(Joseph Smith’s 1st Vision picture brought to you by:   All rights reserved by DeseretNews)

In my previous church context the local Mormon youth group was killing it.  They had a strong youth program with solid students.  They had a well-established community and displayed remarkable character.  I was confused why a few of our students were so drawn to Mormonism and why the Mormon youth group was so effective.  I decided to do some research so I could figure out why the Mormon community was so attractive.  I was determined to find out why Mormons did better youth ministry than the Christians.

This is what I found in my sociological Mormon youth group research:

-  Mormon students really knew how to be inclusive, communal and still knew how to have fun without alcohol

-  Mormon students didn’t really know what the Mormon doctrine was really really about

-  Mormon students tended to confuse the Christian students about Jesus and the Bible

-  Mormon students exhibited a lot of great behaviors and were extremely nice

-  Some of my Christian students were ok with dating Mormon students

-  Mormon students were not afraid to share their faith

-  Mormon students were relentlessly inviting any type of student to their activities

-  All Mormon students we interacted with in our town had two parents who deeply cared, loved, and supported them

I concluded that the Mormon students were demonstrating more of Christ’s character than our youth group community was demonstrating.  This was a painful reality to admit, but it made sense to me.  If you have an accepting, loving group of people who practice what they preach, more people will want to be a part of it.  No hypocrisy, strong inclusive community, and character were the key ingredients that made the Mormon youth group so effective.  

So I went back to the drawing board and started planning a strategy for how our youth group was going to address, equip and educate our youth group students about Mormonism.  Here was the strategy I came up with:

 (1)  I would constantly be communicating and demonstrating the high value of respect towards the book of Mormon and Mormonism.  I intentionally wanted to show my students that we were not judging the Mormons, rather we were learning from them and respecting what they believe.  I really wanted to dispel the myth that Christians are closed minded and arrogantly judge other holy books.  I wanted to move towards treating other religious students (who had differing religious beliefs that Christians) with respect while still claiming Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.  There is a fundamental difference between respecting and accepting theology.  I worked very hard for our youth group not to judge the Mormon students as we educated and equipped our teens about Mormonism.

(2)  Get students to move away from narrow-mindedness. I strove to make my students feel like they were learning about other religions, namely Mormonism without being closed minded.  Holding to Christianity as the ultimate truth is not narrow-mindedness.  Narrow-mindedness does not attach to what you believe, but how you believe it.  If our youth group refused to learn about any perspective, any religious book, or any philosophy which disagreed with the Christian doctrine – then that would be narrow-minded.  No matter what you believe there will always be opposition.  Learning about Mormonism was going to be a learning experience for everyone involved.

(3)  I committed to visiting a few local Mormon temples.  During the weeks I made multiple stops at the local Mormon temples.  During these visits, I would see if I could gather literature, multiple books of Mormon, and sit down and talk with one of the elders.  I wanted to simply befriend other religious leaders in my community and learn.

(4)  Teach on Mormonism and other holy books.  I really wanted to show how Mormonism and Christianity are drastically different.  You can explore my post about how I addressed the other holy books here and my teaching notes for how I talked about Mormonism here.  My goal was to get my students to critically and objectively think about how Mormonism and Christianity are not the same.  I wanted them to use their own brains to think.  I wanted them to process the information so they were able to have their own objective convictions about Christianity and Mormonism.  I did not want to see confusion in my students any longer.

(5)  I decided to invite an Ex-Mormon elder to come speak to our youth group.  One of my youth pastor friends had a connection to an Ex-Mormon elder, Tom Hall.  Tom was a Christian, a bit older, and a very wise ex-Mormon elder.  He spoke at youth group and had many great stories about his eldership in the Mormon temple.  Tom wrote a book titled:  Mormon Chronicles of Deception:  An Ex- Mormon Elder’s Journey to Biblical Truth.  Tom was awesome and totally connected with my students.  He gave each student his book for free and truly bestowed an inside perspective about Mormonism.  Tom initially got involved in Mormonism because he fell in love with a beautiful gal who was Mormon.  It took him a long time to be fully exposed to true Mormon theology, and he didn’t like what he learned or saw.  His journey back to Christ and Biblical truth was incredible and something the kids completely connected with.

