Successful Student Ministry

What does it take to build a successful student ministry? Here are some ideas that give a solid foundation from Teen Life Ministries.

1. Purpose

“Whatever you do in word or deed do all to the glory of God” (Colossians 3:17). Regardless of who you are trying to reach or the format type you adopt, everything should point directly back to God. There should be a biblical purpose behind each activity whether it’s labeled social or spiritual.

• How much of your programming is to fill time and how much to fill hearts with God?

• Can you write down the specific purpose of each activity or event and show how it relates to teaching the teens about a characteristic of God? Or teach a certain biblical principle?

Those questions can be tough. It's so easy to fill a calendar, but to fill it with purpose is harder. As youth workers we can't guarantee that a teen will "get it." However, it's import that "it" is there to get.

2. Prayer

“Worry about nothing, pray about everything” (Philippians 4:6). Do we really pray about everything? Do we spend as much time in prayer over a two-hour service project as we do a three-day retreat? As we pray we are asking God to do what He wouldn’t have done had we not asked. Don’t we want that in every area of our ministry? Let’s rub some holes in our jeans from our knees hitting the floor. 

3. Planning

“For which of you before he builds a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it?” (Luke 14:28). You've heard it before... a goal without a plan is nothing more than a wish. God had a plan with Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua and on and on and on. The Father honors a plan that honors Him. A plan proves that we feel the event is worth the effort, while the lack of a plan can show apathy or laziness. What is your plan to...

• Reach teens

• Disciple your group

• Schedule events

• Train volunteers

• Develop curriculum

• Contact the youth each month

• Praise the parents

• Build a core team

• Strengthen relationships

That's just a handful of the things we can be working on and planning for.

4. Personal

“And when Jesus went out and saw the great multitude, He was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14).

That verse and many others like it is why we call Him our personal Savior. Even in a crowd Jesus touched the individual. Our ministries should reflect Jesus’ personal style. We should connect with each teen where they need love and acceptance. Because of their attendance or willingness to serve we are going to spend more time with more teens than others, but no one should get neglected or ignored.

• Which teen(s) have you not given much time to lately?

• Which parents need some some personal attention?

• Which staff member do you feel a disconnect with?

Take some time this week to rebuild or develop a stronger relationships with those who have slipped off the radar.

5. Perfection

“Therefore, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). When this verse is read I always hear the disclaimer, “Jesus was using a hyperbole in this verse. We can’t expect to be perfect.” Both of those statements may be true, but that shouldn’t stop us from making an attempt at perfection.

If we never put perfection on the list, we will never make it. Strive for excellence above and beyond the average ministry. Excellence does not necessarily mean...

• The biggest youth group.

• The coolest gadgets.

• The most popular church.

• The most trips taken in a year.

• A church van that actually runs.

We're talking about excellence as God measures... 1 Corinthians 12:13 "...and now I will show you the most excellent way."

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

How do we pursue perfection in our youth ministries?  

6. Power

“For the kingdom is not of talk, but of power” (1 Corinthians 4:20). Do we talk more about what we are going to do, or about what God is going to do?

Whatever we choose to do will be limited. Whatever God chooses to do will be unlimited.

When God’s power is present in the ministry there’s no need for big talk because we have an Almighty God. The power that split the Red Sea, turned water into wine, and raised the dead is available to us today, so let’s talk softly and carry a big God.