Seven Reasons Why To Be In Youth Ministry and Stay (via Youth Ministry Ideas)

1. Youth are the most spiritually responsive segment of society – The statistics are somewhere between 85 -90% of people that choose Christ as savior end up doing so by age 21. There is a stronger indication that most do between age 5 to 14. What this means is you have a vital role in the influence of young people towards accepting the gift of salvation! Make sure that you are giving the gospel in your talks because you never know which night is the night that a student will place their trust in Christ.

2. Adolescence is the time when most determinitive decisions are made – Let’s take a look at the 4 C’s:

•  Companionship – teens are looking for and developing companionship. who their friends are is extremely important and weighs heavily on their decision making because of the influence.
•  Courtship – They spend a LOT of time talking about relationships. Who’s going out with who. Did you hear? I can’t believe that they did that! Be careful not to tease about their relationships as this can really damage the influence you have.
• Career – Believe it or not – students are thinking about what they want to do for a career. They are wondering and exploring and looking for a path that will lead them into a career some day. We have the opportunity to help them down that path.
• Convictions – Here are some negative convictions: Materialism (we are what we have). Secularism – (functional atheism). Heedism – (pleasure principle). Humanism – (I am the center of the universe). These are what you students are battling with on a day to day basis in their school. We have a job as youth leaders to help battle the negative convictions and give them God convictions.

3. Human tendency is to overlook the contribution to youth – Only problem with this is that look at the Bible and how it is filled with youth: Jesus, Mary, Timothy, David, Joseph, Samuel, Daniel. These were not old people – these were young people! I Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” Young people can be a tremendous example to the older ones in Church! You have a role developing them into young people that love God!

4. Young people have their entire life ahead of them to live for Jesus Christ – The sooner that they begin a relationship with Christ – the longer their life for God is. They can have more of  an influence over their friends and family. They can make a lasting difference for God’s kingdom and it starts now in their lives not later when they are older. You can have such an impact on them by leading them to Jesus Christ – whom they can start their new life and live it out!

5. Young people are desperately searching for a model for their life – Young people will always be looking up to someone be it famous, father, mother, coach, and YOU the youth leader. They are looking for someone that’s not perfect, but progressing and real. They can tell if you are being fake – so instead be yourself and the students that connect with you will be the students that God will help you with.

6. Youth represent the greatest reservoir potential – Youth have so much potential! Most any of the great movements started with young people and it’s young people that can bring a change and revival to our countries. We need to be doing everything we can to help build their potential and help them to be a strong follower of Christ.

7. Youth need a committed adult outside the home to help them grow up – The teenage years are about creating their own identity and what you normally will see is some separation from their mother and father. So with that – they need adults with Godly influence to help them as they are growing up. They need youth leaders to step in and walk beside them and to lead them to making decisions based on what God would want.

What are some of your reasons to be in youth ministry?