Let Them...Teach?

 

You have been entrusted with shaping the minds of young people for Jesus.  If you think about that for a minute, that can seem like a pretty daunting task.  You may or may not have a degree in ministry, but certainly you have life experience.  You've prayed, prepared, and perspired over your messages.  God has entrusted you to lead teenagers in knowing God and His word better.  But when do you allow your teens to teach?  When are they ready?

I've been a part of a youth ministry before that had a senior teach the message.  This was a large ministry of one to two hundred teens.  I don't know if they always did this or if this was a teen that wanted to be in ministry so they allowed him to preach.  He did an outstanding job.  I remember thinking, "this is a senior in high school?"  He didn't seem nervous and delivered the message like a pro!

I also have had a  few young men share the pulpit with me on Sunday mornings to preach in church.  These were aspiring young men who seemed like they could be in ministry some day.  On other occasions, I have had other teens teach in youth group if they wanted to.  Part of our job as youth leaders is to "discharge all the duties of your ministry [italics mine]" as Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5.

Some might say preaching is only for the pastor.  But our teens will be adults before we know it.  Giving them experience in a helpful environment will give them the confidence they need to lead in the church more in the future.  Sure, they will need help.  You and I did as well when we we learning.  Reminders like, "did you pray and ask God to help you prepare for the message?"  or "try to keep track of how many times you said 'um' so you can stop yourself next time, and countless other constructive criticisms we can give to improve the teaching skills of our young people.

This week we are handing over the teaching time to our high school teens.  We have been looking at current events in the news, looking at the word of God to see what He has to say about the situation, and concluding with how we should be responding as Christians to the current event.  So, this Thursday our teens will look at their own current events and attempt to do the same thing.  We're not looking for anything real long.  Just 2-3 minutes of speaking time.  The real work hopefully will be taking place this week as they look at current events through a Biblical Worldview and ask God to help them communicate, but more importantly, to see the world through His eyes.

For some this might be scary to let the teenagers have the mic.  After all, we have no idea what they will be talking about.  Hopefully we will have time to talk through their thinking and how they came up with their conclusion.  Below is what we handed out to help them prepare.  Maybe you will find it helpful with your group.