Message or Method (Program): Are We Missing the Point?

Message or Method (Program): Are We Missing the Point?

In the last month or so I've received numerous emails and/or phone calls from teenagers with BIG questions. What I find interesting and discouraging is that every teenager is already involved in a youth group in their community somewhere. So why are so many teenagers contacting me to get answers about God, the Bible, Jesus, and so on and not going to their own youth workers, parents, or someone in their church? Please, don’t misunderstand me. I love answering teen’s questions and if God is using me, then I’m certainly available. But are their youth workers, parents, and church leaders so busy developing, talking, and writing about the latest methods they don’t have time to share the message?

Are we spending too much time sharing with each other the latest greatest idea and even arguing over meaningless discussions instead of sharing the message with our teenagers first? I've come to appreciate my youth worker colleagues who do blog and twitter about their teenagers and how the message is changing lives instead of rattling off a method or program. I find I’m more encouraged by what they share than by the latest freebie available for download.

Are we spending more time developing the methods of youth ministry and not enough on preaching the message and thereby missing the point?

What I find to be heart breaking is that while the Internet has become an awesome tool for us to communicate and give out free advice, has it also taken us away from what really matters? Are we focused more on the latest methods rather than the message? Everyday you can literally read hundreds if not thousands of tweets or blogs about “how” to do youth ministry. Yet with the endless amount of advise, how-to’s, and podcasts it’s not often we read how and if those methods are affecting the teens. Why aren’t we sharing REAL personal experiences of how God is working in the lives of our teenagers. Are they putting their faith in Christ alone? Are they growing deeper in their faith? What questions are they struggling with? What’s going on in the lives of teenagers? Is there real revival taking place in the hearts of the younger generation or are we too busy arguing over the latest methods? I love how Paul would share over and over what God was doing in the lives of the people he preached to and not about his methods.

Have we become so busy trying to be twitterific with texting and typing the methods that it appears we’re vying for the youth ministry public spotlight? Is blogging and Twittering the latest reality series to see who will become the next Top Youth Worker? (ie.; Bravo’s Top Chef) And does it matter whether you have 200 or 1,000 people following you on Twitter, Facebook, and your blog (I may lose some after this article)? Has this become more important than the message?

With all these random thoughts and rants I’ve had to ask myself: What am I doing? Am I losing focus of the message just so I can keep up with the latest methods and Internet discussions? Have I become fearful to yield to the truth and make youth ministry about the message not the method? How true is this statement and am I willing to take a hard look and find out? Am I willing to step back, take a break from all the methods and just soak in the message so it spills out? When it comes to my teenagers am I preaching the message well before relying on the latest methods? My prayerful plea, “Lord Jesus, I don’t want methods to distract me. I want your message to spill out of me and onto my teenagers.”

As youth workers it’s vital that we talk about different methods, share ideas and give advice, but not at the expense of losing the message and our students. Because then if we do it will only be meaningless discussions and myths. We shouldn’t allow anything to distract us from the gospel and the awesome news of salvation in Christ alone, the main point of Scripture. We should look to the message first, apply it to our own lives daily and then teach it to others. Methods (programs) are just the scaffolding that helps us build onto the foundation of the message.