Youth ministry (Evangelical) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article is about the phenomenon of Protestant (Evangelical) Christians ministering to their youth. For an overview of Youth ministry as it goes on in other faiths, please see Youth ministry
Youth ministry
Youth ministry, also commonly referred to as Youth group, is an age-specific religious ministry and is the way in which a faith group, or other religious organization involves and engages with the young people who attend its place of worship, or live in its community...

.

A Protestant/Evangelical

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

Youth ministry

Youth ministry, also commonly referred to as Youth group, is an age-specific religious ministry and is the way in which a faith group, or other religious organization involves and engages with the young people who attend its place of worship, or live in its community...

is a Christian ministry

Christian ministry

In Christianity, ministry is an activity carried out by Christians to express or spread their faith. 2003's Encyclopedia of Christianity defines it as "carrying forth Christ's mission in the world", indicating that it is "conferred on each Christian in baptism." It is performed by all Christians...

intended to instruct and disciple youth

Youth

Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...

s in what it means to be a Christian, how to mature as a Christian, and how to encourage others to claim Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

as their Savior. This is accomplished through teaching, relationship building and/or mentoring

Mentoring

Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....

. Youth ministries may vary widely depending on their denomination

Christian denomination

A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...

, size, liberal

Liberal Christianity

Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...

or conservative

Conservative Christianity

Conservative Christianity is a term applied to a number of groups or movements seen as giving priority to traditional Christian beliefs and practices...

outlook and geographic location. The ministries themselves are almost always built on relationships between the youth minister and the student

Student

A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...

and their shared perception of their relationship to God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

.
Because of the evolving nature of Youth Ministries it is difficult to pinpoint a specific starting point, however a modest estimate would date the profession to approximately 150 years old. Youth have become an integral part of nearly every church’s ministry programming, and youth ministries continue to have a profound impact on the societies in which they exist.

History of youth ministry

While youth organizations, exist worldwide, the history section of this article will put a special focus on the development of youth ministry in America.

The beginnings of youth ministry took place in the mid-19th century, in the wake of the industrial revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

. Churches took note of all the young men who moved into central urban areas to work in factories. Laypersons who noticed that these young adults working six days a week and gallivanting about town on Sundays aspired to educate them. And so, early youth ministry began when churches brought older children and teenagers into classrooms to teach them how to read the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

. Early ministry was designed for unchurched children with no formal education; while the primary goal of early youth ministry was education, a desirable secondary effect was that students would realize through biblical passages that they are sinners in need of forgiveness

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all...

.

Eventually, churches opened up Sunday school to church members and unchurched children and teens alike. Teachers encouraged the students to bring their friends along, and the movement gained momentum. Laypersons would often work independently, neither subjecting themselves to congregational scrutiny nor receiving church funding. This fostered the development of interdenominational teaching programs and, eventually, faith-based organizations devoted to youth such as the YMCA

YMCA

The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

and YWCA

World YWCA

The World YWCA is the umbrella organization of the global network of the YWCA, a movement of women working for social and economic change around the world. It advocates for young women’s leadership, peace, justice, human rights and sustainable development, both on a grassroots and global scale...

, whose American branches were founded in the 1850s.

The most recognizable first effort to offer periodic Bible studies, social networking and outreach opportunities for youth was spearheaded by Dr. Francis Edward Clark

Francis Edward Clark

Francis Edward Clark was an American clergyman, born of New England ancestry in Aylmer, Quebec, Canada. He was the son of Charles C. Symmes, but took the name of an uncle, the Rev. E.W. Clark, by whom he was adopted after his father's death in 1853...

. He began the Christian Endeavor Society in 1881. Dr. Clark wanted to change the view of young people in churches from “pitchers waiting to be filled” to young adults “responsible for larger service in the church of Christ.” The Christian Endeavor Society revolutionized youth ministry and became extremely popular in its first few years of operation. Dr. Clark set the limit for each society at 80 members. As more young adults came to members, more societies were formed. By 1887, there were 700 societies with over 50,000 members spread out across 33 states.

One common speculation is that churches in the 1880s became fearful that they would lose all of their young members to these societies. In response, many mainstream denominations began their own youth organizations modeled after the Christian Endeavor Society. Some examples are the Methodist church’s Epworth League

Epworth League

The Epworth League is a Methodist young adult association for individuals ages 18-35. It traces back to the founding of the organization by the United Methodist Church's predecessor denomination, the Methodist Episcopal church, formed in 1889 at Cleveland, Ohio, by the combination of five young...

, or the Lutheran’s Luther League

Luther League

The Luther League is a religious association for young people in the United States of America. It began with a local society founded by delegates of six Lutheran church societies in New York City in 1888. The first national convention was held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the 30th and 31 October...

. These new church-based organizations as well as interdenominational ones already in existence flourished, increasing in attendance and international outreach involvement as a part of faith-based foreign aid

Faith-based foreign aid

Faith-based foreign aid refers to the international development and relief-related spending and activities of religious or religiously-motivated organizations, and the government financial and political support of those organizations....

.

