youth Conference Papers, 1998.

Jesus was himself an adolescent and had to develop and grow into adulthood (Luke 2:52). Jesus encouraged the Children to come to him (Luke 18:15-17) and had to discourage the disciples from keeping them away from him. In the apostolic ministry in Acts, whole households were converted (Acts 16:30-34). Paul’s letters were addressed to household churches that included children. It was assumed they were present for the reading of the Scriptures and Paul’s letters, because he specifically addresses them in the household tables found in Ephesus and Colossians. Paul addresses younger leaders in his letters (1 Timothy 4:12-16) and young men and women as groups (Titus 2:4-8).

…

The Bible records the successes of many young people – David, Samuel, Esther, Josiah and Daniel to name but a few. The time of youth is one when great achievements and spiritual leadership are possible. God uses young people just as much as he does adults. We need to honour young people, nurture their faith, character and gifts and give them openings and opportunities.

6 Ways to Train Teenagers to Read Their Bibles

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Youth work models need to firmly stand on the Bible. God’s word needs to be sewn into the very fabric of discipleship that we are developing. This means helping young people engage with the Bible for themselves. We need to train teenagers to read their Bibles fully.

Getting young people to independently open the Bible and read it is a great victory, but only half the battle.

The second half is to help them independently examine and understand the Bible for themselves – and this is frankly where most of us wimp out!

A Generation Bought Up on Spoon Feeding Notes

I was struck recently when reviewing some popular Youth Bible study notes by just how proof-text-with-explanation based they were. Spoon fed, on a plate with little or no reference to how, who, what, when, where and why. No need to think or examine the verses whatsoever. Really no need to read them. What they did most clearly was help young people examine themselves as a person and apply new things to their lives. This begs the question though; if that application is not being built from the Bible passage, where is it coming from?

“Getting young people to independently open the Bible and read it is half the battle, but this is far from the whole battle!”

This, of course, is the method of Bible study most of Gen Y and the Millennials have been bought up on; the soundbite and the blog. An interesting read that demands little if any independent thought.

My wife works in a Christian bookshop, and by perusing the Youth Bible studies section you can see that in the last decade this is a pretty standard pattern. For many of us this is Bible study, we’ve never known anything different. Our Bible study notes include a passage to read, a proof-text (‘key verse’) taken out of context and a basic thought from it explained and opened up – with a couple of challenges thrown in for good measure.

This isn’t Bible study though. Bible study is having a conversation with God through the text. Reading it properly, asking it questions, looking for patterns, relationships, correlations and hidden gems is Bible study. Exegesis (to use the proper term) is getting into the nitty gritty, learning how to read the Bible independently and hear it’s challenges without the need for supporting notes.

Why Is This So Important For The Next Generation?

Not training young people to exegete-read the Bible (that is seek to swim in it’s depths and find treasure) is like buying them a guitar in order to introduce them to Brit-Pop; it’s only going to go so far!

Young people need to know how to read their Bibles so that they:

  • Can develop a personal relationship with God that’s independent of their youth group, church community or Bible notes
  • Have more to offer in their youth group and church community life
  • Will grow in their personal holiness and faith and will challenge others to do so too
  • Can keep a growing check their own sin and personal habits
  • Will learn to recognize and discern God’s voice more clearly and notice when it’s missing,
  • Won’t fall victim to spoon feeding and won’t be dependent on fallible teachers and notes
  • Will know how to pick a healthy Church when they are at uni etc.,
  • Can survive when not able to find good Bible teaching.
  • Will simply live life to its fullest the John 10:10 way!

We need to teach young people how to read the Bible – not just to read it.

How do we do this?

For a basic way in I offer a mix of five random things to help us teach Bible study to our teenagers:

  1. Learn to do it ourselves!!!
  2. Model it in Bible studies
  3. Get them to do it in breakout pairs/groups when in Bible studies together
  4. Help them one-to-one
  5. Get them to read a book like ‘Dig Deeper’ by Nigel Beynon & Andrew Sach
  6. Teach them to get messy!
  7. Learn to do it ourselves!!!

This is the key bit, and without it the other four bits won’t work. As I said before, many of us don’t realise that what we’ve been doing for the last who knows how many years isn’t really Bible study. It came as a huge shock to me when at 18 I went to Bible college and realised I knew spotty things about God without any reference to why, and when I discovered passages I had been using to prove certain ‘truths’ just didn’t teach them. I’m definitely not saying that we all need to go to Bible college, but we do need to make some serious effort – you won’t regret it!

