As eight of our new sixth grade students stood before the congregation on a cold Sunday morning in January and recited the Apostle’s Creed, no one in the room was more proud of them than me. I was well into my second year of full-time youth ministry; we recently had graduated our first group of sixth graders from their catechism class and were celebrating the group’s achievement. As any eager youth pastor in his or her first church assignment, I hit the ground running the year prior with a plan of action, conceived during many years of dreaming and preparing. I had a plan for facilitating spiritual growth, and of course it was the best plan. I was convinced I knew exactly what to do (and what not to do) in youth ministry. One of my key convictions was that for the most part, young people today do not know what they believe. They don’t know theology. So, my plan was to create a required catechism class that all incoming sixth graders would go through.

All the preparation came to fruition in September when the first set of sixth graders entered the youth ministry. We spent three months explaining the key doctrinal components of our denomination’s articles of faith, and I sent students home each week with at least one big word they could use to impress their parents. Slowly, they began to articulate the meanings of concepts such as justification, regeneration, sanctification, eschatology, the sacraments and the Trinity. During those early days, I wore their understanding of these concepts as a badge of honor: “Our students know more about what they believe than most of our adults!” I was determined to teach them doctrine so they would grow in their understanding of theology and ultimately own their faith.

Youth ministry has been through the ringer in recent years. Youth workers are blamed for students finishing high school without a theological background that encourages them to live their faith after graduation. Leading our sixth graders through the catechism was one way I sought to provide our students with the necessary knowledge to continue living their faith after graduation. It was part of the grand plan I developed to do my part in developing deep Christian disciples who would carry the church on through future generations.

A funny thing happened after that class, though. Some students really gained solid theological knowledge while others slept their way through the class, more intent on getting a donut than learning anything new. A third group emerged, though, one that surprised me: A couple of our students made it their desire to take their new-found knowledge and let everyone else know they had all the answers. They came armed every Sunday and Wednesday, ready to prove to their small groups they knew the answers to every question, dominating conversations and intimidating their classmates as a result.

We need to develop strong disciples in our youth ministries: young men and women who own their faith and know what they believe. This process absolutely cannot happen when the primary mode of theological education is in the classroom. A learned theology too often results in what I call debate disciples, those who make it their mission to prove why they are right and anyone else is wrong. We must walk side-by-side with our students through the classroom of life, developing theology that is lived, not just learned.

The catechism remains a crucial component of the theological education we present to our students. We further enhance those teachings, though, by providing them with an open learning environment to ask questions and wrestle with their faith for the remaining six years of their time in our ministry. Of course we want them to own their faith, but we don’t want them to use that faith as one uses a hammer, beating up others through the regurgitation of facts and ideas.

The last thing our churches need in their pews are arrogant know-it-alls, well-versed in theological knowledge but no desire to live a life marked by a love for God.

Jeremy Bixler currently serves as youth pastor at Community Chapel Church of the Nazarene in Nashua, New Hampshire. He also serves as the New Hampshire state co-coordinator of youth ministry networking for the National Network of Youth Ministries and is vice president of the New England District Nazarene Youth International (NYI).