The good news is that they show up in droves on a weekly basis expecting to be taught, trained, and challenged—and yes, for the pizza. We have an opportunity to not only introduce these young people to Jesus, but to set their hearts ablaze for His mission, “Go and make disciples” (Matt. 28:19).

So, allow me a few moments to share four keys to creating a gospel-sharing culture in your ministry.

 Expand Their Focus

Equipping teenagers starts long before a sermon on the Great Commission. It begins by expanding their focus beyond the walls of the church. Not changing their focus. Expanding it. Every sermon, small group, and event should help to develop both their inward and outward focus.

For many teenagers, church is all about them—their own personal sin, growth, and relationship with Jesus. The focus is mostly, if not completely, inward. But what would happen if we intentionally developed their outward focus with the same priority and passion? I believe we’d see healthy, Spirit-filled teenagers begin to reach their own personal Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and beyond (Acts 1:8).

Practice, Practice, Practice

There are a thousand reasons believers avoid sharing the gospel, and most all of them begin with the words, “what if…?” This is why intentional equipping is so crucial. Football players run the same play over and over in practice. Drama students rehearse lines 107 times. And yet, we often expect teenagers to seek out meaningful gospel conversations in the real world equipped only with a few verses and a powerful challenge at the end of a sermon.

Instead, consider setting some time aside for students to practice with safe people who love them. Preparation matters because people matter, and as believers, we have a responsibility to represent Christ well (2 Cor. 5:20-21). So, create scenarios, assign parts, and let them screw up, say the wrong thing, and become a little more comfortable sharing what they believe. If it goes poorly, rewind and try again. Giving students time to practice gospel conversations is an incredible way to help them overcome their fears and build confidence.

Walk Your Talk

Teenagers crave authenticity. They don’t want to be told what to do but shown by those they admire. Building a gospel-sharing culture starts at the top. Sure, I could easily preach on prayer and challenge my students to pray with a friend this week, but how much more powerful would it be if I joined them or shared a recent example of how I prayed with my neighbor?

Share your victories, missed opportunities, and gospel-sharing blunders. Invite students to grow with you, not just because of you. Linking arms with young people is crucial to creating lasting change in their lives. Much like Paul was to Timothy, be the vulnerable and authentic leader they will follow into a life of evangelism.

Celebrate Conversations, Not Only Conversions

How are we measuring gospel-sharing success? Many people feel the need to “close the deal,” thinking anything less than a prayer of repentance is a failure. But success in evangelism isn’t measured by conversions. It’s measured by faithful gospel conversations.

When a teenager boldly shares their faith only to be harshly rejected, it’s easy for them to feel like a failure and vow never to try again. While we can’t stop negative reactions, we can help our students understand what true success is.

Instead of highlighting only the positive conversations, salvation prayers, and repentant reactions, highlight the faithfulness and boldness of students. Celebrate together when the gospel is proclaimed, no matter the result. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 3:7, our job is not to close the deal, but faithfully plant and water the seed. God changes hearts, not us. Regularly reminding your students of this will help to create a bold gospel-sharing culture.

Helping teenagers grow gracefully in their walk with Christ and seek the lost may seem like a daunting task, but once you begin to see the effects of a gospel-sharing culture—one that strengthens the inward and outward focus, that prioritizes practice, that leads with authentic passion for the lost, and that defines success God’s way—you’ll never see student ministry the same way again.

This is one of the beautiful blessings we get to enjoy here on Earth – the fellowship of believers. Jesus modeled this example perfectly. He always found opportunities to spend time with His disciples. From the last supper (Matt. 26:17-29) to eating breakfast after His resurrection (John 21:1-19), Jesus valued fellowship and was intentional about it. Therefore, when leading a youth ministry, I have adopted the saying from a ministry mentor of mine: “Radical Hospitality.”

Despite exposure to social media, Gen Z (born between 1996 and 2012) is known as the loneliest generation according to the Institute for Family Studies. More than half of Gen Z (56%) has reported to feel lonely at least once a month during their childhood. As students walk in with baggage we are unaware of, how can we show them the same hospitality that Jesus showed His disciples? How can we show our students they are more than just the seat they fill or a check-in statistic through Planning Center? How can we show them they are loved and valued by God and the body of Christ? Our pursuit of radical hospitality to the next generation is modeled through the following practices.

We make them feel at home.

Our church has implemented a mission statement: Connect, Grow, Serve. We first connect people to Christ by showing them that the church  is their home. They are made in the image of God and we show them they can belong with the people of God.  From engaging through sermon illustrations, to shooting hoops after service, we seek to find common interests and provide affirmations on who they are in Christ.

We show them that we care.