– Find decent Bible teachers and stick to them
– Listen to amazing Bible unpacking talks (desiringgod.org)
– Find mentors or mini classes
– Read good Bible teaching/explaining books
– Read your Bible slowly with highlighters, pens, paper, margin mess… whatever you need

  1. Model it in Bible studies

Leading decent Bible studies as a group has got to be the linchpin. It’s the key place that they will pick up and learn how to do it and it will give them the overviews and anchors they need, along with an accountability space to check up on how they’re doing.

“We need to teach young people how to read the Bible – not just to read it.”

– Teach and display where and how you made points from the Bible when you make them
– Ask questions that make them look at the text itself, even (sometime especially) if the answers are obvious
– Ask them to summarize main points, identify characters, examine the context etc.
– Print out copies of the passage for them to go through highlighting things like verbs, nouns, speeches, connectives, etc. that might be useful in the study
– Get them to ask their own questions of the text itself and answer those together first (my first question after reading every passage is ‘what did you notice?’)

  1. Get them to do it in breakout pairs/groups

The next zeroing in step to independent Bible study after the small group, is getting them to help each other – without relying on you the teacher. This givens them a chance to adapt what they’ve learned, try their strengths, push their confidences, work on their community interaction and help each other out!

– Give each breakout pair/group a section of the passage to study together then summarize their findings to the whole group
– Make sure they’ve got space to write, scribble, & highlight (printed off passages are great)
– Give them specific questions to answer in their group from the passage like ‘what is the main point,’ ‘what shocked you the most,’ ‘what did you learn that you didn’t know before’
– Allow them the option of feeding back in creative ways (pictures, drama, song) as long as it communicates the actual passage itself
– Give them enough room and time to complete the task well, but not so much time that they can wander. Knowing that they will need to feed back is usually encouragement enough to stay on task

  1. Help them one-to-one

The final step to independent Bible study after group and small group work is getting alongside them to mentor, teach and role model what’s in the word. This is important for a whole world of stuff – and teaching Bible reading (overtly or not) is invaluable for all of it.

– Get alongside them for 20-40mins JUST to read the Bible with them. Pick a book and go through it verse by verse, word by word
– Start each new meeting with them summarizing the passage from the last meeting
– Get them to delve into why specific words we’re chosen etc.
– Look at tools like ‘context’, ‘purpose’ and ‘order’ in the passages you choose. (N.b. I usually find 1-2 verses a week works well for most growing Christians)

If you would like a free downloadable crib sheet that I’ve used before click here.

  1. Get them to read a book like ‘Dig Deeper’ by Nigel Beynon & Andrew Sach

Rather than buying them Bible reading notes, buy them an easy usable how to manual that will help them read the Bible itself without notes. Dig Deeper is an epic example that I highly recommend. It’s great for independent work, or one-to-one, but can also be a good group study tool and it’s useful training for Bible study leaders.

– Buy the book for them as a gift, and make sure you’ve read it yourself!
– They should read a chapter a week & do the examples
– Ask them questions on it & ask to see their examples
– Give them new verses to work on that need the tools explained in the book to understand

  1. Teach them to get messy!

Teach them to get messy! I don’t care if they need to underline every single word in a different colour, allow them to draw in their Bibles – or if that’s a cultural no-no where you are, print out passages for them!

– They should do whatever helps them s l o w  d o w n , ask questions of the text, and highlight key sections. I’d rather a young person come with a tatty, Biro-blessed, dogeared Bible than a pristine one that’s obviously never been touched.
– Teach them to get personal with the Bible and get messy with it. Bring out the highlighters in droves (you can always buy a new one for them!)

 

Your First Question at Youth Bible Studies

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So you’ve had some food, played a game, prayed and read your passage – now it’s time for the study. What do you do? What’s the first question? How do you start off in a way that sets a direction that will bring these young people on in their walk with God and their relationship with the Bible?

This first question should 1. draw them back into the passage not away from it, 2. leave room for misunderstanding and vulnerabilities, 3. give space for different opinions, 4. not be an excuse for the opening portion of a sermon and 5. simply get them talking as a group.

“This simple question is your chance to establish Bible, group, individuality and agenda – on their terms – in one swoop!”

My first question is always, without exception the same: “What did you notice?”

