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.

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.]