Jesus Centered Youth Ministry

“I take my text, and make a bee-line to the CROSS.” - Spurgeon

Rick Lawrence of Group wrote a book called; “Jesus Centered Youth Ministry.” I read the book this past spring and have recently picked it up to read it again. Why? Because it’s that good.

Can our busyness of doing “stuff” be a distraction to others? I’ve found myself recently pondering this thought as I’ve been distracted lately by others busyness with “stuff.” I’ve had to force myself to get away to some place quiet so can regain focus. If we’re not careful we can allow the busyness of doing stuff FOR ministry that it distracts us from DOING ministry.

So yesterday as I sat quietly in my comfy chair reading, praying and resting my broken toe/foot I asked myself; Am I keeping everything I do in youth ministry centered on Jesus? Then I remembered Rick’s book and thought I’d read it again.

Is our youth ministry Jesus centered? Is our teaching, events, small groups, everything we do Jesus centered? Are we making a bee-line to the cross in youth ministry? Are we training our volunteer youth workers to be Jesus centered?

“It’s one thing to build your youth ministry on Jesus. It’s another thing to keep it there.”

In his book Rick shares the following;

“For almost all teenagers, Jesus is not the hub of their life – he’s either a “spoke” on their life’s wheel (just a church thing) or not even part of the wheel. They have no firm idea of who Jesus really is, why he came, what he actually said, what he actually did, or what’s he’s doing now. And when something happens in their “real” world, they struggle to understand God’s connection to it.”

Rick doesn’t simply blanket this subject, but dives into it covering all the major areas of youth ministry with the help of others in the youth ministry world (Greg Stier, Jeanna Mayo, Chap Clark, & others): discipleship, mentoring, evangelism, small groups, outreach, culture, counseling, volunteers, parents, and communication.

If you’re youth ministry is NOT growing and struggling spiritually and you’re not seeing addition. If you’re passionate about Jesus then read Rick’s book. I highly recommend it. It will change the way you do youth ministry that is biblically based Jesus centered youth ministry.