What does a healthy student ministry look like? Should you look at the numbers you attract every week? Is it important to host fun events that attract a crowd? Does the number of small groups or baptized teens indicate success?
Different churches and leaders define success differently. I used to rely on others to tell me if we were successful. A shift in my leadership occurred when I stopped looking for feedback to determine health. Instead, I embraced health-based principles to help our team measure progress.
5 Signs of a Healthy Student Ministry
For us, the goal of our youth program is overall health. Here are the indicators we look for in our student ministry. We want to be…
1. Jesus-Centered
When we are healthy, we constantly help teens discover Jesus, follow Jesus, and live a life that honors Jesus. This is different from connecting teens to your way of doing church or your doctrine. If we constantly try to help teens see Jesus more clearly, then life change will happen.
2. Relational
We want small groups to be a foundational element of everything we do. We want to have a ministry full of youth ministers (small group leaders), not just one youth pastor (our staff). Teens need to be known and mentored, and small group helps us do that.
3. Engaging
We want everything we do on stage and within every event to be done with excellence and captivate the attention of teenagers. If teens walk away and think Jesus or the Bible is boring, then it is our fault. We want to set the bar high and do our best every week to grab their attention and reveal what really matters in life.