(6) Supply students will resources.  A great historical book about Mormonism that I recommend to students was:  Under The Banner Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith.  Dare 2 Share also has some great Mormon resources for students here and here

(7)  I committed to inviting Mormon missionaries into my home so I could learn from them and ask a lot of questions.  I wanted to check out how much Mormon missionaries new about Mormonism.  I wanted to hear why they felt convinced to be Mormon.  I also was really curious about why evangelism and being on mission was so important and why they sacrificed 2 years of their lives to serve their district temples.

(8)  I asked my students to keep befriending, loving and respecting Mormon students.  I simply wanted my students to keep demonstrating the Kingdom of God.  I wanted to remind my students of the bigger Kingdom picture and not get confused as we explored Mormonism.  My hope is that all of my students will always be seeking Jesus and Truth while being the Kingdom of God here and now.

________________________________________________________

Do you have a high Mormon population where you do youth ministry?

How do you deal with the growing influence of Mormonism in your youth group?

Are your students confused and drawn to Mormonism?

Do you agree or disagree that Mormons tend to do better ministry because of their strong inclusive community and character?

A few weeks ago, I was asked:

What do you see as the biblical basis for youth ministry?

The question through me for a loop because I haven’t thought about a Biblical case for youth ministry in  a long time.  I know there are some that don’t think youth ministry is Biblical and that there are not enough Biblical passages that support the field of youth ministry.  But I think youth ministry is very Biblical and very essential for any adolescent who is going through his/her journey.

A Theology For Why Youth Ministry Matters:

Psalm 127:3:

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.

Matthew 19:14:

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Mark 10:13-16:

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

Jesus only gets mad twice in the New Testament.  

He gets mad at: the Pharisees for being too religious and at his disciples for rebuking the children that come running to Him.  My interpretation of these Biblical texts tell me a lot about how Jesus views kids and teenagers.  Jesus wants kids to passionately fall in love with Him and vice versa.

Honestly if Jesus attended church, I think he would want to spend a lot of His time with the teens because they are the trouble makers and the people in the church who are causing all the problems, including the youth pastor.  Jesus’ heart was for the marginalized.  I think today, students are heavily marginalized because they are living in an adult run and driven world.  Students are needing more non-parental adults to care for them and not get mad at them as they try and run/walk/jog/moonwalk to Jesus.

In the book of Acts Paul doesn’t talk about having a youth ministry department at the local church.  We don’t find any of Paul’s letter that are addressed to the youth pastor.  But what we do find is that Jesus gets really upset when adults get in the way of students who are trying to run to Him.  I think this is a big theological deal because it suggests Jesus has a special place for teens in his heart. Therefore I think the church should have a special place for teens to gather.

__________________________________________

If you were asked this same question:   “What do you see as the biblical basis for youth ministry” what would you say?

(sin photo brought to you by:   All rights reserved by Trudi Esberger)

Why Do Students Struggle With The Idea Of Sin?

I have had countless conversations with junior and senior high school students about their habitual sin patterns.  These older students tend to think if one cannot fully stop sinning, then what is the point to stop?

These jr and sr students have said the prayer, gone to camp, sang the worship songs, read their Bible, frequently attended church and youth group and they still have not seen any life transformation.  Their desire to stop sinning is dead.

The logic of these older high school students are:  I love Jesus and I love to sin.  Somehow they think it is okay to live this dual lifestyle.  This is a very confusing logic for any adult youth worker to understand.  The problem is that these students don’t know how to live out the text of Romans 6 and 7.  They think that living the Christian lifestyle is near impossible.  They don’t know how to answer the question of: how can I pursue righteousness and be sinful at the same time?

The Goal Of Youth Ministry:  How To Work With Students Who Love To Sin

Many of our youth ministries have relied on “sin management” (a term coined by Dallas Willard).  If we just get our students to be good, then our youth ministries are all good, which as a result gets our students to think their relationship with God is all good.  This is a classic case of behavioral modification.  We are all guilty of trying to engineer perfect behaviors in every teen that walks through the door of our church.

Mid to late adolescents brains are like a ferrari car without brakes.  Their neurons just don’t know how and when to stop. So it is expected students are going to make a lot of dumb decisions and mistakes.  

The goal of middle and late adolescent ministry is making disciples,[ Matt.  14:20] who are authentically walking with Jesus Christ within the context of Christian community.

This goal has four implications:  Student must 1) know 2) love 3) trust, and therefore 4) obey Jesus.

