F.L.I.P. Your Approach to Student Ministry 

 
by Kayla Fowler 

What if the biggest barrier to your student ministry’s growth isn’t your budget, but your mindset? It’s easy to get buried in the details of tight schedules, limited resources, or small teams while ignoring one of the biggest needs of our ministries—our approach.  

Sometimes we lead from a place of experience—what we experienced as teens, or past ministry practices that have worked. But along the way, we’ve made some critical assumptions:  

• We assume students want to listen to us.
• We assume students arrive ready to learn about the Bible.
• We assume students know what we’re talking about when we say Bible names and places.
• e assume we’ve created spaces for students to feel comfortable and confident to be themselves.   

But what if we challenge those assumptions? What if we approach student ministry with a starting point that students are just here? Maybe they know the Bible, maybe they don’t. Maybe they know someone’s name, maybe they don’t. Maybe they want to know what you have to say, maybe they don’t.  

What we know is students need a new approach. They need connection with others and with God. They need to know they belong and they’re wanted. They need to know someone sees them, cares about them, and wants to connect with them.  

We can F.L.I.P. our approach by helping students lean into relationships with Friends, Leaders, Influencers, and Pastors. These key relationships engage with students and replaces assumption with an approach that lasts—real connection and true belonging.