Youth Ministry Must be INTENTIONAL

Effective youth ministry is more than activities to keep the youth occupied while their parents are involved in the church. It is more than simply having fun together, though fun is a component.

Youth ministry must be planned. What happens in a youth ministry must be the result of deliberate strategy, based on a vision for a desired future among your youth.

That desired future may vary a little from church to church, but ultimately it boils down to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. It is a desired future where young people come to know and love Jesus as Saviour and Lord of their lives - to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. It is a strategy to make a difference to them and, through them, to the world - so that they might go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations.

Youth ministry will never be effective if it is just happens haphazardly, with no forethought or strategy. This is not to say that every aspect of youth work is meticulously programmed, but rather that each aspect of the ministry is carefully considered within the whole, and that there are genuine goals attached to each part of youth work.

Look at your youth ministry schedule. What is it that you are doing? Why are you doing it? Sometimes the "Why" is more important that the "How." When you know WHY you are doing something, the "how" becomes much easier to plan!