5 Reasons You Should Intentionally Teach Doctrine and Theology to Your Students

 

Teach Doctrine and Theology

Teach Doctrine and Theology

What do your students think about when they think about God? That may be the most important question for your ministry to them. Are you intentional about what you are teaching or are you just making it up as you go? Since we only have our students for a few years, the importance of what we teach and model to them is magnified. If we genuinely intend to influence the students in our ministry we must equip them with a deeper understanding of God’s word and who He is. We must be careful to lift the gospel at all times. In order to fully equip our students and prepare them for life as a believer we must intentionally teach them doctrine and theology.

Webster’s Dictionary defines these as:

Doctrine: a set of ideas or beliefs that are taught or believed to be true

Theology: the study of God and of God’s relation to the world

These two aspects of a student’s understanding as it relates to their life are crucial for faithfulness to the Lord in all situations and circumstances they will face after our ministry. Here are 5 reasons you should be intentionally teaching doctrine and theology to your students:

1. They will have a theology when they leave your ministry (have one now) you need to help shape it

The truth is everyone has a theology.  Everyone has thoughts and a belief about God.  You need to help shape the one your students will have when they leave your ministry.

2. They will view their world through their understanding of doctrine and theology.

Regardless of what life throws at them, they will view those circumstances through their doctrine and theology.  If you want your students to stay the course and finish well then you must teach them sound doctrine and theology now.

3. They can handle it…and they want it

They learn trigonometry in school…they can handle theology in church.  Students want real answers and what to be able to ask difficult questions.  Make room for both of those and teach them doctrine and theology.  They can handle it.

4. They need to be prepared for life in the “real world” as a believer

Since student one day leave your ministry (hopefully), you must be preparing them now for life after “youth group.”  You cannot adequately do this if you ignore teaching doctrine and theology.

5. You grow in your understanding as well

You can’t teach what you don’t know.  As you prepare you will learn and grow in your own understanding which makes you a better minister in the end as well.

Bonus: Doctrine and Theology are REALLY important

 

What are your thoughts?  What makes this difficult?  How are you being intentional in teaching doctrine and theology in your ministry?  Leave a comment below and let me know!

Photo credit: Anonymous / Foter.com / Public Domain Mark 1.0

About the Author
I am a Youth Ministry veteran of twenty four years, and currently serve as the Student Pastor at High Desert Church.  I help equip and encourage Youth Pastors through this blog and podcast The Longer Haul.  My passion is helping Youth Pastors create a ministry of longevity that they truly love.  I am the grateful husband of Sarah and the dad of Emma, Anna, Lizzy, and Jack.  I am a speaker, lover of vintage VW’s, and the owner of one 1972 VW Westfalia Bus.

9 comments on “5 Reasons You Should Intentionally Teach Doctrine and Theology to Your Students

  1. Chris Whisonant says:

    Great post, bro. I like the site!

    This particular post reminds me of the following quote as well:

    “In other words, The­ol­ogy is prac­ti­cal: espe­cially now. In the old days, when there was less edu­ca­tion and dis­cus­sion, per­haps it was pos­si­ble to get on with a very few sim­ple ideas about God. But it is not so now. Every­one reads, every­one hears things dis­cussed. Con­se­quently, if you do not lis­ten to The­ol­ogy, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones — bad, mud­dled, out-of-date ideas. For a great many of the ideas about God which are trot­ted out as novel­ties to-day are simply the ones which real The­olo­gians tried cen­turies ago and rejected.”
    ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

    1. Thanks Chris! Awesome quote from Mere Christianity. Love C.S. Lewis’ statement there, it “will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones.” May we be diligent to teach our students the correct ones so they may finish well.

      1. Chris Whisonant says:

        Just remember, the guy in the picture above has “the correct ones.” 😉 j/k, sort of

        I saw that Lewis quote from one of the Lewis twitter accounts a while back and it was good, but when I was re-reading Mere Christianity earlier this year I stumbled on it in context and it was so much better. The same for several other popular quotes from later in the book. Not that Lewis had all the right ideas, but he knew that being on the lookout against the wrong ones and studying to have a better grasp on the right ones was of utmost importance.

        Amen on your last sentence, too!

  2. Good post! It is so important, to “grow them”, because this is what influences others for Christ, whether they are friends, or in thinking of future generations. Such as their children, grandchildren etc.

    1. Thanks Kathy! I couldn’t agree more. It is so important that we all do so intentionally.

  3. Very descriptive post, I loved that a lot. Will there be a part 2?

    1. Thanks! Anything specific you would be looking for in a part 2 post?

  4. Hey there! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new apple iphone!
    Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look
    forward to all your posts! Carry on the superb work!

    1. Thanks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *