Youth Ministry That Nurtures

Discipleship, at its core, is about growth.    Since humans are integrated wholes, spiritual growth requires increased maturity in other developmental areas.  Discipleship challenges individuals to take the next faithful step in their development in order to grow in their understanding of God, the church, and the gospel.  Those ministering to youth and families can facilitate growth by meeting each group where they are developmentally and challenging them to take the next faithful step.

Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, Erik Erikson, and James Fowler have helped shed light on human development as it relates to Cognitive, Moral, Personality, and Faith development of teenagers respectively₁.  Using some basic developmental information youth ministries can help nurture Christian growth by…

Creating Supportive Relationships

Developmental theory teaches us that growth is facilitated by exposer to the next developmental level, and through social interaction with others.   It stands to reason, then,  that relationships with supportive adults is key for the developmental growth of adolescents.  The time of leaving adolescents to fend for themselves must end.  It is time that our young people to be supported by caring adults.  In my ministry context that has meant communicating to the adult congregation that care of young people is everyone’s responsibility.  We have taken a page from Chap Clark, and seek to surround each student with multiple caring adults_2.  We have specifically targeted the retired community in an attempt to connect them with our young people.

Considering Moral Development

Youth ministries have the opportunity to make use of Kohlberg’s moral theory as a persuader for adolescent discipleship.  Kohlberg’s theory – which states that there are various stages of morality-  suggests the benefit of answering some moral questions: What are some consequences and rewards?  Why does God want us to do this?  What are the societal and/or congregational benefits of this? What do God (Ten Commandments) and the church (as an external provider of guidelines) say about this?  How does this relate to a sense of justice?  Addressing these questions provides motivation for adolescents to take the suggestions/topic to heart.  This theory, more than any other has changed youth ministry in our context.  Rather than lamenting that our youth are not more virtuous, we have been challenged to use Kohlberg’s theory to motivate young people at their moral level, and challenge them to consider a slightly more mature moral understanding. 

Marking Room for Questioning and Doubt

According to Fowler’s fourth stage of faith development, individuative/reflective faith, questioning and doubt are a regular part of faith development among older adolescents and young adults.  There is plenty of evidence to suggest that being honest about questions and doubts is a healthier response than suppressing them.   Faith does not mean the absence of doubt.  With this in mind youth ministries have the opportunity to help students begin to address their questions and doubts while in the safe environment that a youth group provides.  At our youth ministry we have done this by giving the high school group opportunity to anonymously write down their questions and address some of those questions in a series.  We have also attempted to communicate regularly to our students that it is OK to have questions and doubts to make space in less formal settings for the expression of those doubts. 

Addressing Multiple Developmental Stages

It is likely that in any given ministry context multiple levels of development will be present.  This means that the church must be intentional about communicating the lesson from multiple developmental levels.  In our ministry we have tried to do this by looking at a concept or theme from several developmental levels.  For example, we offer moral motivation from more than one of Kohlberg’s stages, and we try to highlight both specific/concrete and universal/abstract implications from a given lesson.  We try to continually ask the question “does this lesson resonate in some way with all the developmental stages represented?”

Discipleship, at its core, is about growth.    Those ministering to children, youth and families can facilitate growth by meeting each group where they are developmentally and challenging them to “take the next faithful step.”  This is done by fostering supportive relationships, considering moral development, addressing multiple developmental stages, and making room for questions and doubt.  In doing so Churches can successful nurture young people into mature and lifelong followers of Christ. 

1. While it is beyond the scope of this post to explore their theories it is worth doing a couple of internet searches (multiple videos summarizing all four developmental theories can be found on you tube).

2. For a concise explanation of Chap Clark’s principal read this blog post

Christian Nurture

The Relationship between Development and Discipleship

I agree with Drovdahl’s (1995) assertion that development and discipleship mutually impact one another. To believe in the imago Dei is to believe that each individual is to be understood and valued for who they are, a unique individual.  Part of honoring this uniqueness is recognizing the developmental stages of a person and connecting with them in developmentally appropriate ways.  Gorman (1995) states, “The high value of persons  will condition which methods are to be used based on the level of understanding found in receivers” (pg.242).   Effective discipleship requires consideration for the individual’s developmental maturity. 

Effective discipleship is, however, about more than meeting a person where they are at developmentally.  Discipleship, at its core, is about growth.  The act of discipleship must seek to help the individual grow.   Since humans are integrated wholes, spiritual growth requires increased maturity in other developmental areas.  Discipleship challenges individuals to take the next faithful step in their development in order to grow in their understanding of God, the church, and the gospel.  This is what it means to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). 

Leveraging Development

Sermon Connection Points

One way that Rockford United Methodist Church (RUMC) tries to use development to increase discipleship is by presenting Sunday sermon content to children and adolescents in developmental appropriate ways through age specific programs.  Our middle school youth group, J-Club, is a midweek program, and each week we explore the scripture that will be covered during the following Sunday’s sermon in hopes of making a connection that will cause the students to engage with the sermon, which will likely be presented at a more developmentally advanced level.  We also cover the sermon basic theme, or passage in our weekly children’s church in hopes that connections will be made between parents and their children. 

Story Based Curriculum

RUMC also tries to use development to increase discipleship in our children’s Sunday school program.  Last fall we intentionally switched from a prescriptive (theme/virtue based) curriculum to a story based curriculum.   Cognitively, focusing on the bible stories themselves rather than prescriptive  application is much more appropriate for preschool and lower elementary aged children.  Additionally, adding prescriptive application to the story for older elementary students is easy to do in this context.  

Future Adjustments

Kohlberg

RUMC needs to do a better job of making use of Kohlberg’s moral theory as a persuader for child and adolescent discipleshp.  Lawrence Kohlberg identified three levels of moral development preconventional, conventional, and postconventional.  Individuals in the preconventional level are generally four to ten years of age.  Those individuals in the conventional stage are usually ten to thirteen years of age. Those in the postconventional stage are usually over thirteen years old (Estep and Kim, 2010, pg. 132). The preconventional level is motivated by consequences and rewards, while the conventional stage is impacted external standards, such as laws or rules, and the postconventional stage is driven by a sense of justice (Wilhoit and Dettoni, 1995, pg. 64).  Kohlberg’s theory suggests that the benefit of answering some moral questions: What are some consequences and rewards?  Why does God want us to do this?  What are the societal and/or congregational benefits of this? What does God (Ten Commandments) and the church (as an external provider of guidelines) say about this?  How does this relate to a sense of justice?  Addressing these questions provide motivation for children and adolescents to take the suggestions/topic to heart.  Rather than lamenting that children and adolescents aren’t more “virtuous” RUMC can use Kolberg’s theory to motivate young people at their level, and challenge them to consider a slightly more mature moral understanding. 

Addressing  Multiple Developmental Stages

It is likely that in any given ministry context multiple levels of development will be present.  This means that RUMC must be intentional at communicating the lesson from multiple developmental levels.  Steve Argue (personal correspondence, November 20, 2014), the Life Development Director at Mars Hill Church in Grandville,  suggests that this is done  looking at a concept or theme for several developmental levels.  For example, offering moral motivation from more than one of Kohlberg’s stages (ie. a personal benefit, an external standard, and an implication for justice).  RUMC needs to continually ask the question “does this lesson resonate in some way with all the developmental stages represented?”

Wilhoit, J. C., & Dettoni, J. M. (Eds.) (1995). Nurture that is Christian: Developmental perspectives on Christian education. Grand Rapids, MI: BridgePoint Books.