Church youth ministry tends to look like this:
Around 6:15 on a Wednesday night, teens start to trickle into the church gym. Youth leaders greet them by name, asking about their weeks and following up on prayer requests. Some students socialize in the corner while others grab basketballs.
At 6:30, the youth pastor calls the group together for a game. Laughter and shouts echo through the gym as the teens play. Around 7, everyone files into the youth room and swarms the snack table. A few students grab guitars and head to the front to lead worship. Two dozen voices ring out in praise to God before the group settles into prayer and teaching.
The youth pastor brings students a message. Hands go up. Someone asks a hard theological question. A few scribble notes in a journal. Afterward, leaders gather students into small groups to discuss what faith in Christ really looks like beyond the walls of the church.
Strong Youth Ministry in Action
The above story is based on my own real youth group experience and is an example of what youth ministry done well can look like—a place where fun and friendship exist alongside mentorship and spiritual growth.
Ricky Sands, my former youth pastor at Westbrooke Church in Overland Park, Kan. and now senior pastor at First Baptist Church (FBC) in Weston, Mo., always tried to run youth ministry with that goal in mind.
“In a perfect world student ministry should be supplemental to what kids are already being discipled in the home,” Sands says. “And all I’m doing is coming in and affirming biblical ideas that have already been taught to them…My goal was to be supplemental to the students, and also I wanted to help equip parents to be the primary disciple-makers.”
When Sands was growing up, he shares, the youth group environment was what he described as “glorified babysitting,” meetings that were heavy on the chaos and fun but very light on Jesus. He wanted to push back on that culture “in every possible way.”
“We had large youth groups, but so many kids in the youth group that I was going to as a kid have left the faith because there just wasn’t a strong foundation there,” Sands says. Good quote b ut consider tigthening the lead-in. Consider: Sands says his own youth group experience helped shape his approach.
People leaving the faith after graduating from youth ministry isn’t just anecdotal. According to Lifeway Research, in 2019, two-thirds of churchgoing teens dropped out for at least a year as a young adult.
As a youth pastor, Sands made an effort to engage the entire family. He tried to meet with a different family every Wednesday night to check in with the parents, pray with them, see how the student is doing at home, and just generally pour into them.
But beyond family engagement, Sands’ main emphasis for youth ministry was being in the Word.
“The bulk of the time that we spent there was in Bible study,” he explains. “We exposited scripture together. We walked through books of the Bible together.”
Wednesday night meetings would have a message or teaching to encourage the students midweek, while Sunday mornings, Sands says, looked more like a Bible study with conversation and discussion.
The former youth pastor modeled his philosophy after a book on student ministry by Samuel Bierig, which claimed that students can handle verse-by-verse expository Bible teaching. “It would serve [students] well to not have cherry-picked verses that only deal with felt needs,” Sands says.
At Westbrooke, Sands led a year-long Bible study through the YouVersion app, which was open to the entire church body. He explains that it gave students the opportunity to hear from adult Christians, and for youth ministry to not be so isolated.
While Sands placed a heavy emphasis on Bible study, he also wanted to make sure the youth program wasn’t devoid of fun altogether. The youth often went on trips—including an annual one to Silver Dollar City—and held get-togethers outside of church. He says these outings reflected the family nature of the body of Christ. He frequently provided opportunities for the students to fellowship and develop stronger relationships with each other.
“The goal was always having at the front of our minds [that] we’re a family,” he says. “We’re brothers and sisters in Christ and we do things that families do. And when we do those things, we grow closer together.”
The Fruit of the Right Foundation
Sands’ approach to student ministry is just one example, but it reflects the broader model that produces lasting results. Research links Bible engagement among teens to stronger spiritual formation. One Barna study found that 84% of Bible-Engaged teens say they have a better understanding of their purpose in life.
However, even in a strong youth ministry, outcomes are unpredictable. Students still leave the faith. That’s why, for Sands, success doesn’t rest on attendance numbers or producing guaranteed spiritual results.
“Success is faithfulness,” he says. “Success is going to come back on me, not on results.” He believes it is everyone’s duty, not just as leaders but as Christians in general, to be faithful to their calling and fulfill the Great Commission.
He also says that God is ultimately the one who produces fruit. “You want to plant seeds in the hearts of young people that the Lord will water and grow.”
Putting it into Practice
For people going into youth ministry now, it can be hard to know how to strike that right balance of both fun and deeply committed to the Bible. Sands offers some advice.
“Know your strengths and weaknesses,” he says. “Build a team around you that will complement you in areas that you’re weak.” He shares that he applied this to his own time in student ministry. He jokingly called himself “an old man trapped in a young man’s body” who struggled to come up with the “fun” side of things, so he put one of the youth leaders in charge of the games and activities.
Sands also warns youth leaders not to fall into the trap of comparison. “It can get really discouraging when your metrics for whether or not you’re doing a good job are what the other youth ministry or church is doing.” He shares that he has struggled with comparison in the past.
Why Youth Ministry Matters
According to The Open Generation, 62% of teens globally are open to the Bible, but only 8% are “Bible engaged.” 30% are not engaged with the Bible at all. Barna reports that only a third of U.S. teens are “committed Christians,” with the rest consisting of nominal Christians or non-Christians. But over half of all teens surveyed say they are motivated to learn more about Jesus.
With these stats in mind, the need for strong youth ministry is clear. Many students desire to learn about Christian teachings. And some have never had exposure to Christian teachings at all. But if what they learn is weak and shallow, focused more on fun than truth, then a weak foundation follows.
Sands’ position as senior pastor at FBC Weston, he says, has only strengthened his belief in the importance of youth ministry.
Drawing on Ephesians 4, Sands says, “It is our job to equip the saints to carry out the work of the ministry, not to do all the work of the ministry.”
At his church, he continues to lead the youth group, forming a firm foundation built in the hearts of young students.
By Lyra Thompson | Metro Voice
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