The Gravity of the Bible – an excerpt from Rebooted

This is a short section from my new book, Rebooted: Reclaiming youth ministry for the long haul – a biblical framework. Check it out here.

When I was growing up, my brother was big into mountain biking. He made his own bikes, had all the right gear, and wore ‘biker’ clothing. One of his t-shirts had a picture of an upside-down guy who had just fallen off his bike with the caption: ‘GRAVITY. I fought the law, but the law won.’

You just can’t fight gravity! Think about the amount of money NASA spends on rockets, fuel and propulsion systems to fight gravity. Gravity is incredible. It’s a powerful force that draws things together, keeps things sound and solid, and it helps things move healthily. If gravity was suddenly just a little different on Earth, then we’d lose the integrity in our joints and bones and even basic movement would become painful. Gravity is a big deal. The Bible has its own gravity: it draws everything together, keeps you on the right track, and holds your ministry accountable. We need to surrender to its pull (it is God speaking after all) and let everything we do be shaped by it.

When we teach young people, we don’t need to be afraid of actually opening and digging into the Bible.[i] Over the past few years I have opened the Bible in every style of youth project I’ve done and – when I properly let them engage with it rather than just spoon-feeding it to them – it is always amazing.

I’d summarise what Peter was doing back in Acts 2 (and the Apostles throughout the rest of the story) as gravitating towards to the Word. They opened it up at every possible opportunity. They used object lessons, full-on speeches, little chats, supernatural miracles – everything they could think of – to illustrate what the Word is saying. These things always accompanied their speaking of the Gospel; they never watered it down or replaced it.

If in doubt, gravitate towards the Bible and use all your considerable creative talents to bring what it actually says alive relevantly.[ii] It really works, and I guarantee you that if you can say something well – God can say it better. Remember, it’s His mission.

There’s a scary and well-executed satirical training clip available on youtube called ‘Ignatius – the Ultimate Youth Pastor.’ Ignatius is the classic superstar youth worker, complete with his own theme music, designer haircut, and ill-conceived catch phrases. Throughout the video we see him doing increasingly stupid things, like dissing prayer and worship times, telling very inappropriate stories, and leading the most cringe-worthy, safeguarding nightmare of a response you’ve ever seen.

Just before he starts to give his disaster of a talk, he gets the young people to take out their Bibles and hold them above their heads. This is what he says to them:

“Repeat after me, say,

‘God’s word – is living – and active – it is powerful – it is more – than I – can deal with – at this stage of my life.’

Good. Put them under your seat, you’re not gonna need them tonight.”

Wow. What a terrible message to send to young people about their relationship to God’s Word! I sometimes wonder though just how close to this we sometimes get.

Proclamation vs. Conversation

When it comes to delivering God’s Word, throughout Acts we see both proclamation, which is public speaking to a group, and conversation, where discourse was happening back and forth.

What’s harder to see, however, is that proclamation most often (but not exclusively) happened when the apostles were talking to unbelievers, whereas conversation most often happened with believers (although again, not exclusively). It seems to me like we do this backwards, we talk with unbelievers, but talk at believers.

The reason it’s sometimes harder to see this in our Bibles is because we have translated a few different Greek words into one or two English words – all of which tend to assume public speaking. Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting that you need to learn Greek or Hebrew to find these little problems out (although it couldn’t’ hurt right?). A little careful reading will still give you the same insight. We’ll visit a clear example of this next in Acts 20, where Paul speaks to a group of believers.

Conversational teaching is pivotal in the work that I do. I give talks for sure, and I believe in proclamation, but I also give room for interruption and questions. The expectation is that a young person can also hear from God and genuinely add to the teaching. I do this with both unbelievers and believers, because we live in a world that has a high expectation for participation everywhere we look.  To make sure this doesn’t dissolve into pure subjectivism, however, it needs careful facilitation, a good grasp on the Bible, and faith that God will always teach when the Word is opened (even if it is a different point than planned). Amazing things can happen when you let yourself facilitate and guide a real conversation between young people and the Bible.

Acts 20:7-12 – Paul, Boring but Benevolent

Paul ‘kept on talking until midnight’ (v.7). Does this sound like a Pastor you know? In the next verse Paul continues to speak ‘on and on’! You could probably still remain true to the original meaning if you added ‘and on, and on, and on…’ However, it’s important to note that the word here for ‘talking’ implies talking with not just talking to. This is a conversation that Paul is facilitating.

In v. 9 we meet young Eutychus, falling asleep in a window box, three stories up. He was not being watched, but was left droopy, ignored and unnoticed – until he fell to his death (v.9). Only Paul saw, because only Paul was in a position to see.

Paul went down to Eutycus. Down three stories, down to the street, down to the ground, down to where there was death, and he covered Eutycus in compassion – literally lay across him, bringing Eutycus back to life (v.10).

Openly Cover in Compassion

Surely the principle here is simple, and the best place to finish this chapter: Notice young people, come to their level and openly cover them in compassion.

Now hopefully you will have policies in place that prevent you from actually lying on top of a young person – don’t do that! Luckily there are an infinite number of other ways to show them the love and compassion of our God without losing your job. Here are 45 random ones to get you started:

1. Notice them
2. Smile a lot
3. Learn their names
4. Remember their birthdays
5. Ask them about themselves
6. Make eye contact when you talk with them
7. Listen to them
8. Play games with them
9. Laugh with them
10. Reassure them that their feelings are okay
11. Set boundaries to keep them safe
12. Listen to their stories
13. Notice when they are acting differently
14. Present options when they seek your advice
15. Suggest better options when they act up
16. Share their excitement
17. Notice when they’re absent
18. Give them space when they need it
19. Contribute to their collections
20. Laugh at their (appropriate) jokes
21. Kneel, squat, or sit so you are at their eye-level
22. Tell them how fab they are
23. Learn what they have to teach
24. Find a common interest
25. Apologise when you’ve done something wrong
26. Listen to their fav music with them
27. Give them compliments
28. Acknowledge their efforts
29. Meet their parents
30. Be excited when you see them
31. Let them act their age
32. Be consistent
33. Marvel at what they can do
34. Applaud their successes
35. Pray with them
36. Delight in their uniqueness
37. Let them make mistakes
38. Give them immediate feedback
39. Include them in conversations
40. Respect them
41. Be silly together
42. Trust them
43. Encourage them to help others
44. Believe what they say
45. Involve them in decisions^[iii]

These are small practical things, but they reveal a youth worker that wants to consistently (saturation right?) show God’s love to young people. This is the God who ultimately, in Jesus, laid down His life to save us, and rose again defeating death itself. Paul, in Acts 20, showed the love and compassion of this God – and he showed it to a young person.

We don’t have a word written of the conversation that Paul was having with the room. But we know that God used his act of intense humility and tender love to bring that young person from death to life. Such is our challenge, and such are our tools.

[i] Cosby, B.H. (2012) Giving up gimmicks: reclaiming youth ministry from an entertainment culture. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R Pub. Chapter 3

[ii] Root, A. (2013) Unpacking Scripture in youth ministry. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan

^[iii] Many of these can be found in Fields, D. (2002) Your first two years in youth ministry : a personal and practical guide to starting right. El Cajon, CA: Youth Specialties Books published by Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. pp.98-99