Questions
WHY INCLUDE THE "MOST ASKED QUESTIONS"?
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF “JESUS-FOCUSED YOUTH MINISTRY”?
Barry crisscrossed America training youth leaders in Jesus-Focused Youth Ministry during the 1970s and 80s, as well as helping to launch and lead the National Network of Youth Ministries. In 1985, after a trip behind the Iron Curtain, the Lord spoke to him clearly “I want you to train youth leaders around the world”. That led to extending Jesus-Focused Youth Ministry training first to Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia. By 2000 the doors opened to train youth leaders across Africa. Amazingly, the Lord has sustained this abiding in Christ, fruit-bearing ministry (John 15:5), that now spans 30+ countries with Jesus-Focused Youth Ministry resources translated into 18 languages, and over 100,000 youth leaders trained.
The next step on this journey begins with what you are about to engage in now—Jesus-Focused Youth Ministry ONLINE!
WHAT FUTURE OUTCOMES CAN YOU EXPECT ONCE YOU HAVE COMPLETED JESUS-FOCUSED YOUTH MINISTRY ONLINE?
When you follow through on your Plans of Action to implement each principle of Jesus-Focused Youth Ministry in your personal life, family and ministry, you will begin to see your ministry multiply. As you invest your life in others and equip them to do the same, your influence will expand exponentially. A few examples from my investments:
- Two of my children pastor churches.
- Josh, one teenager in a discipleship group with me spent three years in Slovakia with our ministry reaching and discipling students, and now he leads the dynamic, disciple-making Prince Avenue Baptist Church invested in missions around the world—and he is my pastor.
- Foley is the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America and has led the world Anglican Fellowship.
- Lee was in my very first discipleship group, and now he leads The Mordecai Project, discipling more people around the world than I could ever hope to disciple.
- Kurt was a brand new Christian when I had the opportunity to invest in his life, and later he traveled and worked with me two summers. Now he is the President of East-West Ministries International and my boss!
HOW DO YOU READ, DOWNLOAD AND/OR PRINT THE RESOURCES?U EXPECT ONCE YOU HAVE COMPLETED JESUS-FOCUSED YOUTH MINISTRY ONLINE?
HOW CAN YOU “FILL IN THE BLANKS” OF A RESOURCE?
1. Record your answers on paper or in a document on your computer or phone.
2. You can also print the entire book or a specific pages and write there.
3. You can also have a paid PDF Reader (i.e Adobe Acrobat or Foxit Reader) and have numerous options for writing in the resources.
WHAT WILL YOU DISCOVER IN SESSION 1?
HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M FORGIVEN?
Often, the problem is that we struggle to forgive ourselves. We confess the sin but hold on to the guilt. When Jesus died on the cross, He died not only for the sin but also for the guilt. We need to let go of our sin and our guilt so that “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).
HOW DO I ASK SOMEONE TO FORGIVE ME, AND HOW DO I FORGIVE SOMEONE?
Take these significant, but sometimes hard to do, steps.
Ask Forgiveness
The Bible says as much about forgiving others as it says about God forgiving us. Without giving and receiving forgiveness, we not only stifle our relationship with God but also our relationships with other people. To ask forgiveness from another person, follow Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 5:23-24.
- Remember. Does your brother have something against you? Ask the Lord and He will show you anyone with whom you have a broken relationship.
- Reconcile. In an attitude of humility and repentance, go to the other person and ask forgiveness. I have found it very important to express a request for forgiveness properly. It is not appropriate to say, “I’m sorry” or “If I was wrong.…” Simply say, “I was wrong.” Specifically tell what you did wrong. Then say, “Will you forgive me?” That gives the other person something concrete to which he or she can respond.
Offer Forgiveness
To forgive a person who has wronged you, follow Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 7:3-5 and 18:15-18. When someone has hurt you, make sure that you deal with the frustration, anger, and bitterness in you first. Ask God to help you “take the plank out of your own eye” by offering forgiveness to the other person. To do that, put an empty chair across from your chair, and imagine that person sitting in the chair. Express all of your hurt to that person. Then offer forgiveness by saying, “I forgive you for .” Then, when you go to that person to talk about the issue, you can go with the love of Christ flowing from you because the issue is already resolved in your heart.
