Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry

A few years later, a girl a couple grades below me mentioned that first lesson and said it had influenced her. No one ever remarked on my “clever” lesson. That moment convinced me that expounding God’s Word impacts people most—far more than human cleverness, humor, and creativity.

But a slick youth program is no substitute for a youth pastor who unapologetically teaches the Bible.

Third, expositional teaching proceeds through an entire book of the Bible, from beginning to end, passage by passage.

Second, the theme of the expositional sermon is derived from the main point of the passage.

1. Sin and sinfulness. Ways we disobey God and thus need salvation through Jesus.

Teenagers in whom God is at work do not cringe at a gospel-centered sermon from the Bible. Rather, they receive it with power and joy, even if it causes them to suffer.

The gospel is rest. The gospel means Jesus carries the burden of your life. The gospel means you will never have to prove yourself again, because Jesus has proven you on the cross.

Expositional preaching seeks to expose what is in a single passage of the Bible.

Unfortunately, as has been outlined in many books over the last several years, many churches have failed at “making” disciples because the central focus has been only on the teachings of Jesus rather than on the importance of personally following and growing in Jesus.