Purpose Driven Youth Ministry

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Youth Ministry

• Purpose Driven Youth Ministry
• Doug Fields

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Becoming a Youth Leader Who Depends on God

• Personal Humility
• Submit Your Abilities to God and Allow His Power
  to Work Through Who You Are.
• Focus on Being a Person of God Before Doing the
  Work of God

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Tips to Strengthen Your Godly Foundation

• Admit your struggles to yourself
• Ask God for the power to discipline yourself for
  the purpose of godliness
• Ask God for the courage to confess these
  struggles to a friend who cares deeply aout you
  and who can help you.
• Work with this friend on a spiritual restoration
  plan

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Purpose

• Why does this youth ministry exist?
• Programs can change, but the purposes arent
  negotiable
• No purposes that we could create on our own would
  be more complete than the five God has already
  divinely created for us.
• Evangelism
• Worship
• Fellowship
• Discipleship
• Ministry

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The 5 Purposes

• Built around the Great Commandment and the Great
  Commission
• Great Commandment- Jesus replied Love the Lord
  your God with all your heart and with all your
  sould and with all your mind. This is the first
  and greatest commandment. And the second is like
  it Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law
  and the Prophets hang on these two commandments
  Matthew 2237-40
• Great Commission- Therefore go and make
  disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
  name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
  Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I
  have commanded you. And surely I am with you
  always, to the very end of the age
• Matthew 2819-20

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The 5 Purposes

1. Worship Love the Lord your God with all your
   heart.
2. Ministry Love your neighbor as yourself.
3. Evangelism Go and make disciples
4. Fellowship Baptizing them
5. Discipleship Teaching them to obey

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Evangelism

• Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those
  who dont yet have a personal relationship with
  Him.
• This is probably the most weakly expressed
  purpose
• It is difficult to fulfill on a program level,
  and threatening on a personal level
• Adult leadership must model the purpose of
  evangelism
• When this purpose is evident in a youth ministry,
  growth will happen- not because of an
  evangelistic program, but because of evangelistic
  students

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Worship

• Celebrating Gods presence and honoring Him with
  our lifestyle.
• Praying (Psalm 956)
• Hearing the Word (John 1717)
• Giving (1 Corinthians161-2)
• Baptizing (Romans 63-4)
• Meditating (Habakkuk 220)
• Communion (1 Corinthians 1123-26)

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Fellowship

• God did not intend for Christians to live in
  isolation, but in fellowship with other believers
  and to be identified as the body of Christ.
• True fellowship happens when students are known,
  cared for, held accountable, and encouraged in
  their spiritual journey
• Fellowship is usually the strongest purpose
• Often, fellowship is so strong that Christian
  students lose sight of evangelism and focus only
  on other believers and become dangerously
  apathetic from the lost

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Discipleship

• The building up or strengthening of believers in
  their quest to be like Christ.
• Can be the most unrewarding since spiritual
  maturity is difficult to measure
• Discipleship flourishes under spiritual leaders
  who consistently plant seeds and water students
  faith
• All of this is done with faith that God will do
  the impossible and bring growth

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Ministry

• Meeting needs with love
• God has blessed every believer with special gifts
  to be used for ministry. Students shouldnt have
  to wait until they are adults to minister.
• A healthy youth ministry will constantly
  encourage students to discover their gifts and
  put them into practice through ministry and
  mission opportunities
• When the purpose of ministry is applied, you will
  graduate student ministers rather than program
  attendees.
• Student ministers wont graduate from their faith
  when they graduate from the youth ministry

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Purpose Statement

• Revealing a purpose statement takes away the
  mystery of your ministry.
• It makes sense of your programs
• Uses volunteers more effectively
• Provides direction for your students spiritual
  maturity

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Purpose Statement

• Keep it simple
• Make it meaningful
• It should be action oriented
• Should be compelling

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Purpose Statement

• Think of words that go along with the 5 purposes
• Worship- Exalt, Passion, Offer
• Fellowship- Enjoy, Encourage, Care
• Evangelism- Expose, Spread, Reach
• Discipleship- Equip, Share, Develop
• Ministry- Experience, Service, Serving

• Then put those words together in a sentence

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Purpose Statement

• Worship, Discipleship, Ministry, Evangelism,
  Fellowship
• The goal of our student ministry is to expose
  teenagers to Gods love, to equip them to exalt
  God, enjoy other believers, and experience the
  work of the ministry

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Purpose Statement

• Worship, Discipleship, Ministry, Evangelism,
  Fellowship
• CrossCurrent exists to reach non-Christian junior
  and senior high students, to help them share in
  Gods Word, to offer themselves in service to
  Christ and to care for one another.

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Purpose Statement

• Worship, Discipleship, Ministry, Evangelism,
  Fellowship
• Infiltrate Youth Family exists to spread the love
  of Christ by serving those around us, encouraging
  each other, and developing a life of passion for
  God.

