What if...
I am Educating as a Youth Pastor:
“…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…” 1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)
“…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:2 (NASB)
This is an extreme important calling to me. Too many times I have reflected upon my bible classes in college or conversations with non-Christians who had real questions about the bible and realized how ill prepared I was in knowing the bible as something more than a collection of stories with morals. Historical context, language, cause and effect relationships, all of these were lost on me.
My hope is that through a Sunday morning or intense midweek bible study I can get the youth to understand why knowing the bible is important and showing them the intricacies that help the bible make sense.
As far as knowing why the bible is important, is because it is the single volume of literature on which we profess our faith, so to have a surface level understanding just does not cut it. If you are a professing fan of any given sports team, a devout fan who wants to show it, you know what is going on with the team: the history of it, the staff, potential trades, players, etc. Often times Christians have knowledge of their hobbies than the core part of their identity. It is important that we do not just send them out with a paper-thin knowledge, but rather a knowledge that covers much more and encourages a desire to know more.
I do not approach this naively, I know that there will be those who do not really care about the deeper aspects, and Christianity is just a cover, a façade, or something their parents made them do. I was one of those at one time. But what I do know is that I can try to do my best to educate, to be open to questions and to be a friend who cares to teach the students.