Giving and receiving forgiveness is no small thing. For some, it will be the hardest and most difficult action we have to take. Yet, God gave us His forgiveness in Jesus. Since He forgives us, we have the amazing opportunity not only to offer forgiveness to others but also to receive it from them.
HOW DO I CHANGE WRONG BEHAVIOR IN MY LIFE?
We cannot change ourselves; only God changes us. Why is this so hard for us to learn? Galatians 2:20-21 points us in the right direction for how to view our behavior. Verse 21 shows us what we often do to change our behavior. We “set aside the grace of God” because we think we can handle the situation ourselves. But when we do that, we essentially say to God: “Christ died for nothing” (v. 21). The key to changing behavior is “the grace of God.” Defined, it is “God’s supernatural ability in you through the cross and the resurrection.” Practically, Galatians 2:20 applies here. To change our behavior, we accept two significant truths:
- When Christ died, I died. “I have been crucified with Christ.”
- When Christ rose, I rose. Through the resurrection of Christ from the dead and the release of His Spirit, now “Christ lives in me.”
We have Christ Himself by His Spirit living in us. So now, how do we live our lives? “By faith in the Son of God.” We put our trust in God’s promise: “I am dead, so I can’t change anything. But Christ lives in me, so He can change everything.”
Jesus makes us “righteous” (rightly related to Him), so we can behave “right”!
WHAT IF I CAN’T SOLVE A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM IN MY LIFE?
WHAT PRACTICAL STEPS CAN I TAKE TO GET TO KNOW GOD BETTER?
Intimacy with Christ is our ultimate goal. Our inner life wells up from the spring of Living Water (John 4:13-14), which is Christ. All that we do flows out of who we are. For that reason, we must focus on Jesus and who He is in us.
Practice living in God’s presence moment by moment. One way to do this is through “spiritual breathing.” Just as we stay alive physically by breathing (exhale and inhale), we continually refresh our relationship with Christ by breathing spiritually. We confess our sin (exhale), according to the promise of 1 John 1:9, and release the Holy Spirit in us (inhale), according to Ephesians 5:18. Practicing “spiritual breathing” often during the day keeps us aware that we are in God’s presence.
These disciplines and habits will help us to know Jesus and to let His life flow into, through, and out of us.
- Spend time alone with God every day for at least 30 minutes.
- Continue to follow through on your Prayer Triplet strategy in the Pray with Passion session.
- Memorize Scripture. Doing this causes you to think God’s thoughts. Begin by memorizing one verse a week and then increase that as you get into the habit of memorizing verses.
- Pray the verses you memorize back to God.
- Set aside a half day or full day for prayer and fasting.
- Read inspirational books that focus on your relationship to Christ, particularly devotional classics like My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Carry a book with you all the time, setting a goal of reading one chapter a day.
WHAT IS THE “PRAY WITH PASSION” GOAL AND STRATEGY?
Read the next questions to discover how to implement the “Prayer Triplet” Goal and Strategy.
WHAT RESOURCES WILL GIVE YOU EXCELLENT TOOLS TO IMPLEMENT THE “PRAY WITH PASSION” GOAL AND STRATEGY?
Use the first two resources to fully implement the “Prayer Triplet” Strategy, and enjoy the other resource for a fun interactive interview on how “Prayer Triplets” work.
An Awesome Way to Pray—Leader’s Guide
WHAT BENEFITS WILL RESULT FROM IMPLEMENTING THE “PRAY WITH PASSION” STRATEGY?
Pursuing the “Pray with Passion” goal and strategy will result in students becoming more compassionate, intentional, and persistent about:
- Following Jesus wholeheartedly
- Loving their friends unconditionally
- Living out their faith genuinely, and
- Telling their Jesus story boldly.
As a result, you and your students will reap these benefits:
- Moving students from inconsistent to consistent prayer
- Activating an intentional expression of a Christian’s love for their friends
- Sensitizing students to share the gospel in a way that connects with their friends
- Encouraging students to take relational risks
- Multiplying the influence of your youth ministry in six months
WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL OF “PRAYER TRIPLETS” AT SCHOOL?
