Should We Add Anything To Our Theology Part 1

I love the Bible! I think everyone could sing that song with me. In fact, this is one area that distinguishes Vision for Youth from many other evangelical youth ministry organizations. Everything we do is built on a Biblical foundation. Our entire philosophy of ministry is to filter everything we do through the grid of Scripture. Our student ministry must have a strong theological base. We desire to be leaders in a student ministry that is honoring to God, culturally relevant to students, and theologically sound. Sometimes, however, it is difficult not to notice the hurt that is caused by what people consider “good theology”. This saddens me because it is not necessary. Jesus gave us two rules: “love God and love each other”. How can we be strong in theology and yet live up to what Christ has demanded for us? In the process, how will we impact hearts and minds through our theology with students? I believe we must make two essential additions to our theology to most effectively impact students for eternity. We must make the essential additions of KNOWLEDGE and LIFE to our theology.

Essential Addition One, Add KNOWLEDGE to Theology. I do not intend to be insulting when I say we should add knowledge; but, I do mean to say that maybe we are not as smart as we might think. We must know our theology. This seems simple, but it is not. Knowing theology means that we must know what we believe and why we believe it. We must become good friends with the Bible. Knowing theology means that I have a place to begin when teaching the kids in my student ministry. When we communicate to students, our theology needs to be the beginning and not the end. One recent study shows that kids are responding less to student ministry centered on games and activities and they are responding more to student ministry centered on Biblical truth. Much of what is passing in student ministry for theology might reside out on the edges of a theological spectrum. When we are not as knowledgeable as we should be about theology we end up either downplaying or watering it down on the one hand, or on the other hand we elevate preferences and personal opinions to the place of immovable theological standards.

One side would fear being irrelevant with old fashioned truth while the other side would fear being accused of compromise. We either subtract from our obligation to truth or we multiply our obligations to a place of equality with truth. Adding knowledge will help us to not land in either of these places. Another reason to add knowledge to our theology is to avoid what my father calls “hobby horse” theology. As an assignment, my Crossroads Bible College youth ministry class visited a church youth group for three weeks in a row.

Each week the youth pastor talked about the evils of sex, rap, and hip hop music. Those issues had become his “hobby horse.” Other issues might be musical style, dress code, recreation, or even what we perceive as proper ways to worship. So that we do not become “hobby horse” communicators, we need to add knowledge to our theology. Adding knowledge to theology will cause us to use theology not as the end of things but as the foundation on which to build our ministry. Adding knowledge is learning that the entire story of the Bible is good theology. Once in a while, we spend much energy and time striving to convince students to believe our particular system of theology. So that this does not become our main thing, we must concentrate on the main thing seen through all the pages of Scripture, which is the story of God, His interaction with men and women throughout history, and His provision for forgiveness of sin through His Son –Jesus Christ! That is the Bible story from cover to cover. Our theological energy should not necessarily be used to convince students to follow our particular approach to theology but to use our particular approach to theology to convince our students to follow Christ!

This article is reprinted with permission of the publisher. Article originally published in Vision for Youth Magazine, spring 2007. Tim Ahlgrim is the National Director of Vision For Youth, Inc. and has been actively involved in student ministry for over 30 years! You can reach him at: tim@visionforyouth.com.

How did your first STORM go

God uses many things to bring glory to Himself. Let me tell you of the most recent thing in our youth group that God chose to use…a Word of Life S.T.O.R.M. meeting. S.T.O.R.M. stands for Sending Teens Out to Reach the Masses. I am a youth pastor at a small church; and, at first, I wasn’t sure how this would work for us. You’ll see that it did! If you’re going to have a S.T.O.R.M. meeting, you need to have a goal. Your goal for the S.T.O.R.M. meeting night is to clearly present the gospel to unsaved students. A S.T.O.R.M meeting is a great way to achieve this objective.

It is also very important that you teach the regularly attending teens the goal of the night so that they know the goal at which they are aiming. Our weeks before the meeting our youth leaders and I began to promote the S.T.O.R.M. event to our teens. In your promotion you need to answer the question that is in your teen’s minds, “Why should I bring my unsaved friends to this event?” In preparation for this event, we had the teens bring a list of unsaved friends they wanted to invite. Then we began praying
during our small groups for those students.

