Youth Minister Starter Bundle

The 7 Best Practices for Teaching Teenagers the Bible

Leading teenagers closer to God is what being a youth worker is all about. 

What's the most effective way to do this? By teaching them the Bible! 

The Bible is God's main way of making Himself and His ways known. Your effectiveness at leading students closer to God is tied to your ability to effectively teach the Bible. But, teaching the Bible doesn't have to be intimidating. 

The 7 Best Practices for Teaching Teenagers the Bible offers you seven ultra-practical and deeply meaningful "practices" you can use to help teach the Bible in a transformative and dynamic way.

Disciple: The Ordinary Person's Guide to Discipling Teenagers

You want to lead students to be more like Christ.

In a word, you want them to become disciples. The question is, how do you go about doing it? 

That's where Disciple comes in. 

Disciple: The Ordinary Person's Guide to Discipling Teenagers is a practical, down-to-earth guide for leading teenagers to pursue Christ. In Disciple, you'll find author Dr. Allen Jackson discussing a variety of foundational concepts and practices, including: 

• How youth culture is impacting how teenagers view the world around them 
• Why teenagers compartmentalize their lives and what this means for their faith 
• The DNA of discipleship 
• The core discipleship practices essential for disciples and disciple-makers alike 
• The need for discipleship to happen in the home and the church 
• An assortment of discipleship truths and resources 

No matter if you're a veteran or new to youth ministry, Disciple will help challenge and equip you to get serious about disciplemaking.

In Youth Ministry For The Longer Haul: A Field Guide For Longevity, youth ministry veteran and author Chris Trent passes along over three decades of hard-earned advice, knowledgeable insights, and practical wisdom. Chris knows firsthand the value of ministry mentors. And throughout the pages of this book, he mentors you, the reader, so that you too can experience success in navigating the pathway to longevity in youth ministry.

Jesus Centered Youth Ministry: Moving From Jesus-Plus to Jesus-Only

There's a surging hunger among teenagers for Jesus. New research shows that they want a clearer understanding of what Jesus really said and did, and how faith in matters in their lives. In fact, that desire is so deep, it's #1 on their "wish list" for what they'd like to talk about at church. 

But are we doing that? Even though we assume that everything we do in youth ministry is about Jesus, the evidence is clear: That's not what our students say they're experiencing. So what would a youth ministry look like if it shifted toward a passionate, persistent, and permeating focus on drawing students into a closer orbit around Jesus? 

Inside the pages of Jesus-Centered Youth Ministry, you'll discover the foundation for a ministry that is Jesus-centered, along with the bricks for building it. You'll discover that not only is it possible to create this kind of ministry, it's also essential that you pursue this path. 

Help satisfy teenagers' hunger for Jesus in richly nourishing and sustaining ways by shifting the orbit of your ministry.

Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry

Youth ministry guru, Doug Fields, translates his passion, insight, and vision for his beloved “rookies” by helping them to not only survive, but to thrive, during the most crucial phase of youth ministry. 

Doug relates stories and principles from his own successes and failures over 20 years in youth ministry. This resource offers practical advice, all in the hope that new youth workers can travel a smoother path and achieve real longevity in a church culture that all too often chews them up and spits them out. This resource covers: 

• Dealing with discouragement 
• Establishing a solid spiritual foundation 
• Building effective relationships with students 
• Resolving conflict 
• Ministering to parents and families 
• Trailblazing change 
• Working with volunteers 
• Defining a realistic job description 
• And many others 

In addition, a chorus of insightful sidebar voices joins the conversation with Doug, among them ministry veterans Jim Burns, Steve Gerali, Mike Yaconelli, Helen Musick, Chap Clark, Marv Penner, Rick Warren, Jana L. Sundene, Bo Boshers, Duffy Robbins, Tony Campolo, and Richard Ross, all who've composed extensive, topical essays for each of the dozen chapters. 

Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry is a must-have tool for new youth workers, volunteers, seminary professors and students, senior pastors, elders, church boards—even veteran youth workers who have been ministering in unstructured environments and are now asking, "What did I miss? What can I still learn?"