When Ana was 15 years old she heard about “Prayer Triplets” as a way for students to pray together for their friends at school who did not follow Jesus. She asked God to provide two friends to form a prayer triplet, and her two friends responded positively. They began to pray three times every week, with each one praying for three friends who needed Jesus. As well, they asked God to allow EVERYONE at their school to hear about the good news of Jesus and to have the opportunity to know Christ personally—a big prayer! Within one month Ana and her friends saw God begin to wonderfully answer their prayers with an unexpected school gathering of the student body where a Christian leader shared about the new life Jesus Christ can give. The whole school heard that good news, and several students opened their hearts to Jesus.
During the course of the school year, Ana’s youth leader continued to encourage Prayer Triplets by scheduling time to pray during their Wednesday night gatherings. Those in Prayer Triplets shared answers to their prayers as well as their disappointments in not seeing more and faster results from their prayers for their friends. Ana’s Prayer Triplet and the others continued to consistently pray for their friends, even when they felt like stopping. Their perseverance over the course of the school year resulted in many other significant answers to their prayers, including several of their friends deciding to follow Jesus. One of Ana’s friends who made that decision started a Prayer Triplet and joined a discipleship group! The “Prayer Triplets” created a change of focus in the students’ lives and increased energy and momentum in their youth group.
That began Ana’s ongoing prayer triplet story. What will your story and your students’ stories be? What will the Lord do when you mobilize your students to pray in “Prayer Triplets”?
HOW DO YOUR STUDENTS BEGIN THEIR “PRAYER TRIPLET” STRATEGY?
Simply give your students this challenge:
3 friends will agree to meet together, to encourage each other, and to hold each other accountable to pray. That’s a great start!
…meet 3 times a week to pray…The three friends will arrange their schedule and decide when they will meet – before school, after school, free time, at night, on the weekend, on the phone or virtually, allowing plenty of time to pray.
…and pray for 3 friends who need Christ. Decide who the three friends are, and then pray for those 3 friends every time they meet to pray…asking God how He wants to use them to share God’s love with their friends.
Get them started by printing cards that your students prayerfully fill out and then begin to pray.
Right click on “My Prayer Triplet” to save it.
HOW DO I RECRUIT QUALITY ADULT LEADERS?
Most lay people feel very inadequate to lead, especially in youth ministry. Often, they feel intimidated. When recruiting, it is important to address people’s fears. Let them know that you are not looking for people who are already trained and skilled to work with students; rather, you are looking for people who have the potential for leadership and the desire to learn. You are looking for FAT people – Faithful, Available, and Teachable. Let them know that you are going to equip them for youth ministry.
The best approach in recruiting leaders is to approach each person individually. Tell them, “I’m beginning a Leadership Team for youth ministry. We’ll gather regularly to grow in our relationship with Christ and each other, and to learn how to meet the needs of students the way Jesus met needs. Would you pray about joining me?” Emphasize that this is not a meeting to talk about the youth ministry, but rather a time to nurture them in their personal and ministry growth. Check back with them in a few days to find out their response.
NOTE: Parents have the greatest potential as volunteers because of their vested interest in their own children. Focus on recruiting parents as you build your Leadership Team.
DO I REQUIRE ALL OF MY ADULT LEADERS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE LEADERSHIP TEAM?
Not at first. At the beginning, you are looking only for people who are motivated—those who really desire to participate. They will establish the environment for the entire ministry. If you have people on your Leadership Team who are not motivated, they will bring down the level of enthusiasm for the rest of the group. This will filter through the entire ministry. But if you have motivated people, they will set a positive pace for the students.
As you recruit more leaders, you’ll need to continue to recruit the motivated ones. In time, all of your leaders will be motivated and trained. At that point, people will feel that participating in the Leadership Team is a privilege more than a requirement.
CAN NEW PEOPLE JOIN AFTER WE START THE LEADERSHIP TEAM?