Preparation for this event will include seeking adult volunteers from the church to drive and help transport visitors to the S.T.O.R.M. meeting, bringing the ingredients for the banana split, help make the banana split, crowd control, and most importantly prayer. For us, this was an event with which the entire church helped. Rather than having our regular evening service that night, the entire church body served the teens in our community. This was one of the best things that we’ve ever done. This helped unify our teens and adults in our church. Our normal youth group is fifteen teens and four youth leaders. You can see that your group does not have to be huge to hold this event. The things that we did that night that made it a success included a forty foot banana split, prizes, and the Word of Life ministries team.

Our Area Missionary came and shared the gospel. Having Word of Life there freed up our leaders to focus on getting to know the visitors. We had an outdoor event planned but it rained during the whole event so we moved inside. We average 15 teens in our youth group on Sunday nights and we had forty seven teens for the S.T.O.R.M., of which 31 were visitors. That night after the gospel was shared nine young teens accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The event was the best thing that the Lord has used in our youth group to bring glory to Himself. If you want to grow your group and get the gospel out to more teens in your community, a S.T.O.R.M. meeting is an event that you must do!
[Mike Fritz is the youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Susquehanna, PA.]
Editor’s Note: By planning your S.T.O.R.M. just prior to a Word of Life Super-Bowl you can more than
double the gospel impact on your community.

A Leader’s Persistance

In 1947, Lester Wunderman was arbitrarily fired from his advertising job in New York. But he felt he still had a lot to learn from the head of the agency, Max Sackheim. So the next morning Wunderman went back to his office and began working as he had before. He talked to coworkers and clients; he sat in on meetings – all without pay. Sackheim ignored him for a month. Finally he walked up to Wunderman: “Okay, you win,” he said, shaking his head. “I never saw a man who wanted a job more than he wanted money.” Well, guess what? Wunderman went on to be one of the most successful advertising men of the century. He’s credited with having invented preprinted newspaper inserts, plus subscription cards such as those used by Time-Life Books and the Columbia Record Club; ideas that have produced billions of dollars in profit. Now, advertising may not be your thing – but action must be! What are you willing to do to achieve your dream? Work without pay? Refuse to quit?

Success begins at the beginning, and it continues with consistent action. Now, ponder these thoughts:

(1) you don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.

(2) The first two letters in the word goal, are GO.

(3) Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, others wake up and do them.

(4) Anybody who brags about what they’re going to do tomorrow probably did the same thing yesterday.

(5) You will never be what you ought to be until you’re doing what you ought to be doing.

(6) If you’re having trouble thinking outside the box, you’re probably in the wrong box. Get out of there!

Nehemiah 4:6 “So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.”

[John Armstrong is a National Coordinator with Word of Life Local Church Ministries. He and his wife, Cathy, reside in Schroon Lake, NY. Questions and comments about this article may be directed to John at johna@wol.org.]

Enemy of the leader’s life…Self Doubt

Ed nervously paced the crowded sidewalk outside Holton’s Shoe Store in downtown Boston. His brief lunch hour was nearly over; but, he had not yet done what he had come to do! Inside the shoe store was an eighteen-year-old clerk who was a member of the Sunday school class Ed taught at church. The young man had seemed bored in class and generally disinterested in spiritual things since he began attending church one year earlier. Ed felt burdened to talk to him about his relationship with Christ; and, today was the day he had planned to do so. But, he was nervous about it! What if he won’t listen to me? What if he thinks I’m being too pushy and quits the class all together? What if he gets angry and throws me out?

Breathing a prayer for courage, Ed finally walked into the store and found the clerk busy at work. The young man was surprised to see his Sunday school teacher. Ed quickly got to the point. “I came to tell you how much Christ loves you” he said. They talked for several minutes. Then, the young man knelt down on the spot and opened his life to Jesus Christ. Later, the clerk related the impact of his conversion: “I was in a new world. The birds sang sweeter, the sun shone brighter. I’d never known such peace.”

Ed left the shoe store that day rejoicing that he had overcome his self-doubt and fear and let God use him to share the good news with the young shoe clerk. This fearful Sunday school teacher could not have imagined that during the next 150 years millions of people would be just as thankful that he had overcome his anxiety and hesitation that April day in 1855 to share the gospel in a shoe store. Though unaware until now, you may be one of the people whose spiritual journey was influenced by this Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball.

