Letting Young People Meet God for Themselves at Redefine

Let me tell you about some of the content from the last three Redefine sessions…

A few weeks ago, we leaned into the Valentine’s Day vibe – but we didn’t just do a quick, “God loves you!” Instead, we explored the question: what is love? Is it an action, a feeling, something you intend, or something you receive? We looked at the Greek words used in the New Testament for love, noticed how Jesus switches from agape to philia when speaking to Peter at the end of John’s Gospel, and examined 1 Corinthians 13 to see how love is described. We also looked at which of these words the Bible uses to describes Jesus’ sacrificial love on the cross.

The session after this we looked at the story of Absalom and David, thinking about Justice and examining what the complicated story does to our understanding of some Psalms written around those events.

Last night we looked the story of Joseph and really dug into the meaning behind Gen. 50:20, ‘you meant it for evil, God meant it for good’, while thinking about the difference between controlling what other people do, and controlling how we respond to what people do.

Now, all this might sound pretty complicated, right? And here’s the kicker, not everyone at Redefine has a church background or would call themselves a Christian. So why dive into complex Bible study with them?

Because that’s the DNA of Redefine.

Helping young people love the Bible

For the last 15 years, we’ve made it a priority to open the Bible with young people. Not just to tell them what to believe, but to give them the tools to read it for themselves. Our Bibles are (just barely) held together with tape, we encourage everyone to bring their own, and we buy one for anyone who doesn’t have one. We print off sections of Scripture, give pens, and walk them through the steps of proper Bible study together.

So why isn’t this too much for young people, especially those who have never read the Bible? There are three reasons:

– The material is powerful! Luke 24 tells the story of Jesus explaining how all the Scriptures points back to himself after the Resurrection. The disciples then say, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he opened the Scriptures to us?” There’s nothing wrong with the material, the challenge for us as youth workers is to know it well enough to teach it relevantly to young people.

– We explore, we don’t dictate. We’re not trying to “get to a conclusion.” We want young people to engage with the text, share their insights, and think for themselves. Giving them agency over their learning is incredibly transformative when it comes to God’s word. It makes them need to trust their relationship with Him more than their relationship with us.

– We always start with the same question: “What did you notice?” No matter their background or prior knowledge, this simple question allows everyone to join in and contribute. It’s this question that takes up a lot of our time together!

I love this approach! And I’ve done it in classrooms and groups where no one had ever even touched a Bible. We don’t rely on pre-written materials. We just open the Bible, have some discussion, and dig into thoughtful questions, always looking for how the passage points to Jesus, and what it means for our lives today.

Why do we do it this way?

First, because God’s Word is powerful. Our job is to help young people grapple with it at their level, not to filter it through our own interpretations or opinions.

Second, because we might be wrong! In fact, by virtue of being human, we probably are at least some of the time, whatever our study or good intentions. By digging into the source material together, instead of gatekeeping behind the illusion of ‘we always know best’, young people can test what we say against Scripture for themselves.

And finally, because these skills last a lifetime! When young people leave Redefine, move to university, or start work, our number one aim is that they’ll have the tools to maintain their own relationship with God, choose healthy churches, and take responsibility for their own faith.

Over the past year or so, we’ve worked through Mark’s Gospel, the miracles of Jesus in John, a good chunk of Philippians, sections of Wisdom Literature, and more recently justice issues through the minor prophets.

This is central to how we believe youth work should be done. Let the Bible speak, give young people the tools to understand it, then step back. In 1 Samuel 3, Eli does exactly this. He recognises God is speaking to Samuel, shows him how to respond, and then gets out of the way.

Redefine isn’t just a youth group. It’s a place where young people can meet God for themselves, wrestle with big ideas, and grow in ways that will last far beyond the evening session.