1 John 1:1 states clearly that God himself is also the Word and therefore theology cannot and should not be only a study of the written Word of God, but also practical knowledge of God as person, as he, in Jesus Christ, became the Word (NIV; cf. also Stevens 1999:12). Purves (2004:xviii) embraces this biblical truth when he aptly states that practical theology is not a neutral knowledge of God, but firstly a personal knowing of God (Purves 2004:xviii). He also states that there is no neutral knowledge of God (Purves 2004:xxvi). Anderson (2004:7), who also claims the importance of personally knowing God, argues that the tendency is to fasten minds on abstract concepts of God rather than on a personal knowledge of God, specifically in academic theology (cf. McGrath 1990:174; cf. also Lewis, McGrath & Packer 1996:14; Stevens 1999:17). Anderson boldly states that if we see God as an abstract God, we not only divest God of soul, but we produce a theology that is bereft of soul (Anderson 2004:7). He drives this point home when he vividly describes that a good bit of traditional theology becomes stones instead of bread for those who hunger for the Word of God, as of this very reason Jesus Christ himself said, ‘I am the bread of life…’ (Jn 6:35; cf. Mt. 7:9; cf. also Anderson 2004:7).

In the same vain Stevens (1999:141) writes that the ministry of God is not merely for God; it is relational and characterised by God's love for a dying world. Fields and Robbins (2007) agree with the following profound statement: ‘… there are hurting kids everywhere dying to know the good news of God's love’. As Dunn and Senter III (1997) explain clearly that:

Dunn and Senter III (1997:47) also support the importance of knowing God personally as the main essence of theology when they say that the true final purpose of theological study is to know God. It is clear that pastoral theology as Christian theology in general, centres on personally knowing God, and its language must reflect this fact (cf. also Anderson 2004:8; cf. also Purves 2004:xxvi).

King (2006:11) urges that an authentic atmosphere should be created for young people where they can seek the truth and discover who they are in Jesus Christ. He says that the ultimate goal of Youth Ministry should not be only to get the youth to attend meetings about Christ; it should first and foremost be about getting youth to connect to Christ (cf. also Dunn 2004:17). Dunn (2004:17) confirms the ‘heartbeat of youth ministry‘ when he states that the ultimate goal in every home and Youth Ministry should be to pull youth into a place where they have developed an intimate relationship with God.

Blaise Pascal (n.d.), the French mathematician-philosopher, rightfully states that ‘There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.’ Barna's (2000) research proves this God-shaped vacuum in the hearts of teenagers, as it reveals that they have a simultaneous desire to be portrayed as religious people whilst not being deeply devoted to one (cf. also Dean 2010:4). As Barna (2006:30) beautifully put it: ‘Every human being was created by God primarily to know Him, love Him, and serve Him.’

It is strongly agreed with that not only does the youth need to learn about Jesus in Youth Ministry, but time should be scheduled where they can spend personal time with God in order to know him. Youth leaders and parents should demonstrate their own personal relationships with God. Having a personal relationship with Jesus is not something that can be taught; it is only something that can be caught. The Bible gives amazing images of having a personal relationship with God. When we seek him, we will find him … When he knocks, and we open, he will enter and we will have a feast with him (cf. Rv 3:20; Jr 29:13-14).

Purves (2004:8) brilliantly argues that there is no uninvolved God and therefore there is no such thing as impractical theology. ‘All theology, all knowledge of God, by virtue of the subject matter – the acting God – is inherently a practical theology or a practical knowledge of God.’

The Bible states in John 1:1 that God himself is the Word, and God is an acting God.

Purves (2007) elaborates on the profound statement quoted above in a later work by saying:

This statement is of extreme importance, as it is often thought that the ministry of human beings as such have the authority to make theology practical, which automatically leads to the wrong implication that praxis in theology is a human initiative and not God's. He continues to say that theology really in itself is nothing else than ‘who God is’, ‘what God does’ and ‘all church practise is properly understood as sharing God's practise’ (Purves 2004:3). It is not the actions of the church that make theology practical, it is God by virtue of what he does that makes theology practical (cf. Purves 2004:xxv-xxvi, 3, 8-9; Anderson 2004:8).