1. Students know Jesus Christ.  This is where Bible study fits and a strategy for increasing knowledge.  Student cognitively really know HIM.
2. Students love Jesus Christ which compels them to express their love for Him.  They have no problem showing affection towards HIM through prayer, worship, evangelism, service and spiritual disciplines.
3. Students trust and therefore, obey Jesus Christ.  Student needs to be obedient to Christ.  Faith (greek word:  Pisteuo) literally means to trust.  The key to growing in Him is to trust Him.  IT IS ALWAYS ABOUT TRUST and obedience falls under trust. 
4. Our students obedience means that they desire to follow Jesus Christ and participate in His Kingdom work here on earth.  You know a student gets it when he/she says:

I love Jesus Christ who directs my life  which means I am going to love Him and love and serve others.

The problem with the Christian student (who loves to sin) is that they only KNOW Jesus.  They haven’t trusted, obeyed, and followed Him yet.  More than likely they haven’t had an opportunity to fully trust Jesus with their baggage.  They haven’t invited Jesus into their messes.  They have compartmentalized their dual lifestyle of faith and sin. Somehow they have been led to believe that the the Gospel puts more weight on their shoulders rather than take the weight off.  This is why the goal of youth ministry is to get students walking authentically with Jesus. Youth ministries are doing their job when we are cultivating environments that encourage full reliance on Jesus.

So how can our youth ministries put students in an environment that encourages trusting Jesus?  

** If you want read all 10 of the Top Ten Theological Questions Teens Ask click here

(Theological Foundations pics brought to you by:   Some rights reserved by liikennevalo)

Over the past 3 years, I have really been thinking about what theologies are youth workers responding to?  How are youth pastors thinking theologically?

I strongly believe all youth ministries not only need a strategy but a theological emphasis.  The youth worker allows the Scriptures to shape their ministry strategy and programs, and not the reverse.  Here are 3 theological foundations that are influencing the trenches of youth ministry:

(1) Family Ministry (Deut 6 and Proverbs 1:8-9):  There is an insane increase of young-kidless youth pastors who know mom and dad are the primary spiritual leader in a student’s life.  Student pastors are on mission to get the family and community involved in the life of a teen.  Student pastors are realizing that shepherding does not happen from stage but at home and with an adult small group leader.

(2) Spiritual Formation (Galatians 5):  Spiritual formation is a sexy term for sanctification.  Spiritual formation in youth ministry is all about developing the “whole (shelom)” student.  The formation process happens when Biblical knowledge is mixed with experience, and the encountering and revealing of the Holy Spirit.

(3) Missiology(Luke 10.1-3): Youth ministries are wanting to be marked as a place that sends young people out that demonstrates the Kingdom of God to others.  More and more students are wanting to do Jesus style of ministry outside of the church.  Students are wanting to become missionaries across the world and across the street so they can restore the world.  Basically youth pastors are reminding teenagers their entire life is missionary work so at the age of 12 they better get to work if they said the “sinners” prayer.

I think it is cool that there are a lot of youth workers thinking theologically so they know for a fact their youth ministry ways are the teachings of God.  In the next 10 years, if youth ministry does these 3 theologies really well, youth ministry will be on a great trajectory.

________________________________________

Do you agree or disagree with my assessment?

What are some other theologies shaping youth ministry?

________________________________________

This may be a no-brainer for some youth workers, but I always found it helpful talking about the insane importance of the resurrection during the Easter season.  Personally, I don’t think any youth pastor can get bored talking about the resurrection.

In youth group, weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, I would talk about:

-  why the Resurrection is so central to the Christian faith

-  how the resurrection sent a shockwave in and through history

-  re-iterated the fact that the resurrection really happened

Some of my (more) skeptical students would challenge with “rumors” that claimed the resurrection was not REAL.  So I decided to compile 4 of the “most common rumors” student heard about the resurrection of Jesus.

4 Rumors Skeptical Students Need To Put To Rest:

(4) The story of Jesus’ resurrection is a lie.

One must understand something about history, especially in the context of 1st century Jewish oral tradition. Many times, the historical records of certain major events like the Persian wars or the movement of Alexander the Great were given to us by only one source and took a while to record it. Even though we have so few sources that were written a long time after the event, no one really doubts the truth claims made in the historical documents that talk about the Persian wars and Alexander the Great. We have four Gospels, the New Testament writings, and references by non-Christian historical sources like Josephus and Tacitus that claim Jesus was alive, died, and rose again. It appears people are more likely to doubt the authenticity of Jesus’ historical resurrection than they will doubt Alexander the Great legitimacy.  Also, many of the sources that talk about Jesus divine acts were written and documented less than 70 years post-Jesus’ resurrection.  By the way this documentation is fast in comparison to other historical events.  The cool thing is, historians and theologians, have more ancient documents on the life of Jesus than any other important historical event.

