Youth Worker Journal continually asks youth workers, “What is on your heart?” Like every youth worker, my heart is on students. My heart is thinking about how students will be able to put their faith into practice and express it through the way they live and talk. I am noticing a common trend when I ask students one-on-one, “What do you believe?” Every time I ask this question, I get the same deer-in-the-headlights look with the same response: “I don’t know.” I believe I am not the only youth worker who gets this same response. This leads me to ask, “Why don’t students know what they believe?”

I am on a quest to find materials to help students understand basic concepts of Christianity, so that when someone asks them, “What do you believe,” they don’t give the same response they give me. Sadly, I can’t find resources. I know you’re reading the previous sentence and thinking, “This guy can’t be serious. He can’t find resources? There are thousands of resources.” This is all very true, but that’s what bothers me. Of all the resources out there, I can’t find what I’m looking for, the resources I really need. When I look through the massive amount of resources, all I see is “Help your students know who Jesus is in four weeks,” “Teach students about leadership in four weeks,” or “Know how to witness to a friend in…four weeks!” Is this what we have come to in student ministry–believing our students will become true disciples of Christ in fast-track Bible studies?

The other day, I was looking though one company’s four-year curriculum plan for senior high students, which is based on a 36-week calendar. Out of the 144 weeks a student will be a part of that particular curriculum, only 16 weeks are devoted to studying who Jesus is, which has been divided into four four-week Bible studies for each new year. What’s worse, out of the entire four years only two weeks are devoted to the study of prayer! This company tells youth workers on its website that if they use their curriculum, it will help create a “thriving, healthy environment that fosters deeper relationships among your students. And most of all, you’ll be guiding teenagers toward a Jesus-centered life.” Can one truly believe they are helping their students foster an intimate relationship with Christ by using this curriculum?

What baffles me even more is this curriculum is written by a well-known, influential company that many youth workers rely on daily. I know the people who wrote the curriculum have a heart for students, and I truly appreciate all they do for youth workers. They have written books that have helped shaped my philosophy on youth ministry and in some sense been mentors to me throughout my meager three years of youth ministry; however, now that I’m the one leading, I am constantly looking back at my youth years and wondering, “Why didn’t my youth minister teach me the basic beliefs of Christianity? Why did I have to go to college and get a degree in religion to learn what I should have learned in church?” Now as a Student Minister, I’m starting to connect the dots and realizing maybe my youth minister couldn’t teach me because he was running into the same problem of not being able to find resources completely focused on basic theology. I’m sure if there were any, they were only four weeks long.

So the big question is: What am I looking for? I’m looking for curricula that’s at least 16-weeks long and completely focused on one particular subject: Life of Christ, Overview of the Old and New Testament, Christian Doctrine, etc., and written for youth. To clarify, I want to take what someone would learn in college or seminary and teach it to youth, because if these subjects are supposed to help ministers communicate God’s Word, then why aren’t we teaching them to our youth? The lack of basic knowledge students should have is astonishing. Could the main reason why students who have spent their entire junior and senior high careers in our ministries choose to leave church when they graduate be because they have no idea what they believe?

What students believe is making me rethink what I teach and how I run the ministry God has given me. Right now, I am working on developing the type of curriculum I can’t find. It’s hard, because as with most youth workers I am a busy man; and writing good curricula takes time. Resources are there to help lift some of the burdens of ministry so youth workers can focus on nurturing students’ relationships with Christ and our relationships with them; however, what happens when the resources aren’t fulfilling their purpose? In the end, the cycle continues and more students have no concept of what they believe.

I am 25 years old and a part of a new generation of upcoming youth ministers. We have been told our entire lives that our generation is suppose to make an impact and bring revival back. Sadly, I am starting to wonder if this will come to pass. I wonder if the percentage of students leaving church will increase because the best we can offer them is Jesus in four weeks.