welcome
to the Gospel Advancing movement
You’ve taken the 5 Stages Assessment, and now you’re ready to dive into building your ministry on the power of the Gospel and the potential of teens. Read on to find out more about your starting point.
it’s a journey
Building a dynamic, energetic youth ministry with real Kingdom impact doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve found it’s a journey that typically goes through five distinct stages, as a leader integrates the values of Gospel Advancement into their life and ministry:
- Commit: Decide to be a Gospel Advancing leader, paving the way for your students.
- Align: Cast this ministry vision to your leaders and help them become Gospel Advancing leaders themselves.
- Prioritize:Integrate the 7 Values of Gospel Advancing into your ministry programs, training, and events.
- Accelerate: Experience growing excitement among your students and momentum within your ministry, as the Gospel goes deeply into and widely out through your students.
- Multiply: Take Gospel Advancing ministry to other leaders within your network and circle of influence.
As with any journey, it will take time to reach your final destination. But don’t get discouraged! God will honor your efforts to Gospelize your ministry.
your starting point
Below is the road map for your Gospel Advancing journey. You’ll find insights, action steps, and tools that will help you along the way.
In addition, you can tap into more encouragement and ideas by joining this group of youth leaders who are also on the Gospel Advancing journey.
your roadmap - COMMIT
Becoming a Gospel Advancing leader
The process begins with you. If you want your students to prioritize relational evangelism, you must consistently set the pace personally.
A Gospel Advancing leader is one who shares the Gospel personally and mobilizes teens to do the same.
It’s as simple as that—simple, but not necessarily easy.
And that’s where we can help. For 30+ years, we’ve trained millions of youth leaders and students how to share their faith, and we know we can help you get there too!
As you begin your journey, it really does start with prayer. Intercessory prayer, to be exact.
Intercessor = A go-between
In intercessory prayer, we’re committing to stand in the gap for our lost friends, serving as their go-between as we take their names to the throne room of God and ask Him to bring them to a point of salvation.
Greg Stier discusses the power of intercessory prayer—both for the lost and for us:
Action step: start praying!
- Identify days and times during the week you can commit to interceding for your lost friends and family members, as well as your students and their lost friends.
Helpful hint: Keep track of the people you’re praying for in your journal or a notebook or on a card in your Bible. This will remind you to pray and help you notice as God begins to work.
“The first step I took on my Gospel Advancing journey was to set aside a time during the week to pray for my lost friends and to pray for the students in my ministry. That time quickly grew to an hour each week, until one hour wasn’t enough. Before long, I was praying an hour a day for my students, their lost friends, and my lost friends. That time of prayer laid the foundation for the amazing transformation that would unfold in my ministry.” –John C.
Now that you’ve been talking to God about your friends, it’s time to talk to those friends about God.
Just because you’re a youth leader doesn’t necessarily mean that sharing the Gospel with others comes naturally for you. Not many of us have been trained how to share the Gospel clearly or in a way that isn’t off-putting.
The key is to have a Gospel conversation and not a Gospel presentation.
Often the hardest part about sharing your faith is bringing it up.
GOSPEL ADVANCING VALUE – RELATIONAL EVANGELISM DRIVES IT.
We know that thinking about sharing your faith can bring on some nerves. But one thing that helps is to have a clear, concise, and memorable way to share the Good News of Jesus. For years we’ve used a simple, six-letter acrostic that makes it easy to remember the entire story of the Bible.
G.O.S.P.E.L.
God created us to be with Him.
Our sins separate us from God.
Sins cannot be removed by good deeds.
Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again.
Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life.
Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever.
Relational Evangelism
Armed with a clear, comprehensive Gospel message, you can now begin to share that message in the midst of your already-established relationships, and you can also engage in new relationships with the prayerful intent of sharing the Gospel.
Greg Stier unpacks what relational evangelism looks like:
Want to jump-start intercessory prayer and have a great way to start Gospel conversations? We’ve got an app for that! The Life in 6 Words app is a compelling, interactive way to share about Jesus. It also has a section where you can upload the names of those you’re praying for.
How to use the Li6W app:
Action Steps
- Add the name of at least one lost friend to the Cause Circle on the Life in 6 Words app.
- Set a daily prayer reminder in the Life in 6 Words app. Go to the menu, settings, select “Prayer Reminders,” and choose the day(s) and time(s) during the week you want to receive your reminders.
Take a look at the rest of the values of a Gospel Advancing ministry to gain a deeper understanding.
The 7 Values of a Gospel Advancing Ministry:
For a bit of a deeper dive, read the quick guide of Greg Stier’s book Gospelize Your Youth Ministry.
And if you really want to immerse yourself in this ministry approach, download a digital copy of Gospelize Your Youth Ministry.
Action Step
- Take the 7 Values Survey to see how your ministry is currently doing with each of these values.
moving to the next stage
align
Now that you’re praying for the lost sharing the Gospel, it’s time to get your adult and student leaders on board with the movement.
