This wiki will serve to compile the knowledge, wisdom and experience of youth leaders into one central resource to be used by future youth leaders.



The primary contributer will initially be Jackson Chan.



The experience in this wiki is primarily gained from building a youth group from ground up from nothing.



Remember that every generation of youth is different than the previous. What worked once may not work now or for your specific group. Please read with discernment.

If you are reading this document, you must have some inkling or interest in youth work. Firstly, let me state that youth work is probably one of the most valuable ministries you can be part of. Why do I say that?

1. Firstly, the youth are the life of a church. Youth bring energy, ideas and creativity. God will shock you at what He can do through willing youth.
2. Secondly, youth are very moldable. They are willing to learn and are excited to try new things. They have not been jaded and still hold those Christian ideals that seem so impossible to us older, cynical folk. They are willing to lay it all the down for His sake.
3. Thirdly, most Christians are saved by the time they reach 18 years old. This should be reason enough.

At the end of that period, in 1979, V. Bailey Gillespie found, similar to Starbuck’s
findings eighty years earlier, that the average age of conversion in America was
sixteen. Anecdotal evidence points to similar conclusions today; that is, contemporary
teenagers are markedly open to transformational faith experiences.

http://www.ptsem.edu/iym/lectures/2004/Strong-Holy.pdf

So if you have decided to grab a hold of the reigns of this ministry you need to get a few things straight. Youth Ministry takes time. The young people need leaders who are committed to investing into them and are in it for the long haul. Normally, it takes years (and a committed team) to form a good stable core group and even more to raise leaders in that group. If you are looking to complete a self sustaining cycle of leaders for a youth group, that will take even more commitment. If you are looking at spending anything less than one year, it’s not hopeless, but I don’t think you are being very realistic. This is assuming that you will have weekly fellowship events/meetings.

Again, I cannot stress how much time is needed. You need time for students to mature, to learn the Word of god, to learn to pray, to learn to worship, to build relationships with each other, to experience God. You will not get over night results and if you are expecting that, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.



You will need much patience. Kids will come irregularly; they’ll be irresponsible at times and even incapable at times. They will have crisis after crisis and keep you on your toes. A youth leader must have a big heart with a lot of patience. Lift all your cares, plans, dreams to God and allow Him to use you! I highly recommend weekly prayer meetings with your leadership team to pray for the youth group, specific youth and the leadership team involved.



But if you are faithful, you will see the fruit. When God raises these kids up as leaders you will be amazed at the work He has done through you. When they cry out for their lost friends, against the injustices of our world, you will know why the long road was worth it.

Some basics here. Youths need leaders. They need role models. The need structure. This is where you come into the picture. Right now you need to seriously examine yourself. To keep the respect of your youth, to command their attention is not a matter of yelling or being in charge. You need integrity and character. They will respect you if you are not a hyprocrit! You must have love and you must treat them fairly and with respect. And on top of all this you must be authentic.



Being hip with their culture and styles helps as well. But remember you are to lead them, not be one of them.

To get things started, you need a few leaders. Yourself and two other would be optimal. Then you can grow your team from among your group. If you have no one else to start with, you better start praying more!



Remember when you are making a leadership team, that you do not wish to get a whole bunch of people that are the same. You want people who are different, who compliment each other, who balance each other out.



Ex) you don’t need 3 worship leaders

Ex) you don’t need 3 bible study teachers

The ideal would be that you would have someone who could oversee and vision cast (ie you), one person who is a bible thumper, and gifted administrative person, a worship gifted/focused individual and a marketing/PR person, and a social coordinator. I do realize I just listed 6 people. And yes ideally, your committee would eventually consists of 6 people (not including trainees).



When you have a close to complete team, then you could do more vision planning and goal setting. Until then, you are just trying to create/maintain a stable, growing group.



Another thing to note that in the group, you always want to reach consensus. You are a team working together. Help each other, share ideas, discuss, work together.

This is the hardest part. To build your initial core mass that you need before you can get more significant growth. First of all, you need to find your church kids. You need Pastors kids and church family kids. As many as you can in the specific age range. Hopefully you will have atleast 6?



Now you need to plan a really fun kickoff event. Follow it up with several fun events. Ask these kids to come and ask them to bring their friends. Initially you need to focus on fun. It only takes one good event to hook a kid. Throw in a 5 minute light devotional initially into each of the events.



Each week, you need to collect the contact info for each kid and give them a call to see how they are doing and if they can make it out to the next event. Arrange rides if necessary. This phone work will help create your core quickly. It is best if girls call girls and guys call guys.



During this string of events, you goal is to create a core group. The easiest way to do this is to design the games/events in such a way that build relationships between the youth. The games should require cooperation and socializing. Once they are friends, you got them hooked. You can switch to a more balanced schedule of events and start pouring into them spiritually.

• connecting - similar interests, msn

Normally, a month has four weeks, sometimes five.

It is best to have:

• one bible study
• one praise worship and prayer
• one really fun night
• one fun learning night.
• If there’s an extra week, add another fun night.

But remember, every night needs to be fun! Even the bible studies! Don’t be a bore! This should be your regular month schedule of events.



Ex) praise worship and prayer, fun night, bible study, fun learning night

Ex) praise worship and prayer, scavenger hunt, bible study, bible jeopardy



To maintain such a schedule of events it would be nessessary to to meet once a month to plan 3 months ahead. 2 months in detail and one month loosely. Once you get into a rhythm of events you will noitice kids coming on their own and inviting their friends.



You might want to consider a more focused approach at times. Like having a more evangelic focus. Sometimes we would switch our schedule to this, especially during the summer. We would have a series of fun events and have the kids invite their friends week after week. On the fourth week, we would have an alter call.



Ex) Fun event , More Fun event, even more fun event, Evangelism service.

Ex) bowling, gym night, scavenger hunt, evangelistic service.

Once you have a steady group of kids coming who bring their school friends and what not, you got to remember to win souls! If they say no that's fine. But you must give them a chance to receive Christ! If you keep praying and keep planning, God will call some of them to Him. This is a given. You will always have new converts in your youth group. Summer camps are often turning point for many of the youth.



It is of utmost importance that you disciple your new converts. Your monthly bible study needs to focus on the basics. You need to drill them home and set the foundation they need. What is worship, what is prayer, how can you get saved… and provide application and usage! It may even be necessary to have a new believers class every week before fellowship.



And finally, let the kids help out. Not lead, but help. Let them help clean up, serve food etc. Ask them to usher or whatever else. Anything that they can help and serve. This is necessary that they learn to serve before they try to lead. Sandwich making night events are great for this.



You can even ask them to support sing or play instruments. But be careful to not let them on stage before they are ready. They must be servants before leaders or they will become prideful and useless to ministry.

Once your group is healthy and growing and you are starting to see young leaders grow from the group, it is time to pluck them out for more refinement and hardcore training.



You are looking for someone who knows his bible foundations, knows how to pray and worship. Most importantly, you are looking for someone with the right heart. They must have selfless motivation for wanting to be on leadership. They must have willingness to learn and a servant heart. Pride is a big no no. Do NOT recruit prideful leaders. You will just hurt them more. Your leaders need to be humble and fully reliant on God. A good head on their shoulders helps as well.



They do not necessarily need to fit any of the ideal positions but just need the right heart and attitude and a closeness to God.

• the Word, Prayer, Worship
• Boldness - see you at the pole
• Faith - answered prayers
• Don't let them imitating your flaws