Stop Playing Defense in Youth Ministry!
We play a lot of defense in youth ministry. We fight against tough opponents like teen suicide, marijuana and opioid addiction, cyber-bullying, sexting and on and on and on the list goes. Teenagers today are up against a long list of enemies and we want to help them win.
So we play defense.
We tackle issue by issue one teenager at at time. We run from counseling meetings to curriculum series to more counseling meetings to try to keep our teenagers from what is out to destroy them.
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But it is almost impossible to win the battle for the hearts, minds and souls of the next generation by just playing defense. There are too many vices and too many devices. There are too many teenagers and too many issues and not enough time or resources.
There has got to be a better way...and there is!
It's time to play offense. It's time to do what Jesus did.
In Matthew 11:12 Jesus said, "From the time of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it." Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is designed to forcefully advance. Jesus is reminding his disciples that he came to play offense, not defense against the kingdom of darkness.
And Jesus is recruiting others to build his offense. He is looking for others to help him forcefully advance (not defend) God's kingdom.
Because when the kingdom of God advances into a person's life then all bets are off. Addictions are tackled. Sin is conquered. Technology bows to the King.
And how does the kingdom of God advance? It advances through prayer and the preaching of the Gospel! It advances when disciples are made and multiplied. It advances when we are mobilizing teenagers to Gospelize their world.
Of course, we'll still need to counsel teenagers and deal with tough issues as we go. But the majority of our time can be spent playing offense and coaching our teenagers to win the game and win their friends.
So start playing offense and recruit your teenagers to join you in this radical, practical and Biblical approach to youth ministry.
Go to Gospeladvancing.com to get started. Here you'll learn the 7 values that are a part of the playbook of every youth leader who is leading a youth ministry that is playing to win. Join thousands of other youth leaders across the nation and around the world who are choosing to take the offense against the kingdom of darkness. Then watch God's kingdom forcefully advance in, to and through your teenagers in ways you never dreamed possible!
Originally posted at dare2share.org
