Purpose Driven Youth Ministry
Doug Fields
 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
 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
 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
 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
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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”
 Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who
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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
 Celebrating God’s presence and honoring Him with
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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)
 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
 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
 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
 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
 Keep it simple
 Make it meaningful
 It should be action oriented
 Should be compelling
 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
 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
 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.
 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.
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
 Realize that each group size will decrease as
commitment increases
 Focus on the word potential and start with who you
have.
 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
 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
 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
 Make sure you have a program to which your regular
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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
 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
 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
 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
 Encourage spiritual habits through the small groups of
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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
 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
 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
 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