I might milk it a bit: “So what did you notice, anything at all, what did you like, not like, what sounds cool, what doesn’t make any sense … what jumped out at you, for any reason whatsoever?”

Starting with this question has often meant totally abandoning the rest as we have been jumping around the whole passage through what they noticed well into the evening.

There are some important followups that keep things moving and opening like: ‘why did that jump out?’ or ‘so what do you think that means?’ or ‘how would that look today?’ or ‘can you see anything else in there that points to that? And of course each time something is noticed, you can make it communal, ‘so everybody, what do you think that means?’ or ‘turn to someone else and explain that in your own words’ or ‘does anyone know the answer to that?

This simple question is your chance to establish Bible, group, individuality and agenda – on their terms – in one swoop. Don’t underestimate it’s power and always give it room. Youth Bible Studies are always worth it!

Helping Young People Understand the Bible – Not Just Read It

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Getting young people to independently open the Bible and read it for themselves is half the battle, but it isn’t the whole battle!

The second half of this battle is helping young people independently examine and understand the Bible – and this is frankly where most of us wimp out!

Not training young people to exegete-read the Bible (that is seek to swim in it’s depths and find treasure) is like buying them a guitar in order to introduce them to Brit-Pop; it’s only going to go so far!

Young people need to know how to read their Bibles so that they,

  • Can develop a personal relationship with God that’s independent of their youth/church community,
  • Have more to offer in their youth/church community life,
  • Will grow in their personal holiness and faith,
  • Can keep a growing check their own sin and personal habits,
  • Will learn to recognize and discern God’s voice more clearly and notice when it’s missing,
  • Won’t fall victim to spoon feeding and won’t be dependent on fallible teachers,
  • Can pick a better Church when they are at uni etc.,
  • Can survive when not able to find good Bible teaching.
  • Will simply live life to its fullest the John 10:10 way!

We need to teach young people how to read the Bible – not just to read it.

I offer a mix of four random things to help us do this:

  1. Model it in Bible studies
  2. Get them to do it in breakout pairs/groups when in Bible studies together
  3. Help them one-to-one
  4. Get them to read a book like ‘Dig Deeper’ by Nigel Beynon & Andrew Sach

I will attempt to do longer posts on each of these, but here are some mini-summaries for now:

  1. Model it in Bible studies.

Teach and display where and how you made points from the Bible when you make them  //  ask questions that make them look at the text itself, even if the answers are obvious  //  ask them to summarize the main points, identify characters, examine the context etc.  //  print out copies of the passage for them to go through highlighting things like verbs, nouns, speeches, connectives, etc. that might be useful in the study  //  get them to ask their own questions of the text itself and answer those together first.

  1. Get them to do it in breakout pairs/groups.

Give each breakout pair/group a section of the passage to study together then summarize their findings to the whole group  //  make sure they’ve got space to write, scribble, & highlight (printed off passages are great)  //  give them specific questions to answer in their group from the passage like ‘what is the main point,’ ‘what shocked you the most,’ ‘what did you learn that you didn’t know before.’  //  allow them the option of feeding back in creative ways (pictures, drama, song) as long as it communicates the actual passage itself.

  1. Help them one-to-one.

Get alongside them for 20-40mins JUST to read the Bible with them. Pick a book and go through it verse by verse, word by word  //  start each new meeting with them summarizing the passage from the last meeting  //  get them to delve into why specific words we’re chosen etc.  //  look at tools like ‘context’, ‘purpose’ and ‘order’ in the passages you choose. (N.b. I usually find 1-2 verses a week works well for most growing Christians)

  1. Get them to read a book like ‘Dig Deeper’ by Nigel Beynon & Andrew Sach.

Buy the book for them as a gift, and make sure you’ve read it yourself!   //  They should read a chapter a week & do the examples  //  ask them questions on it & ask to see their examples  //  give them new verses to work on that need the tools explained in the book to understand

This book can also be a good group study tool, and is useful training for Bible study leaders.

Extra….

Teach them to get messy! I don’t care if they need to underline every single word in a different colour, allow them to draw in their Bibles. They should do whatever helps them slow down, ask questions of the text, and highlight key sections. At the end of the day I’d rather a young person come with a tatty, Biro-blessed, dogeared Bible than a pristine one that’s obviously never been touched.  Teach them to get personal with the Bible and get messy with it. Bring out the highlighters in droves (you can always buy a new one for them!)