In the often-chaotic cloud that is everyday youth ministry, one goal always rises to the surface—growing disciples who follow Jesus with an all-in commitment. You’re after life-changing, inside-out transformation—driven by a passion for Jesus that spills out onto the lives of others.
What You’ll Find
The Discipleship section offers practical ideas and insights about effective discipleship in youth ministry. We explore the method and models and strategies your ministry can use to help “seed” a generation of teenagers who are all-in for Jesus.
The eyes of our students have shifted from camps and mission trips to the daily grind. If you are one of the lucky few who get to start post-Labor Day, that first day of school is looming right on the horizon.…
Yesterday, I was having a conversation with a student that was really fascinating. She made the statement, “I feel like adults always feel like they need to tell teens the same thing. They tell us about how we can’t ever do anything so bad that God won’t love us.…
My youth office used to be in a building where only a few of us worked. Then, one day I was relocated to a place closer to other pastors and leaders. I liked being secluded for some reasons. And I like being included for even more reasons.…
By now you are probably either neck-deep in summer activities or about to jump into the summer frenzy (just looking out our youth group’s summer calendar makes me tired!), so you probably aren’t looking to add any extra stuff to your plate.…
We are about to record hours and hours in the church van. Summer is here and we are ready to take our relationship with GPS to a new level. Cheers, my fellow road warriors! You deserve all the pay-off that is sure to come with the investment of time you’ll be making in youth ministry this summer.…
A few years ago, our goal was to have at least one of our adult staff or volunteers at every one of our graduates’ parties. As our number of high school seniors grew, this task became more and more challenging … and exhausting.…
Our number one mission in youth ministry is to share the love of Jesus with our students. We can talk about the love of Jesus or we can demonstrate the love of Jesus. We can tell them they are loved but unless we demonstrate love to them our words really are just words.…
It’s the kind of telephone call no youth leader ever wants to receive. One of our teenagers just attempted suicide—twice in one hour. So where am I in the midst of this trauma? Right by the young man’s side in the hospital, giving the kind of encouragement and hope every youth leader would want to give?…
Ministry to “special needs” kids is a big, big topic in the world of children’s ministry. If your ministry focus is grade-school kids, you can find dozens of books, workshops, magazine articles, and digital resources to help you come alongside the developmentally disabled.…
We sat down in a close circle, exhaled and focused as we opened the Bible. As each page was read, they became more and more involved. Word after word, they sat drinking in the richness of the sacred texts of God.…
