Is Your Youth Ministry A Come And See Or GO And Make Ministry

Many times in youth ministry we take a come and see approach.  In fact, we all have at some point probably. Don't think so? How many times have you ever said something like this.

• "Bring your friends next week and we'll share the Gospel with them."
• "Bring your friends so we can build relationships with them."
• "We're going to do a big event next week so your friends will come."

These things are not bad in themselves because our ministries play an important role in the spiritual growth of our students and are an important outreach tool to the students in our communities.  But their are two problems that arise from this approach.  First of all, this is all many of us ever do. We are fully geared towards students coming to "see the show."  Then the second problem springs out of the first one. Our students think that the Christian life is all about coming to church and that you are the only ones who can reach their friends. Not to mention that they begin to believe that the church building or your events are the only time life change can happen.

None of us believe this and none of us would ever intentionally send this message. But we need to do some evaluation of our ministries because for many of us this is exactly the message we are sending.

Again, at times this approach is okay and even needed, but what is more important is that we ensure that we are empowering and equipping our students do go out and do ministry and make disciples. They need to realize that they can and must reach their friends for Christ and we need to give them the training, support, and encouragement they need to do just that. 

Because this is what Christ did. He sent His disciples out to go and make disciples.  And even when some people came who just wanted to come and "see the show," He would challenge them to take action and follow them instead of allowing them to settle for half hearted commitment.

But there may be an even greater reason why we must send our students out. There is too much work to be done for us to do it all on our own. Yes the work we do in youth ministry is important and makes an impact. But this generation, maybe more than any other, is in desperate need of a move of God, and I firmly believe that if this move is going to happen it will be through our students going out and impacting their campuses and communities for Christ, not simply by us finding more ways to bring people in. 

So remember, bringing in is important. But if we truly want our students to mature in their faith and see God move the way He wants to in this generation, we must focus more on sending our students out to make disciples and change the world for Christ.