Purves (2004:152) writes that pastoral ministry should be converted from pragmatism to an approach of sharing in the work or ministry of God in, through and like Jesus Christ (cf. Col 3:3). Root and Dean (2011) agree with Purves when they make the bold and absolutely true statement that:

It is thus important that effective Youth Ministry should be all about connecting with God and having a God-actualised approach rather than a self-actualised approach to ministry (cf. also Purves 2004:152). Ministry should be theologically driven and should teach the youth about a personal relationship with the triune God, his Word and his Kingdom – his gracious message of self-revelation and his dynamic reign.

Trinity can be described as the doctrine that demonstrates to us the love of God the Father in giving his Son, the love of God the Son in giving himself, and the love of Holy Spirit in his work of regenerating man so that we may be able to take hold of the love of the Father through his Son (Anon n.d.). As Anderson (2004:8) concludes, ‘It is only as we reflect on God's ministry as Creator, Reconciler and Redeemer that we gain insight into the soul of theology’ (cf. also Nel 2001:5).

The theologians of the Early Church tried to describe the meaning of ‘Trinity’ by comparing it with a distinctive Greek dance, perichoresis, where at least three people dance in a circle. They move in a beautiful pattern of motion, going in and out, going faster and faster, whilst staying in perfect rhythm and in sync with one another. The dance becomes so fast that when spectators look at them, it becomes a blur. Their individual identities become part of a larger dance. The Early Church fathers and mothers looked at that dance (perichoresis) and said: ‘That's what the Trinity is like.’ It is a harmonious set of relationships in which there is mutual giving and receiving. This relationship is called love, and that is what the Trinity is all about. The perichoresis is the dance of love (Anon n.d.). Anderson (2004:24) also describes God's ministry to the world as an act of love when he writes ‘It is the ministry of God toward the world that reveals the being of God as the one who loves the world’ (Jn 3:16; cf. also Cartledge 2003:19).

God, being described as ‘Triune God’, attempts to express the mystery of ‘Who God is’, as God is self-given to be known by us in, through and as Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. As such it brings us into communion with God (Purves 2004:30; Lotter 2005:500). Karl Barth (1975:489) answers the question about who God is like follows: ‘It is He who gives Himself to humanity as Trinity.’ (cf. also Purves 2004:31).

When the doctrine of the Trinity becomes marginalised, in this case specifically in Youth Ministry, believers lose sight of the fact that Christian faith, life and ministry are ultimately participatory (and not simply a matter of the right legal status before God) and should be taught to the youth in that way. The lack of this insight results in believers losing sight of the fact that Christian faith is ultimately about union with Christ in the Spirit. The neglect of focusing on the Trinity causes the Christian understanding of the Gospel to focus on forgiveness. However, on the cross Christ did not only forgive us, but also restored us to union and communion with the Father through the Son in the Spirit. All of Christian faith, life and practice are therefore participatory. Furthermore, lack of understanding and failure to embrace God as Trinity can lead to the understanding that God is a solitary divine dictator. Seeing God as a dictator, or in this case teaching youth that God is a solitary divine dictator, produces suspicious, critical, harsh, cold and condemning youth. On the other hand, if the teaching in Youth Ministry embraces the Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it will result in the youth growing, showing and spreading the kindness, goodness and joy that they experience from the Triune God in their personal relationship with him (cf. Anon n.d.)

The doctrine of the Trinity does not just tell us about God, it is also the basic framework of meaning in which we, as Christians, live our lives (Purves 2004:30). Practical theology and pursuance the glory of triune God can and should be the core of effective Youth Ministry (cf. also Cordeiro 2011:22-23). A Trinitarian theology is thus inherently a practical theology in that it is a knowledge of God's action grounded in God's being, says Purves (2004:xxv; cf. also Anderson 2004:8).

Practical Theology is theology concerned with action (Purves 2004:xxv). Firstly it is concerned with God's action, the Missio Dei, who is Jesus Christ, and secondly with the action or praxis of the church, which arises from her faithful communion with God and shares in his practise (Purves 2004:xxv, xviii; Root & Dean 2011:40).

The church mission is not a new invention; it is the ministry of God that makes our ministries possible and practical. His Missio Dei enables the churches’ ministry (cf. also Purves 2004:22; cf. also Cartledge 2003:19).