If you make the announcement about the Leadership Team to the entire church and hold a vision retreat and/or a preliminary meeting, then rarely will someone want to join after the group begins. After the first or second session, close the group. After that, if people do want to join the Leadership Team because they are catching the enthusiasm of the group, ask them to wait until the end of the first 12 weeks. In the meantime, pair them with someone in the group so they can engage in building relationships with students and participate in activities. At that time, recruit again and take another group through A Personal Walk with Jesus Christ. You can do this repeatedly to grow the number of leaders.
To keep a sense of the larger team moving in the same direction, meet with all the leaders in one location. Then during your session, you can place them in smaller group settings. Have everyone meet together in a large group for a few minutes each week to cover general announcements and overall direction; then break into small Leadership Team groups. Train your more mature leaders to lead a new group.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF SOMEONE DOESN’T FOLLOW THROUGH ON HIS OR HER COMMITMENT TO THE LEADERSHIP TEAM?
The way to mostly eliminate this problem is to clearly present the vision and direction up front. You can do this most effectively by recruiting people individually instead of in a group. Then, by thoroughly describing the personal commitment (found on page 11 of each of the three books in the Building Leaders Series), each person will know exactly what is involved.
If someone in the group is struggling or if the group as a whole is struggling, be honest. Outside of the group, ask that person what the problem is. Often, individuals are dealing with an issue in their personal lives that has caused them to lose enthusiasm or focus. Help them with the problem. Maybe someone has gotten in a spiritual rut. Help him or her determine what the issues are and how to get back on track. Maybe he or she got into the group and then realized that working with students is not for them. Let them drop out. Usually when people are not doing the assignments, it has very little to do with the assignments. The issue is often personal. As the leader, help the developing leader work through it. Your personal involvement in their lives can provide the support they need to get “over the hump” so that they can move on. You might offer them the free, downloadable book A Personal Walk with Jesus Christ which covers several valuable topics on personal and spiritual matters.
WHAT IF A VOLUNTEER DOESN’T WORK WELL WITH STUDENTS?
If a person is called to youth ministry and he or she volunteers, then find a place for that person to minister. In the context of the Leadership Team, you will have the opportunity to observe the person, his or her calling, spiritual gifts, skills, and relational abilities. Find the place that he or she can help the most. It may be that the person is misplaced. Maybe he is teaching when what he really likes is video production. Put him in a place where he can use his abilities the best. If the volunteer is a “fish out of water” when it comes to kids, gently guide him or her to get involved in another area of the church besides youth ministry.
If the problem is attitude, that is a different matter. Sometimes people try to play a power game or manipulate you. In that case, talk to your church leadership about it and then confront the person biblically.
In sum, your job is to help each person find his or her proper place in the body of Christ.
WHO SHOULD LEAD A DISCIPLESHIP GROUP?
How you answer this question will significantly affect the motivation and depth of your ministry to your students. Answer it carefully in light of the uniqueness of your situation. Let the following practical ideas guide you.
Establish in your mind that the people on your Leadership Team are the ones who need to lead the groups. That makes sense because your leaders are experiencing a “discipleship group” in the Leadership Team meeting. They are the ones who will know how to create the right environment for growth.
Don’t insist that all the people on the Leadership Team lead a discipleship group. That may not be their calling in the youth ministry. You can encourage everyone to lead a group but then only give a group to those who are interested and qualified.
Begin small. Start with one or two groups—maybe one group for guys and one for girls. You lead one of the groups to set the pace for the Leadership Team later. Doing this will give you some time and experience that will help you to decide how you want to structure your discipleship ministry to involve larger numbers of students. If time allows, lead a discipleship group and a Leadership Team on a parallel time frame.
Continue to develop leaders for present and future discipleship groups. As people go through the Leadership Team process, encourage them to disciple students. Give them a group and get them started. Using this approach, you will develop an ever-widening number of adult leaders and student leaders who are maturing in Christ and who can lead others. These discipled adults and students will serve as your core. Later, your maturing students will disciple younger students.
Two helpful hints:
- Parents are your #1 youth leaders. Build your strategy for discipling your students around your involved parents. Equip your parents to disciple their own children and their children’s friends. Parent Fuel will give you the training and resources you need to involve parents in discipleship.
