Some questions for teenagers are vital to help them know and love Jesus for life. Read on to discover 3 questions to ask teens in your youth ministry.
Are the kids in your youth group the first to grow up in a “post-Christian” world? The research says they are.
Post-Christian describes a cultural dynamic marked by the absence of Christianity as the foundation—or hub—of the broader society. One writer refers to this time in history as the “post-truth” era. In other words, all foundations for life are subjective, including truth. It’s not hard to spot this reality: “What is true for me may not be true for you.”
This shift in our fundamental beliefs has left a generation of teenagers trying to find their footing on a slippery slope of shifting morality. They’re not only leaving the church, but they’re also leaving behind their belief in God.
What’s to blame for this retreat? Well, many potential culprits exist. But I believe our best way forward is to re-focus the way we think about and practice apologetics. One report suggested that youth today aren’t looking to read books that show proof of Christ’s existence or even the case for Christianity over other religions. They can do that sort of research on their own. Instead, they want to know why they should choose Jesus. Then they need help in learning how to follow Him.
The teenagers in my ministry tell me they want Jesus. They’re not angry with him or repelled by him. They just don’t know what it looks like practically to follow him. Teens know it takes grit to live a life centered on Jesus. They just don’t know how to do that.
So the question becomes: How do we help teenagers move from acquaintance to disciple? Three critical questions help us get at this.
3 Key Questions for Teenagers
1. Questions for Teenagers: Will I trust Jesus’ love for me?
The real question here is often not whether Jesus loves us, but whether or not we trust his love for us. It would be great if we could simply answer: “Just do it.” But this question requires a little work. Recently, I was talking with a young woman about some friend issues she was having that were affecting her self-esteem. I mentioned the first place we had to go was to the Lord. She broke down as she shared that she didn’t even believe he would love her as she was.
I told her that sometimes it all comes down to trust. We may not feel it or know it, but we have to jump into the unknown. The process, lived out in conversation, was slow—but we reached a tipping point, when she was ready to give Jesus a chance in her life, to trust him more deeply than she had before. That’s when her heart started to change.
