Teenagers, Evangelism, and Youth Ministry
Last week, I referenced a recently released Barna study. The study examined the declining faith practices of teenagers. (You can read my previous post here or the actual study brief here.) In essence, the study found that while some faith practices are more or less holding steady (youth group attendance, church attendance, and Bible reading), other practices show signs of pretty significant decline, most notably (in my opinion) prayer and evangelism.
I wanted to take a few days and collect my thoughts on the issue of evangelism and teenagers and about the key factors that contribute to teenagers’ resistance to sharing their faith. I talked with some awesome friends (so, admittedly, some of these thoughts are influenced by them), spent some time reflecting on what I see in the students I know, and thought about our culture in general. Here is what I think are the key factors that inhibit teenagers’ evangelistic efforts.
- Fear of Rejection/Fear of Social Awkwardness—Self-explanatory. We are by nature “risk averse.” Most of us want to be accepted and don’t want to make others feel uncomfortable. So, we are timid in our expressions of faith because we don’t want to offend. Teenagers who value friendships so highly seem particularly prone to this.
- Fear of Insufficient Information—Teenagers (and adults) fear that awkward moment where someone asks a question they can’t answer. This is a particularly tragic obstacle to me, as we have been given God’s Word precisely so that we might know the Gospel. We have all the info we need at our disposal. This also shows a lack of reliance on the Holy Spirit’s power to enable us to testify to the truth.
- The Intangible Nature of the Consequences—This idea came straight from a friend and was articulated very well. Death, and eternity, and judgment are simply too far “out there.” The consequences of our sin and separation do not seem real. Therefore, the urgency in sharing the Gospel is not there.
- The Influence of Cultural Context—I call this the “-ism” effect. Religious pluralism, moral relativism, and secular humanism have created a cultural Bermuda triangle where absolute truth claims go to die. If you claim there is only one way to salvation and eternal life, watch out.
- An Incomplete Grasp of the Gospel—This takes a few forms. Maybe students don’t have a full understanding of the real consequences of sin; that sin earns for us death and separation from God. Or maybe they don’t grasp the power of the Gospel message, how Christ alone is able to bring life and purpose to us. Whatever, the case, there is some sort of disconnect with the full understanding of the Gospel message.
- Do Not See Evangelism Modeled in Any Adult Figure in Their Lives—This is a big one to me. Study after study (The NSYR and some of Ed Stetzer/Lifeway’s research come to mind) show that parents are still the main influencers in teenagers’ lives. And meaningful, non-parent-adult relationships are high on the list. If youth workers and parents model the importance of evangelism, students will begin to value its importance.
I think a couple things need to be said. First, I’m sure I’ve left out something. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what I missed. Second, it’s important not to paint with too broad a brush. There are teenagers who are actively engaged in sharing their faith. And we need to encourage, and praise, and continue to train these students.
I’m no alarmist. I believe in the sovereignty of God and that His Kingdom is unstoppable. Nothing we do, nor anything we don’t do can hinder God’s eternal plan to redeem His children. However, the fact remains that in God’s plan to redeem the lost, we are His primary means of sharing the truth of the Gospel.
The questions is: do the students in your youth group know this?
Andy Blanks is the co-founder of youthministry360. Andy has worked in youth ministry for 12 years, almost exclusively writing, designing, and developing curriculum. Andy is a teacher at heart and loves to challenge teenagers and youth workers alike through his writing and speaking.
Share your thoughts with the youthministry360 community:
- What other factors are there that inhibit/prohibit teenagers from sharing their faith?
- What do we as youth workers do to fix it? How do we address it? What are you doing that works?
Everything said in this blog is relevant and needs our attention. There are two points that stood out to me. One is the “Intangible Nature of the Consequences”… Our students fail to grasp the reality that they have friends that are headed towards hell.. One thing I have encouraged students to do is request prayers and pray for lost friends. Whenever we ask for prayer requests we always get “please pray for so and so they are sick or in the hospital”. These are important but I encourage our students to pray for the lost. I am also teaching them how to share their testimony. I encourage them by telling them that they do not have to be a master theologian to tell someone about Christ. I tell them to just tell their story.
