Lies are all around us. Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist but lots of people try to sell us lies everyday. Lies that sex sells, lies that all guys want are girls that are rail thin and blonde, lies that you can only function in business and life on a Windows computer. I know terrible lies all around us. But we take for granted that being of the way, the truth and life that the father of lies can’t impact the church or our student ministries and we are dead wrong.
I stumbled across Michael’s blog one day through the website PlantersBlog.com asking for youth ministers to read and review his new book, 10 Lies of Student Ministry. Now I’m a sucker for free stuff, especially ministry books. So I took the challenge and here I am reviewing a book that is one of those you can quickly work through and read once a year.
Michael wrote a great book that I personally think could be a great counterpart to be read-along side of Purpose Driven Youth Ministry for new student ministers or college students. I think he does a good job of debunking lies and myths of student ministry that sometimes trap us or that we allow ourselves to get caught up in trying to impress our friends, peers and senior ministers. But lets face some facts: youth groups don’t grow churches, guys in larger ministries are trying to figure out ways to make their groups smaller, if we are trying to build a large group of teens we are only stroking our own ego.
In 10 Lies, Michael hits on lies like “Its all about relationships”, “Students
are the future of the church”, “The primary job of the student pastor is to reach
students”, “We must be family friendly”, and “A growing ministry is a health
ministry” to name a few of my favorites. The truth and passion that comes out
of this book to me was one of the greatest values of this book. Michael works
through some tough lies that most of us have faced in some form or fashion. We
have all strived to have large ministries and listened to all the latest fads that
have worked to grow other ministries so that must work in ours. This book is filled
with good research, life experience and illustrations from today (which some say
might not be a good thing for the longevity of the book) and what I think are some
great quotes that will stick with you. Sometimes in these types of ministry books
you get the principle but not some of the basic how to or questions to think about.
Now don’t get me wrong I’m not talking about details of he pulled of different programs of events but things like how to make the most of relationships with students, ideas for what only the church can offer and ways to build relationships with parents but not build a ministry that suits them, just to name a few.
Some exerts-
“Relationships in and of themselves are not the goal.”
“Were not there to be their friends or to just develop relationships with. God has placed us in their in their lives to be leaders and guides.”
“When you cram your calendar full of events, you burn out your leaders, you burn out your students and you burn out yourself.”
“And the whole times I was articulating my major points, my students were sitting there wondering why God didn’t answer their prayers, why they feel guilty all the time, and why they can’t get a date.”
“Your primary call is not to help students get along with their parents, but to lead them into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.”
10 Lies in my mind is a great reminder book peppered with truth about what are job is really about and fresh thinking about the lies that hold us back from doing ministry that glorifies God and build disciples not just fills seats.
DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2
