Category Archives: Teens (Youth)

Teenagers stand at the brink of adulthood. Going to church will then become more of a personal decision. Youth who are more likely to stay are those who have been in Sunday School classes, youth group, or other Bible study groups that seemed real.

Promote the following to make your class a place youth want to be:

1) relationship, not religion

2) spirituality, not rules

3) role models, not rhetoric

Youth long for something that is real to grab hold of and therefore tend to be drawn toward places that promote and produce the above Christian experience.

… in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. (Titus 2:10)

This article is included as a handout in the Reaching All Age Levels Resource with a brief explanation of each of the above points. The resource also includes similar articles for the other age groups. It provides you with a teacher training group session in which you gather teachers of all age groups for a PowerPoint presentation followed by breakout sessions to personalize it according to age levels.

More Resources on Teaching Youth

If you want to get their attention and keep it, you need to provide young people with what they need and want …

renewal,
relationship,
realness,
reasons,
and as we will consider in this post,

— relevance.

Teens need to believe that what they’re learning has pragmatic value. They want to know what difference it will make to them. If they don’t see the relevance, they will have little motivation to learn and to ultimately believe.

Questions to Ask about the Relevance of Your Bible Lessons to Young People’s Lives

• They live in the here and now. How does the lesson relate to their lives now?

• They are governed by circumstances and often by emotions. How does the lesson address what’s currently happening or how they feel?

•  They are driven by a need for significance and acceptance? How does the lesson give them perspective they need?

How Make Teaching Relevant

Get their attention with relevant illustrations or activities that pull them in to want to learn more. Help them discover the implications and application of truth to their everyday lives.

Teachers must put adequate time into preparing these parts of the lesson. They should plan ways of helping students come to their own conclusions about the relevancy of the truths rather than merely telling them how the truth relates to them. It builds ownership which tends to translate into a greater likelihood that they will apply the truth to their lives. If running short on time, be careful not to skip these parts of the lesson. For teens, these are some of the most important elements.

Why do young people leave the church? Why do they abandon the teaching they received?

Perhaps they haven’t found what they need and want in church and in what they’ve been taught. They want . . .

renewal,
relationship,
realness,
relevance,

and what we will considering in this post — reasons.

Maybe they aren’t hearing sufficient reasons for why they should stay. Perhaps they haven’t acquired good enough reasons to hold on to what they’ve heard. Maybe they find it easier to go with the flow of the world than to stand in opposition to something they themselves don’t have adequate reasons to believe. Unanswered questions leave them with doubts. A shallow belief system leaves them defenseless in this world. As a result, they find it easy to leave church and abandon what they’ve been taught.

It starts with young people’s perception of the Bible.

They get bombarded with that which stands in opposition to God’s Word at school, on TV and the Internet, with their peer, etc. To stand in the midst of such opposition they need conviction of the veracity of God’s Word. They need to see that the Bible is more than a crutch, more than a fable, more than an option.

To Read: Young People’s Perception of the Bible (follow the series of related articles)

They need a reason to hold on to God’s Word as the absolute standard and solution for life.

It continues with an environment in which they’re free to question reasons to believe.

How much better that they wrestle with the truths of God’s Word with you than the other options. Encourage them to ask questions. Guard against putting them down for their doubts and skepticism. If you don’t have all the answers, that’s okay. You can get back to them on it or better yet, work together at finding the answers.

1 Peter 3:15 applies to all people, but most certainly must be exercised with teens.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect …

Notice the interest built within the person … “give an answer to everyone who asks.”

As teachers, this could suggest that we need to introduce the lesson in such as way that it grabs students’ attention. We need to pay attention to teens’ culture and understand what they grapple with and address what matters to them.

Also notice that we are to “do this with gentleness and respect.”

Teens want and need reasons to hold on to the teaching of God’s Word. However, they don’t want it forced on them. If you push too hard, they might rebel and further retreat. If it isn’t meaningful to them, they will probably be disinterested and bored.

To Read: More on 1 Peter 3:15

Do you want to reach today’s young people? If so, you must give them what they need and want — realness, along with renewal, relationship, reasons, and relevance.

Young people today have seen so much of politicians and even church leaders not doing what they promise, not being who they claim to be, not keeping people safe as they should, and not being trustworthy.

• Can we blame them for being disillusioned with the institutionalized church?
• Can we blame them for being skeptical of what we are offering them?

Teens want something genuine to grab a hold of. They tire of disappointment. They reject hypocrisy. They long for authentic relationships with God and people. They want and need realness.

What are Bible Teachers to Do about Young People’s Quest for Realness?

Bible teachers and youth workers must acknowledge that it isn’t always God teenagers are rejecting but the inadequate portrayal of Him and His ways that they see in the lives of those who proclaim His name. They aren’t so much turning away from the true Church of God’s design as they are an organization steeped in outdated traditions and sometimes even scandal. They aren’t saying that they don’t want to grow spiritually but that they don’t want to just go through the motions like so many people they’ve observed.

Bible teachers need to examine their own lives and teaching for realness.

• Are they practicing what they are teaching?
• Is the message they are communicating depicting the real, abundant life Jesus came to give?
• Are they promoting a relationship with God and others that is authentic?