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Student Commitment Levels

• One program cant effectively fulfill all 5
  purposes
• 1.) What primary purpose (evangelism, worship,
  fellowship, discipleship, or ministry) does this
  program fulfill?
• 2.) Who are we trying to target with this
  program?
• One program cant effectively target all students

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Student Commitment Levels

• There are at least 5 types of students
• The non-Christian student
• The new Christian
• The student who knows a great deal about the
  Bible but is apathetic about most things we do
• The growing student
• The spiritual leader

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Student Commitment Levels
Community
Crowd
Congregation
Committed
Core
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Community Students

• Teenagers living within a realistic driving
  distance of our church.
• Schools within a ten to fifteen mile radius of
  your church
• Calculate the number of youth group age students
  at these schools
• For example in Arab, there are about 1,500
  students
• At this rate each church in the area could have
  over 100 students
• The fulfills the evangelism purpose

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Crowd Students

• Students who come to a youth service and fill out
  an information card.
• May be invited by regulars, others are forced by
  their parents to attend
• Some are Christians, some are non-Christians
• This fulfills the worship purpose

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Congregation Students

• Crowd students who move to the next level where
  they can connect with other Christians and grow
  in their faith (small groups, for example)
• The next step should have an atmosphere where
  these students will be known, cared for, held
  accountable, and connected with other believers
• This deeper connection fulfills the fellowship
  purpose

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Committed Students

• Students who are committed to developing
  spiritual habits, such as personal Bible study,
  prayer, accountability with another believer,
  Scripture memorization, giving, and commitment to
  the church body
• This fulfills the discipleship purpose

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Core Students

• Committed students who discover their giftedness
  and want to express it through ministering to
  others
• Students who discover their ministry potential do
  not graduate from their faith they use what
  theyve learned forever
• They could have the opportunity to become student
  leaders helping move others through the funnel

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Student Commitment Levels

• Realize that each group size will decrease as
  commitment increases
• Focus on the word potential and start with who
  you have.

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Reaching Community Students

• Evangelism isnt a program, its a process
• Evangelism is tough work
• Leaders approaching students could be seen as a
  threat
• Fear of rejection
• Fear of not being understood
• Fear of not having the right answers
• Fear of being labeled as a Jesus Freak

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Reaching Community Students

• Students need to understand that those outside of
  the faith are attracted to Christians before they
  are attracted to Christ
• Lifestyle is an important factor of evangelism
• Dont expect all of your students to be
  evangelists, but do expect them to be evangelistic

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Reaching Community Students

• Talk to students about how we are going to
  grow!
• Implement Growth Programs
• Friendship Evangelism Project
• Small Group Competition
• Make sure you have a program or a service in
  place to accommodate the community students

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Keeping Crowd Students

• Make sure you have a program to which your
  regular students can feel comfortable inviting
  their community friends
• This service will have Christians and
  non-Christians
• Dont limit worship just to music- attempt to
  have praying, singing, giving, testifying,
  thanking, and listening to Gods Word.
• Create a positive atmosphere of fun, student
  involvement, but with a clear message
• Simplify your message

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Congregation Students

• Small groups are a great way to nurture the
  student who has graduated from the Crowd.
• Small groups should provide more personal
  attention than larger programs
• They provide a sense of belonging
• In the Crowd you share the gospel, in small
  groups, you share your lives

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Congregation Students

• Small groups allow students to be known
• Small groups make students verbal
• Small groups allow students to personalize their
  faith
• Small groups encourage accountable relationships

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Preparing Committed Students

• Discipleship of committed students is helping
  them develop the habits, or spiritual
  disciplines, necessary to grow on their own when
  theyre no longer in the youth group
• Youth ministries are full of Bible-literate
  students who know the right answers, but make the
  wrong daily choices

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Preparing Committed Students

• Encourage spiritual habits through the small
  groups of the Congregation
• Have consistent time with God through prayer and
  Bible reading
• Have an accountable relationship with another
  Christian
• Understand and participate in giving/tithing
• Memorize Scripture
• Study the Bible on their own

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Preparing Committed Students

• Focus on encouragement
• Get small group leader to encourage growth
• Equip students with tools to develop habits
• Quiet time journal
• Accountability Group Prayer
• Bible memorization flashcard program
• Questions to go along with Bible reading teaching
  them how to dig deeper

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Challenging Core Students

• Core students who are not the ministry type
  arent core students, theyre regulars
• Sometimes getting students to do ministry isnt
  as big a challenge as convincing the church
  congregation and leadership that teenagers can
  play a vital role in the body of Christ
• Students shouldnt have to move through the
  circles just to do ministry

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Challenging Core Students

• Dont treat students as The Future Church
• A sign of a healthy church is one that helps all
  Christians, regardless of age, to discover their
  gifts and express them through serving in
  ministry
• Communicate Ministry Messages
• Communicate the joy of participating
• Remind students that a life of observation is a
  wasted life, but a life of participation in the
  work of the kingdom is the reason we were born
• Teach students they were created for ministry
• Help Students Discover Their Spiritual Gifts