Christian Youth Work and Taking the Bible Seriously

Check out this excerpt from Christian Youth Work, written by Mark Ashton and Phil Moon (and recently updated by Jonathan Carswell):

“But the most serious weakness in Christian ministry among teenagers today is not a failure to understand our culture. It is a failure to take the Bible sufficiently seriously.

There are two fundamental necessities in Christian communication. One is that we take the world we live in seriously; and the other is that we take God’s revelation to us in the Bible seriously. If either is missing, the communication will be ineffective.

However, either of these necessities may become all-absorbing. We can strive so hard to be relevant to young people that we immerse ourselves in their culture to a point where the distinctiveness of the Christian message vanishes. Or we can be so concerned to be faithful to the Bible that we forget that the culture of the Bible and the culture of the world are miles apart. We then drive an unbiblical wedge between evangelism and social action; or we throw up our hands in horror at the thought of using rock music as a medium to communicate the gospel – the ‘They didn’t have it then, so we can’t possibly use it now’ syndrome.

However, if we have to err on one side or the other, we must not lose our hold on Christian truth. The simple message of God’s love for sinful humanity and of his forgiveness of our sins for the sake of his son has extraordinary and immense power: our incompetence as communicators is not able to destroy its ability to reach non-Christian young people.” 

Click here to find out more about Christian Youth Work.

Advancing Grace-Driven Youth Ministry

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