Video Transcript: Phase 2 Culture - Decoding
We're looking at how to establish a culture, a culture of shaping, an environment of discovery. And one of the tools for doing this is what I call decoding. C S Lewis, he translated the gospel into language that people would understand. And it's interesting what he said about that. Dear friend of his said that he believed that if you found it difficult to answer the question from men of different trades. It was probably because you haven't really thought it out not to the end, to the absolute ruddy end to translate the gospel in terms that modern day regular people can understand. That's what C S Lewis learned to excel at, and for us, we need to learn how to translate the gospel into terms that young people will understand. So there is decoding the Bible. The Scriptures are written in a wonderful way, if you were to study any any portion of Scripture, you would find that within, within the larger body of material, of literature and the little stories, there Were always theological centers that the Bible has ideas that it communicates to us. It is the written word concerning the living word. But part of the task of communicating biblical truth is discerning the theological centers someone is said to know what a passage means, you must first discover what it meant. And so if you know what the biblical writer is saying and what the biblical reader is hearing, then you can know what God is saying. It really is amazing, but it's true that if you can study the Bible in such a way that you understand what the biblical writer is saying and what the biblical reader is hearing, then you can know what God is saying. And it's the task of the youth leader to know that, which means we must read the scriptures and read them carefully and clearly and so discern what are the theological centers? What are the central ideas behind what the biblical writer is saying? So we have to decode the Bible. We have to put it in terms that young people understand. But then we also have to decode youth we have to decode their core values. And so that too is a task. We have to listen, listen, listen. I think one of the most, one of the times I enjoyed the most and were the most beneficial for me in working with young people was when we were in the van driving to and from their homes. It's an amazing time, because that's when it's like they don't even know you're there. You may be driving them, and they're talking in the back and they're behaving as if they don't they're not paying any attention to you. It's a wonderful time to hear what they really think about differing issues and how they truly relate to each other, and what some of their issues might be but listening to them, hearing them talk, hearing them share their ideas, was important, and so listening is very, very important. The felt need concept. Later on, someone called it, listening to the community. In order to understand what the felt need is, we need to listen. We need to become good listeners. Who is it? Stephen Covey seek, first to understand and then to be understood. So that's a skill that a youth leader needs, not only that, but we need to probe, okay, what do you mean? Help me understand many times, particularly with youth group, it really goes a long way if a young person says something and you say, Okay, help me understand what
you just said, or say it back to them. So are you saying this? Am I hearing you correctly? For them to say, yes, not only have you come, not only have you listened to them, but they know that you've listened to them. They know that you value what they think, that's very important. So we need to find what their core ideas are. As we listen to them, we say, What do you mean? And we and we spout it back to them. We can spout back to them, what is their core central idea. How do you find big ideas? Haddon Robinson. Preacher Haddon Robinson said, if you're going to compete for the minds of people, men and women and I would include you, you must do so in the realm of ideas. Paul understood this, he said, We demolish We demolish arguments and every potential that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. So we are engaged with ideas. It is it when you, when you're in your youth group, you are, you are surfacing a battle of ideas, the ideas that young an idea that a young person has about life, and an idea that God has about life, and your task is to surface those and bring them together, just like what Jesus did. You have heard it said, but now I say to you, you want to know what Jesus is saying, so that you can bring that to bear on the ideas that the young people have, and this way they can see, how do they match up? How does God's perspective match up with theirs? It's amazing. That can be tremendous. Transformational. It creates transformational moments when young people begin to see, oh, this is what God thinks. This is where he's at. Oh, and what does that mean to me? It's very, very powerful. So how do you discern a big idea? Well, there's two parts to an idea. There is the subject and there is the complement. The subject is, what are they saying? Okay, what? What are they talking about? Maybe the subject is parents, or could be school or a particular class, that's the subject. You find out what the subject is, and then you say, clean out. What's the compliment? So what are they saying about what they're saying? Okay, they're saying that parents don't understand me, parents, parents aren't really tracking with me, because they just live in a separate universe, whatever it is, but you put the two together, and you come up with a central idea. You do the same thing with the Bible. Okay? You read the scriptures and you read the scriptures in its context. You look at a passage, you look at it within its context, and then you say, Okay, what? What does this say? What's the subject? And then you ask, what's the compliment? What is this saying about what it's saying? And you put the two together, and you come up with a single, big, central idea, if you're talking about parents talking about parents, and then you're talking about and kids are talking about their parents. And you look at what God says about parents, and you focus on central ideas, you will come up with saying things to them that are very pointed, very real and very penetrating. I like using as an illustration when young people talk about about how they should relate to their parents, and I like to say them that you realize. When, when Paul talks about honor your father and mother, who is he
talking to? He wasn't talking to the parents. He was talking to the kid. And do you also realize that that's the first command with a promise that it will go well with you and your days will be long? Well, if Paul is saying that directly to you, he's not saying that to you to cause you to now comply with your parents. He's saying that to you because you need to hear that this is for your good and so you you begin to point out what the intent of scriptures is, as you present it to young people. So you have this idea about God's care for their concern. You have their idea saying that God doesn't care. You put the two together, and you have this clash of ideas, and the idea is for you to share in such a clear way that the young people respond and so big idea subject and complement. If you're going to compete for the minds of youth, you must do so in the realm of ideas. So whether you are with a young person, one on one, or you're in a small group, you are communicating ideas. And so this is a finding the big idea and using that as a skill to be able to communicate, and you're doing that week after week after week. You are establishing a culture of thinking, of examining, of hearing God's word in terms that they understand. And you're setting you're creating that discipleship, rich culture where young people are engaging continually. They may not have given their lives to Christ yet, but they are engaging him whenever they are in that club meeting, because you ask them to think.