This week I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting to plan for the Illinois Christian Teen Convention. As often happens there is one group that will come in carrying a conversation from the cat to the meeting. This time the conversation came in the form of Biblical literacy. Here was the question at hand:

How many books are there in the OT?

Don’t jump to your Bible and start counting. Just simply answer the question in your head. Out of at least 20 Youth Minister and one College Prof. only about 6 people actually knew the answer right away or within a few seconds.

Then yesterday as I was studying for my sermon this week I read the following paragraph in a commentary by Gary M. Burge, the NIV Application Commentary.

“We have been shocked at what we learned. Students from strong, conservative churches were sending us some of their best Christian eighteen-year-old students who did not know who came first, Abraham or Moses. They were not sure if Barnabas was in the Old Testament of the New Testament. When asked to put a list of the major biblical books in proper order (such as Exodus, Psalms, Isaiah, Matthew, Romans), they failed miserably. When asked if Paul believed in the resurrection of the body, most said “No.” Here were young Christians for whom personal piety ran deep, but for whom a coherent, intelligent grasp of the Bible was beyond their reach.”

It is my prayer that we as YM are not purely focused on personal piety but also on leading our students down a road that gives them the biblical knowledge to answer the questions that are put in front of them through the use of the Bible. It is my prayer that as YM we are truly seeking to “know God” not just love God in our own personal lives. Youth ministry can be easy if we are just encouraging students to love God and figure things out later, but if we want them to “know God” then we have to answer the hard questions.

Where are you at in regards to “Loving God” and “Knowing God?”