The Necessity of Teaching Theologically at Youth Group

This is the first of a month-long series about the role of theology in youth ministry. Many youth workers suspect they should be teaching theologically, but they either don’t know how to begin and question whether it’s worth the extra effort. YPT hopes this series, “Teaching Theologically in Youth Group,” will persuade you to get started. And if you haven’t yet, you can get a free copy of our ebook “Youth Ministry is Theological Ministry” by subscribing to the site - just use the button at the top of your browser and look for the download link in your inbox.

Only once have I been confronted by an angry parent about something that happened in youth group.

This might be surprising considering the many knuckle-headed things I have said and done over the years. No parent accosted me after that one time when I covered a student’s face in shaving cream at an out-of-doors event only to realize that I didn’t have a way for him to wash it off. No parent complained when I mis-timed our commute to a major league baseball game and we arrived a full hour after the first pitch!

No, it wasn’t for these things that I was confronted by an upset parent. Instead, it was after I had taught a lesson on the Trinity. In this lesson, I presented the doctrine of the Trinity as an essential element of our Christian faith. I had even briefly mentioned a few historic heresies - namely, Arianism and Modalism - as a foil for the true, orthodox doctrine of God. This parent was concerned that I was making complex theology more important than was warranted.

This confrontation caught me off guard, and I have to confess that I did not respond well at the moment. Yet, as I reflect on it now, I thank God for this brother and the fact that he was willing to speak to me directly about his concerns. This conversation prompted much reflection on my part about the nature and purpose of theology. Why am I teaching theology to teenagers?

Theology for the Road

Recently my daughters and I have been reading through The Little Pilgrim’s Progress each night before bed and this has gotten me thinking about the Christian life as a pilgrimage. If our lives are indeed a kind of journey toward the “Celestial City” then what role does our theology play as we travel toward our final home?[1]

One common attitude that I have seen in many family members and friends seems to be that we should make do with only the essentials of theology and not burden ourselves with anything more. In this view, our theology may be likened to a backpack that we carry on a hiking expedition.

Theology as a Backpack

Years ago when I was living in Southern California, I was involved in a Boy Scout group that was quite serious about backpacking and would frequently put on multiple-day trips in the Cuyamaca and Laguna mountains east of San Diego.

The goal was to survive in the wilderness for days at a time with nothing but a small backpack. The lighter the pack the better. Out in the wilderness - where conserving calories and oxygen could be a matter of life and death - the last thing that you would want to do is lug around an unnecessarily heavy pack.

There was one father-son pair who were so dedicated to packing lightly that they elected to share a single spork between the two of them for their entire trip!

For those who accept an essentials-only mindset, theological systems can start to feel like a heavy pack that needs to be lightened. Any hiker will want to make sure to pack the essentials, but beyond that, it is important not to carry too much. Lighter is better. Anything too cumbersome or impractical should be left behind.

If we think of our theology in similar terms, we will want to know just enough to get us through our journey but no more. Theological study then is not a bad thing, but neither is it necessary.

I would argue that a better analogy for thinking about theology is not a backpack but a map.

Theology as a Map

C.S. Lewis, the champion of “mere Christianity,” likened theology to a good map. For Lewis this analogy conveyed at least two similarities between theology and cartography: maps are based on the experience and knowledge of past generations, and are thus larger than any one person’s viewpoint; and, “if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary.” (Mere Christianity, p 154)

Theology is our roadmap to reality. As such, we want a map that is both detailed and accurate. In fact we will constantly be checking to see if we can improve accuracy or add more detail. Everyone knows that traveling with an unreliable and insufficiently detailed map can be dangerous (and in extreme cases, deadly).

Far from being irrelevant or merely theoretical, Lewis writes, “Theology is practical… if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones - bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas.” (Mere Christianity, p 155)

This is a different paradigm completely. Instead of asking, “What is the minimum that I need?” we find ourselves asking, “What is the best that I can get?”

To summarize, faithful theology is not ours alone but is the map that our fellow pilgrims have handed down to us over the centuries to aid us on our journey towards the New Jerusalem. We do not want an overly simplistic map but one that is clear to read, accurate, and sufficiently detailed.

A God-Centered Map

Now there is one final point that we want to emphasize, both in our own lives and in the lives of our students. This map is leading us home to God.

The purpose of having a detailed and accurate map is not so that we can explore every meadow, or wander off down every rabbit trail, but so that we can keep to the King’s Path. To Lewis’s point, theology is practical because it teaches us about God.

Our theological study regularly reminds us of who God is and what He is like. It reminds us of who we were, who we are now, and who we will be in Christ. Our study leads us to a place of profound gratitude and joy because of all that God has done for us in Christ.

Youth Leaders as Guides on the Path

If our theology is like a map, then youth leaders may be likened to guides along the way who offer refreshment to weary pilgrims and help them find their way. “Keep to the path!” we cry. In places where the terrain is rocky and uneven, or where the Enemy has cut false paths leading to nowhere, we are present to walk alongside our students and provide encouragement and guidance.

What might this look like in practice?

The most important thing is to start with the gospel. Our students are unlikely to be encouraged by (or interested in) doctrinal teaching that is out of touch with real life. Our job is to help them where they are. This can be done only by keeping the main thing the main thing.

Now this is not the same as an essentials-only mindset, which says “Give them the basics and no more.” What I am saying is that we can indeed give our students a robust understanding of God, humanity, sin, Christ, and so on. But we must always labor to ground our teaching in the good news of Jesus Christ and teach it in a way that shows its life-transforming power.

So how do we do this?

Helping Teens Stay the Course

One option is to let our students ask anything. We may field questions about gender and sexuality, or about aliens, or about eternal security. We can plan ahead and try to answer each question by pointing back to the gospel. For example, the gender question flows out from the Biblical teaching on marriage, which is a theme that runs through the whole Bible and culminates in the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:1-10).

By asking good questions, a youth leader models how to receive theology straight from the Bible. Rather than offering pragmatic answers that rush into application, youth pastor theologians want to be deliberate about modeling for students how to anchor their life in the trustworthiness and beauty of God’s Word. Hopefully this will inspire the students to take up and read for themselves as they navigate the pathways of life.

Regardless of method, it is important for youth leaders to recognize the seriousness of our task and to strive to give our students, not the bare minimum, but the absolute best gospel-centered theology for their journey home to God.

So, back to our original question, why are we teaching theology to teenagers?

Because we want them to know God and to stay on the pilgrim’s path. What could be more practical, or essential, than that?

[1] Not incidentally, one of my personal favorite systematic theologies is titled Pilgrim Theology by Michael Horton.

note: this article includes Amazon Affiliate links, which bring a small financial benefit to YPT, which we use to produce our content for you.