YA Ministry

This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak to a local young adult ministry at their summer retreat. I have to admit, I was a bit anxious as this was my first time preaching in about 4 months. Besides that, as I continually read and hear of new ways to communicate to young adults, I was concerned that my style had possibly grown stale and irrelevant. At first, I thought I better be hip, funny, and cutting edge because some books and blogs have told me that works. Then I realized in order for that to happen, I would need to be fake because I’m not cutting edge or hip (at least one out of three isn’t bad). After a while, I convinced myself that I could forge my way through the hip and cutting edge thing, until I remember the number 1 value young adults have of their leaders…authenticity. Great! Now what?

You see, when I want to learn about communicating, I look at the gospels and examine the teachings of Jesus. I especially take note of the way he spoke to the disciples because scholars suggest that these young men were in their late teens and 20’s. When I observe Jesus in the gospels, I observe a communicator who…

- challenged people to action
- told compelling stories
- walked what he taught
- gave messages that people did not fully understand
- kept people’s attention due to his passion and depth of teaching
- offended people
- was confident in who he was and who he was not

I have concluded that the best way to communicate to young adults is to teach what Jesus taught and to teach it by simply being yourself. I also encourage you to focus more of your attention on the content then the delivery. In the book, “Lost and Found” Ed Stetzer concludes that lack of in-depth Biblical teaching is a major contributor to the decrease of young adults in the church today. If you are looking for content, you can download my latest message here. More to come.