Youth Ideas - 17 Places to Find Potential Leaders for Your Youth Ministry

www.CreativeYouthIdeas.com

Youth Ideas - 17
Places to Find
Potential
Leaders for Your
Youth Ministry

www.CreativeSermonIdeas.com


Every church needs a team of
people to work with the youth
minister / youth pastor to minister
to its teenagers. Learn 17 places
where you can find potential youth
leaders for your youth ministry
team.

For most youth ministries, the
summer months are very busy. A lot
of youth ministers are conducting
summer camps, organizing youth
retreats, leading mission trips, and
taking youth on special outings. No
youth leader can do it alone and
even if you are one of those who
think you can do it alone, don’t.



Youth Pastors Need to Build a Youth
Ministry Team

Building up a committed team of leaders
and helpers for youth ministry will
provide you valuable insights, additional
talents, and more eyes, hands and
footwork to keep the youth program
running smoothly. As you invest in
leaders it also develops shared
ownership of the youth program that
insures it continues effectively for many
years to come even if you move on to a
different church or ministry yourself.



Here are just a few of the benefits of
building a youth ministry team:

Communication
When parents and church leaders are part
of the team and understand the goals and
programs, it makes it so much easier to
communicate those goals to the
congregation as well as avoid
misunderstandings.
Commitment
Involvement generates commitment.
When people see themselves as
stakeholders in the ministry, they tend to
be more committed to making it
successful.



Care
It’s much easier for a group of people
to attend to the varied and
sometimes overwhelming needs of
youth and show care on a much
more personal level than for a single
youth leader trying to care for a large
youth group. For youth, time is
important and the larger the youth
group, the less time you will have for
individuals in the group.



So how can you get started building a
youth ministry team?

In the book, “Good to Great” by Jim
Collins, he explains several powerful
ideas for any company or organization.
One of those principles is very
appropriate for youth ministry “Get the
right people on the bus, the wrong
people off the bus, and the right people
in the right seats – then figure out
where to drive it.” Getting the right
team in the right roles is the most
important part of building a youth
ministry team.



Here are 17 places to find potential
youth leaders for your youth ministry
team.

1. Surveys
Conduct a Talent / Interest Surveys for
the entire congregation. Have the
various roles and responsibilities for all
church ministries listed. When new
people join he church as members, also
ask them to fill out Talent/ Interest
Surveys. You’ll want to get to know them
and observe their Christian walk and
commitment over time, but that is true
of anyone you consider for a youth
ministry role.



2. Committed Church Members
Ask currently active Bible Study or
Sunday school members to become
youth leaders. Ask current cell
group members to become youth
leaders. People who are already
committed to the church often
make great additions to the youth
ministry team.



3. Ask for Recommendations
Ask the current youth leaders to
recommend Potential Leaders from
the congregation. Chances are, the
youth leaders you have now also
know other friends in the church
who would be great leaders. You can
also ask the teens in your church,
“Who in the church do you think
would make a great youth leader?”
Youth are very aware of the people
in the church who already make
them feel welcome and loved.



Ask Sunday school members (Or Bible
Study Leaders) to recommend
potential leaders. They are very aware
of those in their studies and classes
that have a mature or growing faith
that would be great Bible Teachers or
Sunday School Teachers.
Additionally, ask the current church
leadership to recommend potential
youth leaders. Their circle of
relationships may include many people
that are not too familiar to you, but
who would make great leaders. Don’t
forget to ask deacons or elders in
addition to the other pastoral leaders.



4. Existing Short term Programs
One of these is Vacation Bible School.
Many churches hold these programs
for children in the church. It’s a short
commitment and usually gets a lot of
volunteers. Some of those working
with the older children might make
great youth leaders as well.

5. Previous Leaders
Many people serve in leadership
positions and then at times take break
due to family or work commitments
and other various reasons. In time they
are often willing to jump back into a
ministry position if asked.



6. Committed people who aren’t
already doing something.
It sometimes seem that there are the
few same people in the church doing
all the work. Ministry leaders see their
commitment and talents and give them
more to do. But sometimes, there are
others who aren’t really ambitious
enough to volunteer who just need a
little nudge to get them involved. It’s
much easier to teach a committed
member a few skills in ministering to
youth than to teach commitment to
someone who has the interest but
lacks the commitment.



7. Existing Lists
Take out the Church membership
roll, the Sunday School Rosters, Cell
group rosters, participant lists in various
church training programs and ministry
opportunities and read through the
names. If you just try to list form your
own memory you will miss many of the
precious souls who are often
present, but not foremost in your
thoughts. Many of these are valuable
gems simply waiting to be shaped and
polished!



8. Returning Church Members
Previous students who have gone
off to college and come back for a
summer break or having completed
their college education often make
excellent youth leaders. They may
need a little more guidance but they
make up for the lack of experience
with an abundance of energy.
Returning servicemen and women
also make great youth leaders. They
typically are very disciplined and
work very hard.



