I have worked with youth for about nine years and one comment that I have often noticed is that we should be careful not to go too deep with the kids or it will just go over their heads and they will lose interest.
It seems that by saying that we don’t want to go too deep with our youth group kids means that we are giving them just enough of the gospel to inoculate them. Rather we want to give them the fullness of the gospel so that they can see that they have been given a deep pool of grace, the depths of which will take them the rest of their lives (even eternity) to plumb. Even that in any and every circumstance they will be able to dive into grace and find genuine salve for every wound.
Ask a kid what it means to be saved and he will likely respond, “Jesus forgives me of my sins.” And yet the kid observes that church, and especially youth group, seems to be about what God says to do and what God says not to do. How are these two basic teachings of the church compatible? How is it that God seems to demand so much, but forgives so easily? It almost seems like two different religions are being taught. One says that if we follow God we will avoid destructive behaviors. The other says that it doesn’t matter what you do God will forgive you. All you have to do is ask.
The confusion and lack of depth leads to all kinds of mess for graduates. They realize that they just can’t keep up with all of God’s demands and it seems like everyone has a different take on what those demands are anyway. And God forgives in the end so what does it matter? Christianity as a practiced religion becomes irrelevant. In the end what the youth group has produced is a youth that is morally ambivalent and to whom God has become a contradictory side show. The youth may not be willing to become an atheist due to core convictions that there must be a God; therefore, God is placated by minor religious activity and the youth continues to live in a moral and spiritual tension that stands as wall barring genuine reconciliation and relationship with his creator.
It seems that greater depth of understanding and teaching by leaders among youth is the only antidote to the inoculation above. The leaders must ask questions not only of the morality and forgiven status of the youth, but also of his depth of understanding the workings of redemption. Redemption is purchase of pardon, reconciliation, the righteousness of Christ imputed to the believer, escape from wrath with Christ as the substitute, and so much more. Think of what happens to the tension above if the youth can see salvation does not mean sin is no big deal so God just forgives it, but rather that God has utter wrath and hatred of sin and that the cross is the perfect place to see God’s wrath upon sin.
We must guard against the shallow teaching that the gospel is the launch pad to a positive moral life. The gospel is basis of regeneration. The gospel is the sustenance of our daily life. The gospel our reconciliation to God. The gospel is the depth out of which flows our daily worship. Plumb the gospel for our youth. Plumb the gospel with our youth.
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The best way that I can think of to “plumb the gospel” is to find a passage of scripture that specifically summarizes some aspect of the work of Jesus in either His life, His death, or His reign (and they are all of the whole of scripture) and:
1) Read it
2) Dwell on it.
3) Sing songs that relate to it.
4) Ask questions about exactly how this redemption thing works.
5) Ask how this relates both to the beginning of the Christian life and the sustaining of the Christian life.
6) Let the youth ask questions of the text.
7) Begin to enjoy and appreciate all of what Christ has done.
Just a couple of scriptures: Philippians 2; The various divisions of Hebrews 9-10; John 3; Genesis 12 and many, many more.








Well, I read a lot. And it seems that most of my reading just leads to more questions and thus more books. But is reading the end of what a pastor does? Ok, I write sermons and practice preaching them. But are sermons the end of what a pastor does? I visit people in their homes and in the hospital and in funeral visitation lines. Maybe I’m just a professional “kind person” and listening ear who reads a lot and talks about what he has learned.