Bible Students

Purpose of Youth Ministry

The purpose of youth ministry is simple: To involve youth in evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and worship. Youth ministry is essential to bringing up the next generation of church leaders and shepherds. Not only that, but youth ministry acts as a place for youth to feel comfortable and convicted in a community of like-minded people, both their age and older. Youth ministry acts as a sort of seed-planting ministry, starting youth out in the church so that when hard times come they will, ideally, have something to lean back on (i.e. the church). Those are some of the main reasons youth ministry is so incredibly important. 

Purpose Statement

A purpose statement is a very important part of youth ministry, as it gives the youth, parents, staff, and volunteers an idea of what they should expect from the ministry. If I had to make a purpose statement, it would involve the five aspects of youth ministry, growing them in ministry, evangelism, fellowship, worship, and discipleship. For example:

“This youth ministry’s purpose is to serve the students as they serve [M] others, to invite [E] each heart to Christ, to love one another [F], and to glorify [W] God through equipping [D] the saints.” This purpose statement fulfills all the aspects of youth ministry, so I would say it is a good statement. 

In order to share the purpose statement, I would sit down with the volunteers and teach them the purpose statement. I would have them memorize the statement and make sure to randomly ask them what the statement is. In addition, I would include the 5 purpose words (serve, invite, love, glorify, equip) in any material given to the volunteers. I would also be sure to have the volunteers use those purpose words often with the youth. 

For the youth, I would place the purpose statement somewhere in the teaching or congregation room and involve the purpose words in the messages. For the sake of the youth, I would also instruct the break-out group leaders, and volunteers, to have the purpose statement memorized, in order to be able to relate discussions back to the clear purpose of the youth ministry. 

Healthy Youth Ministry

I think the three main characteristics of a healthy youth ministry would be putting relationships first, being student-led, and having high engagement. The ministry itself should be more focused on discipleship than filling seats for games. It should also be student-led, having core students engaged in the leading of others. Lastly, a characteristic of a healthy ministry is high engagement, when students are willing to ask and answer questions in breakout groups and ask questions after a service. Those would be the biggest tells of a healthy youth ministry, for me. These characteristics would most likely be some of the best for monitoring the health of the youth ministry.

In order to monitor these, I would check up weekly with volunteers and staff. This would be incredibly essential to the monitoring of health, since volunteers and staff would be the ones who would be leading the health of the group. Checking up with the staff and volunteers would help keep tabs on the discipleship (seeing how the leaders are practically encouraging discipleship with and within their groups), relationships (seeing how the leaders are practically encouraging relationships in their groups), and high-engagement (checking on how the students are engaging in small-group activities and games). Each week I would meet with the leaders and have a time to communicate as one team, both about their groups and themselves. 

Youth Ministry Programs

Non-Christians need to be evangelized to and have to be told the gospel. New Christians are Christians who come to a service and fill out a card, and I think we should focus on worship with them. The congregation is people who commit to the midweek service. We should focus on fellowship for them. A growing student is one who participates a good amount, and we should focus on fulfilling their need for discipleship. Not only should they be poured into, but they should also pour into the new Christian and congregation. Lastly, the spiritual leader/core students should focus on ministry and student leadership, pouring into all four other groups. 

For spiritual leaders specifically, I think we need to focus on their need to minister to other people. Under the supervision of the youth ministry itself, we should have the core group aid in assisting all other groups. They should be a part of the evangelistic outreach, picking an area to go to and helping to lead the charge. For worship, they should be encouraged by staff to lead (if they have musical talent). For fellowship, the core students should help contribute to games and other activities. For discipleship, core students should be poured into the committed students, and be poured into by the youth staff. These things should be encouraged by a weekly meeting, before each Wednesday service, with the core students. They can come early, and be led by the youth staff. The need to lead is met by those who want to lead, which results in leadership. 

Stakeholders

When involving parents in youth ministry, there is always the challenge of finding time, communication, and humility. Parents who have a busy schedule and aren’t able to help as much as they would like creates a challenge for the youth ministry to find space to fit them in. Some parents, also, are not great at keeping in communication, which is necessary for involvement in ministry. Lastly, parents need to be humble. Dealing with a parent who lacks the proper humility, though they want to volunteer, is a big hurdle, especially when they feel they are above the youth ministry.

I think the three greatest ways to bless a parent through youth ministry are through opportunity, aid, and environment. It’s important to give parents opportunities that work for them, and bless them by allowing them to bless the youth. I would work hard to fit together the parents’ schedules and incorporate them into the youth ministry. Aid comes in from communication with the adult ministry, helping the parents to grow as the “core students” of the adult programs. I would also create an environment focusing on fellowship and building up with the parents, being able to learn and understand that no volunteer, or staff for that matter, is perfect. 

Volunteers

Volunteers are absolutely essential for growth spiritually in a youth group. Without volunteers, the staff gets strained and burnt out. They encourage each other and cause relationships to form, which builds the leader body, and in turn builds the student body. In order to identify volunteers, a youth pastor should look for people who love God, love youth, and are good listeners and learners. They don’t need to know the Bible super well or have amazing skills, but they absolutely must have a passion for God. When you identify a good candidate, reach out to them personally. Have them on for a while to see if they are a good asset, ask around, and make sure to take the first step. To retain them, be sure to meet with them a few times a month to check in on them personally, as well as on their youth ministry responsibilities. 

When conflicts arise, it’s important to speak to both parties separately and together. Meet with each person one-on-one to sort out their sides of the story, then meet with them together as a mediator. Ideally, should they both love God, they should end up united in one spirit. If it comes to it though, one of the leaders may need to be removed if conflicts cannot be resolved. This discharge should be done in love and care, not out of anger or frustration. A one-on-one meeting would be good, where the youth pastor explains the situation. This should not be done before giving plenty of time to return to good behavior.

Change

I think stagnant ministry is the best indicator that change should be happening. When church numbers are, for long seasons of time, dwindling, some change needs to be implemented. I think there are five great ways to start change in the church. One: Consult elders for drafting change; Whether the elders of the church, the head Pastor, or personal mentors, I would want to consult people who are wiser than I on change and ministry. Two: Talk to the church leadership for approval; Personally consult the church leadership, letting them/him know what changes I would be/am implementing, both for permission and support. Three: Prepare my helpers to prepare; Speak to those who are under my authority, the ones who help me, whether leaders or volunteers or core students. Four: Begin to implement change; When the idea is finalized and approved, and all parties are ready, I would begin to implement the change through my helpers and myself. Five: Consult elders and helpers; Speak to those who I had consulted for feedback and small tweaking to the changes made. With these five steps, I think change can be effectively implemented. 

Discipline

I think one of the best ways to handle a student who needs disciplines are to both (1) talk to the parents and (2) point them to scripture in love. This is assuming the student has already been told what they are doing is wrong. It’s important to love the student in telling them, since the youth leader is socially above the student, and could lead to hatred on the side of the student. You should talk to the student’s parent, and help them to seek help in the scripture. If they have no desire to change, they should be temporarily excused from the youth group. There are some things the parents don’t need to be involved in, but others, obviously, need the intervention of parents. Some of the things I would bring to the parents include physical harassment, sexual harassment, and verbal abuse. These things shouldn’t stay only in the youth ministry, but need the intervention of the student’s direct authorities.