It was 5:00am and the alarm sounded off, although it was largely useless since I had been laying awake since 2:00am — I rarely rest well before a large trip. It was time to head out to Utah to take a team of 11 teenagers (and 3 adults) to evangelize Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: LDS for short) with a ministry called Maven. We had prepared for 8 months to go on this trip, the students have worked hard to raise funds, read books, endured hours of training, and now it was time to put it to the test. These teenagers were going to embark on their first excursion to evangelize for the Kingdom of God. I arrived at the church to make sure final waivers were signed as the students and their families began to pour in. Minutes later we packed up and headed to Nashville to catch our flight.
This trip was called an Immersive Biblical Experience and the entire point of these trips is to train students and entirely immerse them into another worldview, to experience something entirely foreign to them, and then guide them through using philosophy, theology, and apologetics. However, we had never done a trip like this before so none of us quite knew what to expect. Thus, after we met up with our field guide (Dr. Tim Stratton with Free Thinking Ministries), we were given introductory notes and then went to bed — preparing for our first day.
The next day the students were anxious, the nervousness was palpable as some as young as 15 were trying to recall all they had learned about Christianity and the LDS church. They knew they were about to launch into conversations they had never had before and have to advocate for the truth of Christ whilst confronting a false worldview. Yet, we packed up and headed out to Temple Square to tour their facilities and get the history/doctrine of Mormonism. We gathered in the parking lot as Dr. Stratton told the students to keep the discussions at a “Level 1”. In other words, keep the discussions to a cordial and respectful level — asking probing questions to gain clarity — not rebut. To our shock our students began asking the sisters multiple questions all throughout the tour. As they asked questions they received a fully orbed view of the LDS faith. To our shock: our young people’s eyes were opened and a fire began to grow in them. They were so excited to get into further discussions: the training had worked, the exposure had done its job, and now they were bought into the mission.
That week our students went to the Christian Research Center, the LDS Museum, the Temple Square, toured an actual LDS temple, evangelized on the BYU campus, and even sat down for 2 hours with an LDS apologist asking him questions. We were stunned at their resilience and their ability to reason, catch holes in their logic, navigate the world with competency, and even better understand their Christian faith.
Why do I tell you all this?
Because for far too long student ministry has operated as a place where students are fed pizza, distracted with games, and given a surface level moral story from the Bible. No real engagement in the mission of Christ, no deeper understanding of the theology they supposedly subscribe to, and no real challenging depth to push them. For years I’ve worked in Next Generation Ministries and for years I’ve been told:
“Apologetics and philosophy? That’s too deep for teenagers.”
“Theology? You know that’s just boring for young people.”
“This stuff is too academic.”
“Evangelism? What about their social anxiety?”
We think so little of our teenagers that we don’t think they can comprehend these things as we make their lunches and send them to school to another day of chemistry. Our students are so ill-equipped in their faith that over 80% won’t return to church once they graduate our church programs. In fact, most parents barely engage their faith besides a weekly attendance at church and a few coffee-mug-verses with pithy feel-good statements as K-Love plays in the background. Then we wonder why the church has struggled so much to deeply engage our youth? Here’s the real reason why: we’re selling them short. We need to take a good long look in the mirror and ask, “what are we doing here with our young people? Is what we’re doing here fostering growth in Christ? Deepening their roots? Or is it just shallow entertainment with a Jesus shaped moral lesson?
The reality is these are not kids. These are young men and women. In every society until 5 minutes ago teenagers weren’t viewed as kids, they were viewed as young adults to train under elders in their trade, tradition, and way of life. It was the way of preparing the next generation and we have traded it in modern society for a delayed adolescence where we sell our kids short.
It is time we stand in that gap.
My goal in Next Generation Ministry is to raise of a Christ-centered generation that can competently navigate a post-Christian world. Thus, for years I have done nothing but intense academic lessons with my students. Covering topics such as theology, philosophy, apologetics, tactics, and the like. We’ve done series through the Problem of Evil, Theology of the Body, and currently am nearing the end of “Tough Topics” where we spear-head the hardest questions we could think of from a Christian worldview. You know what’s fun? The students have loved it. They feel they’re actually learning about their faith, growing, and reaching understanding. However, we knew that everything we were doing at church, although good, wasn’t enough. We needed to engage our students missionally. It’s one thing to have information, it’s another thing to use it in conversation. This brought us to our mission engagement: Maven’s Immersive Experiences.
Maven is a ministry dedicated to equipping students in truth and pushing them to their fullest potential in evangelizing others with the anchored truths of Jesus Christ. They equip them with knowledge, spiritual guidance, and wisdom in order to engage the Great Commission of our Lord (to make disciples to all the nations). After seeing this ministry train and sending out my students I can honestly say without a shadow of doubt that this is what every student ministry needs. Not holding back our students into the back corner of a church somewhere until their “old enough” to join the rest of us (because let’s face it – when they get “old enough” they’re not coming back). So how do we get them bought in? By giving them all the tools to see the Christian faith for what it is: a robust worldview backed up with thousands of years of philosophy, science, and history. A faith they can be not only proud of, but advocate for.
This is ultimately our mission. To equip students with a Christ-centered worldview and to have their faith lived out on a 24/7 basis. To have them armed with the truth of God to be able to combat the Enemy who would seek to deceive them. To do this while also giving them the love and compassion to help those who are in need.
To help them embody the Kingdom of God.
