My first class of my first semester at Moody Bible Institute was Old Testament Survey and it changed my life. Dr. Paul Benware was the professor and early on he said something that changed my whole understanding of the Bible. When we got to Genesis 12 he explained that God's promises to Abraham (the Abrahamic Covenant) were the overarching framework that the rest of the Bible was built upon.
1) "I will bless you; I will make your name great..." - Genesis 12-50 2) "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you..." - the rest of the Old Testament 3) "...and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." - the New Testament All of a sudden the Bible changed from a book of many stories about one God into a book that was one gigantic story with many chapters about the One True God. From that point forward I've been obsessed with helping people see the Bible in that way. When I teach or preach I almost always come back to the Bible as God's great story. I just finished doing a walk through the Bible with my youth group now centered around God dwelling with man. I gave my students Revelation 21:3 as a verse that I believe summarizes the message of the entire Bible - "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying 'Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." So my idea was to look at this theme from the beginning of the Bible to the end. I came up with 8 major times God has dwelt among man. 1) God was with Adam & Eve in the Garden - This is the first time we see God with people. He created us for relationship! We were made to live in paradise - a perfect world, a perfect relationship with our Creator, and perfect relationship with each other. But it was short-lived. 2) God dwelled with people in the Desert in the tabernacle - The next time we see God on earth the setting is very different - God is with his people in a barren desert, dwelling in the tabernacle, after rescuing them from slavery in Egypt which was part of God's plan and promises revealed to Abraham which launched God's rescue plan for humanity after the devastation of the fall and the flood. 3) Next, God dwelled with His people in a City in the Promised Land - God's relationship with the people of Israel reaches a high point when a more permanent dwelling for God's presence is built in Jerusalem, the geographic center of the earth, by Solomon. The Temple and the people who worshiped there were meant to be a light for the rest of the world. When God's presence fills this Temple in a truly dramatic fashion it is a great culmination of their journey as a nation. And yet their whole culture (the priesthood, the sacrifices, the Temple, their celebrations, etc.) are all pointing to something more that is coming. 4) God even dwelled with His people while they were in Exile - Unfortunately, the rescue plan appears to have failed when God's people rebel against Him repeatedly and are taken away into exile, but God's not done yet. He is with them even in exile (Fiery Furnace, Lion's Den, King's Palace) because He's getting ready for the best part of His plan. 5) God came even closer and dwelled with us in the Flesh - God comes to earth in person, in the flesh, to live among people as one of them! The incarnation is astonishing - Jesus is Immanel, God with us. But there's more - the God who made us becomes the God who saves us by being the God who dies for us and rise again. 6) All of this culminated with God dwelling in our Hearts through the Holy Spirit - When Jesus dies, the veil in the Temple separating God from man is torn in two clearing the way for man to come to God, but more importantly for God to come to man - to each man (and woman) in the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Our very bodies become temples of God! It's incredible! 7) But it get even better - God dwells among His people in Community as the Church - As if God's presence in our very bodies isn't enough, the New Testament teaches that each person is a living stone being built into a living Temple with fellow believers. Something powerful happens when God's people come together. By loving each other, forgiving each other, bearing each other's burdens, encouraging one another and more, we show the world the goodness and greatness of our God. The church, filled with God's Spirit, is God's presence on earth! 8) It all ends with God dwelling with us in Eternity - Finally, a time will come, when God's rescue plan is complete and we will once again dwell with God in paradise, but this time there will be no more chance for sorrow, pain, sin, or death. This time, the perfect relationship with our loving God will be permanent. We will be finally be home. There are certainly other ways to outline and understand God's big story, but this framework has helped me see the big picture in a fresh way - Christianity is the story of God wanting to dwell with man and God's work to make that possible. And nothing will make us right or the world right til we realize that dwelling with God is what all of us long for most even if we don't know it.
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Here's the thing - we have our students for an hour or two a week, but they spend 40 or so hours a week surrounded by people who need Jesus at their schools. If we are going to do student ministry, we have to take their schools into account. Here's why -
1) If your students can live out their faith at school, they can probably live it anywhere! It's really easy to live our faith at church when surrounded by other believers. Anyone can do that. They real test of a genuine faith is, are we are able to live it surrounded by people uninterested in our faith or even hostile to it? If your students are living their faith at school, you can bet it's real. 2) If your students can share their faith at school, they'll be able to share it anywhere Similarly, if your students can share their faith at school (a mostly non-friendly environment), they can probably share it anywhere! Seeing school as a daily mission will prepare them for whatever situation they may find themselves in - mission trip, college, business, human services, government, entertainment, etc. Once they begin approaching daily life missionally, chances are good that they will likely continue to do so throughout their lives. 3) Your students need to know they are not alone! We all know the saying - there's strength in numbers. If your students can know that they don't have to do all of this alone, so much the better. Having a church family to retreat and regroup with is life giving. But having godly friends that they can go out into battle with - that's life saving! Being involved in a campus ministry helps your students know they are not alone in the most difficult arena for living a life of faith. 4) You need to reach students where they are - almost 90% of Americans go to public schools If you have any desire to reach lost students, you have to go where they are - the problem is, youth pastors can't go there. The only way to reach lost students where they spend the majority of their time is to equip our students to love and serve their friends in the name of Jesus. Your youth ministry is not just what happens within the four walls of your church - an effective youth ministry must include a mission field and that is exactly what public schools are. 5) If you impact the school, you impact the community. When reaching schools is part of your ministry strategy you don't just reach students - you begin to touch the community. Go to a high school football game any Friday night in the fall or go to a spring musical - schools have become the centers of community life. You want to impact the community? Make a point to have an impact on local schools. All of that to say, God has given you a bigger ministry than you realize. Hundreds and hundreds of students are waiting for someone to reach them! I hope that will be you and your church. |
WHO I AM
I'm a follower of Jesus, husband to my lovely wife Judy, father of Evangelina, Micah, Josiah, and Jeremiah, missionary to the northeast United States and advocate for all things youth ministry. WHAT I DO
I am the northeast regional coordinator for the National Network of Youth Ministries. I've worked for the last 24 years as the co-executive director of Teens For Christ, a ministry that equips teenagers to share their faith in their schools. I also served on staff at Cherry Tree Alliance Church for 15 years as youth pastor and family life pastor. My Websites
Youth Ministry Consultations Youth Ministry Networking 9 Month Mission Trip Speaking at camps, retreats, youth groups, etc. Archives
March 2022
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