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Youth Ministry
Communicating the Word

In laying a foundation for our ministries, “communicating the Word of God is indispensable in the task of making disciples.”

John 8:31-32 says, “...if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” We all realize that in order to help our students “run the race” of the Christian life we must provide them with relevant, Bible-based instruction that captures their attention and allows them to make “God connections.”

Hurdles to Communicating God’s Word

Belief in the concept of a magic curriculum We have a false hope that there is a perfect curriculum out there. The major flaws in the “magic curriculum” approach to teaching the Word are these: We buy excessive copies of expensive curriculum. The teacher studies the curriculum, the students leave the curriculum at church so it won’t get lost. We take up our teaching time filling out the curriculum and rarely get to the Scriptures. Our goal must be to teach the Scriptures, not a curriculum. Now, I’m not opposed to curriculum per se. In fact, I use and steal from them all. Keeping in mind what Charles Spurgeon said, “All creativity with no plagiarism makes for boring preaching and teaching.” Furthermore, I’ve also realized that I only have “X” amount of hours of study and teaching time during a week. And I want to spend it getting into the Book. So, my challenge personally, as well as in your teaching... use curriculum for what it was intended (a resource), but be Bible dependent. Over-use of certain hot topics Sometimes in our desire to be relevant to our students’ lives, we come up with an idea or topic that we know our students are wrestling with (ie. dating, self image, peer pressure, etc.) and then illustrate our talk with the Bible. The problem with this approach is that our students end up knowing the pat answers... the “fill in the blanks” but not the Scriptures. You most certainly want to be relevant, answering the questions that students are asking... but, be careful to come from the Word as the premier source. Lack of creativity in our teaching methods. Leith Anderson, in his excellent book entitled Dying for Change, makes some extremely insightful observations about our culture and what it will take to be effective in communicating the Word. He says, “Prior to the late 1600’s, few Christians could read or had access to books. That is why statues, paintings, stained-glass windows, plays, and storytelling were so much a part of the church. With the invention of the printing press, that began to change, and the basic means of communication was through the printed page. Today, most Christian organizations are print-oriented rather than image-oriented. In other words, they assume that the basic means of communication has not changed. But it has. Decreasing numbers of Americans are readers. Rather than read a newspaper, they watch the nightly news on TV. Rather than read a book, they wait until it is made into a movie. Music presentations are multi-sensory (seeing, smelling, as well as hearing). Reading promotes linear thinking: one idea logically follows another. Image-oriented persons are more inclined to think experientially.” We need to relate to the post-print generation. We must become more visual and interactive in our communication of the timeless truths of the Scriptures. Logic should not be abondoned, but image must be added. Variety is the key! Try all types of communication... lecture, role plays, sketches, skits, tapes, discussion groups, films and videos.

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Written by Erich Liechty, a youth specialist with Sonlife Ministries.
Last modified October 31, 2000.

Ideabank is a quarterly newsletter published by the Board of Christian Education Ministries, a board of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.

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