Jump directly to the Content

Are You Asking the Right Questions about your Youth Group?

Few youth leaders disagree that there's a need for effective youth work--it's the how that causes problems. Here are four questions youth workers should ask themselves about their ministry.

Are you asking the right questions about your youth program? Too often we never get around to isolating the crucial factors because of our concerns for immediate pressures.

I'd like to propose four basic questions you might ask yourself about the youth program in your church.

The first is this: "What do we want to accomplish?" Many parents want the church to provide activities to keep their teen-agers "off the streets." Others see the youth fellowship giving hours of instruction-a "training union" emphasizing the denominational distinctives. My own church environment included a steady diet of "what Baptists believe," plus bonus social functions. Our goals, conscious or not, determine how we design our programs.

These goals should reflect and complement the purpose of the church "to build up the body and equip the saints to do the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:12). Therefore, the purpose of the youth group should be discipleship; building our young people in the faith so they understand the ...

March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
Wednesday Link List: Three Free Sins, Church Basement Coffee, and More
Wednesday Link List: Three Free Sins, Church Basement Coffee, and More
And big links don't cry (they don't cry).
From the Magazine
The Evil Ideas Behind October 7
The Evil Ideas Behind October 7
The Hamas attacks in Israel have a grotesque ideological history and deserve unflinching moral judgment.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close