The Gospel and Teenage Culture

I gave a talk to a bunch of leaders at a mission training day a couple of weeks ago. The aim was to think through how we reach teenage culture without compromising on the timeless gospel of Jesus' death for our sins.

The Gospel and Teenage Culture (mp3)

How do you preach the unchanging gospel in your context?

Engaging with culture

The dudes over at Marshill are very good at engaging with culture. They are helpful in showing how to discern the messages being preached by culture (this is the whole premise behind film & theology). The main question that they ask is what message is being communicated, and what gospel is being preached (i.e., what is hip hop heaven? What is hip hop hell?)?

Here's a snippet from a good piece on engaging with Hip-Hop culture:

"...Jesus prays for his followers, asking that the Father would leave them in the world and that He would protect them from the evil one. Jesus desires that we remain a part of culture, that we understand it, and that we seek to communicate the gospel in a meaningful way to those who have yet to receive God’s saving grace."

and

"...it is our mission to follow Paul’s lead in loving people of other cultures enough to learn how to communicate with them so that we can tell them about the gospel of Christ. This doesn’t mean that we have to roll on dubs, put on thick chains, and wear FUBU. It does, however, mean that we need to know the values of hip hop culture and be able to explain what the Christian response to these is.... Love them enough to learn how to effectively communicate the gospel to them so that they can come to know Jesus and his gospel."

In response to my posts on Central Coast culture and what it needs - it would be wrong to encourage our youth group members to have nothing to do with their peers who "get sloshed, stoned and sexed" at Erina Fair. But keep thinking through how to understand their friends (while not falling into the same sin) so that they engage their friends with the glorious news of Jesus.

What gospel is your local youth culture proclaiming? (i.e. What is that culture's heaven? Hell?)

J-Walk Magazine

Earlier this month we launched our own youth group magazine. There has been some great feedback from teenagers and leaders. We are currently getting reading to launch our Easter edition. Click here for our site... click here for J-Walk... click here for J-Walk issue 1... click here or here to download it.

What do you think?

Emo Evangelism

Go over here to read my thoughts on Evangelism to Emo's.

Would love to hear your comments...

Youth Ministry and Culture: An Introduction

Well friends, this blog is about youth ministry and writing, so here's our first real post in that direction. I've been reading Niebuhr's book Christ and Culture recently, and it's really helped me get started thinking about youth ministry and the wider youth culture can and should relate. Here's a possible introduction for an extended article:

Youth ministers are forever watching, analysing and copying secular youth culture. This isn’t a fundamentally good thing, or a fundamentally bad thing. It is simply a necessary part of the job. Youth ministers are frequently aware that be they 25 or 55, they no longer inhabit the same cultural sphere as a 13 year old. Whilst it mustn’t be overstated, there is some degree of cultural remoteness between youth ministers and those they lead. Thus, to effectively bring the light of Christ and the word of the gospel to teenagers, youth ministers become students of youth culture. Many youth ministers pause to take in the nuts and bolts of youth culture, such as musical styles, technological trends, and linguistic variety. However, fewer youth ministers stop to consider their fundamental stance toward youth culture and the theological foundation, if any, for that stance. Is youth culture something that needs to transform and inform the church in order to serve the youth of today? Is youth culture so full of evil that Christians must come out and be separate from it? Or is youth culture essentially good, whilst being tainted by sin, and in need of redemption? Wether we have thought about it or not, our answer to these questions will fundamentally shape that nature of the youth ministry we pursue. Wether we have thought about it or not, the way we answer these questions must be theologically grounded.

I'd love some feedback. Does the intro seem clear? Is it interesting? Does it make you want to read more? Does it raise an issue for you in youth ministry?

How to Get Teens Excited About God - time.com

It looks like Time magazine is becoming a youth ministry magazine... two articles in the last week!! This article is based on some Barna research.

Our context in Australia is significantly different from the USA... but...

What gets your teens excited about God?

Maybe the more foundational question is:
ARE your teens excited about God?

What are the drop-off rates of teenagers from your church/ministry?

(The picture is from the website - they always get these photos when people are in odd-looking poses...)

In Touch With Jesus - time.com

This article seems to have some encouraging information about the state of youth ministry in the United States. The time magazine article describes the move from youth ministry "wrapped in pop-culture packaging" to youth ministry that studies the Bible and doctrine.

What do you think? Is this accurate of youth ministry in the USA? Is this accurate with the culture in Australian youth ministries?

(h/t to JT for article)