Our teens are our media department, half of our praise and worship team, middle school, elementary and preschool workers. They help design the facility’s decor and the music certainly has more of a youthful edge. While they are the future of our church, they are also the HERE and NOW of it.

Part of this has come, I believe, through giving ownership to this generation. Second has been the stability of the youth ministry staff. The youth pastor has been there for over 25 years, working with teens. Others have been sharing the love of Christ with teens for decades. Still others are in their 20s. The cry of Paul in 2 Timothy 2:2 is for us to duplicate ourselves on faithful people who will then continue the duplication.

This isn’t rose-colored glasses here…we see society’s rot. But the darker the world becomes, the bright the light of Jesus shines. As we plant the seeds of what our Heavenly Father sees in each teenager, eyes are opened, hope is restored and lives are changed. Read the word, yes! But live the Word even moreso! I would rather see a teen be a life-changer with his life showing Christ, than a Bible scholar who knows all but does little.

BTW, Steve Wright is a friend of ours and an incredible voice of experience and passion. He is one of the best I know at speaking to the importance of integrating parents into our youth ministry approach.

Oh, and thanks so much for the kind words about our free lesson. We work hard to be biblically centered, creative, and culturally relevant. Keep an eye out for our full offering of resources available beginning August 2.

Thanks for stopping by and being part of the ym360 community. Your voice helps train and equip other youth workers! God Bless, Andy@ym360

I really like your stuff, I really was impressed with your free lesson. It is hard to find anything out there that is deep and relevant to the kids.

Blessings,

Ryan Regier

Jesus would not be okay with our so-called “faith”. He told the disciples that would have to give up everything. Luke 14:26 tells that we must hate everything in comparison to Christ. That is not how we live.

Youth leaders, parents, and churches need to get to the core of our faith. Technology, programs, and speakers do not matter. We need to be in love with Christ, and we need to be living out our faith. Youth will follow.

I hear you . . . I am a big proponent of evaluating “traditional” programming; if it’s not working, we need to be bold in finding alternatives that do. But, my reading of the study didn’t point to issues in programming. Remember, the study actually found attendance in church and youth group to NOT be in decline. Furthermore, I didn’t mention it in the post, but teen Bible reading stayed at pretty much the same levels they had been in the past Barna research.

The most alarming thing to me is that teenagers are not praying as much as they were in the past, and they are not talking about their faith as much as they were. Does this point to programming? It certainly could. It may mean that many youth ministries are simply not putting enough emphasis on spiritual growth/transformation. But, it could also mean other things . . . parents not discipling their children, culture’s effects too powerful, teenagers not valuing their faith . . . Lot’s of takeaways, lot’s of possibilities.

So, I hear you, for sure. And I agree with a lot of what Marko said in the Manifesto 3.0. Whatever the reasons may be, if we give credence to this study, it’s one more sign that the depth of teenager’s faith life is taking a hit.

Don’t be a stranger, Paul! The ym360 community is stronger when your voice is heard.

What I see locally is teens that are more committed to becoming who they were created to be and less in the programs in churches that try to manufacture random signs of that. I love what Marko is talking about in Youth Ministry 3.0 where churches and youth groups are starting to look a lot different. They will of course be represented in studies like this, but it could be a good thing too.