“Youth are mature enough for serious Bible Study. They shouldn’t need games and all this ‘creative’ stuff.”

Unfortunately this is a common sentiment among teachers of youth and adults. Of course, when they indicate serious Bible Study, what they usually mean is lecture. Yet Jesus, undoubtedly the most serious of ALL teachers, used stories, parables, object lessons, and activities to teach. As for lecture, we only have one long lecture of Jesus recorded in Scripture, the “Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus involved others in the learning experience, preferring to guide his pupils to discover, understand, and live the truth. It’s a sin to for youth to leave Bible Study with the thought that it is boring and meaningless. Listed below are some ideas for preparing Bible Study with youth that is meaningful and exciting.

A.DAPT
Choosing Bible Study curriculum is like choosing new clothes. Few have the resources, skill, or the time to tailor their own. But you are not stuck with creating your own or using something that doesn’t fit. There is a third option - adjusting it so that it does fit. Bible study materials are often written to fit a wide variety of needs, but with a little planning and a little adapting here and there you can get something that fits.

Fit to the Occasion, Size, Practicality
We need to be very careful that we are not buying a Ballerina outfit for a Soccer Goalie. One may be elegant and beautiful, but no matter how much adjustment we do, it will never serve our purpose. Different occasions demand different materials. And the boys soccer team may need a little something different from the mom’s cross-stitch class. “One size fits all” rarely fits! To be most effective we need to know the sizes (spiritual maturity) of the people for which the material is intended. Finally we need something that is practical for the skill level of the teacher, the time constraints and the resources available. Discover the various interests and needs of your students and their teachers and you will be much more effective outfitting them for life.

Find the Main Idea
Isolate the main idea of the lesson, and how it should be applied to life. Then put it into one simple statement. Materials will often do this for you and call it the “teaching aim” or “central truth.” These are only suggestions and should be rewritten as necessary so that it is meaningful and applicable to YOUR youth in YOUR church. Your objective is not to cover all the material in the Bible passage, forcing your youth to “sit still while you instill” all the Bible content into them. Rather your goal is to help each to discover the ONE main truth of the passage and apply it to his or her life. Our goal is not Bible Drill Champions, but Biblical Christians. If the youth leave with one truth per week and truly apply it to life, you will have been incredibly used by God and might even create a few Bible Drill Champs in the process!

Focus the Lesson
Once you have identified the central truth, everything you do during this lesson should focus on this truth, shed light on it, look at it from different angles, help youth discover it, and eventually to see its application. Read the focal passage, the lesson in the student book, the background material, and teaching helps with your specific main idea for your youth in mind. Remember that games and activities for the mere sake of activity are meaningless. But games and activities that help youth to experience the main truth, to draw attention to it, can be the key to making the lesson memorable. They can be a hook, a hanger, on which the student can hang the lesson instead of getting lost in the bottom of the closet of their minds. When choosing activities and teaching steps, always ask the following question: “How does this activity or step reinforce the Focus of this lesson?” If you have several activities to choose from, identify which would be the best reinforcement and most likely to work with YOUR students.

Fun and Variety
Use a variety of engaging teaching methods to seize the attention of your students and draw them to the central truth. Different people learn in different ways, have had difference life experiences, have different interests and concepts of fun, different gifts and talents, and have different needs. It is impossible to teach to all these variables at once, but variety allows you to reach more of them. You want to shine a bright light of attention on all the various facets of that diamond of truth you have chosen so that all its sparkle and all its various angles and perspectives are illuminated. You want to make it so attractive to the learners so that they want to interact with it and explore it in all its detail. The worst teaching method is the one that is repeatedly used as it will progressively become more ineffective with each use. Most teaching materials will provide a couple of alternative options for each key teaching point. Identify the key idea or purpose of each activity. They are options and you can pick and choose as you wish. You may even add an option of your own if you can achieve the same result with another activity. Remember EVERYTHING in the materials are SUGGESTIONS! ADAPT!

