The other day I was asked:  “Jeremy Zach…once a student has gone through your youth ministry program what is one thing you want them to have internalized?”

My answer: That every teen KNOW they are a full time missionary in every facet of their life.  They are missionaries in their neighborhoods, schools, athletics, house, movie theater, restaurant, etc…  They have the ability to see God moving everywhere–in and outside of church.  I call this teenage missional living.

20.  Start a lunch time prayer meeting or Bible study during school

19.  Serve, love, respect, & obey  parents (Romans 1.30, Ephesians 6.1, Colossians 3.20, 2 Timothy 3.2)

18.  Respect  teachers and coaches authority

17.  Buy a non-friend lunch and eat with them

16.  Serve at the local shelter

15.  Babysit for free

14.  Provide free tutoring

13.  Pick up trash around the community

12.  Hang with “other” clusters of students on the weekends

11.  Do an after school sport, club, and drama that you would not normally do

10.  Stand up for the non-cool kids at school

09.  Help school janitor during study hall or lunch time

08.  Host study groups (don’t just give away all the answers)

07. Befriend non-believers and actually listen to their belief systems

06.  Throw fun, but safe weekend parties.  These party need to be so cool, the “real” party people want to come.  Also make sure your students are getting invite to other non-Christian parties.  Your students need to be seen as the party starters and not the party poopers.

05.  Intentionally have discussions with biology, physics, and science teachers about Intelligent Design

04.  Bring extra gum to school

03.  Get involved in school events

02.  Hang out with the school administration.  Administration are always looking for reliable and honest students as their liaisons.

01.  Talk a lot of about Jesus and how He has changed your life

2TFCAW7ZUBUH

© 2010, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

How did we get the New Testament Canon?

Marcion//

The single most significant factor was Marcion (AD 85-160).  Marcion got brave and constructed what he felt was the right canon. Marcion didn’t like Paul and the Old Testament.  Marcion wanted Luke, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Galatians out of the Bible.

Marcion’s canon was the first canon but obviously it was problematic.

In 180AD church leaders wanted to put a stop to Marcion picking and choosing what texts were in and out of the canon.  The church leader formed a council.  In early 200s, Origen listed all twenty-seven New Testament books, but indicated 6 were still being questioned.  The council of Laodicea in AD 363 stated that the Old Testament, along with the apocrypha, and 27 books of the New Testament were to be read in Christian churches.  The council of Carthage in AD397 was the final decision that concluded the New Testament canon would consist of 27 books, which were both inspired and authoritative texts.

What were the Church’s fathers methods to picking the New Testament books?

Their basic guidelines were:  texts that appeared early, authored by apostle, edifying, and widely accepted.

1. We know that the Holy Spirit, who inspired the New Testament writings, made it possible to appropriately select what texts would appear in the New Testament canon.  We also have to believe in God’s providence and the preservation of the Bible throughout time.  We have evidence from archaeology, the 400+fulfilled prophecies, and of course changed lives throughout the centuries.
2. The texts needed to be adaptable and stable.
3. The New Testament texts needed to authored either by an apostle or be an apostolic associate.
4. The texts need to be edifying, valuable, and be consistent.
5. By 200AD at least 21 of the books had been accepted universally.  Basically all of the churches were in agreement that each book was essentially saying the same thing.
6. The letters were all written before 100AD, so basically 50 to 70 years after Jesus’ death.  THIS IS HUGE!!!!!  No other western literature text appeared so early on after it was written.  For example,  the Persian wars or the movement of Alexander the Great were given to us by only one source.  Plato’s writing appeared about 1,400 years later after he wrote them.  Historians have 14,000 copies of the New Testament and the writing appeared only 50-70 years after Jesus’ ministry and death.  For more on this point please visit here.

© 2010, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

Teens’ question:  Is the New Testament reliable?

** question #7 is somewhat related to question #6.

Answers:

If we are trusting in the Bible so much, students need to be sure it is true.  Three ways to know it is true:  Internal evidence, Bibliographical test,  and Historical test.

Internal Test – Students need to read first hand what the Bible claims about scripture.  2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.  It is imperative students start to see Scripture is sufficient while they approach it  very humbly.  Scripture is the Word.

Bibliographical Test – I would like to simply compare the New Testament books with various other books that are widely read and accepted in Western literature.  Scholars have the earliest copies of Aristotle and Plato about 1,400 years after they were written.  We have 7 copies of Plato and 5 copies of Aristotle.  Here is the kicker:  We have copies of the New Testament about 100 years after the books were written and we still have over 14,000 copies of the New Testament.  The problem is no one is questioning the reliability of Aristotle or Plato.  I think the fact that we still have over 14,000 copies of the Greek New Testament implies the content is pretty important.

Historical Test – Josephus- best known ancient Jewish historian. He was born in 37 CE, only a few years after Jesus’ execution. Josephus was well educated in biblical law and history. In a section of Book 18 dealing with various actions of Pilate, the texts refer to Jesus and his ministry:

Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day.

- Jewish Antiquities 18.3.3

My point:  other 1st century non-Christian historians claimed that Jesus existed.

I think getting students to see first hand that the New Testament in the scholarly world does have some street cred.  I love watching students see the evidence first hand and are floored because now they can take ownership of their faith.  They have seen some of the many facts of this ancient faith which was called THE WAY.

© 2010, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

Youth ministries need critical mass in order to have impact and sustainability.  Critical mass means having a commitment collection of teenagers.

Critical mass is culture specific.  It is determined by  location, teenager clusters, church tradition and values, and community culture.

