1. Purpose Driven Youth Ministry Doug Fields

2. Becoming a Youth Leader Who Depends on God
Personal Humility
Submit Your Abilities to God and Allow His Power to Work Through Who You Are.
Focus on Being a Person of God Before Doing the Work of God

3. Tips to Strengthen Your Godly Foundation
Admit your struggles to yourself
Ask God for the power to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness
Ask God for the courage to confess these struggles to a friend who cares deeply aout you and who can help you.
Work with this friend on a spiritual restoration plan

4. Purpose Why does this youth ministry exist?
Programs can change, but the purposes aren’t negotiable
No purposes that we could create on our own would be more complete than the five God has already divinely created for us.
Evangelism
Worship
Fellowship
Discipleship
Ministry

5. The 5 Purposes
Built around the Great Commandment and the Great Commission:
Great Commandment- “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your sould and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” Matthew 22:37-40
Great Commission- “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”
Matthew 28:19-20

6. The 5 Purposes Worship: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.”
Ministry: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Evangelism: “Go and make disciples”
Fellowship: “Baptizing them”
Discipleship: “Teaching them to obey”

7. Evangelism
Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who don’t yet have a personal relationship with Him.
This is probably the most weakly expressed purpose
It is difficult to fulfill on a program level, and threatening on a personal level
Adult leadership must model the purpose of evangelism
When this purpose is evident in a youth ministry, growth will happen- not because of an evangelistic program, but because of evangelistic students

8. Worship
Celebrating God’s presence and honoring Him with our lifestyle.
Praying (Psalm 95:6)
Hearing the Word (John 17:17)
Giving (1 Corinthians16:1-2)
Baptizing (Romans 6:3-4)
Meditating (Habakkuk 2:20)
Communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

9. Fellowship
God did not intend for Christians to live in isolation, but in fellowship with other believers and to be identified as the body of Christ.
True fellowship happens when students are known, cared for, held accountable, and encouraged in their spiritual journey
Fellowship is usually the strongest purpose
Often, fellowship is so strong that Christian students lose sight of evangelism and focus only on other believers and become dangerously apathetic from the lost

10. Discipleship
The building up or strengthening of believers in their quest to be like Christ.
Can be the most unrewarding since spiritual maturity is difficult to measure
Discipleship flourishes under spiritual leaders who consistently plant seeds and water students’ faith
All of this is done with faith that God will do the impossible and bring growth

11. Ministry Meeting needs with love
God has blessed every believer with special gifts to be used for ministry. Students shouldn’t have to wait until they are adults to minister.
A healthy youth ministry will constantly encourage students to discover their gifts and put them into practice through ministry and mission opportunities
When the purpose of ministry is applied, you will graduate student ministers rather than program attendees.
Student ministers won’t graduate from their faith when they graduate from the youth ministry

12. Purpose Statement
Revealing a purpose statement takes away the mystery of your ministry.
It makes sense of your programs
Uses volunteers more effectively
Provides direction for your students’ spiritual maturity

13. Purpose Statement Keep it simple Make it meaningful
It should be action oriented
Should be compelling

14. Purpose Statement Think of words that go along with the 5 purposes
Worship- Exalt, Passion, Offer
Fellowship- Enjoy, Encourage, Care
Evangelism- Expose, Spread, Reach
Discipleship- Equip, Share, Develop
Ministry- Experience, Service, Serving
Then put those words together in a sentence

15. Purpose Statement
Worship, Discipleship, Ministry, Evangelism, Fellowship
The goal of our student ministry is to expose teenagers to God’s love, to equip them to exalt God, enjoy other believers, and experience the work of the ministry

16. Purpose Statement
Worship, Discipleship, Ministry, Evangelism, Fellowship
CrossCurrent exists to reach non-Christian junior and senior high students, to help them share in God’s Word, to offer themselves in service to Christ and to care for one another.

17. Purpose Statement
Worship, Discipleship, Ministry, Evangelism, Fellowship
Infiltrate Youth Family exists to spread the love of Christ by serving those around us, encouraging each other, and developing a life of passion for God.

