If you’re a youth pastor, you have to wonder, “How do we
disciple young people like Jesus did in today’s society?” The answer is, you can’t; our culture is set
up to fight you tooth and nail for time and it militates against risk and
radical behavior, so youth pastors find themselves constantly hemmed in trying
to teach students faith.
However, some churches have done a great job of making the
main thing the main thing. With the time
that they’ve been given, they pursue disciplemaking with a passion. And their fruit speaks for itself. Here are three of the best that I’ve seen.
Small: The J-Unit
You don’t have to be big to make disciples. Justin Mitchell takes the AIM approach of
listening prayer and applies it continually as he points young people to do
what Jesus did.
Medium: True North
Their six week Peruvian mission trip is the best youth group
mission I’ve ever seen. And they back it
up with a relentless focus on disciplemaking.
Large: The Cause
Great emphasis on small groups and periodic weekend retreats
that promote healing and a deeper walk.
If you’ve got some other candidates, please let me know. We need to share the wealth.
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Man Seth, I boast in the Lord on our youth group SWEAT (Spiritual Warriors Evangelizing All Truth). 140 youth come together faithfully every Wed, on top of the small groups held throughout the week. I, myself, am the leader of the MS girls, who I have been discipling with your Book, Listening Prayer. They are tuning into God’s voice with great expectations. Thanks for the blessing of ALP. WOW! These girls are amazing. They have developed into being true servants and prayer warriors over the last 2 years. I will miss them tremendously when I leave!!! As for SWEAT as a whole, we do street evagelism, mission trips, and 2 retreats every year, on top of week after week they do dramas, lead worship, and even preach. These kids are on fire for Jesus!
I am extremely proud of our group, but this all goes to (ultimately God) our youth pastor, Robbie Johnson, who pours his heart out to the youth every day, and not just on Wednesdays. He is a mighty man of God, who absolutely loves kids (he’s a big one himself!).