The problem:  to many youth ministries prematurely launch their mission, vision, and value statement before obtaining a critical mass of students and leaders.  There is a fundamental difference between a student filling space and a student who internalizes the teachings of Jesus.  How many American youth ministries get their branding campaigned launched before they have an invested group of teenagers that are carrying out Kingdom values? I think youth pastors are too eager to get in there and start doing what they love doing before finding people who are willing to follow them.  This may speak to why after two years youth pastors are frustrated with their youth group because apparently their students are not getting it.

My point:  start with discipleship, before branding your youth ministry.  Start investing in teenagers before even thinking about envisioning where to take the youth ministry.  Trust me once you have a few teenagers that get it, it is a lot easier to do God’s work.  The difficulty is being patience and constantly praying that God will send students your way.

I think Jesus understood this idea of critical mass.  In the gospel of Matthew, He asks a few dudes to come follow Him before He fully launched His killer, redemptive, and transformational ministry.

Taking a youth ministry from surviving to sustaining is a difficult 3-5 year project.  I think one aspect to having a youth group that does stuff for God is gaining the right critical mass.

Youth Ministry Critical Mass….

- is not governed by numbers, but by actionable commitment levels (actionable commitment – people are willing to do thing because they believe)

- actionable commitment levels correlate with impact intensity

- reinforces that a group of teenagers are “already” (already is the key word) believing in Jesus, the intentions of the youth pastor, and the youth ministry values

- affirms that students are somewhat excited and passionate about knowing God and doing His work

Every youth ministry needs a critical mass that desire to change the world and they know what it costs to follow Jesus.

**Although…. there is no magic formula to gain a critical mass, except a lot of perseverance, pain, prayer, TIME, tough conversations, action, endurance, faith, and hanging with,talking to, chilling with, being with, praying for, sitting with, and listening to teenagers.

© 2010, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

I am stating 5 problems that may be transpiring in the youth ministry world.  I am not claiming to have the answers, I am merely laying out my observations.  It is my goal to identify the problems, so I can begin to clarify solutions.

1.  Weak Youth Ministry Ecclesiology

Many youth pastors  have a difficult time connecting, participating, and assimilating into the church body.  Our students dislike the big church feel– for multiple reasons.  The church and youth ministry must be fused together. It is pointless to do youth ministry in isolation of the church. Somehow our youth ministries must play very well with the “big” church.  Value the church and  intentionally work with the church in order to make students fully devoted followers of Jesus.  Our youth ministries must fit the larger vision and mission of the church body.

2.  Limited teaching on other world religions

It is becoming more and more common for students to have friends of different religions.  For example, Islam is rapidly evangelizing the world and it is growing at a fast pace.  Islamic influence is slowly starting to saturate American culture.  Our students need to know how to talk about other religions.  It is unproductive when our students start talking down about other religions.  Especially when they are uninformed.  It is not good when it becomes  “us” vs. “them”.  Focus on the similarities and become more ecumenical.  I see more youth ministries teaching students the fundamentals of other religions while also educating how to respect and admire them.  You may find it odd when you realize that you don’t know much about the other religions.  I found myself having to read a lot of the other holy books.

3.  The Gospel(Sin, Redemption, Jesus, Cross, Freedom, Forgiveness)  is extremely foreign to youth culture

This is a problem, but I think it is a major advantage.  When the gospel becomes normative, it becomes comfortable and popular.  Oscar Wilde stated:  Everything popular is wrong.  Jesus was not popular and didn’t  preach an easy-feel good message.  He actually stated the exact opposite.  The pearly gates are very narrow.  Getting kids to acknowledge they are screwed up and that Jesus restores life; is really an unique message that they will not hear anywhere else in their life.  The difficulty is “persuading” kids why Jesus matters and that He is the only way.  I am finding more and more that students don’t have a basic understanding of who Jesus is and what He is really about.  It is a bummer, but cool at the same time.  I think this is why the gospel right here and now is very powerful and counter-cultural.    

4.  Hurried Evangelism

Youth ministries are excited to get kids saved.  However the transition from evangelism to discipleship is tough.  My good friend Dan Haugh says it well:  It starts with many-many intentional Jesus conversations before the conversion.  What if youth pastors started with discipleship?  What if youth ministry totally skipped evangelism as the 1st step?  I think if we can educate and get our students to experience God before they accept Jesus, they will most likely latch onto their faith in a more deep and real way.  The students will be able to test drive the car and know what they are getting themselves into before they sign on the dotted line.  I am arguing that discipleship is the new evangelism.  Please don’t misinterpret me.  I still strongly believe in evangelism. I think it should appear later in the game.  In the gospels, Jesus never asked His disciples to believe in Him right away as the 1st step.  He only required them to follow Him.  Essentially experiencing and knowing God can possibly produce a student who wants to deeply and fully desire and believe in God.  Granted our youth ministries may be a little bit smaller…but deeper.

5.  Youth pastors are not teaching students how to critical think

It is so easy to teach students what to think and teach them the “principles”.  Coaching students how to think is a difficult task because they need to swing to extremes in order to develop a healthy worldview.  Youth pastors need to feel really encouraged when a well churched student says:  I cannot feel God and I don’t believe in Him anymore.  Youth pastors should not freak out, but rather help the student ask the right questions.  There is not a better time to provide a support and structure than in mid to late teenage years.  If youth pastors can build a supportive structure in their youth ministry programming, then students will open up and feel safe to say what nobody else is willing to share.  The sooner we can get students to doubt and question their faith, the more sustainable their faith will be.

What other problems are youth ministries experiencing? I want to hear what other struggles youth pastors are encountering….

© 2010, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.