Overcoming the 6 Difficulties of Youth Ministry

6 Difficulties in Youth Ministry, and Ways to Overcome Them

Christians now understand the critical role they play in shaping their children’s and youth’s character via the teaching of biblical values and principles. However, it becomes progressively more difficult to raise up dedicated Christians, much alone fully formed disciples, with each passing generation. Over the years, pastors have faced a wide range of difficulties.

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Pastors already had a tough time recruiting converts before the global epidemic and economic crisis hit. Pastors who are tasked with discipling members of Generation Z have a unique set of issues due to the generational divide. However, the call to create disciples is unwavering in spite of these challenges. Teenagers need to prioritize church and spiritual development in order to effectively communicate the Gospel with the next generation. How, therefore, can youth pastors make disciples when so many distractions compete for their time and energy? A look at six challenges faced by youth workers and suggestions for addressing them.

1. Lack of Knowledge of the Bible

Lack of familiarity with the Bible is a major obstacle. Children, especially those brought up in a religious household, leave Sunday school without a firm grasp of the Bible. There’s a good chance they’ve heard of the standard Bible tales like Noah’s ark and Joseph and the coat of many colors, but do they understand the historical and cultural settings in which these events took place? Are they able to take away from those tales a sense of God’s mercy and promise? Do they recognize the depth of feeling in David’s penned sighs (the Psalms) or the sage advice in the Proverbs? Young people lack biblical literacy since they do not read, much less study, the Bible on their own. Listening to a narrative can only teach us so much. They should read it and figure out how to use it in their own lives.

Here’s a solution to the problem. Gather together three young people to form a tight knit group. Get together regularly to learn more about the Bible. This will ensure that the children are held responsible for their weekly Bible reading and will also encourage them to stay up with the rest of their class. Meet in a relaxed setting, such a coffee shop or a restaurant you both like. The effort required will gradually decrease. Soon, it will be the highlight of their week.

2. Spiritual Disinterest

Many teenagers in youth groups take their faith for granted, thinking that regular church attendance is all that’s required to make them become disciples. However, change occurs only via the application of acquired knowledge.

There is no magic bullet to get youngsters excited about making disciples, but encouraging them to identify and use their spiritual abilities may help. New difficulties have arisen for this generation. In order to meet this universal emotional need, we must first identify the specific method in which God has wired each person.

3. Busyness

Our parents placed church attendance just behind their jobs as their most important responsibilities when they were young. Parents put in a full week in the office and then spent Sundays at worship. They all packed into the vehicle on a weekly basis and made the trip to church. Parents saw it as their responsibility to instill Christian values and beliefs in their children from an early age. But when the demands of sports, school, and other extracurriculars increase, church attendance often falls to the bottom of the priority list.

It’s up to you to shift their focus by shifting your own. Make it a point to invite any teenagers in your congregation who aren’t regular churchgoers to a service on Sunday. Don’t worry if they feel awkward attending church for the first time or returning after a lengthy hiatus. Do a series of sermons as a pastor stressing the need of regular church attendance. Show them how important it is to their development as mature spiritual beings to learn this lesson. Help people understand that they are joining a family, not simply a club.

Use incentives to get the students to invite their peers. Give an award to whomever brings the most young people to a single youth group gathering. Motivating today’s youth to refocus their attention away from more fleeting pursuits is essential.

4. People need to be entertained

In the past, families would gather around the sole television or radio in the house to watch or listen to programs designed specifically for them. Each kid can now choose their own entertainment on their own personal tablet or television. This, along with a constant need to be on social media and the internet, and it’s no wonder kids don’t want to focus on their spiritual formation.

No one should assume that bible study and prayer are dull activities. Be creative! Brainstorm fun ways to communicate the Word of God to teens. Challenge them to make worship songs based on scripture or make knowing the scripture a game. Churches sometimes have quizzing, where kids learn the Word of God in an exercise called sword drills, where a host asks questions and the first person to find the scripture in the bible or shout out the correct answer wins a point. Put a creative spin on sword drills and see if the kids respond.

5. Lack of Discipline

With the proliferation of technology, kids’ attention spans are shorter than ever. Because of their reliance on a screen, images and scenes are always changing. Therefore, it becomes more difficult to listen to a monotone preacher or fill out a bible study worksheet. But discipline is a skill that can be learned.

Challenge them to set a timer for fifteen minutes and ask them to read their Bible. It can be at home, at school, or on the bus. Give them a journal and ask them to write down one new fact they learned from Scripture, or one idea they can apply to their lives. Do this once a week so they can discipline themselves to make time for the Word in their daily lives.

6. Lack of Commitment

Although church attendance is crucial, the contemporary church paradigm is one of a consumeristic attitude. This gives youngsters the sense that church is about what they can receive out of it rather than what they can offer to it. The church is there to equip the saints to spread the Gospel message, not leave that effort to a determined few as they execute the job. It is everyone’s obligation to convey the Gospel to the unreachable, and no one population is more unreached than the young.

Help young people get involved in church service at an early age. But there are some things that kids just aren’t capable of doing at this point in their lives (like preaching a sermon or teaching a class.) But there are other functions they can do. Is it possible for teenagers at your church to create a praise and worship group? It’s a wonderful opportunity for young people to learn new worship songs and share the gospel through music. It’s portable enough for them to perform at other churches as well. This not only helps students grow artistically, but also in the ways of working together as a team and keeping promises they’ve made. This is the kind of training that helps youngsters grow into responsible, Christ-following adults.

Ministering to teenagers is harder than ever. However, Jesus can overcome any difficulty. Youth pastors don’t have to just make it through their ministry; they may flourish if they think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions to these problems.