So a subtle but significant change is what is necessary: The old method of the one-man show for youth ministry doesn’t work. It came out of the 1950s and focused on entertainment to capture students’ attention. The problem is that today, no church has a bigger budget for entertaining students than YouTube or cable TV. We cannot entertain them better. But we can give them what the world can’t: love, compassion, and the Truth.

So we are adjusting how we do youth ministry. This is not a criticism of the old way. Indeed many of us are passionate believers because of the old way of youth ministry! So this is not a criticism, but an admission that we can be more effective.

The process:

Over the next several years, we will transition to a new model of ministry.

The old model looked like this:

 The flaws with this model are that it places unrealistic expectations on the youth minister (statistically can only have significant impact on 5 to 8 students) and fails to surround students with caring adults.

The new model will have five key areas of adult involvement in the student’s life. It looks like this:

The key areas are the youth minister, a parent, the other parent, their small group Bible study leader (Sunday school) and a concerned church member (for lack of a better word).

Parents* – No one has more potential to shape the spiritual life of a teenager. The Bible shows this consistently. Research confirms Scripture.

Youth minster – They have had an important role in influencing teenagers for Christ. Under the new model, they will have the additional role of fostering spiritual growth in adults in the system as well as strengthening the relationships between adults and students.

Bible Study leader – A follower of Christ who imparts regular Biblical truth into students. Typically, this would be a Sunday school teacher.

Church member – An assigned member of our church who normally does not have contact with teenagers. This adult would commit themselves to pray for their assigned teenager daily and regularly remind the student that they do so.

* What if one or both parents are not involved or a believer? Remember research shows three to five caring adults so that student will still at least have three caring adults involved in their life during the teen years.

Essentially, we will use the tools that we know from research (importance of parents and surrounding students with three to five caring adults who follow Christ) for the model of our ministry.