Youth Ministry Curriculum and Resources

Love is in the air! Check out these Valentine's themed icons and see how many you can remember.

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

Every played a trivia game about the color green? You're about to. Let's go!

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

How well would you fit in if you were in say... Dublin? Let's find out by seeing how well you know what these Irish slang terms mean.

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

We will show you the shadow of an animal. Simply be the first to guess the animal correctly.

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

Do you know in which decade the Rubik's Cube was released? See how many of these toys you can pair with the correct decade.

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

We have taken items you would commonly find in a bathroom and scrambled the letters. Let's see how many you can correctly identify.

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

Which species is better at hunting? Cats or Dogs? Let's see how many you can answer correctly.

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

Don't get confused. This isn't your average Easter Egg Hunt.

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

Who will get closest to the correct answer?

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

See how many of these historical events you can place correctly within the timeline.

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

How many of these animals an you correctly identify simply by looking at their feet? Let's find out.

Game includes: Title slide, rules, and 20 games slides

You will be given a clue and one letter of the answer. That's pretty much it. Let's do this!

Figure out the missing word in an effort to WORD UP. Each word builds on the next.

Name the correct mustache style and earn the respect of men everywhere.

Do you remember the name of the city/town where some of your favorite characters live? Let's find out.

Respond to the following statements with a "Yay" or "Nay".

You will be shown a distorted picture. You simply decide whether or not it's an apple.

It's a simple trivia game based on Toilet Paper. Let's go!

You will be given a list of 10 well-known breakfast cereals in random order. Your job is to Rank'em in the correct order in which they were invented, starting with the earliest and ending with the most recent.

Which do Americans eat the most of each year? Hamburgers or Hotdogs? Let's see how many of these you can answer correctly.

See who can be the first to figure out what word or phrase these brain benders are trying to communicate.

You will be given a STRANGE statement. You simply decide whether you believe that statement to be FACT or FICTION.

You will be given a list of superheroes on one side and their secret identities on the other side. Your job is to play match maker. Simply match the correct superhero with the correct secret identity.

Everyone enjoys a weird pizza topping now and then. But in some countries, "weird" doesn't even scratch the surface. 

Generation Z, is the youngest, most ethnically diverse, and largest generation in American history, comprising 27% of the US population. They are digital natives who have never known a time without cell phones, the internet, or interactive social media. This generation is often stereotyped as tech-addicted, anti-social, or “social justice warriors,” but they also currently make up at least 50% of your youth ministry. Do you know how they think, how they learn, or how to engage them? Let me walk you through how we approach it.

It's been said that one of the greatest myths of leadership is that you must be in charge in order to be a leader. Unfortunately, as a youth pastor, odds are you find yourself leading from the second chair (if you have a chair at the table at all). So how do you lead well, serve with great integrity, and be an influential presence from your youth ministry seat? Here's how I do it at my church.

Effectively utilizing social media to communicate and engage your students can feel completely overwhelming. Even if you are a somewhat tech-savvy youth pastor, social media posting can quickly become yet another unchecked box on an ever-growing to-do list that you will never get through this week. What if you could eliminate those feelings of being overwhelmed or frustrated by learning to create and schedule an entire week's worth of social media in only one hour? Let me show you how I do it in my ministry.

It's time for another big event, camp, retreat, or outreach, and you need a game that your students will be talking about for years to come. I got you! Let me share an epic messy game I play in my ministry that will make your next event "sizzle."

Partnering with parents doesn't have to be rocket science. Sure, your steps towards a partnership need to be thoughtful, but they can also be as simple as they are purposeful. For example, here's a little secret that isn't that much of a secret at all: Parents love people who love their kids. Let me share with you some ways that I take some first steps towards a partnership with parents in my ministry by intentionally encouraging parents along the way.

Discipleship is more than getting to know what the teacher knows. It is getting to be what he is. - Juan Carlos Ruiz

We are called to make disciples. The pursuit of making disciples who love, follow, and are completely sold out to Jesus is (or should be) at the very core of everything we do in youth ministry. But when the rubber that is the busyness of our students' and volunteer leaders' lives meets the road of their good intentions, creating discipleship groups that work proves easier to say than actually to accomplish. Let me show you some principles that I have found that have proven to be successful when creating a discipleship group that works.

Do you want to be respected as a youth ministry leader? Do you desire to not only partner with parents but be trusted by them as well? There is one essential element that will act as a master key to opening all three of these doors. That key element is excellent communication. From content to consistency to conciseness, let me walk you through the things I have found in my ministry that are essential for every parent email.

As youth workers, we know full well that "...all have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God...." (Romans 3:23 ESV). But one of the more difficult parts of youth ministry, in a practical sense, is how we walk alongside a teenager and their parents when that teenager has been caught in sin. Allow me to share with you four practical ways we partner with parents through a student's sin in our ministry.

It's time for another big event, camp, retreat, or outreach, and you need a game that your students will be talking about for years to come. I got you! Let me share an epic yet super simple messy game I play in my ministry that will have your students coming back for more...more shaving cream to battle with, that is.

It's time for another big event, camp, retreat, or outreach, and you need a game that your students will be talking about for years to come. I got you! Let me share an old favorite with a few new twists that I play in my ministry every year as a large outreach. Don't dodge this opportunity to provide your students with a way to involve their friends in an epic night of ducking, dipping, dodging, and diving.

There is nothing like the honor and blessing it is when, as youth pastors, we get a front-row seat to watch God moving and working in the life of a teenager. One of the best moments is talking with a student about their decision to follow Jesus and follow through with being baptized. It's amazing and humbling at the same time. But the logistics of it all can also be a little intimidating. How does that process work in your ministry? Are you intentional in this pre-baptism meeting to walk a student through what baptism is, what baptism isn't, how it works, why we do it, and even what needs to come after? Are you making an effort to involve the parents in this entire process? Allow me the opportunity to share with you how we do one-on-one baptism meetings with students at our church. There's even a downloadable baptism meeting guide and checklist for you to adjust to fit your ministry context.

There is nothing like the honor and blessing it is when, as youth pastors, we get a front-row seat to watch God moving and working in the life of a teenager. One of the best moments is talking with a student about their decision to follow Jesus and follow through with being baptized. It's amazing and humbling at the same time. But the logistics of it all can also be a little intimidating. How does that process work in your ministry? Are you intentional in this pre-baptism meeting to walk a student through what baptism is, what baptism isn't, how it works, why we do it, and even what needs to come after? Are you making an effort to involve the parents in this entire process? Allow me the opportunity to share with you how we do one-on-one baptism meetings with students at our church. There's even a downloadable baptism meeting guide and checklist for you to adjust to fit your ministry context.