After World War I, the focus of many youth ministries began to shift from efforts to outreach and convert

Convert

The convert or try, in American football known as "point after", and Canadian football "Point after touchdown", is a one-scrimmage down played immediately after a touchdown during which the scoring team is allowed to attempt to score an extra one point by kicking the ball through the uprights , or...

to efforts to educate students and increase their understanding of their faith

Faith

Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...

. It was during this time that the teenagers began to think theologically as well as gain a social awareness of the world around them. From the 1930s to the 1960s, the churches emphasized fellowship

Communion (Christian)

The term communion is derived from Latin communio . The corresponding term in Greek is κοινωνία, which is often translated as "fellowship". In Christianity, the basic meaning of the term communion is an especially close relationship of Christians, as individuals or as a Church, with God and with...

and theological understanding.

Before 1940 it was the pastor’s job to do everything in the church, including youth fellowships

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...

. During the late 1940s there was some introduction of church youth committees - youth were returning from the war with great life-experience and they could not be kept out of leadership in the church just because they were in their twenties.

The 1940s was also the beginning of parachurch ministries. Young Life

Young Life

YoungLife is a worldwide, non-profit, Evangelical Christian organization. YoungLife consists of many branches of ministry , but most commonly the name "YoungLife" refers to the outreach arm of the organization directed toward high school students...

was founded by Jim Rayburn

Jim Rayburn

Jim Rayburn, Jr was an ordained Presbyterian minister and the founder of Young Life. He was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, on July 21, 1909, to James Chalmers Rayburn, Sr. , and Elna Beck Rayburn. Rayburn was the oldest of four sons, and grew up in Newton, Kansas...

in 1941. The Young Life

Young Life

parachurch model proved to be effective at reaching young people for Christ, and by the early 1950s, parachurch youth ministries with full-time staff flourished. Billy Graham

Billy Graham

William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...

was the first full-time parachurch worker for Youth for Christ

Youth for Christ

Youth for Christ is the name of a number of previously unaffiliated evangelical Protestant religious campaigns which led to the creation of Youth for Christ International in 1946....

(YfC) in the USA. This movement spread quickly around the world. During the 1950s, parachurch ministries grew rapidly in most Christianized countries, and the focus of activity was on large events, known as Rallies, and stadium events, known as "Crusades". The emphasis was on promoting inter-church activities (between local denominational churches) – mainly in the format of youth rallies – the type of “stadium” events made popular by YfC.

The 1960s were characterized by campus ministries. Many college-aged students did not have their theological needs met by these fellowship groups; soon thereafter, even younger adolescents began to see their organizations as institutionalized and irrelevant. Denominations stopped publishing youth group (Sunday School) resources and large group gatherings dwindled down into small meetings and then into nothing. Then specific church-based activities for youth emerged, as Friday night youth groups began.

During the 1970s, many denominations implemented strategies for modernizing existing youth ministry in the hopes of reviving it. This is the point where differences in youth ministry started to emerge on a denominational basis instead of organization to organization. Youth ministries operate in different ways today, but most of them have the same set of goals, which will be discussed in the Goals of Youth Ministry subsection of this article.

During the early 1980s the counselling revolution hit the church with its emphasis on honesty and openness. Professional counselors began to be employed in churches. This influenced youth groups and the Bible study meetings became "fellowship groups" or "home groups" with an emphasis on caring and meeting people. It was also during the 1980s that a large number of local church youth pastors began expressing the desire to stay in youth ministry as a lifelong career.

The 1990s saw the start an emerging church movement, and many of the youth leaders from the 1970s and 1980s were pioneers in this approach.

During the 1990s there was also a move to create international interaction between different youth structures. Pioneers in this approach are the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry (IASYM).

More recently, despite Dr. Francis Edward Clark's original intent for youth ministry to raise young adults “responsible for larger service in the church of Christ,” studies indicate significant numbers of young people are not transitioning into the adult church from youth ministry after graduation from high school. As a result, more churches are scrutinizing their traditional youth ministry programming and working to engage parents and the adult church more fully with the young people and involve young people more deeply in the work of the Church.

Doug Fields

Also of note is Doug Fields, who formerly served as the Pastor of Student Ministries at Rick Warren's

Rick Warren

Richard Duane "Rick" Warren is an American evangelical Christian minister and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, currently the eighth-largest church in the United States...

famed Saddleback Church

Saddleback Church

Saddleback Church is an evangelical Christian megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, situated in southern Orange County, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The church was founded in 1980 by pastor Rick Warren...

from 1992–2006, and today, is arguably the premier youth ministry expert in the world. His innovative church growth

Church growth

Church Growth is a movement within evangelical Christianity which emphasizes mainly missionary work combined with sociological awareness of the target population. The "seeker sensitive" label for this approach characterizes the would-be converts as "seekers".-History:Church Growth began with the...

methods at Saddleback led to unprecedented growth, with over 1,000 students attending his high school ministry alone, believed to be the largest youth ministry in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

at the time. This growth was accomplished without the use of a dedicated student ministry facility. In 1998, Fields' groundbreaking Gold Medallion-winning book, Purpose Driven Youth Ministry was published, revolutionizing youth ministries around the world, and led to Fields' unofficial title as the "most famous youth pastor in the world." The book is still considered required reading in many evangelical college and seminary

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

youth ministry courses.

