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I have the opportunity to lead our students ministry at my church which includes games, teaching, activities, and a week at summer camp. We meet at our church Wednesdays at 6:30 for an hour. It always presents joys and challenges.
Joys? Believe it or not its fun to hang out with teenagers. I know, I know. But seriously! They’re weird and its enjoyable!
Challenges? The most evident challenge is when those who could be there are not. When the primary game is planned for 8-10 kids, and 3 show up, that is certainly a stressor. The reverse is definitely an obstacle, but certainly one that would be preferred. I doubt any youth leader would be complaining, “I had the perfect game for 5 teenagers and confound-it-all, 25 had the nerve to show up.”
The best part? Personally, I enjoy creating an environment where it is “cool” to talk about spiritual things. Does that make sense? It is not natural for us as sinful people to naturally respond to the things of God (certainly impossible apart from the Spirit’s work, but even then, sanctification is a challenge.) I try to ask practical questions and am not afraid to include real world things into my studies. Why? I think it’s helpful for teenagers to recognize that the Bible and the church exists in the real world and has things to say about it!
I prefer in my bible study times to be more hands on than strictly lecture based. Not only presenting a different method of learning, but students are lectured quite a bit throughout their life and I want to present a more interactive approach to studying the Bible.
My current lesson series is through Romans 8, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible and I certainly think one of the most important chapters in the Bible. I wanted to teach through it in a very visual and tectonic way. Below is an image of what I hand the students around the table.
It’s interesting, in an aside manner, to see the “doodlers” and those who are just waiting until they have something substantial to write. But we begin by reading through the text twice and then I ask for key words. There will always be comments that are wrong or very shallow but allowing them to share their comment and demonstrate that it wasn’t on the right track is helpful for the entire class to observe.
Once we get key words, I walk through the argument drawing circles and arrows from thought to thought. I ask questions and receive comments as we walk through the flow of the argument. Once we conclude, I have them all write 1 summary sentence from that passage. Those who are wordier struggle. Those who are incredibly concise also struggle but in a different way. We listen to everyone’s summary and then choose our favorite to write on our master list of section summaries.
The final step is perhaps the most helpful, because I have the students provide application from that passage. Something that I’ve stressed is the difference between what I call “Level 1 Application” and “Level 2 Application.”
For example, Paul wrote, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Rom. 8:13) A level 1 application would be “Don’t walk according to the flesh.” Is that correct? Certainly. Is that extremely practical? Not really. A level 2 application would be, “Tomorrow morning when we wake up, we need to pray that God would deliver us from temptation as we go to school.” Very practical and extremely helpful.
All in all, getting students introduced and skilled in reading God’s Word, understanding the flow of thought, and then making true and helpful application in indispensable for every believer but especially for a teenage Christian.
Below is on example of a sheet of paper following a lesson. May the Lord bless our efforts!
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