Jeremy L. Berg

Rob Bell is one of the most popular pastor-teachers in America today.  He is best known for his Nooma short films used by churches everywhere.  He was recently interviewed by YouthWorker Journal at a national conference to give us some of his thoughts on youth ministry today.  Here’s the interview originally published on October 2, 2009 in YouthWorkerJournal.com:

YouthWorker Journal: What are some specific tools youth pastors need for effective ministry? Back in my day, if you could play guitar (you needed to know chords C, F and G, but not much more) and could lead kids in wacky games, you pretty much got the job. If you could provide an insight into a Bible verse at the end of some activity, well then, you were gold. What are the magic bullets for today’s youth minister?

Rob Bell: I don’t begin to think about that by wondering, “How do you do youth ministry?” I begin with, “What kind of person are you?” Let’s explore your own experience with the resurrected Christ. So if a youth pastor says, “How do I create a safe place where my kids can deal with their pain?” Let’s first talk about your own parents’ divorce. Let’s talk about how Christ is helping put you back together. A lot of times we’ve been burned because even if someone could play the guitar and got the job, then it turned out the person had a lot of other stuff he or she was carrying. Who doesn’t have some story of a person they respected having a massive collapse spiritually, emotionally, sexually, whatever?

YWJ: OK, the magic bullets, if you don’t mind.

RB: The dominant paradigm in churches is production, not discipleship. It’s about how to keep kids coming—how are the numbers? In the gospels, whenever there were large crowds, Jesus gave a difficult teaching that thinned out the crowd. Over and over, He chose those moments: John 6—Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood. Nice. Very accessible for kids. There is a certain pattern where He’s trying to find out who is serious. Youth workers are put in this position where their paychecks are based on how many people they can keep in the place. When they read the gospels, they realize this whole system seems to be going the other direction. Many youth pastors I’ve met are promoting something they don’t believe.

CONTINUE READING INTERVIEW HERE.