Why I Still Believe in Youth Ministry

I first met Matt* when he was 15. I was the new Youth Pastor and his single mom brought him to church. She was excited that we were beginning a youth ministry, and to my surprise, Matt was too. He was quirky and a bit of an outsider among the teens in the church, but I loved his honest questions about God and how he was not afraid to be different. Matt came every Wednesday evening when our youth ministry met, and I saw him grow by leaps and bounds.

At one point, I started to pick up Matt and another teen from our a few times a month for a snack and Bible study. We would get some Subway, read the Gospel of John together, talk about Jesus and life, and I would pray for them. After about a year, Matt shared with me that he knew he believed in Jesus. When I asked him how he knew he was saved, he said that it was affecting his life. He didn’t want to sin. He loved Jesus and wanted to follow him. A few months later, Matt was baptized. The last I heard about Matt, he was a video game developer serving in his local church, still following Jesus.

I’ve pastored full-time for almost two decades, and during my first eight years of vocational ministry I was a youth pastor. I am in my mid-40s now and pastoring in a rural church in New England, but I still believe in youth ministry. Matt is one reason. Now my own kids are new reasons I still believe in youth ministry.

I have noticed a change from when I first began leading youth ministry. Decades ago, it was often the parents who wanted their teens to attend more than the teens necessarily did. I knew parents who brought their teens to youth ministry events and told them they needed to be a part of it—that it was good for them. Now I have noticed that it is more often the teens who take the initiative to get themselves there. The same parents who will drive them anywhere six days a week for sports don’t always see the value in driving them to church one night a week for Bible study and fellowship with other believers their age. Should churches still value youth ministry? Here are three reasons I still believe in youth ministry.

Christian Friendship & Fellowship

It has been well-documented that today’s teens are struggling with loneliness and anxiety.¹ The Surgeon General has even discussed this and some studies show that the number of youth who face loneliness regularly is about double the number that seniors report.² Offering gospel- centered opportunities for youth to develop friendships with others their age is one way the church can help with this crisis.

One teenage girl told me she looks forward to attending our youth ministry every week because she has no Christian friends at her public school. She needs the encouragement of Christian friends to help her grow in her personal walk with Jesus and to continue to be a strong light for Christ in her school. Her closest friends are believers partly because of opportunities for fellowship in our youth ministry. Homeschoolers have often told me that they look forward to youth group every week because it is a safe place for them to grow without always having their parents with them. No matter what their schooling or home situation is like, youth ministry can be a place for teens to know that they are not alone in the world, either as a person or as a Jesus-follower.

Evangelism

Matt might have believed in Jesus and been baptized simply by attending our church. Since he attended both, our church and our youth ministry complemented each other in his spiritual journey and his eventual belief in Christ. But he was not comfortable meeting with our pastor like he was discussing faith or reading the Gospel of John with me. The fact that our church had a youth ministry and that it supported me in leading the youth ministry gave Matt an opportunity for one-on-one evangelism and later discipleship that he would not have had otherwise.

An unbelieving friend might be willing to come to youth group or a youth ministry event when they might not be ready to come to church yet. In time, as they learn more about Jesus through the youth ministry, I have seen teens eventually come to church regularly.

I still believe in youth ministry because so many teens in our culture only know the name of Jesus as a swear word. Just the other day, a public-school history teacher was telling me that in the last few decades he has seen a difference in the background knowledge that youth now have about the Bible. When he first started teaching, they had a basic knowledge of Christianity and Judaism. Now they hardly ever have any Bible background. Youth ministry is a place for teens to begin to understand the storyline of the Bible so they can begin to understand the gospel.

Teens in the Church Need to Know They Matter

Many teens over the years have told me they appreciate our youth ministry because it shows them that the church cares about them. They have shared that Bible study with other teens has helped prepare them for church involvement as adults. While they have attended some adult Bible studies—which is good and healthy—they have told me they are usually too intimidated to share much. They know that the problems and questions they face are different than other generations in the church, and they appreciate having a place to discuss them. With the foundation of the entire church worshiping and learning together on Sunday morning, I have been happy to be able to provide that safe place for teens to grow and learn.

Sometimes people ask me why we have a youth ministry, since Scripture doesn’t require it. But the same could be said for why many churches have a seniors ministry. Just as older believers enjoy the fellowship they share with other people in their age range who are experiencing many of the same problems and joys, so do youth. I am not an advocate of separating generations for every church event. For example, I have seen great benefits in having even middle schoolers come to our Men’s Bible Study (Men’s and Women’s Ministries are another choice the Bible allows but does not require). Yet, that doesn’t mean there is no benefit in also giving opportunities for youth or others to fellowship and learn by age.

Today’s teens and families have a lot on their plates. There are lots of opportunities. But since I want my teens and the teens in my church to be life-long followers of Jesus, I want to put them in front of God’s Word and provide Christian fellowship as much as I can. I still believe in youth ministry.

* For privacy, his name has been changed.

1. rootedministry.com/loneliness-and-gen-z-hungering-for-true-community/ ↩︎
2. .usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/01/loneliness-poor-health-reported-far-more-among- young-people-than-even-those-over-72/559961002/ ↩︎

©2024 Tim Counts. All rights reserved. Used with permission.