Helping Students Grow in Faith [4 Lessons]

Helping The Teens In Your Youth Ministry Grow Their Faith

What did your journey into youth ministry look like? Most youth pastors I know are doing it because they have both a deep love for Jesus and a deep compassion for teenagers. They desperately want every student—from the troubled to the moralistic, from the athletic to the awkward, from the loud to the shy—to experience the hope and freedom that the Gospel provides. In short, youth leaders want to do everything they can to help young people grow in their faith and their relationship with God. 

One of the best ways to help your students grow in faith is through an increasingly stronger relationship with God that comes through understanding prayer, reading the Bible, and learning more about the character of God. You can help them grow in these areas when you take the time to be intentional with your programming and how you’re spending time you have with students. Youth leaders are sometimes so busy they neglect to step back and see the big picture of developing disciples, but regularly reevaluating things can really make a lasting difference. 

A proven method of success, when it comes to helping students grow spiritually, is through implementing the 7 Values of a Gospel Advancing ministry. These values will greatly help you, as a leader, regularly be focused on both growing the relationship your students have with Jesus, as well as helping them know how to share the Gospel with their friends. 

WRITING A BIBLE STUDY ON GROWING IN FAITH AND RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

If you want to develop your own message about growing spiritually, these scriptures on spiritual growth would make a powerful foundation:

• So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.Colossians 2:6-7
• Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Romans 10:17
• so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:17-19
• I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:104-105
• For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13
• Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:3-6
• So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:31-34

These passages paint a powerful picture of the combination of the heart changes and practical habits that need to be developed as students grow in their faith and relationship with God. Even if students are present who haven’t put their trust in Jesus, these verses can help in planting a seed of faith. 

Alternatively, there are loads of great curriculum options available that help you disciple students in their love and understanding of God. Several are free, some have a low cost, but all are really great tools for shepherding your teenagers.

QUALITY BIBLE STUDIES ON GROWTH IN CHRISTIANITY

Here are four great examples of Bible studies that help students grow in faith:

1. Dare 2 Share’s Youth Group 2 Go: Growing with God Bundle will help your students go deeper with God in this Bible study for teens. These four youth group Bible studies provide the biblical background and practical application your students need to help them become more fully devoted followers of Jesus. Nurture your students’ deepening relationship with God by investigating four critical dimensions of every Christian’s walk with God: worship, Bible study, living in the power of the Holy Spirit, and connecting with other believers as the body of Christ.Sonlife’s Talk: Learn to Talk is a booklet designed to help your students grow in their understanding and articulation of their Christian faith so that they might become a mature follower of Jesus who seeks to multiply their lives to the glory of God. Talk is part of a series of booklets that are intended to be done in community. Written in conversational sections, the booklets are not specifically designed for individual study although you could use them in this manner. Talk Conversations:
2. Sonlife’s Talk: Learn to Talk is a booklet designed to help your students grow in their understanding and articulation of their Christian faith so that they might become a mature follower of Jesus who seeks to multiply their lives to the glory of God. Talk is part of a series of booklets that are intended to be done in community. Written in conversational sections, the booklets are not specifically designed for individual study although you could use them in this manner. Talk Conversations:
   • Talk to God
   • Types of Prayer
   • Questions about Prayer
   • Talk about Jesus
   • Talk about God’s Story
   • Talk about Your Story
     These booklets are written for new or growing believers, high school age and older. The concepts give enough meat on the bone to dive deeper as a group.
3. Dare 2 Share’s Now Grow! 7 Key Questions for New Believers is designed to help new believers nurture their relationship with God by taking on seven key questions every new believer needs the answers to. This youth Bible study will teach students and teens questions such as:
   • Does God really love me and forgive me?
   • What does Jesus really want from me?
   • What is God like?
   • What is prayer, and how do I do it?
     Unlock the answers to these critical questions straight from the pages of the Bible, and discover God’s great promises and purposes for every believer! These materials are appropriate for individual, one-on-one, or small-group use. The Now Grow! download includes: seven interactive Bible studies on core topics for new believers.
4. YM360’s New, Next, Now: A Discipleship Devotional Bundle provides 12 weeks of powerful devotional experiences to help your students grow from new believers to authentic disciples of Christ. The bundle includes a powerful 4-week devotional experience that will help new believers get off to a strong start on their journey with Christ. It also includes a 4-week devotional that will help your students understand how their life’s purpose connects with God’s mission, how to build spiritual habits that last a lifetime, and how to use the influence they already have for Christ. Additionally included is a 4-week devotional experience that will help your students understand the purpose God has in store for them, catch God’s vision for exactly how He wants to use them, and practice real, practical ways to impact their world.

THE BEST WAY TO HELP STUDENTS GROW IN FAITH? 

Have you ever thought about evangelism as a way—maybe even the best way—for students to grow in their faith and build a deeper relationship with God? Although, it might not be intuitive, inspiring and equipping teens to share the Gospel is one of the best ways to help them learn to rely on God and search deeper into His truth. If you lead a youth ministry where relational evangelism drives it you’ll be amazed to see how your students will grow spiritually. 

When teens are encouraged to have conversations about God with their peers, they discover the importance of knowing how to listen, care, and explain the Gospel clearly. Often, in these conversations, they’re asked questions about the Christian faith, which gives them motivation to delve deeper into the Bible for answers, thereby strengthening their own faith and relationship with God. Dare 2 Share offers, high-quality free resources to help youth pastors do great Kingdom work in the simplest and most effective way possible.  We also offer a great community of Gospel Advancing Ministries, that unites youth leaders who fully embrace and model a commitment to sharing the Gospel themselves and equipping teenagers to do the same. Find out how to continue to grow through hundreds of resources and trainings by becoming a Gospel Advancing leader!

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