Youth Ministry in the 21st Century (Youth, Family, and Culture): Five Views by Stier Greg

Author:Stier, Greg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2015-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

Responses to the Adoption View

Greg Stier

I was pleasantly surprised at how many times I said “Amen!” in my soul as I read your chapter, Chap. You and I have “tangled” a bit in the past when it comes to youth ministry strategy, philosophy, and focus, but your chapter spoke to me personally, because I am the result of an “adoptive” approach to youth ministry.

Galatians 3:26 reminds us, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.” The result of putting our faith in Christ alone based on his finished work on the cross is being adopted into the family of God. Ephesians 1:4–6 puts it this way, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

This “adoption to sonship” is more than a salvific reality that’s true in heaven; it has powerful consequences on earth as well. Because God adopted me, I’m part of a family full of adopted brothers and sisters in Christ (aka “the church”). Chap, you did a phenomenal job of making a theological case for this in terms of how we view and do youth ministry.

Bravo!

Growing up, I never knew my biological father. He was in the army and abandoned me and my mom before I was even born. My mom was married four different times (that’s how many old marriage certificates I found in her footlocker after she passed away, anyway). As a result, I never had a sense of being a part of a complete family as I was growing up, so coming to faith in Jesus and viewing God as my “Father” had a deep and meaningful impact on me.

Ten years ago, when my mom was dying of cancer in hospice, we had several significant conversations about how Jesus changed everything. She asked me, “Do you remember what you used to say when you were a kid and other kids would make fun of you for not having a daddy?” I didn’t remember, so she reminded me, “You used to say ‘God’s my Daddy.’” I told my mom, “I don’t remember saying that, but I remember feeling that from the time I put my faith in Jesus.”

So when this youth ministry from the suburbs reached into the inner city where I lived to “adopt” me into their church, it was a game changer. Now, I wasn’t just a kid adopted by a heavenly Father whom I would see someday; I had brothers and sisters to embrace me, train me, and unleash me.

Mark Schweitzer, Kenny, “Timo,” “Yankee,” and a host of other adults took me in and poured into my life. They were more than traditional youth leaders to me; they were, in your words, Chap, “adoption guides.” They taught me the traditional youth ministry stuff, but much more.

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