You see, the eighteen-year-old Boston shoe clerk Kimball talked to that day was Dwight L. Moody. Moody became one of America’s great evangelists in the latter half of the nineteenth century. He had an impact all over the world. In addition, Moody later counseled a young man named J. Wilbur Chapman on the assurance of his salvation. Chapman became a Presbyterian minister, evangelist, and Moody’s friend and colleague in ministry. Moody and Chapman strongly influenced a young professional baseball player named Billy Sunday, whom God used in the evangelistic ministry. It is estimated that three hundred thousand men and women came to faith in Christ during Billy Sunday’s two hundred campaigns.

But Kimball’s legacy didn’t stop there. A 1924 Billy Sunday evangelistic campaign in Charlotte, NC resulted in the formation of the Charlotte Businessman’s Club which continued to evangelize the region. In 1934, the CBMC invited evangelist Mordecai Ham to conduct a campaign in Charlotte. A young man of eighteen reluctantly attended one of those meetings and then gave his life to Christ. His name was Billy Graham. No one has preached the gospel to more people than Billy Graham. Was Billy Graham instrumental in your coming to Christ? If not directly, perhaps the person who brought you to Christ was influenced by his preaching. At the very least, you likely know someone who became a Christian because of this great evangelist’s ministry.

The gripping reality is this: countless millions of people have been brought to faith in Christ through the preaching of D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham during the past century and a half. What would have happened if a Sunday school teacher named Edward Kimball had allowed self-doubt to detour him from living out his passion for sharing Christ with others?

Another significant enemy of the life of passion is self-doubt – the inner gnawing sense that you are unqualified or incapable of making a difference in your world. You may say something like, “Why should I work so hard at pursuing a passionate life? I’m nobody special. I can’t do much. Passionate people have it all together, and that’s not me.”

Had Edward Kimball taken that attitude, he may never have entered the shoe store. And if you allow self-doubt to corner you, you will not only rob yourself of the exciting life of passion God has for you; but, you will also rob others of God’s influence through you.

[This article was excerpted from Life Wide Open—Unleashing the Power of a Passionate Life written by Dr. David Jeremiah and published by Integrity Publishers, Nashville, pages 103-105.]

A STORM Is Coming

Would you like to reach teens that have never been in church before? Would you like to share Jesus with students who have never heard about Jesus as Savior? Would you like to increase your Student Ministry attendance for one night by double or triple? Would you like to increase your average attendance by 10% or more? Would you like to take more unsaved students to Superbowl to hear the Gospel? “STORM” IS THE ANSWER!!!

STORM (Sending Teens Out Reaching the Masses) is not just an event, but a process of getting the students and adults of your church excited about evangelism. If you follow the evangelistic STORM event with follow-up, it becomes a process for discipleship and long term growth. The discipleship process is easier with the right tools. The first tool that we recommend is a powerful little book by our LCM director, Mike Calhoun. It is called First Steps – The Adventure Begins (See the Product Catalog, page 19). Order several of these booklets ahead of time so you can give them as free gifts after each person has made a decision at the STORM. Following the STORM two other discipleship tools should be used: Biblical Beliefs and Growing Biblically in Your Faith. These booklets appear and are also described in the Product Catalog also on page 19.

In your planning meetings, you need to do the following:

• You should schedule a date (during STORM month). My favorite time to conduct a STORM is on a normal Student Ministries meeting night. However, you must realize that your STORM will need to start about two hours before your normal meeting time.

• You should engage a speaker. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Your speaker needs to be able to do three things.

1. Communicate the gospel in a clear way.

2. Share or preach with excitement.

3. Give a clear invitation for the students to receive Christ. (I would encourage you to have your Area Missionary speak for you; especially if you never had a STORM before.)

• You should schedule a room/place that will hold up to three times your normal attendance.

• You should choose a “hook”. This is usually food, since students like to fellowship over food. Oh yeah—so do I! Two of the favorites are pizza and ice cream.

• You should choose who is going to do the orientation with your drivers and students. Not sure what to do? We have the answer with a STORM DVD. The orientation DVD will be with two crazy, awesome guys: Aaron and Kyle. They will make your orientation fun, informative and motivating.

• You should find people who will help (from your church—not just from your leadership team). Remember if you are a small church each person can double up on responsibilities. Below are some areas to think about:

1. Supplying and serving food for teens and workers before the orientation.

2. Supplying and serving food after the Student meeting.

3. One driver for every two students of your average attendance. The drivers need to be at the orientation with the students two hours before the normal meeting.

4. Hospitality People will greet and sign in the students. They will also have extra activities for those who are brought in early—like Volleyball.

