Why the Reformation Matters for Students
Beginning over 500 years ago, if one begins with the 95 Thesis of Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformation and its implications to many, feels distant and removed. This is especially so for students growing up in youth groups in the modern era. Beyond it being far removed, students are simply not taught about the history of the Christian faith by their leaders. If you were to ask any student in high school when the Reformation occurred, and you will likely receive blank stare. Although, in honesty, most questions asked to students have a 50% shot of being responded to in that way, but I digress: the Protestant Reformation, an earth-shattering period of history, is largely unrecognizable by many students.
There are a multitude of reasons for students not knowing what the Reformation was, who the recognizable reformers were, and why it was occurring. However, that does not answer the question as to why the Reformation Matters to Students, and to Student Ministry in general. The Reformation Matters, especially to students, because of their young faith. The history of the Christian religion is rich with trial, debate, striving, and solidifying on what the Scriptures teach. It is this rich history that students in our churches need to know. Why? Because it provides a grounding for a student’s faith and it provides prospective for a student’s developing faith.
The Reformation Provides Grounding in the Faith
One of the truths that pastors and volunteers of Student Ministry need to know is that students need to be enabled to interact with older saints. There are many benefits for having students interact with saints in their own churches. The students become more resilient to the temptations of the world, they are far less likely to leave the church when they build relationships with adults in the church, and, they are more likely to both share the gospel, and lead their friends to Jesus Christ. Younger saints need older saints to guide them, teach them, encourage and correct them. As Paul instructs the church in Titus 2:1-8, older saints are to serve the younger by maturing them over the long-haul.
There has rarely been a time that I have mentioned a much older saint to pastors that know of the Reformers, or others that have long gone to glory, that they fail to mention how such a person has encouraged them, taught them, or formed their theology. Why then should such men like Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Wycliffe, Knox, etc., be only for “professionals” or for the “highly trained?” Answer: They should not be.
Now, I do not advocate for giving a student a copy of Luther’s On Good Deeds and letting them loose with it. I am, however, advocating for, and will shout from every rooftop, that students need to be exposed to the Reformers in responsible ways. It can be done, for example, in small-group Bible studies, in quotations and explanations of their statements, and in teaching the doctrine of the Reformation.
Quickly, how does this ground students in their faith? It teaches students that what they believe, what the church teaches, what student pastors teach them on Wednesday nights or Sundays did not pop into existence in the last decade. This is especially needed in a day of “internet theology,” that frequently espouses nonsense and falsities. Rather, by gradually teaching students about the Reformation, students learn that what they believe and have been taught has been defended, upheld, taught, and reclaimed in the Protestant Reformation. There are much older saints that students can interact with, while being guided by parents and pastors, that will ground what they believe in the truth of Scripture the more they interact with them. I truly believe that by interacting with these much older saints, we will produce disciples that are both passionate and knowledgeable about their faith in Jesus Christ.
The Reformation Provides Perspective
One of the major problems facing students in Generations Z and Alpha comes alongside the luxury of the internet age. Many students today are practically born with a Wi-Fi router pre-installed in their Prefrontal Cortex, along with a smart device given to them as a rattler for them to engage. Middle schoolers and high schoolers alike have the world at their fingertips, along with all the information they could possibly desire. There is much more to be explored on that specific topic, but a danger here for students is not simply an overload of information, but they do not yet have the maturity and wisdom to properly process that information they have access to.
Students, with this kind of information, are essentially walking databases. They contain information, but unable to process that same information beyond their own limited perspectives. This is not an issue secluded to students alone, but it is potentially problematic for them in the long-term. This, again, is why students are encouraged to interact with older saints in their congregations – to give their faith perspective and wisdom beyond their years. Being exposed to the Reformation and the subsequent doctrines of the Reformation then, likewise, begins to provide students a biblical perspective that is rooted in sound doctrine and teaching. Someone may object, “These doctrines are too deep for students.” To which I reply: Hogwash. I have to reasons for my response:
Firstly, I have students in my ministry taking advanced courses and earning college credit, some who will only be a semester or two away from an Associate’s Degree by the time they graduate from High School. To claim that students are not intelligent enough to understand doctrinal teaching and preaching is simply unfounded in reality. Not only can they understand, they do understand, and need to be taken more seriously.
Secondly, as an analogy, many understand by what I mean when kids are dressed in hand-me-downs. Typically, an older brother or sister gives their younger siblings something they used to wear but cannot because they outgrew it. The same applies to teaching students doctrine that may be “too big” for them. They’ll grow into it with guidance, teaching, and discipleship.
Having the students engage the reformers and the doctrine of the Reformation in a responsible way will provide students a biblical perspective that they will be able to grasp, grow into, and apply over years of discipleship as they grow into more mature believers.
To conclude,
The Reformation matters to students and to their Student Ministries. Without teaching students about the Reformation, and what resulted from the Protestant Reformation period, many students will be easily ensnared by the things of this world because they lack both proper grounding and perspective that students need. Teaching students about the Reformation then begins to reverse that process by wisely, and responsibly, having students engage with the Reformers over time which will help ground them in their faith and gain wisdom beyond their years.