The second thing that stood out, or should I say convicted me was the last point. Our students don’t see evangelism modeled enough by the adults in their lives. The first people that must model this is us as parents. My boys must see me talking to friends and family about Christ and the hope of the gospel. As a minister to students I need to create opportunities for students to see this behavior modeled. Mission trips, out reach booths at public events like fairs and carnivals are some things I have seen and been involved in. If any one has other ideas for modeling evangelism to students I would love to hear them.
Mark, So thankful the post worked for you. And thanks for sharing what you’re doing with teenagers to help them be more active in sharing their faith.
I like how your taking out some of the intimidation aspect of sharing their faith. We don’t have to have a theology degree to talk about the difference Christ has made in us. I tell students the same thing: don’t let fear of questions you can’t answer keep you from talking about your faith. Don’t be afraid to tell someone “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” In many cases, going back to someone in a couple of days with an answer to a question they asked shows them you care about them.
Way to be intentional about modeling evangelism for your students!
Thanks for sharing your voice with the ym360 community. We’re stronger because of you.
My youth for the most part are very open about their faith. They have an attitude of Christianity as the best way for them to live and don’t have many hang ups about telling others that they are missing the boat if they aren’t Christians.
Paul,
I love it . . . And that’s why I made sure to include in the post that we can’t assume all teenagers struggle with sharing their faith.
Here’s the million dollar question (if you have time to answer it): What do you think are the external factors that have helped create this attitude? (I say external because I think we all would agree the Spirit is sufficient to compel us and equip us to share our faith.)
Influence of your youth ministry?
Parents?
Biblical understanding?
Or maybe some combination of the above?
Thanks for sharing, Paul. Always enjoy your opinion.
I felt weird putting that comment in there. Something happened early on at this position that is completely unique in my youth ministry experience. It started because when I first arrived I had only two attenders and they were both sr. guys. I had a program church kind of history and style of ministry, but it just didn’t work after three months. New people were coming, but I never knew what mix they would be. It might be two seventh grade boys and one eleventh grade girl. Try programming for that?
So I did something I never thought I would do, just out of necessity. I didn’t do any programming at all. No games, no ice-breakers, no presentation software, and no prepared lesson. We would get together, maybe play some Wii and then sit down and talk. It was more like a random small group like Marko just blogged about. Out of that came this non-agenda style of relationship that laid the groundwork for what I learned was a different way to do discipleship.
Now, the big moment was when we were talking about identity. We were talking about what God created us for and how were are designed to do life (Eph. 2:10) and there was a very clear movement of the Spirit revealing some things in these kids lives. I’m not what I would call a charismatic, though not averse to the working of the Spirit. But the specifics of it are that some of the things these kids were known for, not in a good way, they were created for to be God’s glory. There was one kid that was just a bully and he confessed that he knew he was and that he only went after people he knew he could dominate. One of our leaders asked him what he thought it would be like to have a different set of friends in a year solely because he was their defender. It was one of those quiet, revelations. And it has happened in this kids life. We have seen so many kids have this type of experience now in the ministry.
There is no doubt that they are convinced that the gospel is so much more than not going to hell, and that God offers a life here on earth so much better than they could imagine. It isn’t the easiest life, or the happiest. Sometimes it’s just really hard, but it is the best.
Sorry for the book, but I have been trying to figure what happened for a while now.
Wow, Paul! A ton of food for thought in that one. I am fairly new to youth ministry, I began a little over a year ago. What I’m learning personally as grow in this ministry that its ALWAYS about a relationship… We can program until we’re “blue in the face,” without much fruit for the kingdom. However, after attending an assembly with 4 of my students and spending a weekend in small groups, we had a student accept Christ! Thanks for the thoughts about shucking what’s not working in favor of what is.
I just remembered. After reading Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin, I never thought of evangelism in the same way again. Just another thought.