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.
I am all too familiar with grief. It has been a constant companion in the work I do, working with the addicted, mentally ill, homeless, and youth. I have a background in emergency medical care first working as a paramedic and then later in an ER as part of a trauma team. …
John Maxwell has said, “Everything rises and falls on leadership”. And while I’m not sure that everything rises and falls on leadership, I think it is true when it comes to youth ministry small groups. The adults you entrust to lead your small groups will make or break your efforts.…
So you’re looking for a fundraiser? Considered doing a T-shirt fundraiser but did not want to buy a minimum number of 50 to get them printed? If you lived in a perfect world there would be someone in your church who owns a screen-printing business and would happily donate the shirts, ink, screens, and labor free.…
Yesterday, the monthly youth worker network meeting was hosted by one of the largest churches in our region. While I was there I noticed something different. School was not yet in session for the local schools, but there was a group of teenagers and parents that were at the church, and school books were present, and they were headed for the gym.…
Of all the ways we excel at wasting things in our culture, we are at our wasted worst when it comes to our words. Because we don’t know any better, we substitute hollow banter for meaningful seed-planting. For example, at the health club the other day I overheard this conversation between two guys that I’ve heard a billion times, in one iteration or another… Guy #1: Hey, how are you?…
Because of the difficulties students have in early and mid-adolescence to manage strong feelings of intimacy, the new experience of having someone who listens and whom they can trust sometimes lead them to believe that they are in love with their youth worker.…
It would only take us being friends for a few hours (maybe minutes) for you to know that I have a deep passion for seeing teenage girls encounter Jesus in a real way. And in my most honest opinion I believe that the church has at times missed caring for them.…
The only question that really matters in life is this… Is God good? A week ago, on my way home from work, the clutch in my 1995 Volvo failed in the middle of rush-hour traffic on a busy highway. Then my phone died while I was on hold for AAA.…
Last Spring, during the SYM Conference, I filmed a teaching video for teams on the Simply Youth Ministry TOOLS site. The video was on creating a safe place within small groups and Sunday school. I wanted to share some of these thoughts with you.…
Over the past several years, one of the hottest topics in the youth ministry world has been faith abandonment—specifically, when kids “graduate” from youth group. It’s an important conversation to have, for sure. Experts have identified lots of culprits that cause young people to fall away.…
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