18. Student Commitment Levels
One program can’t effectively fulfill all 5 purposes
1.) What primary purpose (evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship, or ministry) does this program fulfill?
2.) Who are we trying to target with this program?
One program can’t effectively target all students

19. Student Commitment Levels
There are at least 5 types of students
The non-Christian student
The new Christian
The student who knows a great deal about the Bible but is apathetic about most things we do
The growing student
The spiritual leader

20. Student Commitment Levels
Community
Crowd
Congregation
Committed
Core

21. Community Students
Teenagers living within a realistic driving distance of our church.
Schools within a ten to fifteen mile radius of your church
Calculate the number of youth group age students at these schools
For example in Arab, there are about 1,500 students
At this rate each church in the area could have over 100 students
The fulfills the evangelism purpose

22. Crowd Students
Students who come to a youth service and fill out an information card.
May be invited by regulars, others are forced by their parents to attend
Some are Christians, some are non-Christians
This fulfills the worship purpose

23. Congregation Students
Crowd students who move to the next level where they can connect with other Christians and grow in their faith (small groups, for example)
The next step should have an atmosphere where these students will be known, cared for, held accountable, and connected with other believers
This deeper connection fulfills the fellowship purpose

24. Committed Students
Students who are committed to developing spiritual habits, such as personal Bible study, prayer, accountability with another believer, Scripture memorization, giving, and commitment to the church body
This fulfills the discipleship purpose

25. Core Students
Committed students who discover their giftedness and want to express it through ministering to others
Students who discover their ministry potential do not graduate from their faith… they use what they’ve learned forever
They could have the opportunity to become student leaders helping move others through the funnel

26. Student Commitment Levels
Realize that each group size will decrease as commitment increases
Focus on the word potential and start with who you have.

27. Reaching Community Students
Evangelism isn’t a program, it’s a process
Evangelism is tough work
Leaders approaching students could be seen as a threat
Fear of rejection
Fear of not being understood
Fear of not having the right answers
Fear of being labeled as a Jesus Freak

28. Reaching Community Students
Students need to understand that those outside of the faith are attracted to Christians before they are attracted to Christ
Lifestyle is an important factor of evangelism
Don’t expect all of your students to be evangelists, but do expect them to be evangelistic

29. Reaching Community Students
Talk to students about how “we are going to grow!”
Implement Growth Programs
Friendship Evangelism Project
Small Group Competition
Make sure you have a program or a service in place to accommodate the community students

30. Keeping Crowd Students
Make sure you have a program to which your regular students can feel comfortable inviting their community friends
This service will have Christians and non-Christians
Don’t limit worship just to music- attempt to have praying, singing, giving, testifying, thanking, and listening to God’s Word.
Create a positive atmosphere of fun, student involvement, but with a clear message
Simplify your message

31. Congregation Students
Small groups are a great way to nurture the student who has graduated from the “Crowd.”
Small groups should provide more personal attention than larger programs
They provide a sense of belonging
In the “Crowd” you share the gospel, in small groups, you share your lives

32. Congregation Students
Small groups allow students to be known
Small groups make students verbal
Small groups allow students to personalize their faith
Small groups encourage accountable relationships

33. Preparing Committed Students
Discipleship of committed students is helping them develop the habits, or spiritual disciplines, necessary to grow on their own when they’re no longer in the youth group
Youth ministries are full of Bible-literate students who know the right answers, but make the wrong daily choices

34. Preparing Committed Students
Encourage spiritual habits through the small groups of the “Congregation”
Have consistent time with God through prayer and Bible reading
Have an accountable relationship with another Christian
Understand and participate in giving/tithing
Memorize Scripture
Study the Bible on their own

35. Preparing Committed Students
Focus on encouragement
Get small group leader to encourage growth
Equip students with tools to develop habits
Quiet time journal
Accountability Group Prayer
Bible memorization flashcard program
Questions to go along with Bible reading teaching them how to dig deeper

36. Challenging Core Students
Core students who are not the “ministry” type aren’t core students, they’re regulars
Sometimes getting students to do ministry isn’t as big a challenge as convincing the church congregation and leadership that teenagers can play a vital role in the body of Christ
Students shouldn’t have to move through the circles just to do ministry

37. Challenging Core Students
Don’t treat students as “The Future Church”
A sign of a healthy church is one that helps all Christians, regardless of age, to discover their gifts and express them through serving in ministry
Communicate Ministry Messages
Communicate the joy of participating
Remind students that a life of observation is a wasted life, but a life of participation in the work of the kingdom is the reason we were born
Teach students they were created for ministry
Help Students Discover Their Spiritual Gifts