You know, most people believe that teenagers need spiritual help. Yes, they most certainly need spiritual help but guess what?  Teenagers believe that their biggest need is a social need. They just simply want to be accepted. It may be hard to admit but most teenagers do not come to youth groups to hear preaching. Although, a few may come for that sole purpose most come just because a need for social activity is met. But once we get the teens here, then we can redirect their focus and their priorities. 

We are actually in the process of redesigning and restructuring our teen center. So to meet the social needs of our teens we are asking ourselves, “What do they like to do?”  Well, the answer is very simple. Teens like to eat, hang out and play. It’s as simple as that. So we find that we must incorporate these things as a part of our environment. Today’s youth is entirely image conscious. Look at how they dress, how they talk and how they act. It’s all about portraying a certain image. So we are putting thought into the type of image that we want to project. You may say, “That is too wordly and not necessary.”  You may even quote to us the Scripture in I Samuel 16:7 that says, “…for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”  Well my friend, you have just proven our entire point. What does man look at?  Man looks at the appearance. God is the one who looks at the heart. We are not trying to reach God, we’re trying to reach man. And man judges things by how they appear. Since they are concerned with the outward appearance then we will pay attention to those things as well. God looks at the heart but we believe that He also uses the outward appearance to draw people to Him. Once He draws them then He can work on their hearts. If we fail to reach our teens on the image level then we will never be able to reach their hearts. 

What we are actually dealing with as a church is a bunch of carnal kids. But that’s okay. They’re teens and we expect them to act like teens because it’s the stage of life that they are in. However, we do not accept the lie that teenagers are going to sow their wild oats. It does not have to be that way. We believe that teenagers genuinely love God but sometimes outside pressures blind their focus. We want to minister to our teens in such a way that God is able to work on their hearts. Yes they will come to have fun and hang out. But this is the key: God will be hanging out with them. His presence will be in every room. His Word will go out during the preaching in a such a way that it will find it’s place in the heart of every teen and they will not be able to get away from those words. Their hearts will be changed simply because we are creating a place for them where their greatest needs will be met – a place where they can come and find God.