Don't Die Before You're Dead

Death Doesn’t Happen Overnight

Often times we have either been a part of or seen churches and effective youth ministry lose its effectiveness.

The idea of death is gradual. You do not just wake up one day spiritually dead.

You have two options you can die, or you can strengthen what remains.

This is personally applicable and collectively applicable.

Things happen to us in life that destroy us, and push us in the direction of giving up.

In effort to understand what death is you have to understand what life is.

Understand the idea of living in this text is not merely a thing but it is vitality. In other words the state of being strong or active.

Our youth groups stop living, or we’ve created a sub culture with the strongest demographic and when that demographic changes we have no idea how to transition.

Things that cause death:

Poor discipleship

Youth ministry in a silo

Large graduating class

Large age gaps

Burn-out

lack of relevance

Death is Contagious

Your spiritual decomposition rubs off on other people.

12 people saw the same thing different ways, despite the fact God gave them the same promise.

What are some things that God has promised us?

The easy thing to do is to complain…

These kids spend too much time on their phone

These kids are disrespectful

What are some complaints we have about this generation of youth?

Strengthen What Remains

Strengthen

Feet - Do you have any youth in your youth group that are walking down the wrong path? How can you help them…

Hands - What is one thing that you could help fix or restore to ensure your youth ministry stays strong.

Strengthen what remains - The idea of this verse centers around the word strengthen. The word strengthen basically means support or a strong starting point. Essentially to support or fix something so that it stands upright and immoveable.

How can you add support or even develop a strong mission to ensure youth ministry remains effective?

The idea should be development into discipleship, everyone is not going to be a youth worker. Typically people who become youth workers are people who had a healthy or life changing experience as a youth in the church.

Mouth - What can you say to a child that speaks life to them today?

Brain - What does effective youth ministry look like?

Focus on the why, I believe you need to know you why. Today what I want you to leave with is the “when”. When are we going to build the infrastructure that supports a child from infant to a discipled adult?

There has to be a sense of urgency. Verse 2 of states “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God”.

Urgency removes the ability to pass the buck.

When we are urgent about it we do not leave the ability to be engaging and effective up to other people. We figure out a way to do it ourselves.

Build the structure now, because we have no idea when children will be enticed by things here in society.