This issue of YouthWorker Journal contains some great articles about resources, methods and techniques, which can improve our effectiveness in working with teens; but I want to remind all of my fellow youth workers that all this stuff doesn’t mean a thing unless we teach “the living curriculum of our souls” in our daily lives before students.
This “living curriculum” is written not with pen and ink. It is not printed on paper, displayed on a big screen, found in the latest online tool or transmitted through some dynamic teaching technique. Rather it is found etched on our hearts, souls, minds and in our strength by the Spirit of the living God.
Our teens experience it in our actions, our speech and in how we conduct our lives on a daily basis. Teens see it when we visit them in the hospital or when we throw a Frisbee with them on a sunny day. Teens hear it when we talk about what we watched on TV the night before and when we lovingly stick up for the kid who is bullied. Teens experience it when they witness how we manage our material possessions and in how we respond to crisis events around the world.
The bottom line is that teens are going to remember us as people—the choices we make and the things we say and do—much more than the lessons we teach in our large- and small-group settings. This is not to say that what and how we teach does not matter, but if our daily lives do not scream that Christ makes a difference in who we are as people and in how we treat others, then we completely are missing the point and forsaking the most powerful resource available to us, the living Word of Jesus Christ in our lives.
What this means for us in our regular youth gatherings is that what happens before and after the lesson actually can be more important than what happens during the lesson. It is the before and after interactions that set the stage for the truth of our teachings to sink into the hearts and minds of our teens. Games, mixers and opening social times are not simply fluff time. It is a time for us as people who have the living Word of God in us to rub shoulders with teens; and by doing so, to give our teens an encounter—not with us—but with the Person of Jesus Christ who lives in us.
This also means that what we do outside our regular gatherings is important. Do we enter our teens’ worlds as Christ entered ours? Do we take the time actually to know what is going on in the lives of our teens? Do we make wise media choices? Do we manage our money well and generously? Ultimately, how are we showing that Christ makes a visible difference in all areas of our lives?
In our search for the best curricula, methods and techniques in youth ministry, may we remember the words of Paul: “Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ Himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it” (
Pete Johnson, Minister of Student Ministries at Tabernacle Church in Norfolk, Va., has been working with teens in various settings for 10 years. He has his M.A. in counseling and is a National Board Certified Counselor, residing in Norfolk with his wife and two daughters.
