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Teens Ministries: A Look at Kids Taking the Leadership Reins

An hour later, Brian and I were at a restaurant together. I mentioned that Aaron had gone over the schedule with me. “He’s a sharp guy,” I added. “Aaron?” Brian clarified, stirring his milkshake. “Oh man! Absolutely. We’re blessed to have Aaron.”

I realized I’d never learned Aaron’s role in the ministry. So I asked, “Is Aaron your middle school director? Your intern?” Youth ministries have so many staff positions these days; it’s hard to know who’s filling which roles.

“He’s One of My Student Leaders”

Brian stopped stirring and looked at me blankly. “Aaron?” For a second I wondered if my question had confused him. Brian cracked a smile. “Aaron’s in eleventh grade. He’s one of my student leaders.”

I was shocked. “Aaron’s a student?” Brian chuckled, “Has been since kindergarten. Of course, I didn’t have him until middle school. He wasn’t a perfect kid, but he was always hungry for truth, and he found it in the Bible. I’ve been discipling him since eighth grade. Last year—his sophomore year—Aaron joined our teen leadership team. He’s moved from attending Bible studies to leading them.”

“Wow,” I finally offered. “Aaron sounds like a real asset to your ministry.”

“Jonathan,” he said, leaning in really close, “you have no idea. If I’m going to be out of town on Sunday, I don’t call any of my adult leaders … I call Aaron.”

“Wow!” I repeated, at a loss for words. What I was honestly thinking was, I want an Aaron! Don’t you?

Heather—a kid who did more outreach in a year than most youth workers do in a career. Aaron—a kid who could run a Bible study…or the entire youth group…by himself. Forget about all our teens ministries and methodologies for a moment.

Radical Transformation

Set aside all our volunteer training and development, as important as that is, for a moment. Can you imagine if your ministry had a “Heather” and an “Aaron”? What about a few? Think how our ministries could be radically transformed with teen leaders like these.

Now let me ask you a more probing question. How much time are you devoting to developing “Heathers” and “Aarons”?

Developing Disciples Through Teens Ministries

When Jesus finished his ministry on earth, his last words were hard to forget: “Go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). How many of us are really doing that? Let me quickly clarify: Discipling a kid doesn’t make that kid a leader. But in the case of Jesus and his disciples, numerous leaders did emerge, including Peter, who became “the rock” on which Jesus built his church. It all started with discipleship.

Our ministry surveyed thousands of youth workers who use the free resources on our website. We asked them how these teens ministries tools have helped them. We asked:

  • Have these resources helped you introduce teens to Jesus?
  • Have these resources helped your teens grow spiritually?

I was amazed how many people didn’t even address those questions. Allow me to explain. This isn’t due to a lack of these kinds of resources on our website. Our front page alone contains an “Outreach Resource of the Week” and “Spiritual Growth Resource of the Week.” The focus of our ministry is helping youth workers make an eternal impact. Our site is content-rich for teens ministries purposes.

Regardless, most youth workers who responded thanked us for the games and skits. The majority didn’t even answer the questions about faith or spiritual growth. Some candid responses were, “Our program is going great. But no, I don’t think I’ve seen much of those two things” (“those two things” being meeting Jesus and growing spiritually).

A Great Program Defined

Think about that statement: “Our program is going great…” I’d be curious to know their definition of great. Does great mean big numbers? Maybe it means large numbers of ice-cream sundaes consumed? Perhaps great means a huge response to the dodgeball tournament? How great are our teens ministries if we “aren’t seeing much” of kids putting their trust in Jesus or growing spiritually?

As our content team reviewed the results, our jaws dropped. We saw it again and again: “Thanks for the games! We use them every week!”

I’m fine with games if they help connect us with kids or break down walls. But what then? I wanted to scream, “What are you doing to make a lasting impact with teenagers?! What are you doing to expose kids to the truth from the Word of God?!” Will playing dodgeball, attending Christian concerts, and participating in icebreakers be the only youth ministry experiences our kids have to lean on when they face the real world? Or are those activities opening doors to something more foundational for their lives?

Yesterday I looked at our web stats. Know what the top two pages were? “Games” and “Skits.” Imagine our disappointment.

If you’re like us, you want to make an eternal impact in the lives of teenagers—not just break the record for the most marshmallows shoved into a kid’s mouth. I don’t think many youth workers would argue against God’s desire for us to “Go and make disciples”! The question is, “Are we really making disciples, or are we just making a lot of root beer floats?”

And we wonder why kids are exiting their faith when they leave high school. What are our teens ministries really focusing on? What’s the desired outcome of our time with kids? How much effort are we really putting into not only discipling, but also developing “Heathers” and “Aarons”?

Teens Ministries: “To” or “By”

Millions of teenagers are apathetic about their faith, and their indifference greatly reveals itself each year when they graduate high school…and exit their faith altogether. It’s a problem every youth worker in every denomination acknowledges. When the Barna Group studied college students who’d attended church as high schoolers, they found that these “twentysomethings” were the most likely age group to drop church attendance.