A STORM Manual is also available to help you. The STORM Manual will help you with the detailed planning. The manual will also go over follow-up ideas to continue the impact of your ministry in each visitor’s life. The DVD has three video clips. The first is a promotion skit. The second is the actual orientation that you can use on the night of the STORM. And the third is for counselor training. DVD and the STORM Manual are available from your Area Missionary. Gospels of John, Decision Cards, Misty tracts and beautiful STORM T-Shirts are available in the Word of Life Product Catalog. This article is not intended to help with all the detailed planning; but, its intent is to give you the big picture from which you can plan an awesome fall event that can dovetail with Superbowl and start a process of ongoing outreach through new teens introduced to your Student Ministry. Whether you see 1 or 51 teens trust Christ as Savior, your efforts will impact your Student Ministry for God’s glory.

Plan now to be a part of National STORM outreach September – October 17

[Ken Dady is the Word of Life Missionary in western Ohio and northern Kentucky. He has run dozens of STORM meetings and seen hundreds of students trust Christ. His heart beats for evangelism. Ken and his wife Pam make their home in Bellefontaine, OH. Questions and comments about STORM may be addressed to Ken at kdady@wol.org.]

Should We Add Anything To Our Theology Part 2

We add life to our theology in at least two ways. The first is to properly interpret the Bible; and the second is to creatively apply the truth of the Scriptures. Too often students have decided that the life of faith is not for them because their youth workers have not properly reflected the exciting life of theology.

Their conclusion is that theology is boring, and therefore the Christian life is boring. Jesus said that He came to give us life which includes both eternal life and life lived to the fullest on the earth (John 10:10)! This is exciting – and we should communicate the excitement – the life of theology. Throughout Scripture God has used descriptive words, creative concepts, and incredible stories to express His truth. We must read, search, discover, and convey the life of the Scriptures. This takes work. I recently researched Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.” I found that the Hebrew meaning of being still is for me to put everything down, drop everything out of my hands. That makes sense when looking at the previous verses. In them God says He will break the bow, burn the shield, and shatter the spear. He takes the weapons from our hands and destroys them. The conclusion is when things are dropped from our hands; we must trust God because we have nothing left to trust in ourselves. This has exciting applications to students. What is in their hands that needs to be dropped so they can be still and know that God is God? Is it popularity, computers, phones, schoolwork, or fear?

The concepts of salt and light, from the Sermon on the Mount, are two more biblical concepts that are exciting to students when we effectively communicate them. They include ideas about making a difference, having an impact on their world, and becoming significant in the work of Christ. Add life to theology by doing the work of interpreting what the Bible is saying. Do your students know that Daniel stood up for God as a teenager, (Daniel 1) but by the time he is thrown into the den of lions he was in his late 90’s (Daniel 6), that he read a letter from Jeremiah and thought that God was going to deliver him (Jeremiah 11 and Daniel 9), or that the king was in terrible torment during the night while Daniel was with the lions? This is just one story with such a strong fragrance of life that your students should be caught in the aroma as you tell it!

Check out Jonathan and his armor bearer, David and Goliath, Hezekiah and Sanacharib, any story about Jesus, or countless other Bible stories. Read them with new life and communicate them so that your students will enter into what God is saying! The Bible is not boring in any way; but we make it that way by not allowing the life to stay in our theology. Continued on next page… The second way we are able to add life in theology is to creatively apply the truth of Scripture. Tell stories! Remember the following guidelines. Always use an illustration to breathe life into the Scripture. Do not use a passage of Scripture to illustrate your interesting story. Tell an interesting story to illustrate the passage of Scripture. Add life by using stories of current events, referring to news that is happening in the student’s cultural areas of music, media, or celebrities. If it is within your personality, use humor. When using humor, it is important to stay within your personality. I can’t tell jokes so I don’t try. There is only one David Letterman. Be yourself. Be creative when we add life to Scripture by using the talent the Lord has blessed you with. If you are an artist, use art. If you are musician, use music. If you are a poet, use poetry. Creativity is surprising when giving an invitation. Nail notes to a cross, burn slips of paper with idols written on them; hand out nails, stones, as imaginative ways to add life to student response time.

