6. Biblical Outcomes Measure It.
Are you measuring the right things? In ministry, we often measure our success by attendance instead of by impact. But getting a big crowd of teens to watch you juggle flaming poodles doesn’t mean you’ve been successful.
Instead, make it your goal to measure spiritual impact, with gauges like new-conversion growth, baptisms, the percentage of teenagers growing in and sharing their faith, and the like. These are the kinds of things that the book of Acts records:
The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts 11:21-26)
Here we see both quantitative and qualitative results. People were coming to Christ and growing in Christ. These are the kinds of measures that matter.
7. Ongoing Programs Reflect It.
The first-century Church’s programs reflected their priorities. They didn’t just talk about prayer—they prayed (Acts 4:31). They didn’t just talk about evangelism—they evangelized (Acts 5:41-42). They didn’t just talk about multiplying disciples—they multiplied disciples (Acts 6:7).
Show me your youth group program rundown, your weekly youth ministry schedule, and your annual ministry calendar, and I’ll show you your true priorities. I strongly encourage you to program intercessory prayer into your gatherings, evangelism training into your schedule, and things like Go Share Days and Dare 2 Share LIVE into your annual calendar.
This post briefly skips across each of these seven values like rocks across the water. But for a deep dive, I encourage you to download my Gospelize book here and read it.
Join the movement of Gospelized youth ministries across the nation. It’s time to advance the best news ever to a generation that desperately needs it.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
