It is estimated that 75 percent of youth and student pastors have no direction for ministry, living on a Sunday-to-Wednesday-to-Sunday treadmill, where students often have a topical knowledge of God in the same way they might approach algebra.
That is not an indictment of youth pastors, says Steve Rohrlack, South Carolina Baptist Convention director of youth ministry group, as much as it is the culture that has somehow been created around student discipleship. “We’ve got a bunch of students who don’t really understand the God of Genesis and the God of Revelation and all that he is in-between. Students approach God as more of a topic, but he’s not really a part of their lives.”
To create a new student discipleship paradigm, Rohrlack pulled from his own experience as a youth pastor, seven years of training with smaller membership churches and recent conversations with youth leaders from a broad range of church sizes. A “Rethinking Student Discipleship” strategy was born and is being implemented in churches across South Carolina.
“The strategy asks the questions, ‘What do you want to accomplish, spiritually, in the life of a seventh-grader? An eighth-grader? A high school senior?’ Each year builds on the one before it,” Rohrlack said. “Each grade level points to vital truths that correspond with discipleship curriculum such as LifeWay’s LXVI series.” The “LXVI: A Study of the Sixty Six Books” allows students to study the complete Bible between seventh grade and their senior year of high school.
A seventh-grader, for example, might focus on “My Identity in Christ,” “Vital Character,” and “Sexual Purity.” A high school senior might focus on “The Mind of Christ,” “Money Matters for Teens,” “Stand Tall in College,” and “Conflict Resolution.” Temptation, family dynamics, prayer, worship, and sharing Jesus are all vital truths and doctrines along the student life journey.
“In addition to the strategy, we have put together a road map that covers six years of Wednesday and Sunday night studies tying it all together,” Rohrlack said. “And certainly there is flexibility within it, too.”
Beau Bradberry, student pastor at Cedar Creek Baptist Church, Aiken, said the new strategy is about understanding the needs of young people and meeting those needs. “Students in different places confront different challenges,” he said. “The flexibility in this strategy is that a church can better understand its youth and customize to their needs. But it also recognizes that a seventh-grader’s needs are different from a high school senior’s needs.”
He compares this new strategy with the old paradigm, where “a youth group just pulled a study off the shelf and pushed all their young people through it. It might not have been what the young people needed at that time, and it might have missed on connecting with both younger and older students. The new strategy puts the needs of the student as the priority.”
Justin McAlpin, minister to students at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Florence, said, “Today’s students have grown up in a new society that has bombarded them with messages and opinions, challenging what they are taught and how they think. These students are forward-thinking and the ‘same old, same old’ youth ministry has an ‘old’ feeling to it.
“As a youth pastor, I love the new approach. It’s changed my way of thinking, with a personal emphasis on discipleship,” McAlpin said. “It gives us a more complete approach to discipleship, and helps us catch and address areas of need more efficiently. Rethinking student discipleship will help students live out a passionate desire for Christ.”
Chad Carroll, associate pastor, Clearmont Baptist Church, Westminster, said, “We must reverse the trend that we have seen in ‘our’?churches as it relates to church health and church growth. I am encouraged because this new process will work for a church of any size and even fits well with volunteer staff. This process will revolutionize my student ministry and will enhance the ministry of?our church.”
Rohrlack said that the new strategy is “rolling out” across South Carolina. “We have 12 leaders trained in it, and they are willing to go help individual churches.”