Events are part of youth ministry. Your weekly Wednesday and Sunday meetings are events. The retreats you do, camps you coordinate, and conferences you take your teenagers to are events. There’s nothing inherently wrong with events, but we should always evaluate their purpose. If they aren’t triggering movement toward spiritual growth and revival in the hearts of our students, we may need to do some rethinking, reimagining, and retooling.
You can’t force revival to happen, but you can put in the plumbing and ask God to turn on the water. You can cultivate the ground, plant the seed, and ask God for a harvest.
Are your events laying the pipework for revival? Are they cultivating the ground for a spiritual awakening, or are you doing events just for the sake of events?
Here are three questions you can ask yourself before every event to ensure that it’s part of the pipeline through which the Living Water can flow:
Will this event inspire my students to serve Jesus?
I have a youth pastor friend named Mr. Bill who has a simple grid for any and every youth group event. He asks himself:
Will this help my students know Jesus and make Him known?
If not, then it’s off the youth group calendar.
Don’t get me wrong — Mr. Bill and his youth group have fun, play games, do events, and wreak all sorts of typical youth ministry havoc. But behind it all there’s a deeper purpose, and he intentionally designs each event to help his students know Jesus more deeply and make Him known more broadly.
He calls unbelievers to belief and challenges believers to fall more in love with Jesus and tell others about Him. It’s woven into the fabric of every one of his events.
Mr. Bill’s events lead to spiritual movement. Do yours?
Will this event equip my students to share the Gospel?
Spiritual momentum in the lives of our students takes more than inspiration — it also requires equipping.
Teenagers don’t naturally know how to pray. They must be equipped in the same way that Jesus equipped His disciples (Luke 11:1-13).
Teenagers don’t naturally know how to study God’s Word. They must be equipped as the Bereans were equipped (Acts 17:11).
Teenagers don’t naturally know how to share the Gospel. They must be equipped as the Corinthians were equipped, to share the core message of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
If your students need to be equipped, check out the recently updated interactive evangelism app Life in 6 Words, which can help your teens easily share their faith. If they can swipe and read, they can share the Gospel. Life in 6 Words makes it easy.
Could this event trigger spiritual movement in my students?
I want to challenge you to consider hosting an event in your city that could trigger a genuine movement. The Day of Global Youth Evangelism is a one-day outreach and mobilization event designed to inspire, equip, and unleash your students with the hope of the Gospel. It’s free to all, whether you’re hosting or just attending.
Don’t do events just for the sake of doing events. Spark a movement! Why not start with Day of Global Youth Evangelism?
Click here to join the Day of Global Youth Evangelism.