How can I improve the chances students will remember theology? Add life. Some youth workers of my generation were taught to not use humor, not tell stories, and in so many words not show any personality when communicating the Gospel. The proper way to present theology was by being boring. When a particularly entertaining chapel speaker appeared, our instructor would spend the next class explaining why entertainment was wrong in presenting theology. If this is or is not your background, I have good news for you. Add life, it is ok to tell stories! We must Add LIFE to Theology!

These essential additions to our theology will cause us to reach the hearts as well as the minds of our students. We will also have a good balance between our theology and the words of Christ. The addition of KNOWLEDGE and LIFE are essential to our theology!

(This article is reprinted with permission of the publisher. Article originally published in Vision for Youth Magazine, Spring 2007.) [Tim Ahlgrim is the National Director of Vision For Youth, Inc. and has been actively involved in student ministry for over 30 years! You can reach him at: tim@visionforyouth.com.]

Christian Service Ideas For Children

Christian service is such an important part of a child’s spiritual growth. Too many of the children in our world today are growing up with a “me” focus. As we promote Christian service within Olympians and Gopher Buddies ministries, we are trying to teach the children to have an “other’s focus.”The Olympian Christian Service Manual and the ideas given to Gopher Buddies for Christian Service are a great place to help the children focus on the needs of others. As you enter the spring season, here are some examples of ways the children can serve:

Tree Planting – Find out when your state celebrates Arbor Day and then plan to participate for a Group Christian Service. Check with your parks department and schedule a time to plant trees with the children at one of the local parks. As you and the children come in contact with others at the park, invite them to attend your church.

Pack It Up – Visit www.childrentochildren.org and then contact the social service agency in your community to see if you can work out details for your Olympians and Gopher Buddies to participate in a project similar to the “children‐to‐children”project. Ask if you can place a Bible in the duffel bags as well as a stuffed animal.

Food Drive – Have the children bring in canned or boxed foods for a homeless shelter, rescue mission, or Baptist Children’s Home. After the food has been collected, get the children involved in helping to pack up the boxes for delivery to the organization.

Fun Flowers – There are so many ways to create beautiful faux flowers from tissue paper and chenille stems. Have the children each make a flower and create a cheery card to attach to it. Plan a field trip to a local nursing home and allow the children to help distribute the flowers.

Flower Garden – Collect money from the children for a few weeks and then go and buy flowering plants for a senior citizen or for a nursing home. Take some of the children with you so they can participate in picking out the flowers. If possible, allow some of the children to participate in helping to plant the flowers.

Give a smile! – Cut round circles from construction paper and have the children creatively make smiley face cards to distribute to children who are in the hospital. Purchase some little stuffed animals that can be given along with the cards.

Spring Cleaning – Check with your Pastor and see if there are some senior citizens who could use some extra help with cleaning and yard work. Make sure you recruit additional adults to help, assign the tasks, and then “divide and conquer.”This is a great way to be a testimony in your community!

Teens Confused About How To Get To Heaven

A recent LifeWay Research survey of American teens shows that most believe in heaven but have mixed views about how to get there. A May 23 Baptist Press story reported that 69 percent of teens believe heaven exists. Also, a majority strongly agree with the traditional Christian belief in Jesus Christ’s death for their sins as the reason they will go to heaven (53 percent). Yet while many teens believe they will go to heaven because of their belief in Jesus Christ, one-quarter trust in their own kindness to others (27 percent) or their religiosity (26 percent) as their means to get to heaven. Out of the 69 percent of the teens who strongly or somewhat agree they will go to heaven because Jesus Christ died for their sins, 60 percent also agree that they will go to heaven because they are religious and 60 percent also agree they will go to heaven because they are kind to others. That leaves approximately 28 percent of American teenagers who are trusting only in Jesus Christ as their means to get to heaven.

“This is where confusion and perhaps a bit of self-made salvation have crept in,” Scott Stevens, LifeWay’s director of student ministry, noted.” Why would teenagers feel the need to add anything to Jesus’ work on the cross? Maybe it’s because so many of them are fully engulfed in a performance-based existence where they are constantly striving to earn the favor and acceptance of those around them, especially those in positions of authority. How often do these teens experience unconditional love at home, school, or even in their church?” “The central theme of Christianity is the person and work of Jesus Christ -– His death and resurrection,” said Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research, adding, “It is surprising that only about half the teenagers who attended a Christian church in the last month are depending solely on the grace of Jesus Christ to get to heaven.” (Click here to read the full article.)

