It’s the delivery of the message that needs to change not the message.

I receive the Scripture Union prayer diary. One of the days it asked us to pray for Guadians of Ancora and it being translated into Albanian. The prayer request asked us to, ‘Please pray that many children meet Jesus in their own language’. This, of course is a good thing, more children being able to understand the bible in their own language. Also to have it delivered in a medium that was familiar to them, through the use of a platform game.

This is what children and youth workers are doing day in and day out in their places of work. Whether English or Albanian or any other language, workers are bringing the good news of Jesus to those God has given into their care. Over the years we have seen children’s and youth work morph and change through lots of different styles and practices, some you will agree have given us an edge in moving our work forward, others just haven’t worked, and that’s fine. But in moving forward and bringing the good news of Jesus to a new generation, there is one thing we need to be challenged on. It’s the delivery of the message that needs to change not the message. And that is a real challenge. I’m not wishing to enter into a theological argument on denomination practices and I think we would be wise in delivering our message to avoid this as well. The challenge is not how to push boundaries in how we deliver the message, what props we use, or technologies we have. It’s making sure our message matches Jesus.

The problem we have is this; Children will remember the man in assembly squeezing the juice of a lemon into his mouth or the funny video a woman at youth club showed them. The message of the lemon or video will be fuzzy and words the people spoke before and after will have been long forgotten. So what is the point? Are we just entertainers, does this sound familiar? I’m sure Jesus felt the same way on occasions, people turned up expecting to see a performance. But it didn’t stop him, it didn’t stop him all the way to the cross. And I guess that is our message, it’s not a message of words, it’s a message of actions. Making sure our message matches Jesus’, is not to say the right theological statements. it’s doing the things that costs us everything and is of no benefit to us, totally no benefit, and that includes our egos, popularity and job satisfaction. And that message will change lives.

I come back to my title. It’s the delivery of the message that needs to change not the message. Yes, we need to keep up to date with all advancements in technology and practices and we need to have a simple (straight forward, clear) message to be delivering. But the challenge I face in being a children’s and youth worker, is an old one. When my ‘audience’ looks at me, who do they see. I pray it will always be Jesus.