Brooke was a skinny 12-year-old girl in overalls who started attending youth service the first week of sixth grade. Garret, a young teen boy with a bowl haircut, couldn’t wait for his first day of youth group. Moumi, a young lady from Ghana, started attending youth group during her high school years. Fast forward a few years and Brooke is now the youth pastor of a thriving youth group that is reaching teenagers from many different ethnicities, Garret has planted a church that is reaching people in his community with the gospel, and Moumi is a law student and a volunteer in the same youth group where she was discipled. Youth and children’s ministry are vitally important to the church. Research indicates that in the United States 68% of people who become Christians will do so before the age of 18 (Barna, 2017). The a priori evidence would indicate that this is a global phenomenon.
To reach teenagers with the gospel, it is critical that the local church develop functional structures for sustainable teen ministry. While there are global commonalities in youth ministry (Kageler, 2010), there is no “one size fits all” program. Each program must be tailor-made to fit within the dynamics of the local culture. However, a broad framework, or scaffolding, can be shaped that can help create a structure for a sustainable youth ministry. A healthy youth ministry is one that follows the win, build, send, paradigm found in Matthew 4:19 “Come follow me (win) and I will make you (build) fisher of men (send).” In a sustainable youth ministry, we are winning teenagers to Christ, building them into strong disciples and sending them into ministry (Gryskiewicz, 2018).
Youth ministry is a process. If a teenager enters the youth ministry at age 12, they can be in the program for approximately seven years before leaving the program.
Win
Students enter the youth ministry in a variety of ways. Some start attending because their parents force them, others by being invited by a friend, or being drawn in by an evangelistic or social event. Some of these teens may be Christians when they start attending others may be seeking Christ. It is vital that the gospel is presented and opportunities to accept Christ as savior be given in formal, informal, and non-formal settings.
Youth Group
The youth group is where spiritual formation and discipleship will take place. Not only are teens continually exposed to the gospel, but they are intentionally and systematically discipled. This can take place in a variety of settings, such as small groups, ministry teams, missions trips, even during social gatherings. At this stage, one of the primary tasks of the youth pastor is to equip the youth and teen leaders for the work of the ministry. The youth pastor provides the framework and direction of the youth ministry while discipling the youth leaders and helping them further mature in their Christian walk.
In the youth group, the youth leaders are leading the small groups, ministry teams, and leading in the youth service. This is illustrated by the light blue arrow in Fig. 1.
Teens will cycle through the youth group, and many will not become part of the youth leadership team, but if we have created disciples, they will be ready to serve in the church or when they leave the area, at university or in the marketplace of life.
Teen Leaders
Out of the youth group will rise teenagers who have a strong commitment to Christ and display strong leadership characteristics. These teens, while still part of the youth group, are moved into an auxiliary group where they receive additional leadership training and are given opportunities to plan and implement events. This will create a more hands-on ministry experience from a leadership perspective. Note that not all teens will transition to the teen leader role, but they should be encouraged to participate in available ministries inside and outside of the church. Illustrated by the dark blue arrow in Fig. 1.
From this teen leader group can come some incredible new ministry opportunities. Brooke, the young lady mentioned in the opening of this article, developed a ministry called, “Ridin’ with my homies.” This ministry paired high school seniors who could drive with middle school students. The high schoolers would pick up the middle school students and bring them to youth service, and after service, they would all go as a group to a fast food restaurant. This ministry was a huge success. Our middle school student numbers swelled, and our high schoolers loved being more involved in ministry. Some teenagers from your teen leader group will, like their peers, leave the area after graduation or transition to the marketplace. They may or may not continue to serve in the youth ministry. Part of the sustainable framework is to empower them to find a place of ministry somewhere; even if that place is outside our church.
One of the leaders at a church we served observed that many of the young leaders we had raised up during our time there had left the church and were using their gifts and talents elsewhere. One was a worship leader at a large church; another was playing on the worship team at another church while others were serving as pastors and youth pastors. I pointed out that these young people felt a call to ministry and they had no choice but to leave our church because we did not make room for them to serve. There were people at our church filling those same ministry positions, and they didn’t want to lose power or status by allowing someone else to minister. We understand that everyone cannot be the worship leader, but if we raise up three or four incredible worship leaders, if there are no opportunities for them to serve in our church, we should be willing to release them to use the gifts and talents in other places.
To be continued…
Barna, G. (2017, November 30). Survey: Christians Are Not Spreading the Gospel. Retrieved September 10, 2018, from http://www.georgebarna.com/research-flow/2017/11/30/survey-christians-are-not-spreading-the-gospel
Gryskiewicz, T. (2018). More Than Pizza: Youth Ministry Beyond Our Culture and Ethnicity. Anthony J. Gryskiewicz.
Kageler, L. (2010). A Cross National Analysis Of Church Based Youth Ministries. The Journal of Youth Ministry, 8(2), 49–68.
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