About two weeks before the birth of my first daughter, Lucy Rose, I was on the phone with Chris Perry, a veteran Arkansas youth minister. Chris was helping set up a youth ministry program at a Bible school near his home, and he called to ask my opinion about his plans. Toward the end of our conversation, he asked me a question I couldn’t get out of my head:

"Let’s say when your daughter grows up she decides to become a youth minister—what would you want her to learn at a college-level program like the one I’m building?"

I didn’t know how to explain it, but if Chris had asked me that question before I had children, I think my answer would have been a little different. The stakes seemed suddenly higher. Even though I’d been involved in youth ministry for 15 years, Lucy’s little face—her pouty bottom lip and big blue eyes—had refocused my vision. Here are a couple of examples of what I told Chris:

• I’d want her to emerge from her youth ministry training experience loving God more than when she entered. I don’t necessarily mean that she’d have more answers than when she started; I mean she’d be so captivated by the character and movement of God in her life that she could never stop loving him, no matter how mad, confused, or distraught she became in her relationship with him.
• I’d want her to emerge a champion for authentic spiritual growth and learning.

Five years later, when our second daughter, Emma Grace, was born, I recalled Chris Perry’s question. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to take another whack at a question like that. Only this time I asked myself: “When your daughter is a graduating senior, what impact do you envision her youth group experience will have had on her life?” Some of my answers were:

• She’ll know how to communicate with God intimately. Prayer at its best is akin to breathing—when you look back on your day you realize you’ve had a running conversation with God, one that does indeed include “formal prayer,” but only as a sliver.
• She’ll be captain of her ongoing relationship with God. She won’t depend on church activities or even her parents’ input for her growth.
• She’ll understand biblical basics well enough to defend her faith. Today’s kids are experiencing God often and well, but they’re not very good at thinking through the rational reasons for their commitment.

It is this final goal for our young people that CoreTruth™ addresses. Are churches even teaching these basic core beliefs? A Group Publishing survey found that kids were being taught biblical basics in churches, yet these truths just weren’t getting through to them. Why?

Like a glacier, the cultural and spiritual ground underneath us has shifted, cutting new peaks and valleys so gradually we’ve been slow to respond to the changing landscape.

One of the many reasons kids aren’t getting it is the way it is being taught. 

Oftentimes, churches aren’t teaching the way Jesus taught. For over 30  years at Group, we’ve been studying how young people learn God’s truths and we know that the most effective way to teach is represented by the R.E.A.L. acronym created by Thom and Joani Schultz—R.E.A.L. stands for Relational, Experiential, Applicable, and Learner-Based. That means the best teaching is story-based and infused with time for discussion and interaction. The best teaching helps kids learn by getting them involved in activities and then debriefing those activities. It always makes strong tie-ins to kids’ everyday lives. And it only considers itself successful when kids actually have learned, not simply when the teacher has taught.

What We Can Do to Build Truth into Kids
We must decide whether or not we’re going to be disciples of Jesus. If we say yes, then he expects us to learn how to teach kids biblical truths by observing how he did it. CoreTruth does just that. CoreTruth is:

• Committed to Biblical Depth—CoreTruth is founded on the belief that kids not only can understand the deeper truths of the Bible but also want to understand them.
• Committed to Relevance—Most kids aren’t interested in abstract theories or doctrines about the universe. They want to know how to live successfully right now, today, in the heat of problems they can’t ignore. CoreTruth bridges the gap between Bible truths and the real-world issues kids face.
• Committed to Variety—Today’s young people have been raised in an ever-changing world. They demand variety. For that reason, no two lessons are shaped exactly the same.
• Committed to Active and Interactive Learning—Active learning is learning by doing. Interactive learning simply takes active learning a step further by having kids teach each other what they’ve learned. It’s a process that helps kids internalize and remember their discoveries.

Jesus didn’t just teach about service, he served by getting down on his knees and washing the dirty feet of his own disciples. Jesus didn’t just teach his disciple Peter about courageous faith, he invited him to step out of a perfectly buoyant boat to walk on the raging sea. If we’d surveyed those disciples later, I guarantee we’d have found that Jesus’ lessons on faith and service had stuck. CoreTruth strives to teach the biblical basics and have it stick in a way that will transform the lives of teenagers. 

Biblical Basics or Biblical Boredom?
Teenagers desire more than pizza parties and miniature golf from their leaders and their youth programs. Relationships are extremely important, and the development of those relationships is important as well. However, when those relationships aren’t rooted in faith and truth, they are easily extinguished when alternatives present themselves. When the core of a teenager’s being is rooted in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, that teen’s relationships with others also are established in that truth.

In a series of lessons that will cover the course of two years, CoreTruth will deliver 24 Scripture truths in a fun and relevant way. Kids will experience one new truth every month, ranging from lessons on the Trinity, Human Nature, and Suffering to lessons on Justification by Faith, Spiritual Warfare, and Worship. Using exciting hands-on activities, contemporary and fun examples, and interactive discussions, kids will discover that Christ and his teachings are still very relevant to their daily lives, will help guide them in their everyday decisions, and will equip them to stand strong in the face of adversity.