- Another great option is to begin a Leadership Team for college students. Once this team is established, challenge them to lead a discipleship group.
HOW DO I CHALLENGE STUDENTS TO BECOME PART OF A DISCIPLESHIP GROUP?
Ideal candidates for discipleship are students hungry for Jesus. You will find that some of the most unlikely kids will respond. Often their desire to know Jesus gets covered over by their demeanor or behavior. It is true that most of them will not be mature, but that is why they are in the group—to mature in Christ. Accept them right where they are and take them where they need to be. That begins with challenging each one to become a part of a discipleship group.
Consider these important points in your challenge:
- Throw out the opportunity to the whole youth group; then follow up with individual appointments. Some kids that you think have potential may not have responded to the public challenge. Go to them individually and challenge them.
- Set up a personal face-to-face meeting with each student. Lay out the commitment by going over the Personal Commitment on page 11 in Following Jesus.
- Tell about the benefits of being discipled and give them some examples from your own life or from other kids’ lives who have been discipled.
- Go over the page 11 commitment again in your first group meeting and at any other preliminary meetings to reinforce the seriousness of this commitment. Ask each person individually if he or she understands what’s involved.
- Sign up for the group by passing around a printed copy of the Personal Commitment on page 11 of Following Jesus. (Also, that is on page 11 of each of the other Moving Toward Maturity books). Print the signed copy and hand it out at the next meeting. This will continue to remind students of their commitment as well as build in accountability. If you have a middle school group, also have the parents sign the Personal Commitment sheet since, most likely, they will drive their children to the group meeting.
WHAT IF STUDENTS DON’T DO THE ASSIGNMENTS?
If you follow the proper steps to challenge students, most of this issue will be resolved before you begin. (See the previous question.) But if not, you can motivate students in other ways. The effectiveness of these approaches will depend on the personal relationship you have with the students. It’s amazing how the time you spend with them outside the group will directly affect their motivation to be involved in the group and to do the assignments.
You can use these practical approaches to encourage your students to complete their assignments.
- Call them each week. Make the call two or three days before the meeting. Ask how they are doing and tell them with enthusiasm what the group will cover this week. Remind them of their assignments; then pray for them over the phone. This will build your relationship with them, and remind them of what you expect.
- Set up a buddy system of accountability. They are responsible to help each other get their work done. A more highly motivated student can help one who is less motivated.
- Do assignments together. If a particular student is floundering, meet with him/her yourself and do the assignments together.
- Talk openly if the whole group is struggling. Be honest about why they are struggling. Find the solutions together. Whatever you do, stick with them. Don’t give them the idea that you will quit on them because they are not doing the assignments.
- Put what they are learning into practice. Students are often under-challenged. What they may need is a place to put what they are learning into action. Do things like getting them to introduce you to their friends. Take them with you to share Christ with one of their friends. Go to a juvenile detention center after the group meeting to connect them to how some students live. Show them what sharing Christ and what ministry in the wider world looks like.
Whatever you do, reinforce the idea that following Jesus is not boring!
CAN GUYS AND GIRLS BE PLACED IN THE SAME GROUP?
Not unless it is absolutely necessary. Over the years, we have found it better to keep them separate. It has nothing to do with legalism. The Bible gives us direction on this point when it tells us that the older men teach the younger men and the older women teach the younger women (see Titus 2:1-8).
Two other sound reasons guide this decision:
- When guys and girls are together, people sign up for the discipleship group motivated by a desire to be with a boyfriend/girlfriend instead of a desire to know Jesus better.
- Issues are brought up in discipleship groups that kids want to discuss—very personal issues. In a mixed group, it is difficult to discuss these issues. Separate groups allow for deeper and more honest discussion.
MY STUDENTS HAVE HAD THE BASICS, SO CAN I SKIP SOME OF THE BOOKS IN THE MOVING TOWARD MATURITY SERIES? DO I REALLY NEED TO DO THE BOOKS IN ORDER?
