Don’t Let Curriculum Shortchange Your Ministry

This is the first installment of a new series, where YPT asked a few youth workers to write about what they wish they knew when they were new in ministry. Follow the link above to read the rest of the series.

As a guy who began serving in student ministry 20 years ago, I am amazed at the sheer volume of resources available to leaders today. I remember finding a CD that contained “youth-y” clip art and being excited about learning how to incorporate this cutting-edge technology into my newsletters! We had an old second-hand desktop computer placed in a small booth in our youth room, and it took me some time to figure out how to get Powerpoint on there so that we could get rid of the overhead projector. Then, a youth pastor friend of mine told me all about a new program called Mediashout, and it absolutely blew my mind!

Sometimes I look back on those years of ministry in the early 2000’s and wonder what it might have been like if I had all of the resources available to youth leaders today. What I wouldn’t have given to have some of the newest and flashiest stuff that others around me had then, but in hindsight I am so very grateful that I didn’t. 

Those things would have stunted what ended up being one of the most formative seasons in my life. God graciously used my poverty of resources then to cultivate a depth of dependency, maturity, and ability.

I vividly recall the first time when I took on the teaching responsibility in ministry and the immediate effect it had on me. My excitement about teaching quickly gave way to great anxiety as the weight of this task settled in. What should I teach them? Where should I start? I had just completed a good Christian Studies degree from North Greenville College, so I had some good training, but I was not fully prepared for the reality of that moment.

If I had had the abundance of resources available today, I would have been very tempted to jump on the computer and find a quick solution through already-written teaching scripts or fully-crafted sermons. It would have been easy to justify that move, even if only intended for the short-term, at least until I gained my own confidence and felt more comfortable with developing my own messages and teaching. But I am so thankful that those quick solutions were not available to me, thus allowing that weight to have its full effect in driving me in the very direction I needed to go. 

The result was growth in some indispensable ways that continue to serve me well into the present day. Here are some of the lessons I learned through the weightiness of those early years teaching God’s Word without today’s abundance of resources. 

I Learned Dependence on the Lord

That weight drove me to depend on the Lord. It sobered me to the reality that teaching the Scriptures to middle and high school students was a serious vocation. It caused me to realize that my accountability wasn’t to the students but to the Lord. I was a steward of his Word. It clarified the truth that I would begin to shepherd young hearts, and that one day I would be held accountable for how I went about that. These early struggles as an inexperienced teacher caused me to run to the Lord to ask him to produce fruit through my unpolished presentation, and to help me grow in my ability.

I Learned Trust in the Lord

During those early days of teaching I spent more time than I ever had in intentional prayer and pursuit of the Lord. I needed him. I needed his Spirit to lead me. I needed him to empower me, and for his strength to be made perfect in my own weaknesses. As a result, I learned of the faithfulness of God, not only to me, but to his church, and more specifically to the young people he had placed in my care. Ultimately he cares for them way more than I ever could, and his great desire for them was that they would come to know him, even as they are fully known by him. I needed to keep my eyes fixed on him as I first sought to abide in his Word so that I could remain attuned to what he was up to in and through his perfect will.

I Developed Maturity in the Word

The rate of our spiritual growth takes off when we begin to teach (and prepare to teach!) God’s Word to others. God deepened my understanding of his Word immensely during these early years. What I didn’t understand at that time and wish I were more aware of, is the truth that I needed the Lord to do a work in my own heart each week as a prerequisite for shepherding students in a Spirit-saturated way. I wasn’t just a curator of resources for their programming; I was inviting them to join me in pressing more deeply into maturity into Christ through abiding in his Word together. I began to understand how my love for them was most beautifully revealed through the fruit of my time in preparation to teach and lead them. Although I had gained some good knowledge in my Christian Studies degree from college, I truly learned how to rightly divide God’s Word as I put the tools and knowledge I had gained into practice.

What I Want Others to Know

I’m afraid that so much of ministry today is done out of mere human strength and ability. This detrimental pattern has only become more profound with an explosion of technology and resources. Within the context of student ministry, there can be so much pressure to produce excitement and attraction that leading students in the Word can fall far too low on the priority list. Brothers and sisters, we must not allow this to happen. We cannot forfeit the necessary work the Spirit intends to do in shaping us into ministers of his Word. We must guard against doing what is easy at the cost of what is formative, not only for us as leaders, but ultimately for the students we lead. 

Resources are not inherently bad, nor is it always wrong to use curriculum. I use good resources and curriculum in different aspects of ministry in my own church, and I’m thankful for them. But I want to exhort my younger friends in ministry to not neglect this crucial aspect of our calling. It is a beautiful thing to behold when every other aspect of ministry begins to flow out of the centrality of you knowing and treasuring Jesus through his Word.

(editor’s note: YPT’s recent series on What I’m Teaching at Youth Group and How to Teach Theologically in YM may provide helpful guidance for new youth workers)