Theological Depth in the Black Church: For the Imaginative, the Curious, and the Disconnected
As urban youth leaders, we have a tremendous opportunity to draw our students “into the deep.”
As urban youth leaders, we have a tremendous opportunity to draw our students “into the deep.”
There is nothing more relieving to student souls than to be convinced that they—sinful, messy, and doubting as they are—stand acquitted, declared innocent before God.
Having rich discussions about the faith with teenagers in a more personal setting will feed your soul and deepen your relationships with students. It will shape you as a pastor, communicator, and thinker.
As youth ministers, one of our tasks is to remind our teenagers who they are in Christ. Our prayer is that they will delight in the Lord, serve him faithfully, and live their lives with purpose.
We are not putting ourselves up as perfect Christians who always look like Jesus. Instead, we recognize that the same gospel that brought us our salvation is the very gospel we need to live out our faith.
Worldview formation is about walking alongside students as they discover how the gospel transforms their understanding of reality.
We can put our faith in our own exhaustible novelty, or in the inexhaustible and pinpoint accuracy of the Holy Spirit working through his own words.
In order for our students to grow in grace, we have a responsibility to help them understand and enjoy the sacraments more fully.
Similar to the way the rituals and memories of birthdays and holiday traditions strengthen family bonds, our teenagers’ embrace of the sacraments has deepened the fellowship of our church family.