There is a saying that I have heard from many experienced youth leaders I look up to: “students don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” If we want a ministry that grows with a hunger for God’s Word, we need to be intentional about the process. As we connect students to Christ, we show them we care by helping them grow in Christ. We do this through small groups and Sunday services. Making sure that we are working in unison with our Senior Pastor (who leads and guides us with vision) and our small group teachers, students are being submerged in God’s Word while also experiencing what the church truly is, God’s family.

One name, one story.

I am absolutely terrible with names – ask anyone – which is why I challenge myself and my team to connect with at least one student every Friday night. We do this by learning their name and their story. One of our students made sure to help me understand the importance of memorizing names by challenging me every Friday what his name is for one month straight. Our students want to be known, they want to be loved, they want to be remembered, and they want to be welcomed. They just want us to make the first move.

Vision Statement: To See Christ Elevated

As we connect our students to Christ and help them grow in Christ, we show them what it means to serve Christ. By doing these things we show our students their value as well as the importance of fellowship. Our mission statement helps us keep our focus on our vision statement: to see Christ elevated. By seeing Christ elevated, we put our focus on connecting, growing, and serving to bring our God glory.

Call Them Out

Scott Pace and Shane Pruitt, in their book “Calling Out the Called,” challenge readers to be proactive in the way that we call out potential leaders in our student ministries. We must not shy away from teaching on not only the universal calling on all believers but also the unique calling for each individual. We all have students sitting in our chairs that God has placed a special calling on. We must provide opportunities for these students to surrender to that call on their lives. Extend that invitation and give them space to wrestle with that call on their lives.

We must also be willing to identify these gifted individuals and speak the truth of God’s calling on their lives over them. If you see potential, tell them! My story of being called into ministry starts long before I surrendered to that call while I was a freshman at Gardner-Webb University.  One of my high school Sunday school teachers, Mr. Berry, would often tell me “Darryl, God has big plans for you and has gifted you with the ability to lead … I pray that you see this and serve Him with these gifts.” I would often laugh him off and just go about my morning. But it was that seed that was planted when I was 16-17 years old that sprouted into something bigger. It was Mr. Berry’s words that came to mind when an invitation to full-time Christian service was laid out before me during a chapel service when I was 19 years old.

Let’s make sure we are doing all that we can to identify and call out those who have the gifting of leadership.

Train Them Up

Once we identify the leaders in our ministry, we must do all that we can to train them up to be used by God for His glory! Guide them; meet with them; disciple them. Do whatever it takes to help them not only to see the gifting that God has given them but also to develop that gifting. Give them opportunities to serve within your ministry; let them teach; let them lead groups; let them stretch their leadership wings. This takes work on our part, but it is absolutely worth the extra effort. Walk with them in this process, and watch God work.

Send Them Out

This last part can be difficult because we are often selfish with our leaders. I don’t know of a single ministry that can say, “You know what … we have plenty of leaders,” so hear me clearly when I say that  we need to have a loose grip on these leaders that we train up. We must be willing to allow them to be trained up by us and go somewhere else to serve. This may be another ministry within your church, on the mission field, or even another church altogether.

My church here in Oviedo has a vision statement that helps me in this understanding of releasing leaders. It goes like this: “To share the Gospel of Jesus wherever we live, work, play, and go so that the sun will not set on the ministry of CrossLife Church.” We have a goal of seeing our church members trained up as leaders and sent out so that our ministry can stretch beyond our church walls and our little corner of the world. At one point in our church’s history, we had a missionary or pastor from our ministry in every time zone around the world. If you train up a leader who is called to the mission field or pastoral ministry and that leader goes somewhere else, don’t mourn the loss of that leader, but celebrate the spread of your ministry’s impact around the world!

Let’s call out the called, train them up, and send them out so that we can see the next generation of leaders spread the Gospel of Jesus to the ends of the earth!

Are you involving visuals?

While carrying out His ministry on earth, Jesus repeatedly used visuals to communicate His message (vine and branches, mustard seed, etc.). Truth that is communicated not only verbally, but also visually, can impact teenagers profoundly. We live in a culture where teenagers communicate a lot through images. Instagram, GIFS, and emojis are evidence of that.

According to the Visual Teaching Alliance (1998), 65% of the population are visual learners. The 3M Corporation has also found that visual aids in the classroom improve learning by up to 400% (3M Corporation, 2001). Another source is John Medina’s book, “Brain Rules,” where he states that audience retention of a text based message drops to only 10% after 3 days – but this increases to 65% with the addition of a strong visual image.

Always ask yourself when delivering a message, “What can they SEE with their EYES and walk away with in their HANDS?”

