In youth ministry we walk a fine line. One the one hand, we want to whip out a few pizzas and attempt to feed the 5,000. Every youth pastor desires that their flock would grow. We want to cast wide nets on the side of the boat that Jesus suggests.
On the other hand, we want to push students deep in their understanding of the gospel. Shortly after feeding the 5,00 Jesus exhorts the crowd to understand that He is the bread of life. In John 6:60 & 66 we find: “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” and “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” So how do we facilitate community & maturity in youth ministry?
A few years back, I wrote a piece on Understanding Discipleship, where I broke down the needed elements of holistic discipleship. Youth ministry is more than just fun and games and it’s more than just beating students with the Bible. Youth ministry is complex, layered, and ever changing. Take a read:
This summer, we will be changing up the way we structure our teaching time on Wednesday night. During the school year we have a sermon followed by small groups where students break down the message and then exhort each other in community.
While this system has served us well, the groups, divided by grade and gender, tend to be larger and quickly get off track. Our Small Group Leaders do a great job facilitating discussion surrounding the message, but you can only wrangle 20 7th grade girls for so long!
This summer, we’re going to switch it up a bit. The goal is for students to own their faith. Students need to learn what they believe, why they believe, and know how to talk about what they believe.
We are going to seek to achieve this by getting students into small groups led by both Small Group Leaders, upper classmen, and our Summer Interns. Our system will include a master teacher teaching in short 5 minute bursts and then initiating discussion questions that will be carried out by the table leaders. Table leaders will then seek to get students talking about what they believe and why they believe. Am I a little nervous about protecting correct doctrine? Sure. Am I a little worried about what will be discussed at each table? Sure. But I know that students “getting it right” will only be a by-product to students first learning to think critically as they verbalize their thoughts and feelings.
[shareable]If youth workers answer all the questions, students are robbed of opportunities to think, process, and develop faith. @YMinBlog[/shareable]
With this in mind, what do you do to get students talking? How do you give students the opportunity to verbalize their faith? Comment below!
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David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at The Fellowship in Round Rock, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.
Welcome to the first episode of Youth Ministry TV! On our show you will find a couple of everyday youth pastors discussing the joys, struggles, trends, and tricks of student ministry. We hope you find this extremely helpful and encourage you to Subscribe to us on YouTube and iTunes!
In Episode 001 we promised you some awesome parent resources that will help you engage parents. Click the button below and you will get:
Parent Point Graphics
Parent Point Contact Cards
2 Parent Seminar Trainings (Facilitating Teenage Faith & Having “The Talk”)
David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at The Fellowship in Round Rock, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.
This past Wednesday we kicked off Summer a littler early with a Paint War. We wanted students to be excited for everything that’s ahead this summer and what better way then with hot dogs, worship, a short message, and a paint war?
Our students hand an absolute blast! We rented a pavilion at a near-by park where we grilled hot dogs, socialized, threw the ball & frisbee, played 9-square, worshiped, jumped into the Word, and then had our paint war. This is a great summer event that you can pull off! With minimal supplies, you can host your own paint war…and it’s totally worth is simply for the fun, community, and awesome pictures!
I HIGHLY encourage you to host your own paint war. And here’s the deal, I’m going to make it easy for you. Click the button below and I will send you a Paint War Cheat Sheet with all the details/graphics/supplies/rules you will need to pull off your own Paint War! You’re Welcome! Enjoy!
How you enter a ministry will say a lot about who you are, how you operate, and what you want to accomplish. As Will Rodgers said, “You only get one chance to make a good first impression.” Have a clear and organized communication strategy will help you hit the ground running in your new ministry position.
Below you will find the communication strategy I used in my recent ministry transition. Five weeks in, I have initiated everything on this list. Am I finished? By no means! But I have started conversations and stated the ball rolling on all six of the following:
David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at The Fellowship in Round Rock, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.
