Games, Goofiness, and the Gospel
Blog and photo by Nick Cooper (New City Intern Extraordinaire)
What comes to mind when you think about student/youth (6th-12th grade) ministry? For some of you, maybe youth ministry wasn’t too long ago, filled with a lot of lights, music, and silly games. For others student ministry in general may be hard concept to grasp. I mean, after all, aren’t students just as much of the body of Christ (the church) as you and I? Why do our students need a ministry that is directed just to them?
Culture has definitely changed a lot since I was a teenager growing up in the student ministry at my small Southern Baptist church. I remember 15-30 students gathered into a small room with poor ventilation and barely any semblance of purpose. The first time I walked into that room I didn’t know anyone. I was alone. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. From my own experience it was not the fancy lights that drew me into the ministry, because frankly we didn’t have any—it was the people that were already in the ministry that invited me to come.
I’ve spent the last 19 years of my life actively engaged in student ministry, but really found my calling and love for it when I was around 24 or 25. From that moment I began learning the ins and outs of what it looked like to “do” youth ministry. I would listen to the most relevant or coolest or trending pastors of mega-churches and would try to emulate them. I spent a lot of time trying to make ministries I was involved in just as cool and trendy…attempting to make a youth group of 5-10 students have a worship “experience” instead of worshipful relationship with Jesus.
Since coming to New City church in 2017 I have discovered so many errors in my thinking. I have learned about “Gospel Fluency" (something New City preaches within our MC’s, DNA groups, and even from our Elders and Pastors on Sunday mornings). Within the context of Gospel Fluency I have found that all of the things I was working towards in trying to make youth ministry was in vain. The truth was that I was believing that that Gospel alone wasn’t enough for myself or this growing generation of young people.
It’s easy for those in student ministry to see a teenager that is unchurched or appearing as though they are searching for answers, and try to win them over with flashy tactics or bright lights; however, how much more does that teenager need to hear the truths of the Gospel as it relates to their current situation? From my experiences serving today’s youth, they need to know that they are loved—they need to know that they are heard and listened to—they need to feel as though there is some point to all of the chaos and confusion in the world—they need to feel like they belong, just as they are.
At New City church we choose to engage our students where they are. We engage them within a student ministry context because we have to reach out to students in ways that they can relate to the concepts we believe and preach. Do we play games? Yes. Are there moments where we act goofy, put on events, and go out and have fun with our students at the movies, etc.? Sure. But behind all that we do we know that there is a driven focus to love our students well. Loving them well means speaking the truth and life into their moments of darkness. It’s sharing the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus and revealing to a new generation of believers that Hope and Restoration can only come from right belief in the Gospel.
As New City Students prepare for a new year, we as leaders are excited to see more of God’s goodness revealed to us. We are already seeing an increased number of new students coming, engaging, and joining in our community of students and leaders.
Join me now in praying that God uses the time we are given with these students to help build a strong foundation of faith that they will be able to turn to for the entirety of their Christian journey. We want to see a generation of believers who aren’t looked down upon for what culture says they are…but looked upon as who God has said they are, and what He is calling them to.