Youth Ministry Papers: Don’t Water it Down

I’m planning on producing a youth ministry training paper most Wednesday’s throughout the year. These papers will be discussed at our Soulies weekly leaders meeting. Anyone is welcome to interact in the comments. Click here to access archive.

Vegemite is delicious. There wouldn’t be many weeks in my life that I haven’t enjoyed its salty yeasty goodness. Not everyone thinks that Vegemite is delicious. It is definitely an acquired taste, but a taste none-the-less worth acquiring! So I was shocked to recently read that “Kraft has been forced to launch a milder tasting version to woo a new generation of Australians.” My First Vegemite is part of a strategy used by Kraft to “wean people onto the traditional spread, sales of which are flat.” The hope is that as children get older they will graduate onto the heavier stuff. I think it’s a terrible idea.

I also think that sometimes we try and run youth ministry like it is ‘My First Vegemite’. We try and water things down in such a way to make it more palatable for teenagers. A branding expert has suggested that watering down Vegemite actually “robs it of its unique qualities”. That is likewise the problem with watering down the gospel of Jesus for a teenage audience.

Even when “sales are flat”, we continue to preach a message that is full of salt as we declare the “unique qualities” of Jesus.

I’m not saying that contextualisation is a bad thing. It’s a good thing to share the gospel with teenagers in a language that they will understand. It’s appropriate to use cultural artefacts and illustrations from their world to help explain the profound truths of the Bible. The problem though is when we misunderstand relevance. Our job is not to make the message of Jesus relevant for teenagers, rather it is to show how the message of Jesus is already relevant to all people in all places.

When we add to the gospel or subtract from the gospel, we end up with no real gospel. Paul deals with this pointedly in Galatians 1:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
(Galatians 1:6-9 ESV)

When you take out half of the sodium and a few pinches of salt, you’ve no longer got Vegemite. It’s something else. When you take out elements of the gospel or replace them with something easier on the taste-buds, you’ve no longer got the gospel. It’s something else.

What are examples of subtracting from the gospel?

What are examples of adding to the gospel?

4 Implications of what this means for SOULIES?

1. We don’t shrink back from preaching the bad news. No teenager wants to hear that they are a sinner under the judgement of God. No teenager wants to hear that they deserve to go to hell. No teenager wants to hear that they without hope.
2. We proclaim all the more boldly the good news of Jesus. Teenagers desperately need to hear that God loves them. Teenagers desperately need to hear that Jesus has died in their place to deal with their sin and judgement. Teenagers desperately need to hear that Jesus rose physically from the dead guaranteeing new life to all who trust in him.
3. We keep calling teenagers to make counter-cultural commitments. Love Jesus, Love Jesus’ People and Love Jesus’ World. If young people make these commitments when they are teenagers, there will be no need to wait to adulthood before having the full-tasting Vegemite (so to speak!).
4. We do this all with an attitude of humility. We aren’t superior to the teenagers we are reaching with the gospel. We are just like one beggar showing another beggar where to find some food. (See posts on “Humble Orthodoxy” for more of what this looks like).