Find Resources
If you wish to use alternative ideas you need resources. Why waste your time trying to come up with all your own ideas when there are some great helps already available from which to draw? If the focus of the lesson is for example “compassion,” then you can often find another lesson on compassion and add or replace activities in your lesson. There are many good books and resources that are just that, sources of teaching ideas for you to adapt as needed! One great resource is www.CreativeYouthIdeas.com. And when your creative juices ARE flowing and you have a creative idea, type it into your computer or jot it down on a notecard and store it in a file for later use. You never know when the same idea could be used again with a different group of youth later. Just categorize them by subjects and key words (i.e. what does this activity teach?)

B.E STUDENT FOCUSED
“We don’t teach the Bible, we teach YOUTH.”
Remember our goal is not “Content” but “Changed lives,” not “facts,” but “followers.” Our goal is to see youth grow and develop in preparation for a lifelong walk with Christ, to be faithful followers of Jesus. Many people know about God and Christianity without really knowing God and living as Christians. An effective teacher will know the needs, the likes and dislikes, and the learning preferences of youth and be able to integrate these into the lesson so that youth become a part of the lesson and can understand its application to his or her life. As you prepare for your lesson, you should keep in mind the needs, experiences, and personalities of YOUR youth. The key is to guide the lesson with YOUR youth in mind.

C.onnect.
You need to connect all the parts of the lesson together and most importantly build a connection between the lesson and the students and even between yourself, as the teacher, and the students. “Youth don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” Youth need to know how one activity relates to those that have preceded it. After you have analyzed how each activity or step relates to the main lesson you only need to phrase it in a simple sentence and it serves as a great transition to the next step. You might also let youth know how this lesson connects with previous lessons. Finally youth need to know where the lesson connects with everyday life- (i.e. how does it apply.) They want to know why the lesson is important.
If you can Adapt, Be student focused, and Connect everything together, “Teaching Creatively” is as simple as ABC!

This is Matt Maddix's latest news letter... I thought it would be a great read for any Student Ministry Pastor. Amen, Brother Maddix... AMEN!

A recent Gallup Poll indicated that 70% of 18-29 year olds believe that religion is losing its influence in American life. Friends, we can no longer hide our face in the sand when 7 out of 10 of America's youth believe that religion has lost its influence. How can that be? How could we as a church be failing America's youth and children? Barna Research Group revealed that 92% of all of Christianity's conversions will take place between the ages of 12-25. I can't even begin to tell you how many 1,000's of youth that I have met on the streets of America, college campuses, high schools, and youth gatherings that have expressed to me that the number one reason why youth don't attend church is because it's boring. It's almost as if "church" is no longer relevant to the youth of America. We keep slamming our fist on the pulpits and preaching "at" these teenagers and saying things like, "We are living in a different day, and when I was your age" Come on friends, do we really remember what we were like when we were "their age?" It's so easy to put ourselves at a distance of these powerful and precious teenagers by "preaching at them" and never taking the time to listen to them. In fact, you would discover that many of today's youth have something to say and are dying to find somebody to listen to them. Years ago, I preached a message called "The True Cry of My Generation!" What is the "true cry" of my generation? What is it that teenagers and young adults are looking for? Well, I don't want to knock you off your religious high horse and break your heart, but we would be simply shocked if we knew what they were really looking for. Are you ready? On a second thought, take a deep breath and go take a seat for this one.

Would somebody please wake me up when church is over? I'd like to bring to our attention that this Sunday morning, over 88% of the teenagers in America will not be in church! My sermons on hell and the fear of God will not motivate them to get out of bed, nor will they be motivated by "fear or condemnation." In fact, the only way to get them out of bed is to offer something more and different than what we have offered our youth. I'd like to start off by saying that as a pastor, I've personally failed the youth of my church by being all over the world preaching and reaching other youth. However, major changes are coming to St. Petersburg as we will do whatever we have to do to reach our kids.

I have started by moving our youth class from the Sunday school room to the local Starbucks, and I don't "teach", but rather we study, discuss, and deal with relevant issues. Please don't misunderstand me; we are as strong in the Bible as any youth class in America. I've just found it much easier for my youth to open up over a White Chocolate Mocha rather than in a Sunday school room. As the pastor of the church, I personally teach the youth class, because I don't want anyone to have more influence in their life than myself.

