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Church History for Youth

Posted Wednesday, March 08, 2006 by Charlie Trimm

I am speaking at a youth retreat next month, and I am going to speak on the topic of church history. I thought I would present my ideas in brief about what I am going to speak on and see what ya'll thought. I am still working out a "hermeneutics of history," or how we learn from history, so if you have any thougths that would be helpful. Any ideas for better titles would be appreciated too! I'm also thinking about switching the first and the last one, as far as the order goes. Thanks for looking!
1. "Dying for Christ" (Persecution in the early church). This will cover Acts through about 320, just before Constantine, and cover various outbreaks of persecutions and martyrdom. The emphasis will be on these people's devotion to Christ and how they were will to risk everything for him. I'm thinking of tying it into the "carry your cross" passages to apply it.
2. "How Getting What You Want Is Not Always Best" (Rise of Constantine). This will address how Constantine came to power and how everyone was very excited about having a Christian emperor. But then I will also address how this turned out to be bad for the church. The application will be that what we want is not necessarily what God wants for us or is best for us. Not sure what exact text I am going to for this one.
3. "Cultural Christianity" or "But I Was Born A Christian!" (the Church in the Middle Ages). You can pick either title, although I kind of like the second one better. This will address how bad the church got in the Middle Ages (along with a few highlights). The application will be about how Christianity is not something you are born into, but something that is a personal relationship with God. Probably do some OT prophets for this text, like Micah 6:6.
4. I'm currently stumped on a good title for this one. Maybe "Knowing God" or "Walking with God" or "Oh, I wasn't Born A Christian!". (Protestant Reformation and Luther). This will focus on justification by faith and how Luther fought the church on this issue. Application will be that this is a personal decision. Probably go to Romans, where Luther got his main ideas from.
5. "Trying to Live Without God" (Enlightenment). This will look at how reason came to rule the world in place of the Bible, especially in the French Revolution. I will then look at its implications that are evident in the school system today. Application will be that we have to factor God into all of our lives, including how we think and live, pointing out how many Christians live as practical atheists. Maybe go to 1 Cor. 10:31.
6. "How Did we Get The Bible?" (History of the Bible). Broad Overview of the history of the Bible from when it was written, through the canon process, the manuscripts (maybe with pictures), and then a general introduction to the various English translations. Application will be the need to be students of the bible and to have a daily devotional time. Text would be something about how the Bible works and is powerful, maybe the latter half of Psalm 19.

Thursday, March 09, 2006 5:12 PM

Ben Myers wrote: I think the order is good as is -- if you switched the first and last topics, then you'd have to start with the (more boring) topic of the Bible's history, instead of the (more exciting) topic of martyrdom.

Also, although the Reformation was a great step forwards, there were also many good things about the medieval church (and in some respects the Reformation itself was a development of certain medieval theological traditions). So try not to exaggerate the darkness of the so-called "dark ages". The church was still the church in this period -- and there were many "dark" aspects of the early Protestant churches as well!

Thursday, March 09, 2006 10:11 PM

Brian wrote: Dark by "Enlightened" standards

Thank you for bringing up the not-necessarily-so-darkn medieval era, Ben. Wasn't the church responsible for the preservation of learning from the downfall of Rome to the invention of the printing press? It also played a large role in the turning back the Moors from their last attempt to overrun Europe.

I also recall someone somewhere saying that the designation "Dark Ages" came from atheistic, Enlightenment scholars.

Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:16 PM

Nate M. wrote: Indeed; the so-called "Dark Ages" were so titled because they were, in the minds of the "new thinkers," the antithesis of the Enlightenment. Light, Dark, you get it.

Friday, March 10, 2006 2:26 PM

Charlie wrote: Thank you guys for your comments. I was just talking with my wife about this a few days ago: you can't make church history black and white. But I do have to say something, and I only have thirty minutes for each talk, so something has to go. But I will say a few good things about the "dark" ages and a few bad things about the reformation.

Monday, March 13, 2006 1:35 PM

Josh wrote:

Will it be necessary to spend any time convincing your audience that church history is actually a worthwhile field of investigation? And perhaps for junior-highers, highlighting a specific person(s) that might exemplify some of the lessons from each era might be a way of giving them a meaningful connection to the subject matter.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006 8:51 PM

Charlie wrote: That's a good idea, Josh. Got any ideas of specific people for the Enlightenment or the Middle Ages? I thought about doing an apology for why I'm doing church history, but I think I'm just going to jump right in. And it's not being advertised as church history, so they won't even figure out that it's church history until I'm well into it. The youth pastor did a wonderful job making it sound really cool without using the words "church history."

Thursday, March 16, 2006 1:11 PM

Mark Kernan wrote: The flame passes on. Charlie,

I love your desire to connect the past church to the present. I'll date myself, it reminds me of an old White Heart song "The Flame passes on". The faith of the present is built upon the faithfulness of past generations- we are connected to those greats and not so greats of the faith.

One caution, never apologize. To a teen that means "unimportant information ahead". I've been in youth minisrty from volunteer to youth pastor for (yikes) 19 years. If there is a mistake I've made it.

Mark