Youth leaders often think their students know much more than they do or think they are more mature than they are. Even if your students have been over the basic material, that does not necessarily mean they are putting it into practice. Moreover, it is important not to skip any of the books because, down the road, you will challenge your older students to become disciple-makers of the younger students. If they have not gone through the material, they won’t know how to lead the group.
It is best to do the books in order because they were written progressively, moving kids through a process from salvation in Following Jesus to having the skills to minister to others in Influencing Your World. If, however, you have a particular reason to do so, you can switch them around. For example, if you have an upcoming mission trip and want to teach your kids to share their faith, then you can use Giving Away Your Faith —even though it may not be the next book in the series.
WHAT IS CAMPUS CONNECTIONS?
Campus Connections is “A Field Guide to Campus Ministry.” It will answer all of your questions about how to gain access to a campus and what to do once you go there.
Chech the link for more details: https://www.campusconnections.info/
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED TO OUTSIDERS?
All over the world, the word is out that it is almost impossible to get on school campuses. The truth is that if you have the right approach, hardly any school will keep you off the campus. Often, youth leaders use this as an excuse not to go on the campus. The youth ministry vision, properly conceived, will express a desire to establish a ministry on every campus in your community.
To break down the walls at a closed campus:
- Pray and pray some more. More than any one point of action, this is most important. Over the years, many campuses which were closed have opened because of prayer. Persistent prayer will make the difference. Use the “Prayer Triplet” strategy with your students on their campuses.
- Show up at public events at the school.
- Meet the principal and develop and cultivate this critical relationship.
- Serve a need. Discover a place where the school needs help and mobilize your resources to meet that need.
- Team up with other churches and campus organizations. Often, another youth ministry or organization is already on the campus. If not, then consider starting one. That may give you access to the campus when you experience difficulty getting on it by yourself.
HOW CAN I GET THE LEADERSHIP TEAM INVOLVED ON THE CAMPUS?
You will have some people on your Leadership Team who will get excited about going to the campus, and others who will tremble with fear. Either way, all need to get involved with kids outside of the church in some way—even if they have only one hour a week to give.
Take the ones who have the most enthusiasm for this and plug them into the campus ministry with you in order to train them. Once they are trained, help them get set up to establish a ministry on another campus.
One of the best resources for campus ministry is college students due to their age proximity to high school students as well as their free time. Once you’ve identified college students who are interested, organize them into campus teams to build relationships with kids on every campus in your community.
An entire chapter is devoted to this question in Campus Connections.
WHAT RIGHTS DO I HAVE ON THE CAMPUS?
None. Nyet. Nada. Students have numerous rights and teachers have limited rights. If you are the parent of a student, then you have the same rights as other parents. But as a local church youth leader, you have no rights at all. For that reason, it is very significant to predetermine your approach to the campus by deciding to take the “we want to serve you” route rather than the “we have the right to be here” route.
Rather than going to the school and asking for time for a Bible study, a club, or opportunities to speak in a classroom, build relationships with the principal, coaches, and faculty. Then decide how you can serve the needs of the school. This will give you a long-term, positive relationship with the school that will allow you to minister to the students there for years to come.
WHAT IF I HAVE MORE THAN ONE CAMPUS IN MY AREA?
The more the better! The more campuses in your area, the more potential your ministry has for reaching more students. Think of multiple campuses as a positive, not a negative.
Using the positive approach, what are you going to do to reach multiple campuses?
- Establish an effective ministry on one campus. You take the lead in doing that, and then invite others in your church and other churches to join you.
- View that campus as a training ground to train your Leadership Team, demonstrating for them how to relate to students on campus and reach them for Christ.
- Develop campus teams particularly utilizing college students and your Leadership Team. Help them see the campus as their ministry.
- Begin a ministry on another campus only when you have your campus ministry leadership trained to do it effectively.
- Mobilize your Christian students to influence their friends for Christ.
- Network with other campus Christian organizations and other churches and denominations to make sure that every student on every campus in your community has an opportunity to trust and follow Jesus.
The Campus Connections resource will give you the tools you need to accomplish these objectives.
WHAT IF MY CHURCH WON’T LET ME GO ON CAMPUS?
