5 Myths about Expository Teaching in Youth Groups
“Topical teaching is not bad, and it does have a place in our projects. I also believe, however, that expositional teaching – when done well with young people – covers all the topics that we’d want to cover anyway. I believe it does this with more healthy and specific applications, while also imparting skills in how to handle the Bible.” - Church Leaders
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One of the things I’ve noted regarding youth ministry while interviewing candidates for a position is that most of our candidates did not develop the ability to think Scripture through for themselves, but rather were taught to consult a certain set of their Bible college’s favored commentaries on each subject. I hope I’m being totally unfair to these guys, but I asked each applicant a couple of questions to figure out how they thought; first, what their favored references were when confronted with a new question, and second, what they would study if they could go to seminary and money/time were not a limitation. The answers I got were always commentaries and a certain ministry area.
Expositional preaching undercuts this tendency by limiting the freedom of the pastor to consult his Bible college’s favored commentaries, and by providing additional incentive to actually parse things out verse by verse. It is not a guarantee, but it is intensely helpful. It also reduces the freedom of the pastor to jump on his own soapbox.
And having done family Bible studies expositionally with my wife & kids for years, it’s amazing what they pick up on when they get the chance. Really, why should Dad get to jump up and down on his soapbox and simply refer to his favored commentary (Matthew Henry FWIW)?
Edit: former title “Youth Pastor, Real Pastor” removed because (a) it’s obnoxious and (b) I hadn’t developed the thought to make it edifying. My apologies!
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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