A new school year is just around the corner! As you continue to pull together your plans for the coming school year, donāt forget to put everything you plan and program through a Gospel Advancing filter by asking the questions: āHow will this help us make disciples who make disciples?”
As you build your ministry calendar ask yourself, āHow will this help us make and multiply disciples?ā Click To Tweet
The goal of all true discipleship is spiritual transformation and reproduction of this transformation in others. It takes a lot of prayer and hard work to produce the end result of teenagers who are able to spiritually grow on their own and multiply the kingdom by being able to make disciples of their friends.
Presenting Everyone Mature in Christ
Since your ultimate guidebook to effective youth ministry is God’s Word and your personal Guide is the Holy Spirit Himself, take a moment right now and do a quick Bible study on the following passage in Colossians which provides all of us with marvelous focus when it comes to what youth ministry is actually all about.
He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me (Colossians 1:28-29, NIV).
Ask yourself these questions:
- What does it look like in your role as a youth leader to āpresent everyone fully mature in Christā?
- Do you pray regularly for the wisdom to discern whether a lesson or activity is going to help you toward the end goal of āmaking disciples who make disciplesā?
- What steps can you take to help you stay focused on the main priorities of your ministry?
- Whose energy do you depend on when you’re working with your students?
3 Keys to Making Disciples Who Make Disciples
The Colossians verses are powerfully convicting when it comes pointing us toward what weāre to be about in ministry. But how do you get there? Here are three practical steps to help you maintain a focus on making disciples who make disciples throughout the coming school year.
Try This! āÆ
Your students are headed back to their campuses which are their āmission field,ā so plan a ācommissioning serviceā for them the week before school starts.
1. Pray. Pray personally for wisdom as you lay your plans. And gather your leadership team for a time of focused prayer for the coming school year. Since your students are headed back to their campuses as their āmission field,ā fold in a ācommissioning serviceā for your students the weekĀ before school starts in your area. This can happen at youth group or in your all-church Sunday service.
2. Train Your Adult Volunteers. Your adult staff didn’t sign up to help you because they wanted to do crowd control and clean up. They’re on your team because they care about teens. Have you unleashed that passion and given them the training and opportunities they need to engage with students in meaningful, transformative ways? Have they embrace the bold, Gospel Advancing vision you have for your youth ministry? For help with this, check out the free Gospelize Your Team video series for adults.
3. Program your Priorities. If you want Gospel Advancement to be a pulsing heartbeat of your youth ministry, youāll want to keep your students motivated and mobilized to share their faith. Schedule a big event or curriculum series early in the school year that will train and inspire them for relational evangelism. For a catalytic training event, check out Dare 2 Share Live on September 23rd. For biblical, engaging, practical Gospel Advancing curriculum, check out the Dare 2 Share web store.
This school year stay focused on what Jesus has called you to (Ephesians 4:11-12)āequipping students for service in the cause of Christ.
Want more practical advice on mobilizing your teens to share the gospel? All of our Mobilize stories offer great ideas for training your students and building a Gospel Advancing Ministry. Sign up here to receive this free, hands-on resource in your inbox!
