One of the most important jobs a Youth Pastor has is teaching students about the Bible. There are many topics you can cover within a calendar year, but there are certain topics that carry more weight and are vital to cover. Teenagers are looking for the truth. They are looking for answers to hard questions and the church should be one of the best places to broach these topics. It can be challenging to talk about certain things and it will require a lot of work, research, study, and seeking counsel, but your students will be better equipped to face a broken world full of questions and controversy. With that in mind, here are 7 essential preaching topics for Youth Pastors.
1. Sex, Sexuality, and Dating
The world has a lot to say when it comes to sex, sexuality, and dating. Unfortunately, too many youth pastors shy away from tackling these topics because they are difficult and require a lot of work. Every word and thought matters. With that said, the church is the best place to talk about these subjects. Talk about what the Bible says about sex. Discuss the Bible verses around homosexuality. Have a conversation about lust, pornography, and pre-marital sex and how to overcome these temptations and struggles. Every teenager is encountering these subjects every day. They are already talking about it among their friends at school. They are seeing and hearing about these subjects on TV, in movies, and music. The world and culture are already shaping their views on these things. Counter this by teaching what the Bible says. Have the courage to deal with this subject.
2. Suicide, Depression & Anxiety
Depression and anxiety among teenagers have not only increased within the last number of years, but they’ve also become words and concepts that are commonly used everywhere. Teenagers are dealing with these things and are talking about it. As Youth Pastors, we have to discuss these topics and frame them from a biblical viewpoint. The Bible talks about having anxious thoughts (David in the Psalms), strong emotions (Peter in the Gospels), and even deals with Suicide (Elijah). These are human emotions that have been around for a long time.
The Bible has answers and it’s your job to share those answers with your students. You can talk about how God can give us peace and help calm our anxious thoughts. You can talk about why their life has meaning and how God has given them purpose. The message of the gospel is one of hope. Teach these students how to find hope when dealing with these strong emotions.
3. Friendship
One of the other essential topics for youth pastors to cover with their students is friendship. The people you surround yourself with influence you more than anything else. Your friends will help determine the way you see things, the subjects you talk about, how you view the world, and how you think about most things. Who you surround yourself with is directly connected to the direction of your life. Teach the students the importance of choosing the right friends. Friendship choices can have the biggest impact on the kind of person you become and whether or not your faith will grow strong or remain stable. It’s also important to show them how to be a good friend in return. They
can have the most positive impact on their friends by being a great friend and setting a good example. Friendships are essential in helping students grow in their faith.
4. The Basics of Faith Ownership
It’s always good to cover the basics of our faith with students. Teach them about prayer, reading your bible, worship, serving others, attending church regularly, and being surrounded by a Godly community. These are the building blocks of our faith. It may seem simple or old, but the basics don’t change and students need to know the WHY behind the importance of these practices. Try
to make it fresh and interesting by including personal stories, fun analogies, or object lessons. You can also bring in other people to teach on some of these topics. Students respond well to outside voices. Whatever you decide to do, it’s vital to preach these things regularly.
5. Identity
Young people struggle a lot with their identity. It’s important to talk about who they are, and, more importantly, who they belong to. Our identity is directly tied to our history. Students need to be reminded that they come from God and that who they are in Christ is the most important form of identity. Students are being influenced every which way to submit to their feelings and let their feelings determine their identity. Our identity, however, is not based on feelings but on truth. Teenagers need to hear that truth. They need to be reminded, often, of how God views them and who they are in Christ so that they can walk confidently in any situation.
6. Forgiveness & Redemption
Everyone struggles with forgiveness. This topic can help teenagers experience freedom. Unforgiveness does trap us and can cause a list of issues in our lives. Talk to the students about how Jesus has forgiven us and how we need to forgive others. We don’t forgive because the person that hurt us deserves it, but because we deserve it. Forgiveness is also directly connected to redemption. Because we are forgiven, our lives are redeemed. If God can do that for us, He can do that for anyone. Students need to hear that God can redeem anyone at any time which will help them to live in freedom instead of guilt and shame.
7. Jesus
This one seems obvious, but this is vitally important to any Christian’s formation. They need to hear about Jesus, who He was, what he taught, the miracles He performed, and how He sacrificed His perfect life for our imperfect lives. Jesus is the most interesting person in history. Talk about his sermons and parables, how Jesus handled political questions, the way Jesus dealt with marginalized people groups, how He was with His disciples behind closed doors, and how His love for people was contagious. Students need to be reminded that we follow a God that came on this earth in human form to serve us and die for us. This may be the most important topic you’ll ever cover, because this is the topic that brings lasting life change in students’ lives.
There are a wide variety of topics you can preach on and cover. The ones mentioned above are vitally important to help teenagers and students grow in their relationship with Jesus, the world, and each other. Covering these topics will help prepare them to live in a broken world. Talk about these essential things and watch your students grow in their faith, and don’t forget to check out each of the above topics right on our sermonsearch site to get you started!