From 2006-2009, Fields served as the Pastor of Life Development at Saddleback. In 2009, Fields resigned from Saddleback to pursue other ministry opportunities. His Purpose Driven Youth Ministry Student Leadership Conference attracts over 1,000 student leaders every year. Fields is also the founder of Simply Youth Ministry http://www.simplyyouthministry.com and hosts an annual conference for youth workers (youthministry.com/symc) in collaboration with Group Publishing. He is the author of more than 50 books. Fields still remains informally connected to Saddleback's student ministries and occasionally preaches in Warren's absence.

In 2008, Fields saw his dream of over 15 years come to fruition with the completion of the Refinery, Saddleback's first dedicated student ministry facility. Costing $20 million, the state-of-the-art facility is considered the premier student ministry facility in the world. The Refinery houses Saddleback's middle school ministry (Wildside), high school ministry (HSM), college ministry (Crave), and young adults ministry, (Fuel). Since moving into the Refinery, all the student ministries have seen tremendous growth, with more than 2,500 young people attending services in the facility each week. HSM has doubled its attendance to 1,500 students attending per week since moving into the new facility, and is currently under the leadership of high school pastor, Josh Griffin.

Composition of youth ministry in America

Youth ministry today is a large part of American Christian culture

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

. In New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

alone there are over 3,500 youth organizations operating today. Despite denominational difference, there are basic practices and goals that most youth groups have in common.

Basics of youth ministry

Most youth groups tend to follow a similar organizational model. The church that supports them will provide an allocation of funds to use for the activities of the group. It also will employ a paid staff member or volunteer to lead the group, known as the Youth pastor, youth minister, pastor of student ministries, youth leader, or other similar terms. This person can be either a lay person, hold a religious degree, or be a member of the ordained clergy, depending on the needs and resources of the church. His or her duties may include orchestrating the activities of the group (in particular, the content of the regular meetings below), providing pastoral care for the members of the youth group, managing a budget for the youth group, and serving as a liaison between the youth and adult bodies of the congregation.

Today's youth ministries hold regular meetings, often at the same time as adult functions at the church. Youth group meetings generally feature the same types of activities as a Sunday morning church service, modified to reflect the culture of the age groups involved. Services may include a time for worship

Christian worship

In Christianity, worship is adoration and contemplation of God.-Overview:Throughout most of Christianity's history, corporate Christian worship has been primarily liturgical, characterized by prayers and hymns, with texts rooted in, or closely related to, the Scripture, particularly the Psalter;...

, drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

, game

Game

A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...

s or other activities, fellowship through conversation and/or food, and prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

. Many youth ministers also present a sermon

Sermon

A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...

or devotional

Bible study (Christian)

In Christianity, Bible study is the study of the Bible by ordinary people as a personal religious or spiritual practice. Some denominations may call this devotion or devotional acts; however in other denominations devotion has other meanings...

. It's common for youth groups to attend Christian summer camps each year.

Most denominations arrange their youth ministry programs according to related educational levels. American churches tend to separate youth by grade level, creating smaller sub-groups within a youth ministry program. These distinctions usually fall between middle school and high school. Traditionally, elementary age children and below have separate programs altogether, though this, too, may be managed by the same youth pastor. Some youth groups even extend up through college students, creating an additional sub-group often referred to as "college and career".

Goals of youth ministry

The primary goal of most modern-day youth ministries is to teach youth the biblical doctrines of Christ and salvation

Salvation

Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...

. This is different from the original education/literacy

Literacy

Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...

-centered programs of Sunday schools of the 19th century. Churches provide money for youth groups in order for their purposes to be furthered, and the stated purpose of many churches is to share the content of the Bible with the world. This is why the structure of many youth ministry services are centered around a sermon, the biblical teaching presented at these meetings.

Before the turn of the 21st century, many denominations placed less emphasis on the role of youth in the church. It is more important now than ever before that young people should “serve in churchwide responsibilities.” Churches now encourage teenagers to evangelize at their age, rather than waiting until adulthood to “make a difference.”

In addition, many sermons are delivered with the intent for youth to “come to know Christ” if they have not done so already. Once they do, emphasis is often placed on getting youth to invite their friends or siblings along to the services. Many youth groups, like the churches they may be associated with, vie to embark on mission trips. These acts of faith-based foreign aid often involve service projects alongside conversion efforts.

External links

Youth Ministry Today/YMtoday Resources by youth leaders for youth leaders
Campus Crusade for Christ
Center For Student Missions
Christian Camp and Conference Association
National Network of Youth Ministries
The International Center for Youth Ministry
Pastor2Youth.com directory of youth ministry resources
YMCA United States
High School Youth Ministry
Youth Group Games - Games and ideas suitable for youth groups
EGAD Ideas - Similar to the site above, contains a good list of resources for youth groups