A team led by Kara Powell and Chap Clark found that many YM alums had either no understanding of the Gospel or one contrary to Scripture. Many students defined the Gospel based on works they may do for God, such as loving your neighbor, rather than what Jesus did for them.¹ Unfortunately, the faith of students with a moralistic understanding of Christianity runs out of gas over time. Clark writes:
A performance-based Christianity can last only so long. When kids reach the awareness through failure or pain, or insecurity or inner wrestling, with who is the owner of their faith—that they do not have the power or interest to keep the faith treadmill going—they will put their faith aside.²
Powell reinforced this in an interview with Christianity Today. When asked about the most important factor in promoting sustainable faith, she said this. “It’s not easy to distill years of research into one single variable. But if I had to, I’d start with young people’s views of the Gospel.”
When students without a clear understanding of the Gospel struggle, their lack of understanding of God’s grace and redemption leaves them stranded. They don’t understand that Jesus is there to forgive and restore them. As a result, their faith can come up empty. That’s why grace is important!
What This Means for You
I’m certainly not trying to create oversimplified categories for those advocating for Gospel centrality. In reality, most youth ministers are motivated by more than one, if not all, of the reasons above.
People enter youth ministry because they care about teenagers. They want to see kids come alive in Christ. But nobody wants a student’s faith to be a flash in the pan. Everyone works, prays and hopes for students to follow Jesus their whole lives. In other words, we want to make disciples.
Scripture, research and experience all exhort us to make the Gospel central. No objective is of greater importance than for kids to understand that Christianity is first and foremost about Christ’s saving work. Second, it’s about how we respond to his profound gift of grace.
This pursuit takes many forms. Forming kids in grace involves relationships that model the Gospel. We need to be serious students and teachers of Scripture. Plus, it requires being people of forgiveness and restoration when students blow it. A focus on grace requires explicitly defining the Gospel over and over. It emphasizes that kids will fail but that Jesus is always present to help. In my ministry, grace means asking students to define the Gospel at the beginning of every study.
However we seek to ground our ministries in grace, no endeavor is more valuable. So remember to always share the message that God’s well of mercy for sinners never runs dry. Every time you meet, remind teens why grace is important.
¹ http://stickyfaith.org/articles/more-than-the-red-bull-rip-off This article contains excerpts from Powell and Clark’s book, Sticky Faith, which contains practical applications from their research.
² Chap Clark and Kara Powell, Stick Faith (Grand Rapids, MI:Zondervan, 2011), 36.
This article originally appeared here.
