You MUST Have a Youth Ministry Game Plan

Does your youth ministry have a game plan? An effective youth ministry must have a game plan. Otherwise, a church will have a busy bunch of teenagers and enthusiastic leaders and supportive parents but in the end everyone will just get tired. Trips, retreats, pancake breakfasts, lock-ins, concerts, skiing, white water rafting, fundraising, and all the other landmark signs of youth ministry will only accomplish the wearing out of staff and volunteers unless those activities are part of a game plan that makes sense! I submit to you that a large part of the failure of many youth ministries (especially those in smaller churches) is the failure to implement a ministry game plan. I do not think youth ministries fail for lack of space or money or volunteers. They fail for a lack of a game plan. And even those with youth ministry background or training can miss this point.

I teach youth ministry methods at a local Bible College and I like to ask my students on the first day of class, “What is the game plan for your youth ministry?” Normally the question is first received with several puzzled looks. Then after they process for a moment and understand what I am asking, the answers they offer are ones such as…
“I want my teens to get saved”

“I want my kids to come to know the Lord and become disciples”
“I want my kids to follow Christ all of their days.”

These are great answers but they do not comprise the elements of a successful game plan. A youth ministry game plan is thinking through the process of what you want your teens to “look like” when they leave your youth ministry and how you are going to get them to that place. A youth ministry game plan details the big picture of what ministries and opportunities will be provided to students and the goals and objectives of each of those programs.

It seems that youth leaders spend most of their ministry planning time preparing for the upcoming week or month. I would submit that leaders must do more than plan the week. They must plan the ministry. Otherwise, you will be very busy but accomplishing very little.

So why is it so important that a youth ministry have a game plan? Allow me to offer four thoughts on why I believe this is such a critical issue.

1. An effective youth ministry game plan will attract and keep quality volunteers.

In the course of teaching youth seminars, consulting with ministries, listening to my students, and operating a web site, I have found that finding volunteers is definitely in the top five heartaches for youth ministries.

“No one is committed!”, “No one wants youth ministry!”, and “The church does not care!” These are all the kind of complaints I hear from pastors and youth directors. But consider for a moment that maybe it is not a commitment problem on their part but a game plan problem in the ministry.

I submit to you that when you have developed and can articulate your youth ministry game plan, volunteer recruitment becomes much easier. And you will also attract high quality volunteers. I have a wonderful scrapbook that one of my long time volunteers made for me. It is a beautiful portfolio with pictures and explanations that visually demonstrate our youth ministry game plan. When I am attempting to recruit a volunteer, I sit down with them and take them through the scrapbook, explaining our ministry and what we are out to accomplish. In the subsequent trainings, the new recruits learn how we go about accomplishing the game plan. At this point a volunteer feels they are part of something that really matters. Suddenly car washes and bake sales have some meaning.

Let me tell you about Andrew for a moment. He graduated from my youth ministry here at Faith church several years ago. Recently he was hired by a church in Maryland to be their youth and worship director. This church had a disastrous history with youth ministry. No program, no support, no life. Andrew really walked into a vacuum of youth ministry. After spending the summer there, he brought me in to lead a seminar for his youth leaders. There were 21 people in attendance. In just one summer, Andrew was able to recruit 21 adults to at least come and learn about youth ministry. How did he do it? I can tell you because I trained him. He had a game plan. He spent time with adults and presented a game plan. The result was volunteers.
I have a great volunteer team at Faith church. Honestly, I really am not that much fun to be around so those volunteers are not here because I am some great guy. I have great volunteers because they have subscribed to a game plan that makes sense to them and my leaders know that when they come and serve the teens in the ministry, there is an objective.

Let me be frank, most adults are not going to stick with a ministry that is disorganized, where the kids are running in a swarm but accomplishing nothing of long term spiritual value. And furthermore, discerning parents really are not going to want their kids being a part of it either. So, as you can see, a youth ministry game plan will greatly assist you in finding and keeping volunteers.

Be sure to read the read next article for another thought on why you MUST have a youth ministry game plan!

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