When we ask this question in preparation to speak, we will always speak to the visual and kinesthetic learners in our ministry. I always try to send my students home with something physical in their hands. For example, I have sent students home with a Go Fish card when talking about being a fisher of men. We can easily send them home with a plastic penny when talking about the lost coin or a Lego piece when talking about building others up with your speech.

Are you involving your team?

Maybe you don’t feel like a creative person or maybe you aren’t personally a visual or kinesthetic learner. That’s okay, involve your Youth Ministry Team!

Creativity takes a team. 

I have found that more minds equal better results.

I always try to meet with my leaders before kicking off in the Fall. When I meet with them, I bring with me the series, along with the texts, I am planning on preaching. I involve my leaders by asking them for their ideas on how we can best incorporate visuals, stage design, photo booths, guest experiences, and tangible aids that they can walk away with. When you take your creativity along with the unique strengths, perspectives, voices, and skills of other people, your collaboration will give you great results.

 Are you involving memorable statements?

Jesus delivered memorable statements, “tweet-able statements” if you will. A famous example is Luke 6:31, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” One pastor has said, “Memorable is portable.”

Have you ever noticed how easily students remember lyrics to a song? Maybe you’re the same way. Most of the time they’re memorable because they rhyme. Other times, it’s memorable because it’s simple.

If you want to make it memorable, keep it simple. 

Can your students sum up your message in one statement? 

If they remember your statement, they will carry it with them wherever they go. 

Are you encouraging note-taking?

I have found that when I reward note-taking, I not only am helping them recall the message but I’m also helping them pay attention during the service.

What gets rewarded gets repeated. When students take notes, I have them post a picture or screenshot of their notes to their Instagram story and tag our Youth Ministry Instagram account. The next week, we will randomly choose one of them to walk away with a Starbucks gift card. We have also partnered with a local fast food place that rewards our students with a free cookie or ice cream when they show up that Wednesday night with their notes.

Lastly, and most importantly, we strive to model our methods after Jesus. When we study Jesus, how he communicated, how he led others, we will be effective in communicating His word to the next generation. 

• Make the Gospel a priority

This may seem like a no-brainer, but with the added logistical concerns this summer, there may be a tendency to make sharing the Gospel something we add-on. Sharing the Gospel and helping people grow in their walk with Jesus is the reason the local church exists. Make sure to communicate the Gospel truth this summer. It will be a win to get students back, but make sure you intentionally share the Gospel.

• Build and re-establish relationships with students

Normally going off to camp or the added time at VBS gives you time to build relationships with students and kids. This summer you may be focused more on cleaning surfaces, checking temperatures, or keeping people 6 feet apart. Take the time to engage with those in your ministry and re-establish relationships with them. There is a good chance that you have not seen some of them in a few months.

• Evaluate volunteer structure

Recruiting is a never-ending task in the life of those leading next generation ministry areas. This summer may provide new on-ramps for potential volunteers. Keep in mind that some volunteers may not return to work with kids and students, so recruiting new volunteers for the fall may be a necessity.

• Have fun!

COVID-19 has added more stress to gathering next generation ministry areas in our churches. Make sure you take the time to have fun! VBS, summer camps, and other events in the summer are usually the highlight of our year in next gen ministry. Have fun!

A simple, yet effective opportunity for rallying leaders around connecting with children and students lies in old fashioned home visits. That’s right, the day of home visitation returns! This time the format shifts from entering the home to an appropriately distanced “howdy” outside of the home.

Our Next Generation Ministry team at FBC Plant City recently did this and were blessed as a result. Our simple game plan focused on snacks, drinks, and a time to connect.

• First, input your student names and addresses into an Excel sheet, and then drop them into Google Maps. Seriously, it’s easier than you think, just Google it. If you hate the sound of doing that, find whatever will work best for your context.
• Next, break your volunteer team (married couples work well, or pairs visiting together) up into homes nearest their own home using your Google Map layout. We found that 10-15 homes per team seemed like a sweet spot taking roughly 3-4 hours to cover, depending on your level of talkers in the group.
• Finally, find a gathering spot to divvy out snack boxes and drink coolers to each delivery team. We gave each student at home a choice of something sweet and something salty, followed by a Coke, Sprite, or water.

Off they went to connect face-to-face with students all around the Plant City area. (Yes, they each had masks and gloves that were changed for each visit.) One recommendation would be a general social media post of some sort to let parents know that volunteers would be calling them about a snack delivery. Volunteers called the day the visit was planned to make sure students would be home and that parents were ok with someone dropping by the house.