Purves (2004) summarises the meaning of Jesus Christ as God's mission Dei as follows:

In the Bible we read that after Christ left this earth, God sent the Holy Spirit to the world (Jn 16:5-11). At the moment someone is reborn, that person receives the gift of Holy Spirit, who then lives in, and leads the person into all truth (Ac 2:38; Jn 16:12).

Purves concludes (2004:xviii) that Jesus Christ is the Missio Dei of God to and for us. He says that this is the grounds and the basis of theology for churches’ ministries – in this case Youth Ministry. The Missio Dei message may be summerised in the benediction, ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you’ (2 Cor 13:13).

Pastoral Theology has but one subject, Jesus Christ, and no content other than ‘the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints’ (Jude 3; cf. Purves 2004:3; Horton 2013). As Purves (2004:154) put it: ‘Pastoral care has no other content or legitimization than Jesus Christ.’

The heart of Youth Ministry should always be about Jesus Christ just as church should always be about Jesus Christ, about what he did for us, how he feels about us and that he wants to be known by us (cf. Root & Dean 2011:14; cf. also Purves 2004:ix).

One of the noteworthy characteristics of the postmodern or post-Christian world is the dramatic rise of spirituality. As Putman (2008:4) bluntly put it, ‘Many people today are on spiritual journeys, but they are far removed from Christ and the church.’ In the same vein Swartz (2004:83-85) remarks that, although there is a high degree of religiosity amongst South African youth, there are various factors that do not correlate with what might be expected of religiously committed youth. Lotter and Thompson (2005:709) mention that there is an increase in biblical knowledge in this postmodern era. Prepositional truth is out and mysticisms are in. In our postmodern world religious diversity as well as philosophical and religious pluralism is at the order of the day (Lotter & Thompson 2005:708). People are not necessarily put off by a religion that does not ‘make sense’. They are more concerned with whether a religion can bring them into contact with God. (Jones 2001:63; cf. also Strommen & Hardel 2008:79, 139; Poling 2002:85). Lawrence (2002:83) says that in the postmodern context in which we find ourselves it is not enough for the church to only proclaim the kingdom of God, it should also demonstrate the kingdom of God, for example praying for healing of the sick, offering wholeness to the spiritually lost and kindness to those who need it (cf. also Theron & Lotter 2008:307).

People want to find God; they want to have contact with him. No more gimmicks, no more church play – an introduction to a God that is alive, almighty, a God who wants to be in relationship with them is the God today's youth wants to find.

Dean (2001b) describes this dramatic rise of spirituality aimed at teenagers when they say:

Youth Ministry should all be about connecting the youth to the only, loving and loveable God who is alive, powerful and real. Prince (2009:157) strongly remarks that teaching youth about God will not do, we should also demonstrate a love relationship with God.

Strommen and Hardel (2008:270) say that in postmodernism there is an emphasis on individuality rather than uniformity (Anderson 2007:162).

Long gone are the days that the youth felt involved and important, because they all wear the same t-shirt. Not even my child at primary school likes the idea that everybody has the same t-shirt for the school's fun walk! The youth of our day would not be won for Christ if they need to fit into a certain mould pertaining to their dress code, their hair, et cetera. In effective Youth Ministry these factors are of secondary importance. What are really important are their souls. It does not really matter if your son wears an earring; what really matters is his relationship with Christ. We will much easier win the youth for Christ if we embrace them as individuals rather than trying to fit them into moulds and expect them to look like Christians are traditionally believed to look like. Christ himself said that when we are committed to him, he will change us from the inside out! (Heb 8:10). It is therefore important to focus on the souls of the youth rather than on their outer appearance: the tattoos, nose rings or black nail polish, since these things are of lesser importance.

In the current postmodern era people are reached more by way of images and stories than propositions and principles (cf. Smith 2006:76-77). Kingma and Lotter (2002:310) confirm this notion when they say that postmodern people are involved in a quest for meaning in life, because the known orders and -isms failed miserably (cf. also Theron & Lotter 2008:307; cf. Smith 2006:76-77). People are more intuitive than logical. It is thus important to adapt to this reality in bringing the gospel to people – in this case, young people. Live your story if you want to reach people in this cultural era (cf. Putman 2008:107).