[David Livingston is the Word of Life missionary for Atlanta and North GA. Contact David at dlivingston@wol.org]

Helping Children Memorize Scripture

I hope that we can all agree that memorizing God’s Word on a regular basis is important. Since it is important, how can we make it happen in our Olympian Clubs? Before we get into some helpful ideas for helping your children memorize Scripture, let’s discuss some of the philosophy behind why we memorize Scripture. Word of Life’s philosophy on the topic of scripture memory is summed up in this statement: “Internalizing Scripture to connect to life’s needs and problems is essential for a growing, obedient Christian.” As leaders, we can’t focus on our Olympians memorizing just words. If that is our focus, there would be little difference between memorizing Scripture and memorizing a school textbook. Instead, we need to teach children to hide God’s Word in their heart, not just their head. One way to make sure that the children know what the verse means is to regularly ask them questions like: “What does that verse mean?” or “Can you explain that verse in your own words?” Lastly, we need to be very careful how we motivate our Olympians. We may use positive reinforcement such as stickers, certificates and medals; but, our focus is on spiritual growth, not just on the awards.

Here are some ideas for helping children who aren’t doing well memorizing Scripture:

• Work together.
Even if some of the Olympians in your Personal Training group are doing great, having your whole small group work together will encourage those who aren’t doing well, and will teach those who are doing well how to help others.

• Be visual.
Some children learn best with their eyes. Make a poster with pictures representing the words of the verse to help them learn. You can also use motions or sign language to teach the words of the verses.

• Make a game.
One example is to write out a verse on a chalkboard or a whiteboard. Have all your Olympians read the verse out loud. After one time, erase a few words and have them say it again. Keep going through the verse, deleting a few words each time, until all of the words are gone.

• Break them down.
That is the verses, not the Olympians! A whole verse can be intimidating for a child. Instead of focusing on the whole verse at once, have the Olympian work on half or a third of the verse each week, until they get it done. That way, they see progress as they work. The following are ideas for helping children who excel at memorizing scripture:

• Slow them down.
This might seem like the opposite of what you would want to do; but, there is a point to it. When memorizing Scripture comes easy for a child, it can become easy for them to rush through their verses without stopping to apply the verses to their life. For example, if your Olympian has memorized all of her Bronze verses, and the Bronze goal date is still two weeks away, have her review the Bronze verses. If a child is on track with his verses, I would not let them quote more than one to you each week.

• Get them more.
If an Olympian memorizes all of the verses before the end of the club year; there are always more. If they are a Challenger or Conqueror, they can memorize some of the other eight Champion verses. If they are a Champion, there are an additional 24 verses in the Bible Study each year that are not used on the Scripture Memory Cards. They can be found after the lesson title of each lesson where it says “Key Verse.” Having God’s Word hidden in our hearts is one of our best tools for facing temptations.

We need to do our best to help our Olympians have God’s Word memorized and applied to their lives.

[Jordan Wertz is the Word of Life children’s missionary in Eastern Michigan. Jordan and his wife, Bonnie, make their home in Corunna, MI. Questions or comments about this article may be directed to Jordan at jordanwertz@wol.org.]

Paying Attention To Your Spiritual Growth

Those of us in leadership MUST pay attention to our own PERSONAL GROWTH. It has been said that “it’s only the overflow that proves to be a blessing to others.”Here are commentary thoughts from Warren Wiersbe that I trust will be helpful. Dr. Warren Wiersbe explains Hebrews 5:10-14 best when he shows how the writer deals with:

Four Marks of Spiritual Immaturity:

1. Dullness toward the Word (v. 11). One of the first symptoms of spiritual backsliding is dullness toward the Bible.

2. Inability to Share (v. 12a). Not all Christians have the gift of teaching, but all can share what they learn from the Word. One of the hardest lessons children must learn is the lesson of sharing.

3. A “Baby Food” Diet (vv 12b-13). The “milk” of the Word refers to what Jesus Christ did on earth. This includes His birth, life, teaching, death, burial and resurrection. The “meat” of the Word refers to what Jesus Christ is now doing in Heaven as our High Priest.

4. Unskillful in Using the Word (v. 14). A characteristic of little children is that they lack discernment. A baby will put anything in its mouth. An immature believer will listen to any preacher on the radio or television and not be able to identify whether or not he is true to the Scriptures.

[Dale Flynn is the Word of Life missionary for central PA. He and his wife, Liz ,make their home in Elkton, MD. Send comments or questions to dflynn@wol.org.]