Pastor Steve Thuo gave us a great session on Christ-centred Youth Ministry at our last Ministry Training Course week. One of the really helpful things he shared with us was the cultural onion.
Steve’s point was that very often we focus on Behaviour (dress, drugs, drink etc.) and miss the fact that this is only a surface expression of something deeper – Values (personal freedom, happiness, control etc.) – and these in turn are an expression of something deeper still – Worldview (animism, Marxism or whatever). His advice was this: comment on behaviour just to open up the issue, then move quickly to engage with the values that drive these things, then move to the core, the heart, the worldview – the story by which the person makes sense of the world – that’s what you want to teach, rebuke, correct, train, recreate according to the Word of God, with Christ at the centre.
If you focus on behaviour you’ll either just get dismissed or you’ll get grudging, mindless obedience – Pharisees. If you focus on values you might get something a bit more intelligent but it’s still moralism really – Christian values without Christ. But if you focus on worldview – that’s gospel territory – the story of Jesus that saves and transforms from the inside out.
You can download the full notes from Pastor Steve’s session here.
What do you think?