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.

Prayer Breakfast to focus on the lost

The 2007 Word of Life Superbowl season is coming up! As you promote this important event, prayer should play an important role in the process. A Prayer Breakfast is a great way to help your students focus on the lost and the importance of their salvation. Studentswho spend time praying for their friends could see more of them come to Christ. They could come to value prayer more when an emphasis is placed upon it. We should help our students understand that prayer is vital in reaching others for Christ. A Prayer Breakfast gives students an opportunity to talk to the Lord about their friends. We recommend that you schedule at least one Prayer Breakfast before you attend the Superbowl in your area.

Purpose:

To pray for the salvation of the lost people who have been invited to a special event (like Superbowl) where they will hear the Gospel. This will also make your young people more aware of the lost.

Planning the Prayer Breakfast:

When

Before the event on a Saturday is the best time for the Prayer Breakfast. Have it early on Saturday so you do not take up an entire day.

Where

Have it at a leader’s home.

Time

8 to 9 AM. This allows people to use the rest of their Saturday.

Format

8:00-8:15 Eat

8:15-8:25 Devotion & Sharing (who they have invited etc)

8:25-8:30 Pass out prayer list

8:30-8:55 Pray

8:55-9:00 Share details of the next event, activity or update on both.

Prepare to pray:

• Divide into groups of 2, 3 or 4s. Have someone in each group take notes.
• Use different rooms Collect the names of those who have been invited to the event.
• Visualize the names on a poster or paper.
• By the time the Prayer Breakfast is over, have all the names on a master prayer list and give copies to everyone to take home .

How to Pray:

• Pray that the lies they have been told will not be believed.
• Pray that the hypocrites they are using for an excuse will be removed from their sight.
• Pray that God will break down the walls that are keeping them from Christ.
• Pray for boldness & wisdom to speak the Word of God to them.
• Pray that they will hear the truth of your words and the Word of God & believe it.
• Claim the salvation of each person in Jesus name.

[Steve Gledhill is the Word of Life missionary for northern California. Questions and comments may be  sent to Steve Gledhill at sgledhill@wol.org.]

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.]

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]

Should We Add Anything to our Theology?

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 Collegeyouth 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. )