Secondly, we must give them a Christianity that has thrill, appeal, challenge, and connection. Yes, we must understand that youth are looking for something that is real, and a place where they can connect. On Sunday nights, we go play volleyball on the beach with about 30 teenagers. Do you know that I can do more ministering in those 2-3 hours by hitting a ball over a net than I could almost any other thing? I've learned that if you show teenagers that you are real, you care, and that you are willing to spend time with them, then they will die for you and do whatever you ask them to do. Remember, "Rules without relationship only leads to rebellion." Yea, we Pentecostals are the rulers of the world at giving our youth a long list of "rules", but most pastors don't even know the birthdays, interests, or dreams of their youth. If we want our youth to follow rules, they'll gladly do it if they are free to ask questions, be human, and if we are patient with them as they are searching to discover God for themselves. Youth are different, and we are living in the 21st Century; we must be willing to give them something that is relevant to their world. We didn't have bomb threats, terrorist attacks, or school shootings when we were young. We didn't have the World Wide Web, text messaging, nor were we exposed to the most sexually oriented society in the history of the world. Our teens battle, deal with issues, and actually have real problems. Yea, the divorce rate is at an all time high, and 30 years ago you hardly knew anyone who came from a divorced home. However, 50% of those kids that walk into our church walk in from divorced, fractured, and dysfunctional homes and need to find a church that actually cares and gives them something real.

Thirdly, youth are looking for a mission, something to believe in, and something to die for. Yes, yesterday's Christianity is boring and no longer appealing to our youth. Church on Wednesday, Sunday morning, and Sunday night is awesome and we need it. However, today's youth are sharp, quick, and aggressive and are ready to change the world. Sadly, many of our youth groups have never been on a mission's trip or in a third world country. Many of our teenagers have no idea what it's like to help the poor and hurting. I know we all like to assume it's because they are dull, focused on their video games, and lazy. However, it's actually contrary, and they are ready for a church that will challenge them and allow them to do something big. Big? What is that? When was the last time we really took our youth on an adventurous experience? I remember when I was a youth pastor; our youth fed the homeless, we went to children's hospitals, nursing homes, we gave away bikes in the inner city, we started bus ministries, we painted houses for the elderly, cleaned up trash in the ghettos, and raised money for third world countries. It was a thrill, and they had something to believe in. Ladies and gentlemen, the reason why your kid keeps saying, "Wake me up when church is over" is because they are tired of the same old monotony and are ready for a challenge. I recently read a book entitled, "Why Christian Kids Rebel". Would you believe the number one answer was, "We rebel because our Christianity wasn't adventurous enough."? I am looking forward to Boot Camp America, and hopefully pastors, parents, and youth pastors will take up the opportunity that we have to challenge our youth, and mobilize them for an adventurous experience.

We recently took over 100 youth to the streets of Auckland, New Zealand, at 1:00 am and sang, preached, and prayed with people outside the wildest bar in Auckland. Would you believe that we baptized over 11 teenagers, and 6 of them received the Holy Ghost? Hey, we even baptized people in their underwear, and it was 40 degrees! HA! When was the last time our youth groups watched a 21 year old guy come out of the bar, receive the Holy Ghost, and be baptized in his underwear at 4:00 a.m.? Ladies and gentlemen, that would rock the world of every youth group in America. I really believe that every single teenager and youth group would be turned upside down at just one single Boot Camp experience! Awe, you sweet, sheltered, and judgmental religious people couldn't just handle seeing someone get baptized in their underwear. Really? Why do you watch all the TV and movies then? It's amazing that we'd protest something as precious and valuable as Boot Camp, and the same guys who do so will be the same guys at Blockbuster renting a movie with all kinds of filth. Well, I'd like to join the rest of today's American teenagers and say, "Wake me up when church is over!" Wake me up when we are done gossiping, playing politics, criticizing, and playing it safe. Wake me up when we are ready to spend money on things that actually change the lives of others. Wake me up when we are ready to do something intense, radical, and life changing. Wake me up when we are ready to get out of the box. Get out of the box?

Actually, I don't want to get out of the box. I am bored out of my mind with thinking outside the box. I want to think on top of the box, under the box, around the box, and on the side of the box - I want to crush the box - do whatever I have to do to reach the 7 billion people in the world of who all deserve a chance to meet an adventurous, compassion, authentic, and risky Christian. Every single young person in America deserves a chance to go to heaven.

Matt Maddix