The challenge to Youth Ministry in this postmodern era is to bring the gospel in a fresh and artistic way by using stories, other art forms as well as the developing technology – without losing the truth of the gospel. It is a fact that youth, whether a toddler or teenager, loves stories (cf. also Mueller 2007:110). The importance of incorporating images and stories in our messages in Youth Ministry thus cannot be ignored. Even expository preaching fails if it does not tie every text into the great story and mission of Jesus Christ (cf. also Carson & Keller 2012).

The culture of our day rewards money, power and prestige, not the honest businessman, the devoted husband or the involved father. As a result many fathers become sports fanatics or workaholics, convincing themselves that more hours at the office will give them real success (Boteach 2006:21, 218; cf. also DeVries 2004:29). The result is that children are being raised with a warped view of family life, power, prestige and security. If we do not protect our children against negative influences, they will be corrupted by those influences (Boteach 2006:5).

It is therefore of utmost importance to teach and demonstrate to youth what family life and success is in God's eyes to protect them against this warped view of family where the success of family life is directly compared to what families own – even if the parents are never home. Leaders should further speak out against this ‘culture of competition’ to teach youth what is really important, namely that our security should be in God and not in property or positions.

In today's culture a real perversion of the natural progression of childhood – early onset adulthood – is very general (Boteach 2006:13; cf. also Senter III 2010:35; Dunn & Senter III 1997:513). Medved and Medved (1998:3) also point to this perversion and say that in every corner of contemporary culture, childhood innocence is under assault. Children are no longer smoking chocolate cigarettes, rocking and changing their dolls and playing dress-up pretending that they are adults. Children presume real adult roles with none of the maturity that comes with adulthood. They are paying real adult prices in teenager pregnancies, drug overdoses, suicides to name but a few. Padded underwire bra's are even available for pre-school girls as young as 4 years old and there are parents who buy it (cf. Dermody 2008; cf. also Pinkshotgungal 2008; Parniak-McCallum 2011).

Boteach (2006:13) shows in his research that the reason why children and youth are so unhappy overall is because of the fact that they are not really children at all, but rather cynical adults in disguise. Early onset of adulthood is the main problem of the youth of our day (Boteach 2006:2, 13). Instead of being afraid to miss out on their childhood years, children seem to fear missing out because of their childhood years. This problem should be addressed by God-fearing parents and Youth Ministries wanting to make a real impact. Boteach (2006:20) stresses the responsibility of parents to inspire their children to explore the joys of childhood instead of trading it for premature adulthood (cf. also Dunn & Senter III 1997:509).

According to Boteach (2006:19) the greatest gift of real childhood is the ability to internalise the critical phase of childhood and carry it into the future. Boteach (2006:4) says that we must return our children to childhood by giving them a solid foundation of love and discipline, coupled with the inspiration to grow. Dunn and Senter III (1997:495) also make this call for children to return to childhood. They say that children and teenagers alike want to be hold in a family where the love is secure, where they know they belong, where there is someone older and stronger to carry some of the load.

Allowing children to be children and not permitting youth to buy into premature adulthood, which is wrongly projected as ‘cool’, is the answer to this dilemma. What is needed is parents and youth leaders with backbone who can stand up against youth alcohol abuse, pre-schoolers wearing bra's, girls with heavy make-up, teenage sex and so on, giving youth the love and security they really crave at home and in youth groups, teaching them the wonderful lesson of Ecclesiastes that God made everything, also childhood, beautiful in its time (cf. Ec 3:11).

In the process of reaching people for Christ it is important not to create a new subculture where we are always busy with christianees and spending time with Christians (Putman 2008:102). Strommen and Hardel (2008:19) confirm this negative characteristic of traditional Youth Ministry when they state that the current Youth Ministry subculture paradigm has subtly conveyed the impression that faith is nurtured only in church buildings. Jesus prayed to God not to take the disciples out of this world, but that he will protect them from the evil one and send them into the world (Jn 17:14-19). The Bible is thus very clear on this issue. God wants his children, also the Christian youth, to be salt and light in this world in every facet of their lives (Mt 5:13–16).