The snacks and drinks were a nice gesture, but the real blessing for our leaders came from those face-to-face conversations and opportunities for prayer at each home. While our ministries will continue to exercise creativity in connecting through the digital world, we must start to seek out opportunities for in person connections as well. A 10 minute visit may vastly improve a student’s mental health during this time.

Proverbs 27:9 says, “A sweet friendship refreshes the soul and awaken our hearts with joy, for good friends are like the anointing oil that yields the fragrant incense of God’s presence.” I encourage you to find out what it takes to love your people well during this season.

Each region of Florida may have different guidelines, but all of our churches will be processing how they return to worship and ministry programs. Reaching pre-school, elementary, middle and high school students are a vital element to our churches.

Please refer to this COVID-19 Guide to Re-Gathering Next Gen Ministries as well as the resources available at www.flbaptist.org to assist you.

People often ask me how I feel about invitations for student ministry events. After serving as a youth leader, youth pastor, and guest preacher – I have a few observations concerning responses during student ministry worship services.

• The Gospel calls for a response

Upon hearing the Gospel message at Pentecost, those in attendance asked Peter in Acts 2:37 –  “what should we do now?”  Peter responded by encouraging them to repent and believe. The Gospel is powerful and calls for a response. Whether you offer a public invitation at the end of every message or have leaders available to walk through decisions in small groups, be sure to communicate the call of a response to the Gospel and explain clearly what their next steps should be in sharing their response to surrendering to Jesus.

• Provide multiple opportunities for response

Not all students are going to respond in a worship setting to the Gospel. However, they may be willing to respond in a small group setting or talking to a small group leader. Provide multiple opportunities for students to respond to the Gospel. Train your small group leaders to walk through the Gospel decisions students are working through. Communicate well with students of the opportunities to respond.

• Follow-up on responses

Following up with decisions is critical. In a camp or D-now setting, emotional decisions may happen. Connect with the students and their families that have made decisions to trust in Jesus. Walk through next steps with the student and parents. Offering a class for new believers several times a year can help establish a culture of expectancy for salvations.  Set up a visit with the student’s family, which provides an opportunity to share the Gospel with the family and to explain baptism.

Disciple now, retreats, and camps provide a great opportunity to see students surrender their life to Jesus. The Gospel is powerful and effective. Provide opportunities for students to respond to the Gospel call on their lives.

• Plant 75 churches per year
• Revitalize 100 churches per year
• 30,000 baptisms per year
• 12,000 mission engagements per year
• $33 million in Cooperative Program giving per year
• $1 million given to the Maguire State Mission Offering per year

Here are a few ways that kid, student and college ministries can be involved in this challenge:

• Church planting and revitalization

Our future pastors and church leaders are in the next generation ministry areas. Continually keep the vision in front of them by sharing that God may call them. Encourage them by sharing the Biblical examples of those God calls to ministry and to have a willing heart to say, “Here I am, send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

• Baptism

Study after study indicates that the ministry areas of those under the age of 25 produce the most salvations. Make sure that those in kid, student and college ministries are always welcome to speak to someone about salvation.

• Mission engagements

Next gen ministries are leading the way when it comes to mission engagements. From mission trips to local service projects, young people are sharing the Gospel. Continue to educate them on mission. From small group Bible studies to worship gatherings, continually challenge them to be on mission for the Gospel. Check out IMB.org/students and namb.net/gensend.

• Stewardship

It is never too early to teach someone about missions giving. It is a Biblical stewardship issue. Encourage kids and students to be on mission through tithing and sacrifice to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Kid, student and college ministries are leading the way in the elements of this challenge. I would love to hear how you are currently helping Florida Baptists reach the Challenge 2025 goals. Email me at byoung@flbaptist.org and let me know your plans.

Make the Gospel a priority

This may seem like a no-brainer, but with the logistics that takes place in our summer programming there is a tendency to make sharing the Gospel something we add-on. Sharing the Gospel and helping people grow in their walk with Jesus is the reason the local church exists. Make sure that you share Christ in all summer programming.

Build relationships with students

Take advantage of time at camp, transitioning from mission to recreation time at VBS, and sitting down for meals on trips to engage with students that you have not connected with yet.  Summer programming brings new students into your ministry.  Find a way to get to know something about them in order to connect them with the life of your church.

Provide an on-ramp for new volunteers

Recruiting is a never-ending task in the life of those leading next generation ministry areas. The summer can provide new on-ramps for potential volunteers. From chaperones to camp and recreation leaders at VBS, the summer can provide opportunities for you to evaluate adult leaders and see if they would be a fit in your ministry.

Have Fun!

The summer is a busy time for kid and student ministry leaders, and many of them look forward to the first day of school so they can get some rest. With all that takes place, make sure to have fun!