I could spend a lot of time sharing the many reasons why the Good News of Jesus Christ must be foundational and the Bible must be at the heart and core of all teaching. But for now, let me just share one more. If the Good News is not foundational, your ministry will not grow. I realize that this is a brazen statement, but I am more than willing to sign my name to this one.

Countless youth ministries think that if their ministry is fun and cool enough, teens will fill the building and come to their programs. Sure, I’ll admit that a church may attract gobs of teens with that tactic, but how long will they attend the youth ministry? Will they stay when the gospel message convicts them of sin? Will they leave when another church throws a bigger party? This gets to the heart of the problem. Read the rest of this entry

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An effective youth ministry must be built on the foundation of the Good News of Jesus Christ and have the Bible at the heart and core of all teaching. I realize that some of you reading this will say, “Well, of course Greg! Everyone knows that!” But, actually, that’s the problem—not everyone knows that.

Let’s start at the beginning. Every good team wins by mastering the fundamentals, and ministry is much the same way. The key is to understand the fundamentals. So let’s break down this down, discuss its meaning, and see what it looks like in your weekly youth ministry. Read the rest of this entry

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In our last three articles, I have been sharing the paramount importance of having a youth ministry game plan. Let’s review for a moment.

A youth ministry game plan is thinking through the process of what you want your teens to “look like” when they leave your ministry and how you are going to get them to that place. A youth ministry game plan details the big picture if what ministries and opportunities will be provided to students and the goals and objectives of each of those programs.
We learned in part one that a Youth Ministry Game Plan will attract and keep quality volunteers. In part two, we learned that a game plan will attract and keep teens. In the third article, we discussed how an effective Youth Ministry Game Plan can keep the church supportive. Finally, let’s see how a game plan to can help you. Read the rest of this entry

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