a service of Teen Challenge International, USA

What are you building?

Written by Doug Lance on Jul 15, 2010

Standard 38 reads: Programs shall schedule a minimum average of 15 hours of structured spiritual, moral, or similar life-skills training, including chapel and prayer times, each week.  More hours are preferred.

During a review, I try to see evidence that at least the minimum number of hours required in our standard is actually being made available to the students each week.   Many Teen Challenge programs structure over this amount of time each week.  Teen Challenge is, after all, a discipleship program. Maintaining a good balance between classroom, spiritual mentoring and student work assignments takes a weekly commitment from leadership. Work assignments provide an excellent opportunity to apply what is being learned, but time at work assignments is not what changes the heart. Time in the Word (this would include class) and in prayer is what fuels the transformation of a student’s heart.

I remember asking a director the question, “What are you trying to build in a student’s life here?”  The Apostle Paul tells us that we are building on a foundation that was laid by Christ Himself (1 Cor. 3:10-15).   What Teen Challenge builds on the foundation that Christ has laid in the life of a student will be tested one day with fire.

If most of a student’s time in Teen Challenge is spent at work assignments, ignoring the requirements in Standard 38, I wonder how much of the building effort will remain after the fire has done its work? Clean and well maintained facilities, a steady supply of nourishing food, finances for utilities, and a living wage for the staff are all essential pieces of a successful Teen Challenge program; however, when a student’s day is spent mostly in providing these essential pieces, then the program is building with what Paul has called “.. gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw” (vs. 14). On the “Day” that our Lord tests with fire what a Teen Challenge ministry has built in the life of the student, the building materials just mentioned, will no longer be needed, so they won’t survive.

What will survive of the building efforts of a Teen Challenge ministry is the converts and disciples that were built during class, chapel, counsel, prayer times, personal devotions, church and spiritual mentoring. So the question being asked is, “What are you building?”
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2 Responses to “What are you building?”

  1. nice01 14 June 2011 at 1:30 pm Permalink

    Psalms127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house they that labor, labor in vain.” After running a men’s home ministry for eight years I can tell you that every leader,director, teacher needs the Holy Ghost. It’s the Holy spirit that runs the ministry. When a person comes from the streets or from a lifestyle of drugs they all ready know how to work or hustle thats how they supplied their habbit. But what they don’t know is how to live with what they work for. They struggle in the areas of commitment and faithfulness. Through the Bible studies, discipleship classes, prayer time and praise and worship their lives are changed because they have developed a relationship with Jesus. There are a lot of programs that are just housing and having work programs, and that is not proven effective. There have to be spiritual fathers and mothers with a heart to produce spiritual sons and daughters. THE SPIRITUAL IS ALWAYS FIRST!

  2. Kyle Randleman 5 August 2010 at 10:52 am Permalink

    Thanks Doug, for taking time to write this. Very well worded and opened my eyes. God Bless!


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