Strategies for Teaching Christian History in Youth Ministry
Christian history matters. Over thousands of years, the Christian faith has been passed down from generation to generation through faithful men and women who forged ahead. There have been moments of great turmoil where the church has divided and moments of great triumph where the church has unified and advanced. The history of the Christian tradition is fascinating, transformative, beautiful, and is not just made for seminary students. It can be taught in our student ministries and bring significant encouragement to our youth.
In September of this past year, YPT published a blog post about why youth workers should study church history. If you never went to seminary but want to help students benefit from Christian History, you can still do it! There are some resources in the article mentioned above and some below to help you learn, teach, and apply Christian History in your youth ministry. Additionally, For the Church Institute by Midwestern Seminary offers free courses on a variety of topics but I have found their Church History course to be a tremendous help.
Here are a few suggestions for ways to structure a ten-week series around Christian History:
Ten Weeks on the Creeds, Confessions, and Heresy
The first time I ever heard a creed or confession was in seminary. When we teach the Creeds to our students, we should do so with a reminder of their purpose: to remind us what we, as Christians, believe. Each of the four creeds of the church (Apostles, Nicene, Athanasian, Chaledonian) offers an important reminder about our Triune God. They are the original systematic theologies.
Within the ten-week window, I would strongly encourage reviewing a few confessions or catechisms. For us, in a Baptist youth group, I chose to focus on the Baptist Faith & Message, the London Baptist Confession of 1689, and the Heidelberg Catechism. There are several great books and studies to help get you started, here are a few of my favorite:
Matt Chandler, The Apostles Creed, Together We Believe
J.V. Fesko, The Need for Creeds Today
Carl Trueman, The Creedal Imperative
Mike McGarry, A Biblical Theology of Youth Ministry
Ten Weeks through Epic: An Around-the-World Journey through Christian History
Tim Challies did great work on Epic: An Around-the-World Journey Through Christian History. This series is an effective tool in teaching students Christian history. As one of the most visual generations, students will stay engaged throughout the entire series. If you are not familiar with Epic, it is a ten-week video docuseries that follows Tim Challies, author, and founder of Visual Theology, as he explores artifacts of the Christian faith and heritage.
Each artifact helps narrate the story of Christianity and allows us, as youth leaders, to have a foundation to build around for questions and further engagement. Challies wrote a book to accompany the docuseries that offers some further detail about each piece of history and its importance. However, there is no official “study guide,” which allows you to build your own.
preview an episode of Epic
Ten Weeks with the Men and Women Who Impacted Christian History
Teaching about the men and women who impacted Christian history is putting into practice what was previously mentioned. These men and women are “the great cloud of witnesses” mentioned in Hebrews. Students will only get “bored” of this if it is taught in a boring way but Christian history should not be boring. A knowledge of these men and women will help students be more holistic in their understanding of the Word of God and will allow them to understand the great passion they had for the Word.
There are many people who have impacted Christian History and we could spend far more than ten weeks on them. However, there are two strategies I have used to pick ten that students should know. The first is to list all the names of the people you want to cover and let your students pick. If you teach about these men and women after the Creeds, Confessions, and Epic, the students should begin to become familiar with some of them. Allowing students to pick helps them be more engaged with the study of such men and women.
Another strategy is finding one or two people to engage with from each period. This includes Apostolic Father, Patristics, Middle Ages, Reformation, Post-Reformation, and Modern. I have spent more of my time focusing on the Patristics and Reformation but do not forget the rest. Our students should know about people like Tertullian, Origen, Aquinas, Luther, Bonhoeffer, Lewis, and Packer. Pick a few familiar names but also focus on those people don’t know as well. Here are a few books that that help you discern who to highlight.
Crossway, Theologians on the Christian Life
John Piper, 21 Servants of Sovereign Joy
Tim Challies, Devoted: Great Theologians and their Godly Moms
Michael Reeves, Theologians You Should Know
This strategy is one that has been effective in my ministry context and I hope it is for you as well. Christian History is important and if we have a desire to develop holistic disciples, we must do what we can to teach and engage with the Great Tradition. My prayer is that this strategy could be adopted in your ministry context as well.
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