The Top Free Blogs of YM360

We hope that 2024 was a fantastic year for you and your youth ministry. We count it a blessing to stand alongside you and bring encouraging and equipping blogs to help you in your craft and calling! We hope each blog was able to serve you in a special way. As we look back on the year, here are the top 3 blogs of 2024! Check them out below! If our team can ever do anything to serve you, don’t hesitate to reach out. Happy New Year, and we’ll see you in 2025!   

1. Three Principles for Better Small Group Conversations

Is there anything worse than awkward silence in a small group? I used to dread those moments and would avoid them as much as possible by breaking the silence and answering my own question or rephrasing it. It was my poor attempt to keep the conversation going because I failed to recognize the most important aspect of a conversation: it requires at least two people!

Equip the parents connected to your ministry to handle issues like technology, sexting, pornography, video games, and more in their homes with Screen Smarts! 

Small groups do not have to be mini-sermons to mini-audiences. They can be vibrant, comfortable conversations reminiscent of casual campfire talk where everyone is contributing freely and purposefully. The following principles can help you and your small group leaders make some subtle shifts to fill your conversations with laughter, participation, and inspiration.

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2. 5 Tips When Your Student Ministry Declines

4, 15, 27, 33, 42, 55, 20. No, that is not a combination of my safe. That is a trajectory of the attendance number in my ministry. On my first night, there were 4 students. Fast forward all the way to March 2022, and we had 55 students at a Wednesday night service. To say times were great and I was riding high would be an understatement. Then, fast forward a year later to March 2023, and our attendance went from 55 to 23 in one year. What happened? How did it happen? That is for another article at another time, but I will say we graduated almost 20 seniors, so that was some of it but not all. I want to focus on how I responded. I tried to act excited about “the rebuild,” but internally, I was confused, aggravated, scared of what people in the church may think, and mad at the students that left (it happens). I don’t say this to be mean or Debbie Downer, but when your student ministry increases, it will most likely decline at some point. Student ministry is like the ocean; after you have been through a few cycles, you will see that the tide comes in, and the tide goes out. Here are a few things that I have found (mainly what not to do) that will help you when your student ministry declines.  

3. Why the Church Matters for Youth

Students are leaving the church after they graduate. Students who once seemed solid in their faith go off to college and find themselves floundering in a  of new ideas. Many Christians blame the evil professors who gleefully aim to destroy the faith of their students. Others blame the youth pastor: “If only he would have been better at _________, my child would not be walking away from the faith.” Maybe they’re right. However, I believe a more fundamental issue for this mass exodus exists. This is not an issue that is limited to one denomination or theological tradition. It appears to be found in churches in every geographical region in the US. What is it? The devaluation of the church or, more specifically, of church membership.

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Ready for more articles and training? Check out these top posts!