Student Ministry

Serving Student Ministers in their mission of making disciples

  • Home
  • Philosophy
  • Girls Ministry
  • Shop
  • Youth Ministry Booster
Ministering, Student Ministry, What to read
March 4, 2015

What to Read Wednesday

The following post was written by Jeff Pratt, Director of FUGE Camps

(Click underlined text for links)

Every Church Can Build a Sustainable Youth Ministry – Mark DeVries

A trend that we continue to see is the growth of the part time student minister. More and more churches are moving to this model for a lot of reasons. For some churches it is a financial decision. Their budget just cannot handle the salary of a full time youth minister. For some churches it is the reality of a slow death. Because of the lack of growth in young families in many churches, they find themselves having a hard time justifying the need for a full time youth minister. On a positive note, some churches that have never had a youth program are finding themselves in the need for someone to begin working with their students. Regardless of the reason, there are many good-natured volunteers who get tagged one Sunday after church and told that they are it. They have just been given the job as part time youth director. The question that quickly arises is, what now? Where do I start?

If you find yourself in this situation I would highly recommend this article by Mark DeVries. Mark is a long time youth minister in the Nashville area and has created a succinct model that will help any student ministry get off the ground.

“Most churches have chosen to do youth ministry with a model best described as gambling. It usually looks like this: the leaders of the church cross their fingers and believe, with all their hearts, that this time the cards will fall in their favor. This time they’ll find the superstar youth director who will change everything…fast. This time when they roll the dice, if they wish hard enough, a thriving youth ministry will show up. But few people get rich gambling.”

If this has peaked your interest, then you will love the rest of this article. Remember, there is no magic system out there that will automatically create great youth ministry, but there are great principles that can be gleaned and applied to your context that will help you reach and disciple students.

You may also like -

  • 8 Ways to Win With Parents8 Ways to Win With Parents
  • Episode 164: Within Reach: Part 1Episode 164: Within Reach: Part 1
  • 5 Great Gifts for Grads5 Great Gifts for Grads

Filed Under: Ministering, Student Ministry, What to read March 4, 2015

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.


@StudentMinistry
FOLLOW

All Ministry Sites

Leadership
Kids Ministry
Student Ministry
Groups Ministry
Women’s Ministry
Worship Ministry

Digital Resources

Ministry Grid
Lifeway Worship
Digital Church
KidEvent Pro
MyCurriculum Manager
Simulcast Manager
Lifeway Reader eBooks
Generosity
WORDsearch
SmallGroup.com

Lifeway Network

Lifeway Research
B&H

Copyright © 2025 · Lifeway Christian Resources · All Rights Reserved

Cleantalk Pixel