The Good Work of Teaching in Student Ministry

Study less. Love more. It sounds like wisdom, until you watch where it leads. A troubling sentiment has slowly taken root throughout the student ministry landscape over the last several years. Although I have heard it expressed in different ways, the essence of the ideology has to do with how leaders ought to steward their time. The logic follows something like this: because of (a) the vital importance of relational interaction with students and (b) the abundance of good teaching resources, student ministry leaders ought to spend less time in study and preparation to teach in order to allocate more time to building relationships with students.

Why would leaders with already full schedules in an increasingly hectic world give precious time to something that others have already done for us in producing these resources?

That certainly is a valid question, but one I think we ought to fully consider before simply adopting the logic and assuming the premise. Before I lay out my own thoughts for consideration, let me make it clear that my position is not anti-resource or anti-curriculum. I am deeply appreciative of those who, out of a high view of both the Scriptures and of ministry, labor in producing solid resources. But while those resources certainly have an appropriate place in student ministry, I want to make a brief case for the centrality of the good work of teaching in student ministry.

Teaching is a central focus of the Great Commission.

Why do we have student ministry in the first place? What is the purpose? The truth is that the question has already been answered for us by our King, Jesus. The Great Commission provides the marching orders for God’s people, the church. It is out of his authority and with his authority that our Lord commands, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19a). Notice a few ways that this commission places a central focus on teaching.

First, it is clear in the language. How are we to go about making disciples? By baptizing and teaching. The second of those couldn’t be more explicit: “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded.” The “by observing” is important, as it is not just information that believers need but instruction. The model we have for this, of course, is Jesus himself, whom we encounter in the Gospels as one who was always teaching, always instructing those who followed him.

Second, notice what Paul, a prime example of one who lived this pattern out, states as the overarching purpose of his own life and ministry: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col 1:28). Paul’s great desire centered upon a vision of what is produced downstream from a faithful pursuit of the Commission, namely spiritually mature disciples. And what is central to Paul’s thoughts on how that is achieved? Teaching everyone with all wisdom. My conviction is that the overarching objective of our ministry ought to align with Paul’s objective and the ways he pursued it.

Teaching is a primary way that we love and value students.

Along with my first clarification concerning my perspective above, I’d like to offer another point here. I absolutely agree that any effective ministry to students must be relational. I become quite wary when key aspects of ministry are pitted against one another, as if it must be either/or. In so many of these cases, I want to ask, “Why can’t it be both?” This is one of those instances where it can be both, and it should be.

Having served for a little more than two decades as a student pastor, I can unequivocally say that the most profound way I loved the students in my care was through weekly study in the Word in preparation to teach them. As I sat in the Word, they were always on my mind and heart. Not only was I putting together a message, I was also diligently searching for how I could speak the Word into the lives of those students and the very real situations and circumstances they were facing. In teaching, I not only wanted to convey truth to them, but I also desperately wanted the Spirit to connect their hearts with the goodness and relevance of God’s Word to their lives.

Some of the greatest encouragement as a student pastor came from students expressing their gratitude for my loving them through my fervent study and teaching, for taking both them and the Word seriously. I am deeply grateful for how those interactions revealed to me that students could really see that my teaching prep was a labor of love for them. And I believe that only enhanced the other relational interactions I had with them throughout my ministry as well.

Teaching is integral in the formation of the lives of leaders.

I am thankful for the abundance of curriculum and turn-key teaching resources weren’t available in my first few years of ministry. The realization that I would be standing before a group of young people, responsible for teaching them from the Word, drove me to pray as I had never prayed before. It drove me to apply the hermeneutical tools I had gained, taking them from theory in a classroom to real-world use. I continue to be astonished when I think back to just how much the Lord grew me in those initial years. I am convinced that growing as a teacher of the Word was the catalyst for that growth. But not only for those initial years, but ever since as well.

My fear in our culture of plentiful resources is that we would trade depth in discipleship for breadth. It is easier than it has ever been before to simply glean from the hard work of others. Often that can be a blessing, but sometimes it can stunt our own growth–our own formation. If others are always wrestling to discover the right interpretation and application of Scripture, how are we to build spiritual muscular durability that allows us to help students wrestle in those same ways? Depth results from struggle. I’m speaking from experience when I say that my own seasons of greatest growth have flowed out of seasons when I have had to struggle the most in the Word, whether that be in a teaching series through an especially difficult book or section of Scripture, teaching through heavy seasons experienced by those I taught, or walking through difficult circumstances myself. We grow and internalize the truths that we ourselves are learning most when we embrace teaching.

Teaching is more than information transfer.

Teaching–good teaching–is not just about information transfer, it is about transformation. Good teaching flows out of the heart of a teacher who desires to see genuine transformation take place in the hearts of those who hear and receive the teaching. The best teaching not only aims at transformation but also flows from a life transformed by the very truths being taught. That is the sweet spot of teaching in student ministry.

Don’t diminish the great importance of relational ministry with students. But also, don’t buy the idea that somehow faithful study and preparation to teach present an obstacle to building those relationships. Instead, I hope you see how teaching is not only indispensable in pursuing the objective of ministry given to us by King Jesus, but is also central in the way we truly love students by helping them live by the only Way that leads to joy and life.