Essentials of a Biblical Youth Ministry

There are many paradigms of youth and family ministry. Some are better than others, but there isn’t one specific “biblical” ministry structure, because ministry is always culturally located. For example, a biblical youth ministry will be different in Birmingham Alabama than in Birmingham England. As churches continue to prayerfully discern how to pass the faith from generation to generation, it’s important to ensure we are building on a biblical foundation.

Over this past year, I’ve had the opportunity to talk about this question with youth workers from the USA, Australia, UK, Ireland, and Canada. This is an increasingly common question, as youth workers want to be confident they are building their ministries on a biblical foundation. My book A Biblical Theology of Youth Ministry sets out an exegetical, historical, and theological foundation for understanding what youth ministry is, and this article (Is Youth Ministry Biblical?) provides a short summary. Here are three essentials that summarize the argument made in A Biblical Theology of Youth Ministry. 

Gospel Always

The biblical drive of youth ministry is not to make teenagers Christian’s. Instead, the goal of youth ministry is to make adult disciples whose faith took root in their teen years. This happens through proclaiming and applying the gospel in everything we do. Lead Them to Jesus provides guidance for youth workers and their volunteers to know what it looks like to apply the gospel to your entire ministry.  

In short, we need a broader understanding of the gospel. It’s more than an evangelism tool, it’s the very heart of Christianity. Therefore, we preach it every week and apply it to every element of our ministry. Ministries like the Rooted Ministry, Growing Young Disciples, and Reformed Youth Ministries are doing excellent work training youth workers to do this kind of ministry.

Worship Together

When youth ministries are structured in a way that nurtures teenagers’ faith to grow in the soil of the youth ministry, then we shouldn’t be surprised when transplanting them into the foreign soil of the church doesn’t work very well. Instead, students’ faith is better served by parents and youth workers collaborating to nurture their youths’ faith to grow in the soil of the church’s corporate worship. Whenever we look at the biblical witness, we see the generations of the church worshipping together. 

When children and teenagers attend their own ministries rather than participating in the corporate worship of the church, then we need to be willing to confess, “Our kids don’t go to church.” If this is something you’re willing to say with a clean conscience, then please continue. Otherwise, it’s time to dig into the biblical teaching about what the Church is and how Christians have passed on the faith to the next generation throughout Scripture and Church History. After reading about this in A Biblical Theology of Youth Ministry with your youth leaders, parents, and church elders, prayerfully consider how your church can better integrate students into the life of the church. 

Co-Discipleship with Parents

Youth ministry is biblical. The above truths don’t undermine the biblical role of youth workers. But they should reform what your ministry actually looks like. 

Youth ministry is the church’s expression of partnership with parents to co-disciple the next generation. Parents are called to disciple their children. The church is called to disciple parents and their children. It’s the same calling. When godly leaders in the church come alongside parents in order to cultivate a gospel-centered youth ministry, it can be a gracious incubator for students’ faith to grow and mature. 

Obviously, much more can be said about what these essentials look like. Some of these youth ministries can be highly developed with multiple pastoral staff roles; others will be smaller and entirely volunteer-led. It’s important to prioritize these core-convictions rather than focusing on building any particular program. May the next generation discover the life-giving message of the gospel through our ministries and grow into adult disciples whose faith took root in their teen years.