This week the blog is sponsored by Rooted Ministry.
Youth ministers and parents face a unique challenge: we’re dealing with human beings made in the image of God who are going through an incredibly tough and awkward transition from childhood to adulthood. Many youth ministry paradigms err by oversimplifying this complex transitional period, reducing student ministry down to an amped-up children’s ministry or a watered-down adult ministry experience. Consequently, the experts tell us, somewhere between 70%-80% of all youth ministry students will stop attending church within their freshman year in college.
When I became a youth pastor 16 years ago, I chased after the youth ministry paradigm designed to be as relevant as possible. I got students to love me and the church, but when they left our ministry for college, they were sadly unprepared and woefully ignorant of who Jesus is. When I checked on my first group of graduating seniors during their college years, they had all but stopped attending church. I knew that something had to change. By God’s grace, in my search for what brings about a lifelong faith, I re-discovered the goodness of the gospel of grace. You see, only when students
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