Once they left their homes, many of them left their faith, too. The faith of many of our church kids could be described as nebulous and apathetic. This may sound critical, but sadly, our church kids don’t look much different from kids who don’t go to church at all.

According to a poll by the Associated Press and MTV, 68 percent of American teenagers agreed with this statement: “I follow my own religious and spiritual beliefs, but I think that other religious beliefs could be true as well.”

That might be expected from today’s pluralistic society. But the Barna Group found that 61 percent of “Christian” teenagers believed if “a person is generally good or does enough good things for others during their life, they’ll earn a place in Heaven.” That whopping 7 percent disparity clearly shows that many teenagers who go to church have a flawed faith.

In the last decade, I’ve seen the trend of youth workers who’ve tried to change this phenomenon with new curriculum and better teaching. But can a new Bible study do the trick? Could it be that today’s teens ministries are too focused on offering ministry TO teenagers instead of developing ministry by teenagers?

Maybe our “entertain me” programming mind-set has lowered the bar for many teens. Come, laugh, sing, listen, pray, exit. What if we raise our expectations just a little? Jim Burns, in his classic book The Youth Builder, forces us to ask a poignant question: “Are we creating spectators of the kingdom or participators and servants for the kingdom?” (The Youth Builder, 2001, Gospel Light, page 136)

What would happen if we gave teenagers opportunities to serve and use their gifts in ministry prior to high school graduation? What if we pour into these young leaders, disciple them, and do ministry alongside of them instead of for them? And what if we ease back on our ministry to teenagers, supplementing it with more ministry by teenagers?

Perhaps then when these kids are on their own and forced to take full ownership of their faith development, they’ll have a strong foundation from which to start. Like parents, our job as youth workers might just be to move kids from a position of dependence on us to dependence on Jesus. This discipleship of our young leaders is a process; it’s not instantaneous.

Consider the time Jesus spent developing his disciples. He poured into them for three years, ministering alongside of them and giving them opportunities to develop their gifts and eventually take leadership roles.

Upon first reading the Gospels, I had my doubts that these guys would amount to anything. On the day of the crucifixion, most of them abandoned Jesus altogether. But 11 went on to start spreading the good news about Jesus, the groundwork for what became “the Way” (Acts 9:2) and eventually the explosion of Christianity.

What would happen if, in the next few years, you poured into a handful of teenagers who, in turn, pour into others? What would happen to your ministry? More importantly, how would it help forge the faith of these kids and prepare them for life after high school? Think of Aaron and Heather.

If the youth pastor needed someone to lead the youth group, he called Aaron! Aaron not only led Bible studies and mission teams, but he also resolved to be a light on his campus when he was “out on his own” at school every day. When Aaron leaves high school, God will continue to use him this way. Aaron’s already decided to own his faith, use his gifts, and serve.

As a middle schooler, Heather not only helped a bunch of friends accept Jesus. She also connected them to God’s people at her church. At college, nothing changed. Heather continued ministering to others. I know because I later invited her to be part of my youth ministry staff. For several years, she again led numerous girls to Jesus, discipling them and connecting them to God’s family.

Aaron and Heather didn’t just receive ministry; they did ministry. And it didn’t happen by accident or by playing dodgeball. Caring adults loved these two kids, discipled them, and gave them opportunities to serve and live out their faith. Soon they grabbed the baton, made their faith their own, and then loved and discipled others along the way.

Turning the Focus to Teens Ministries

How many “Aarons” and “Heathers” are you building right now? If you’re reading this, then you’re most likely in one of three places:

1. You want to develop teen leaders but don’t know how.

For right now that’s okay. Reading this reveals that you care about helping kids grow spiritually and using their gifts. Don’t worry! In Ministry By Teenagers we outline a step-by-step guide of how to build teenage leadership ministry from scratch.

2. You’re trying to build a teenage leadership ministry but are running into opposition(s).

All sorts of problems can arise when you start pursuing the idea of mobilizing and equipping teams of kids to impact their communities for Jesus. Ministry By Teenagers will teach you how to generate momentum and build and maintain a team that works together, as well as sidestep any pitfalls that would stifle an enduring teenage leadership program.

3. You’ve already built a teen leadership ministry but want a few ideas to bolster it.

You already have a few “Aarons” and “Heathers” but want to develop more teen leaders. Maybe you’re looking for a way to garner increased results from your existing teams. Regardless, in Ministry By Teenagers you’ll find tons of ready-made resources, proven strategies, and ideas sprinkled throughout this book that you can immediately implement.

So where do we begin? Try diving into teens ministries, or ministry by teenagers.

If you enjoyed this article from Jonathan McKee, you’ll love his book Ministry By Teenagers: Developing Leaders From Within.

This article was published here.