Answering this question is tricky because so many dynamics exist that could cause your pastor or leadership to discourage campus ministry. Assuming that no one is on a power trip or that no conflict exists between you and your church’s leadership, you need to discover the reason they don’t want you to go. They may know something you don’t know about the situation. Maybe God is using them because the timing is not right.
However, if you discover a difference in philosophy and vision that relates to the fact that your authorities are not interested in reaching kids for Christ or in having “those kinds of kids in our church,” then you have a serious problem. You can try to solve the problem in these ways…
- Pray for God’s wisdom and direction.
- Make sure your church leadership understands your vision—whether they agree with it or not. Put your campus ministry vision in writing. Use Campus Connections as a resource for yourself and to share with them.
- Appeal to your church leaders regarding this issue. They may not understand that your purpose is to share Jesus with students in the students’ context. Ask them to reconsider.
- Realize that unless two are agreed, they cannot walk together (Amos 3:3). You can only go on so long if the leadership does not want you to fulfill Jesus’ mandate to “go and make disciples.” At that point, you will need to consider moving on to another ministry. Hopefully, along the way, you can communicate with them that your heart is to pursue every student in every school for Jesus Christ. Once you have done all you can do, ask the Lord to give you the opportunity to pursue that vision elsewhere.
WHAT IF WE DON’T HAVE THE TALENT, MONEY, OR PEOPLE TO CREATE OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES?
Just as Jesus multiplied the five loaves and two fish, if you offer what you have to God in faith, He will multiply it and produce something far beyond what you can imagine. Pursue the following steps of action and ask God to multiply your resources.
- Pray often and hard for needed resources.
- Prepare yourself and your team for an outreach opportunity. (See the next question for suggestions.)
- Recruit people on your Leadership Team to work with you. Some may want to focus specifically on outreach opportunities.
- Network with others to conduct an outreach. Many resources exist in your church or community as well as in other churches.
- Cost does not need to limit your outreach effectiveness
When each of your core leaders and students, especially those in discipleship groups, own all or part of an outreach, then students will bring their friends, and Jesus can be presented at minimal cost.
WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR ME TO PREPARE TO CONDUCT A QUALITY, CREATIVE OUTREACH OPPORTUNITY?
This question has such importance that answering it took the first 76 pages of The Magnet Effect ! This book shows you how to…
- Develop the mission statement for your ministry;
- Lay out a biblical strategy for youth ministry;
- Break down kids’ resistance to the gospel through prayer;
- Get your church leadership, your Leadership Team, and your core students behind you.
Even though this process may take longer than you want, it is worth the wait to make your outreach approach effective in reaching kids. Remember that you are not going for short-term fluff but for long-term fruit.
HOW DO I GET NON-CHRISTIAN STUDENTS TO COME?
If you expect nonbelievers to come to your events more than once, then you have to create an environment that is void of “Christianese” and relevant to the needs of secular students. That means presenting Jesus by creating a compelling presentation with excellence. The Magnet Effect guides you through the process of how to do that.
The church that focuses on reaching non-Christian students will exponentially expand their influence on this generation. The church that does not will be left in the dust. It is very important to have a relationship with non-Christian students in order to draw them to an outreach event. Therefore, connecting with the campus through your leaders and students becomes crucial to the success of the outreach…and ultimately to the success of your ministry.
Students may be drawn by the glitz of a flashy upfront presentation, but most often they will come because a friend brings them. They will not come by accident. Your leadership and students must have a high level of motivation to bring students they know. When that happens, you will have non-Christians attend … and some will leave having opened their hearts to Jesus!
DO I NEED TO DO AN OUTREACH EVENT EVERY WEEK?
IS IT BEST TO HAVE THE OUTREACH EVENT AT OUR CHURCH OR AT A NEUTRAL SITE?
The rule of thumb is that you do everything you can to tear down as many barriers as you can that keep students from being attracted to Jesus. With that in mind, look at your facility and at other facility options in your community to decide which venue will make it easier for non-Christians to come. Cost, set-up and take-down efforts, distance, and perception of the facility in the community will influence your decision. One of the best ways to determine this is to survey your students and students on the campus to discover what would appeal the most to them.