I absolutely love interacting with youth workers, asking tough questions, picking their brains, and listening, listening, listening . . .
Recently I’ve had the occasion to both prepare to teach a few seminars AND to listen to quite a variety of youth workers tell their success stories. Both of these experiences reminded of a very powerful and very simple truth.
Ready?
Over and over again, I see two common denominators that effective youth ministries share: transformational teaching and meaningful engagement by adults.
By transformational teaching I mean teaching that helps teenagers repeatedly encounter God and His ways through the Bible. Teaching that is theologically sound, spiritually deep, and points to meaningful and relevant life application.
By meaningful adult engagement I mean adults in and around the ministry who are truly and personally invested in the lives of students. I’m talking about real relationships. Reciprocating relationships. Relationships that go beyond surface interactions at church.
While there are certainly other factors that contribute to effective ministries, I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered an effective ministry that didn’t have these two elements, and have them in abundance.
Pretty simple, huh?
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