Bottom line the resurrection account developed in a very short amount of time.  There have been different elaborate lies that people have told about fantastic things happening in history that didn’t stand the test of time.  It seems the persecuted Christians would have confessed their “secret” about Jesus because of the intense pressure that was put on them to tell the truth.  But they didn’t.  They told the truth:  Jesus really resurrected.  The disciples carried their testimony to their death.

Its not that plausible that Jesus resurrection is a lie.

(3) The Gospels seem to be contradictory.

This is why youth pastors need to teach their students how to read the Bible for everything it is worth. Students need to know that when reading ancient written documents, aka the Bible, it can be very difficult to understand what one is reading without considering the appropriate context. If students are not careful when reading Scripture, they can possibly come to wrongful conclusions about Matthew, Mark, Luke and John because they didn’t have the tools and resources to properly understand Scripture.  Students must know they are reading a 1st century document that requires proper reading of the text.

The Gospels are 4 accounts of 1 situation.  And the beautiful thing is that the Gospels are wonderfully consistent in all of the main aspects of the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

For example, Jesus’ skeptic brother James along with the rest of Jesus’ brothers and sisters didn’t believe in Him. Believing in your bro was very insulting in 1st century Jewish culture, especially if your bro was a Rabbi. So why would all the Gospel writers comment on the skepticism among Jesus’ brothers and sisters and make them look like fools?   The Jewish historian Josephus later tells us James was stoned to death for belief in his brother.

According to JP Moreland, five weeks after Jesus was crucified over 10, 000 Jews were following Him and claiming Him the initiator of THE WAY. These Jews literally abandoned their jobs, culture, and lives to a mission that required them to spread  a very specific and difficult message – aka- the Gospel. The WAY  triumphed over MANY competing ideologies and eventually overwhelmed the entire Roman Empire.  There’s no question the early Christian church started really soon after the death of Jesus and spread so quickly within a period of  twenty years.

The resurrection is so powerful it convinces a skeptic to become a loyal and passionate follower of Jesus that will literally compel him to sacrifice his life to advance the Gospel.

(2) Modern people can no longer believe in “miracles” like the resurrection.

Scientists are discovering that life is not as “black and white” as many logical minds would like to think. The universe is pretty complex and astrophysicists are not exactly sure why the universe is the way it is. Students have to admit that miracles can happen outside of science.  All science is not 100% accurate, which may imply there is an intelligent designer that had to intervene at some point during creation. Einstein concluded:

There are two ways to live:  you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle

A student cannot deny the possibility of miracles because he/she hasn’t experienced one.  It is very difficult to demonstrate how a human person removed a very heavy stone (all by himself) that barracked the tomb.  It would have taken several people to move the stone to open the tomb.  Dallas Willard in his book,  Knowing Christ Today states:

The physical universe is not a closed system.  Miracles are possible simply because of that fact.

(1) Jesus was never seen alive again.

There are many ancient sources, outside the New Testament, that (in my opinion) confirm the apostles’ conviction that they encountered the resurrected Christ.

In the New Testament we have 9 accounts that demonstrate Jesus’ physical appearances:

1.  To Mary Magdalene, in John 20:10-18;

2.  To the other women, in Matthew 28:8-10;

3.  To Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus, in Luke 24:13-32;

4.  To eleven disciples and other, in Luke 24:33-49;

5.  To ten apostles and others, with Thomas absent, in John 20:19-23;

6.  To Thomas and the other apostles, in John 20:26-30;

7.  To seven apostles, in John 21:1-14;

8.  To the disciples, in Matthew 28:16-20

9.  And He was with the apostles at the Mount Of Olives before his ascension, in Luke 24:50-52 and Acts 1:4-9

________________________________

As a follower of Jesus, everything hangs on the resurrection. If the resurrection didn’t happen, then Christians would be in trouble.  Following Jesus would be pointless. Teaching about the resurrection to your student will shed light on the amazingness and profoundness of Jesus conquering death.

** If you want read all 10 of the Top Ten Theological Questions Teens Ask click here