How do you plan a new year for youth ministry? New challenges, new triumphs, new opportunities to reach students for Jesus? New goals? Where do you sense God’s leading in your ministry to youth… and how will you get there?
Take a fresh and prayerful look at your ministry, and consider including these on your list of essential goals:
Give students a fresh look at who God really is
Teenagers who have never truly discovered God can’t worship him “with deepest awe” (Psalm 5:7). But once they encounter the real God — and see God for who he truly is — their natural response is to surrender their lives to him.
Disco vering the realities of God will guide your students to worship him with confident intimacy, right intention, and transparent hearts. Think for a moment: who is the God the teenagers in your ministry think they know? How would they describe Jesus? Have they glimpsed him as he really is?
Imagine this:
The sophomore boy who is so close to understanding Jesus’ love and forgiveness in a real way (and who you’ve been in constant prayer for) kneels, and picks up a piece of cloth. The room is dimly lit, and a voice carries this Scripture to his ears: “And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, ‘This man truly was the Son of God!’ ” (Mark 15:38-39). He tears the cloth in half, and realizes for the first time how God has ripped through the barrier in his life. He prays, thank Jesus for wanting to be close to him.
Give students a fresh look at who they really are
It’s no secret that teenagers hold up unfocused, off-center pictures of themselves (I’m dumb! I’m uncool! No one likes me!). But you know who they really are…precious, much-loved children of God. Children he sees with complete love and complete truth. Children who have such astounding capacity to reflect Jesus in every corner of their lives. This year, help your students see themselves through new eyes — God’s eyes. Show them the most focused, centered picture… and the only one that really counts.
Imagine this:
The senior girl who has shared with you her fears and doubts about her future, and how she struggles with following God, sits down in front of a blowing fan. She closes her eyes, and as she feels the wind from the fans, the words of Psalm 25:4-5 sink into her heart: “Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.” She prays that the Holy Spirit will flow over and through her, guiding her in everything she does.
Take a fresh look at how you do ministry.
What kinds of environment and experiences do you weave into your ministry? Do they powerfully shift how your students view faith, and interact with God and each other? This year, in what ways will their faith — and lives — be transformed by how you guide them? What experiences and encounters will move them toward a deeply meaningful, everyday relationship with Jesus?
Look again at the scenes above. What lasting impact might those experiences have on your students?
Both experiences are from a series of creative worship events called Transformation Stations. Each of the multi-sensory stations gives teenagers a simple, unique, and powerful encounter with God.
Infuse your ministry with purposeful experiences that give your students a fresh look at themselves and God — and transform their lives forever.
(find out more about Transformation Stations at www.group.com.)