I’m not saying these things to be Negative Ned. Instead, we must get ahead of where high school youth group is heading so it doesn’t die off.
Many youth ministers face an uphill battle because their church is steeped in tradition. Leaders often don’t like change. If that’s the case with your congregation, pray hard for church leaders. Then take these four steps:
4 Steps for Transforming High School Youth Group
1. Evaluate
What differences do you see in your youth group now vs. in the past (both positive and negative)? What are your student ministry’s strengths and weaknesses?
2. Plan
Study youth culture. Study your evaluation. Work with volunteers to develop a strategy for effective ministry. Then tweak the plan along the way. Your volunteers need to be on board, and their input is valuable to your program’s success.
3. Cast the Vision
Take your evaluation, your plan, and your volunteers. Then sit down with church leadership. Explain the changes in students today and how the leaders can help you make necessary adjustments. Next, cast the vision to parents, then to students.
4. Implement
Finally, it’s time to set a goal date to implement the plan. Because the changes are new, they’ll take time to feel normal. Don’t scrap the plan after a few weeks. Give it time to take root and grow.
LeaderTreks has a great tool called the “Intentional Youth Ministry Assessment.” Their Reset option also was a game-changer for me. The coaching I received helped me wrap my mind around what needed changing and move in the right direction. So consider some assessments and coaching along the way.
The Future of High School Youth Group
If high school youth group is no longer meeting a social need, we need to consider. “Can we even compete with technology in this area?”
