Why the Gospel-Centered Movement Overlooks Youth Ministry
If you’re like me, you’ve probably felt mostly invisible in the gospel-centered movement that’s become fairly mainstream over the past decade. As a theologically Reformed youth pastor, it can be hard to feel seen when blogs, conferences, and publications consistently overlook youth ministry. If you go to the most influential ministries in the gospel-centered movement and search for “youth ministry,” many (but not all, thankfully) of those sites will bring up very few results.
Why Did This Happen?
About ten years ago, everyone was talking about the “dropout rate” and the “rise of the nones.” The increased number of youth who were walking away from the faith after high school rang the alarm and caused everyone to stop and reevaluate the way they approached youth ministry.
Some decided the numbers were inflated and continued with what they’ve been doing for years. Others generally fell into two camps. My book, A Biblical Theology of Youth Ministry, was largely written to frame our response to the dropout rate according to the Bible.
One camp committed to take a more sympathetic approach towards the culture. Their desire has been to display what a transformed Christian life looks like in today’s world. This posture is best embodied by Hillsong, Bethel, and North Point Church (Andy Stanley’s church). In terms of youth ministry, they doubled-down, because reaching the next generation became their rallying cry. That’s why these groups tend to be very youthful in their attitude and postures.
The other camp took a more counter-cultural approach and committed itself to family discipleship. Based off the Bible’s commands for parents to take the lead in discipling the next generation, they either eliminated their children/youth ministries entirely, or enfolded them into the umbrella of “Family Ministries” in order to prioritize the role of mom and dad. The accidental byproduct, however, has either led to neglect in the church’s partnership with parents in co-discipling the next generation, or they still have youth ministries, but it’s not entirely clear how their approach is any different from anyone else’s.
Another reason why youth ministry is overlooked is simple. Pastors are embarrassed by the silly games and shallow lessons they taught while they were youth pastors. They’ve grown and learned since their time in youth ministry, and they have no desire to relive it since they aren’t entirely proud of their own track record.
Train the Youth Workers
Every church professes a deep commitment to pass the faith from generation to generation. I believe them. This isn’t mere lip service. And yet, there is a remarkable void of attention paid to youth ministry in the broader gospel-centered movement. Many sites publish articles for parents of young children, often providing encouragement and resources for parents to disciple their children. But when it comes to youth ministry, these same sites often make statements like, “If teenagers can learn algebra, their youth pastors can teach them theology.”
While this sentiment is entirely correct, I’m not sure it’s actually true. The premise is good, but I’m not sure that youth pastors actually can teach students theology. One of the reasons I get heated over this type of statement is because it so easily comes across as a wagging finger, rather than an offer to help well-intentioned youth workers actually do what you’re calling them to do.
Many youth pastors who want to teach theology to students find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They want to teach with theological depth, but they don’t know how to actually do it. Just think about all the churches in your own community who rely on volunteers to lead small groups of teenagers - and then ask yourself if you should criticize them for not teaching about Christology, or if you should help them do it.
I also know a lot of youth pastors and volunteer youth workers who are simply doing their best. They teach Scripture to the best of their ability, and they try to answer students’ difficult questions. Theology has never been something that’s been taught to them in a way that’s understandable and practical, so they don’t know how to teach it simply and pastorally to students.
If the gospel-centered movement wants to build healthy churches, they simply cannot continue to overlook youth ministry. Youth workers are hungry for training to know how to lead gospel-centered ministries that are contextualized for the unique setting of ministry to teenagers. This is the heartbeat that led me to launch Youth Pastor Theologian. Not only are youth pastors the next generation of pastors within the gospel-centered movement, they’re shaping the next generation of Christians. And we’d all agree that’s a crucially important ministry in our churches. If these leaders don’t know how the gospel shapes their youth ministries, then “gospel-centrality” is going to merely become a theory.
