How to start a youth and adolescent ministry in the church? Or how can we maintain or revitalize a youth and adolescent ministry in the church? What structures are needed to ensure the success of pastoral care among youth and adolescents? What is a successful youth and teen ministry?
These are just a few of the many questions I hear about youth and youth ministry in the context of the local church. I’m not an expert on the subject, but I find myself in the responsibility of trying to answer some of these questions simply because I’m one of the pastors of a church that even has young people and teenagers.
Making the right decisions
The starting point of any reflection will guide your efforts in the pastoralization of young people and adolescents. A bad starting point can compromise the effectiveness of a department, even if it seems to grow or “make noise”!For example, it is common We talk about youth ministry as if it were a department to be developed without or with little or no connection to the rest of the life of the local church. We look at the youth and adolescents of the church as potential people who need to be entertained. or get distracted not to fall into the world! Ironically, it is precisely these approaches that have overshadowed the gospel message for young people and adolescents, prompting them to leave the church. So I want to suggest that the question “how to develop a youth ministry?”is not integral enough for the pastoral care of the young people and adolescents of the Church.
The Word of God sets parameters that raise other questions to build a vision of youth ministry within the local church We need a vision of youth ministry that cooperates with the Church’s specific mission: to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the glory of God (Matthew 28:18-20). Otherwise, we will achieve different goals, taking a whole generation of the general mission of the Church: to reveal the multiple wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10).
The issue is not simply an administrative matter for the church, well-meaning pastors and young leaders do not see the ministry of youth in the church as a department to be developed, youth ministry cannot be artificially separated from pastoral care. This is a problem that requires spiritual lenses provided by the Holy Spirit in the Word of God for a correct ministerial approach.
Let me suggest three biblical perspectives applied to youth pastoral care that pastors and leaders should consider:
1) Anthropological perspective
What does the Word of God teach about young people?If we do not respond adequately to this question, we will direct our efforts to solve a problem that the Bible itself has never raised. If the child is just the Future? The ministry of the church, the youth ministry will not encourage young people to serve or assume responsibility for the local church today. Or if you think the child will find yours?Potential? As you join a group that accepts you as it is and will stay entertained, will youth ministry focus on programs and events whose main goal is pleasure, at best, without pollution in the world?a ‘gospel club’. So we go back to God’s Word and ask: what is youth?
In the global anthropological perspective, youth is part of the unique category for all men: the sinner. Young people and teenagers need the gospel of Jesus Christ, capable of redeeming them from their fallen condition. Young people and teenagers need to hear the good news of the Lord Jesus. It includes a vision of who God is in His holiness, the reality of sin that separates us from God, the substitute sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the call to repentance and faith. The young man needs the gospel.
From a specific anthropological perspective [1], the young man is described with peculiarities of his age group, or better, of his stage of life. The book of Proverbs was written, among other purposes, to give knowledge and wisdom to the youth (Proverbs 1. 4) Therefore, we can expect information about the young man in this precious book of divine wisdom; much of the information about the young man will come in the form of an exhortation; that is, Solomon’s exhortation reflects a concern for his young son We must listen to the implicit description behind the explicit exhortation.
According to Proverbs, young people tend not to value wisdom and lack judgment (Proverbs 3: 4 and 7). Not in vain, Solomon insists on showing the value of wisdom to his son. ?My son? it is a phrase that is repeated over and over again to draw your child’s attention to the value of wisdom and its teachings. The book of Proverbs still describes the young man having difficulty choosing his companionship (Proverbs 1. 10ff) and more sensitive to sexual temptations (Proverbs 2. 16; 5; 6. 20-35; 7). The book shows that young people generally do not have a mature eschatological perspective. In other words, young people find it difficult to understand the long-term consequences of their short-term decisions. Many believe that they will be young forever and that tomorrow does not matter. That is why much of the book focuses on building a mentality capable of discerning good from evil, showing the relationship of cause and effect in the order created by God. At the center of it all, the book of Proverbs shows that the young man tends to focus firmly on the heart (Proverbs 4:23). For this reason, they like to test their limits within a legalistic view of the law. Young people and adolescents tend to do the minimum necessary to avoid having problems with their parents, authorities and the church. They build a lifestyle closer to their desires, even if the relationship with Christ costs.
In the next post we will see the other two necessary perspectives: ecclesiological and pastoral.
[1] The specific anthropological perspective is the result of the study of the excellent article The Way of the Wise: How to Talk About Sex with Adolescents?by Paul David Tripp in Book of Bible Counsel, vol. 4, SBPV.
By: Alexandre Mendes
Review: Vinicius Musselman. © 2016 Faithful Ministério. All rights are reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: How to start a ministry for youth and adolescents in the church?(Part 1 of 2)
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