You MUST Have a Youth Ministry Game Plan 2

In our last article, I began to share with 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 also learned in part one that a Youth Ministry Game Plan will attract and keep quality volunteers. But what is the second thing a youth ministry game plan will do for you?

2. An effective youth ministry game plan will attract and keep teenagers.
Two years ago, I had a youth mission team on a project outside of Denver, Colorado. One evening, three of my 12th graders approached me and said it was urgent that they speak to me in private.

“Greg”, Kristen began. “We have been talking among ourselves and the 12th graders do not think you are being strict enough.” she finished. And she was serious. From there for about thirty minutes these three kids detailed for me things that I had done in their earlier years in the ministry that I was no longer doing. Their intention was to set me straight and remind me of how I need to be operating the ministry.

The conversation that night has been one of my highlights the last few years. What an honor is to know that my high school students knew the game plan (though that is not what they would call it) so well that when they thought I was not following it, they felt the need to let me know. After seven years in the ministry, those young people were committed to the game plan and they loved it!

Any student who has spent time in our ministry here knows that there are some things they can count on. They know they will see retreats which will rejuvenate them; they will six-week teaching series in the weekly youth rallies and bible studies. They know the ministry will recruit and employ teachers with different area strengths to lead them in Sunday school. And above all, they know the ministry will be offering summer mission trips complete with 15 weeks of pre-trip training (and homework, but we will get to that later) and a trip with a highly structured and disciplined environment on the mission which will demand their best conduct and service.

Most of the kids who have spent time in this ministry know that we have a game plan. If you were to ask them, they probably would not use that term but they know there is an order and a way the ministry goes about doing the work of the Lord. And because they know what they are looking forward to and the feeling that they are growing and maturing can attain greater opportunities in the ministry, it solidifies their commitment. And because it solidifies their commitment, it gives me and the staff an even greater amount of time to pour the word of God into them, assisting their parents in the high calling of raising godly kids.

I learned an important principle when I was a classroom teacher. Kids do not like chaos; at least not for long. This may surprise some people because teenagers can act so chaotic, but long term, it has been my observation that young people really not respond well the chaos. Thus, another reason why teenagers will be attracted to a ministry where there is a solid game plan, they know what is coming, and they know what it is for.

Read the next article for another thought on Youth Ministry Game Plans!

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