Fire will not be ignored: I know from firsthand experience. When my car engine ignited in flames, I did not ignore it. The fire had my full attention.
Perhaps that’s why God uses the symbolism of fire throughout Scripture: Moses and the burning bush, God’s presence as a pillar of fire, “Our God is a consuming fire,” the tongues of fire in the
How can you spark a blaze in the lives of your teens so they will lead lives set on fire for God? True discipleship is about more than providing our teens with the right theological downloads or steering them through the latest Christian self-help topics. Don’t get me wrong, those are good things; but to become truly like Jesus, our teens must be ablaze for God.
Becoming Christlike
Often students who have grown up in the church seem to miss the entire point. They may absorb the theology and character content of your lessons but remain unfocused and unengaged in a real, passionate commitment to Christ. They become like sponges that soak in the milk of God’s Word but never learn to be wrung out for others. As a result, their milk turns sour. They run the risk of ending up like little Pharisees who know the truth, but lack the heart and passion to live for Christ and share His truth with others.
So we must look for the missing ingredient that will ignite a passion for Christ in our students. I believe the catalytic element missing in most discipleship strategies today is the process of helping teens adopt Christ’s cause. What is His cause? It’s laid out for us in the story of Zacchaeus, found in
You want to be like Jesus? You want your teenagers to be like Jesus? Then like Jesus, you must be on a constant search-and-rescue mission for the lost and call your teenagers to do the same.
The first thing Jesus told His followers as He was calling them out was, “Come follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” (
Dangerous Discipleship
Our teenagers are being challenged everywhere—in sports, at school, by their friends to give into peer pressure. About the only place teenagers don’t get challenged is at church. Instead, they learn safe little lessons about safe little things.
Jesus called His disciples to danger, to cause, to go on a search-and-rescue mission for lost souls. In
Much of what passes as disciple-making today is a faint echo of Jesus’ model. We have discipleship without danger, which is not discipleship at all. If I’m a teenager, I have nothing to lose in a typical youth group except an hour of time. The closest I’ll get to danger is a paper cut from turning the pages during a lesson.
When teenagers are put in a position of sharing their faith with their friends, everything changes. Now they have purpose. Now they have a vested interest in understanding their faith so they can explain it to others in a clear and compelling way. Now they are hungry for spiritual truth that can reach into the lives of their lost and hurting friends. Now they are motivated to pray with passion as they see heaven and hell as realities when it comes to their friends’ souls.
Evangelism as Firestarter
You may be thinking your teenagers aren’t ready for that step. That’s because we have a twisted process of discipleship. We think of evangelism as an outcome, but Jesus thought of it as a trigger. If evangelism were an outcome, then after a certain amount of church attendance, Bible study and prayer, our teenagers should be ready to evangelize.
Jesus turned this model upside down by putting His disciples in dangerous situations. He challenged, pushed, coached and trained them along the way. Let me put it this way. Say your church leadership decided you should sit through a mandatory six-week, 12-hour-a-day bomb-defusion class. You don’t have to pass; you just have to sit through it. Do you think you’d be bored after about a half an hour? What if you were told that after the class was over you were going to Iraq?
There’s the difference: We are forcing our teenagers to sit through what feels to them like a 12-hour-a-day, boring class, after which they’ll never be deployed into their schools, online social networks or among their circles of friends.
Our teens are hungry for purpose and meaning in their lives. They’re waiting for a cause to live for that can transform their world. The very act of unleashing them to carry the ultimate cause—the cause of Christ to make disciples who make disciples—into their world will compel them to grow deeper in their understanding of who God is and His call upon their lives. Jesus made spreading His message a centerpiece of His discipleship strategy. You can, too, by making evangelism the missing ignition point for a vibrant, life-changing discipleship strategy.
What Can You Do?
How can you use evangelism as a fire starter in your youth ministry? Be creative; you’re the expert on what will work best in your group. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
• Set yourself ablaze! Are you on fire for evangelism? Are you burning to reach the lost? Do your teenagers see it in your life? Identify one person you haven’t shared the gospel with yet and determine to begin the conversation this week.
• Give your teenagers a vision of holy fire. Describe for them the fire of God’s presence (
• Be persistent. Tie evangelism into as many talks as you can. Have your teens identify those in their circles of friends who need to hear the gospel. Then hold them accountable to do the same with you.
Remember, fire will not be ignored. My prayer is the blaze this starts in your youth group never goes out.
