My Educational Theology 7: The Value of Youth

In Job 32 and 33, Job’s young friend Elihu waited for their older three friends to speak wisdom to Job regarding his situation. However, their words were not wise. They spouted knowledge and platitudes and “conventional wisdom”, but not necessarily the wisdom of God. As a respectful young person, Elihu waited for the older three to talk and then said this:
Surely it is God's Spirit within people, the breath of the Almighty within them, that makes them intelligent. But sometimes the elders are not wise. Sometimes the aged do not understand justice. So listen to me and let me express my opinion.[1]

Elihu was the youngest of Job’s friends, but he spoke with the wisdom of Almighty God. So too, this generation, when inspired by God in their spirits have the ability to speak life-giving truth into our world and to be used by God to change the world for His glory. This leads me to the next belief that I have in my theology of youth ministry: God highly values youth and that He created youth with certain characteristics in order to fulfill His plan on earth[2]. Throughout history, God has repeatedly used young people to accomplish His work on earth. In the circles of youth ministry, we are very familiar with the stories of young people that God has used to accomplish His will. These young servants of God include Samuel who was maybe the youngest at 9 or 10 years old; David who killed Goliath when he was 14-16 years old; Jeremiah who didn’t want to prophesy because he was too young (possibly in his late teens); Daniel and his friends who were most likely teenagers when they first arrived in Babylon in Daniel chapter 1; Mary, the mother of Jesus, who historians tell us was probably in her mid teens when she was “found with child”; and, finally, Jesus’ disciples who were probably in their late teens or early twenties. These are only to mention a few.

God values youth. He speaks highly of the strength and zeal of youth. It seems natural to me that He created youth to be a time of boundless energy, optimism, strength and seeming immortality. Youth are much less cautious than older adults and God has historically used that “reckless abandon” to accomplish His work. This is not necessarily new to those who work in the world of youth, but it is an important observation that shapes what biblical youth ministry should look like. In light of the innocent ambition of youth, we need to release our young people into God’s service. This is maybe more of a discussion of the overall idea of Christian education (whether in a church , school or home setting), but, in order for our youth (our mid-adolescents is my focus here) to do God’s work and be agents of change in their worlds like Samuel, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, Mary and the disciples, we need to lay a foundation for them so that they are amply prepared to stand for God and to serve him in whatever situations they find themselves in when they reach college. Each of these young servants of God had a definite and accurate view of who God was and what He desired and were therefore prepared to hear His call and reckless enough to have the faith to follow it. Their view of God was developed by their parents and teachers as they grew up—in their childhood/pre adolescent years. The emphasis is on pre-teen training, teaching and guidance.

For those who work with these mid-adolescents (whether we are parents, youth pastors, teachers or counselors), as we work with these young servants of God we need to challenge them to be world changers not shelter them, coddle them and try to keep them safe. This may mean sending them to public school, letting them go on missions trips, encouraging them when they want to start radical ministries or Bible studies. We need to let them love the poor and care for the environment and start prayer meetings. We need to help them understand boundaries and how to pick themselves up when they fail. We need to let them go crazy for God now because the older they get the more cautious they will be because they will have bought into this world more, have jobs they might lose, families to take care of and a lot less energy.

[1] Job 32:8-10 (NLT)
[2] My biblical research on the value God places on youth comes from an early Youth Ministry Practicum paper entitled What the Bible says about “youth” and “youth ministry” and from another Practicum paper entitled Biblical Mentoring.