9. Persons attending training
conferences and conventions
The fact that these people are
taking the extra effort to grow and
mature their faith makes them good
candidates for potential youth
positions. It may also reflect a more
flexible schedule that is helpful
when serving youth.



10. Training Courses
Offer a training course for youth
workers, parents, or anyone else
that wants to better understand
youth. Those that attend the
course obviously must have an
interest and some of them might
make great additions to your
youth ministry team. You can
offer general leadership classes or
potential Teacher classes etc. as
well.



11. People in administrative
positions
Members often serve in
administrative positions because they
want to contribute but are not yet
ready to take a ministry role. For
many this is the first step into
ministry and once they gain
confidence and understanding they
are ready to move on to something
more hands on.



12. People who work with youth
outside the church
Coaches, school teachers, school
administrators and many other people
work with youth outside the church.
Some of them may be looking for
church to be a break away from the
routine work with youth. But there are
still others who would welcome the
opportunity to minister to you at church
and youth functions.



13. People who are Leaders in their
Careers
There are business men and women in
every church whose work requires
leadership skills. They can be leaders in
a variety of situations. There may also
be others who are leaders in the
community as well. Give them an
opportunity to be spiritual leaders to
your teens.



14. People with Free time
Retired Persons often have lots of time
and wisdom to contribute to any youth
program. They may not have the energy
but they certainly have lots of love and
affection. You can often find meaningful
roles for them in your youth program.
Some examples might be writing
personal postcards, praying for youth,
and for those with a bit more energy
and mobility can often put their
younger counterparts to shame in
serving God.



15. New Church Members
When people transfer from another
church, their churches may highlight
their previous service as part of the
recommendation or transfer of
membership. Nurturing new
members in a New Members class
also should include some teaching
on discovering gifts and finding
places of service in the church.



16. Contributors to the Youth Ministry
There are often people in the church
that contribute to the youth ministry
by providing transport, food, places
for meetings, or even money. It is such
people that provide a backbone for
many of the youth groups. Even so,
some might be willing to become a
little more personally involved if
asked.



17. Parents
It’s rare that a parent makes a good youth
leader in the church if that role is serving
over his or her own teens. During
adolescence, teens start looking for
significant role models outside the
immediate family. Teenage years can also
be turbulent and emotionally
charged, thus church can be an oasis away
from that trouble. If both teen and parent
are ok with it, it works out fantastic.
Biblical responsibility for raising Godly
men and women, after all, rests with the
parents. But for many parents and
youth, this simply isn’t going to be a god
idea yet. But there are often other
leadership roles with a different class or
age group, which are very suitable even
when a parent has teens in the youth
program.


A Final Note
I wanted to give you 10 places to find
youth leaders and help for your youth
ministry, but as I started writing more
ideas came to mind. Simply remember,
we are one body of Christ with many
parts and we are all different but also all
needed. Pray for God’s guidance to
show you those to approach and that
he would steer their hearts toward
places to serve in your ministry.
Personally, I believe that there is a place
for everyone in the church. We just
need to get the right people into the
right seats and let God do the driving on
our journey heavenward!



Camp Curriculum - Whale of a Tale
Bible Studies based on the book of Jonah
Only. This youth camp curriculum was
designed to teach the basic truths
of obedience in addition to evangelism in the
context of a Biblical character. The advantage
of going through a book and looking at one
man's story is that we see not only the
teaching but the example. It becomes much
more real!
-> Tell me about “Whale of a Tale”

www.creativeyouthideas.com/resources/order5.html


Creative Youth Ideas
Camp Bible Study Series
“Who Do You Say that I AM?”
Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do others
say that I am?" It was easy to answer
because it required no conviction, no
commitment, and no risk. But then he
follows that question with another, "Who
do YOU say that I am?"

-> Tell me about “Who Do You Say that I AM?”

www.creativeyouthideas.com/resources/whodoyousay.html


Creative Youth Ideas
Youth Camp Bible Study Series
“Fruit Of the Spirit”
Live the Fruitful, Abundant Life
Jesus Promised. Great for youth camps or
weekly Youth Bible Study. There are 7
Primary Bible study Sessions in the series.

-> Tell me about “Fruit Of the Spirit”

www.creativeyouthideas.com/resources/fruitofthespirit.html


Camp Curriculum - The Great Adventure

"The Great Adventure" is western
themed Bible study series loosely based
around the song of the same name by
Steven Curtis Chapman. It was initially
written for a large Texas Church to use for
their Summer Youth Camp but has since
then proven popular around the world.

-> Tell me about “The Great Adventure”

www.creativeyouthideas.com/resources/order12.html

Youth Ideas - 17 Places to Find Potential Leaders for Your Youth Ministry

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Youth Ideas - 17 Places to Find Potential Leaders for Your Youth Ministry