Do you see yourself as a busy youth worker who tries to plan ahead, but ends up executing events that you haven’t had ample time to think through? If we were honest, then we would all say that we have found ourselves here at some point! Planning ahead takes effort, persistence, and execution. However, planning ahead can lead to more effective ministry.  Below are five categories to think through as we plan programs and events:

Equipping Programing.What events or programs do we have planned that are focused on growing our students who already know Jesus into a deeper relationship with him? These events are important because it helps our students grow in knowledge and relationship with him. This can be accomplished in weekly programing, leadership training, and retreats or seminars that are built around the idea of equipping.

Engagement Programing. What events or programs do we have planned that are focused on connecting students who are irregularly attending youth group or who come to our church with their families and never get connected to the youth ministry? We must make sure that our student ministry is always engaging students who are not currently a part of it.  Engagement events can include big events where you encourage students to invite their friends. Our youth ministry has found monthly game nights in our gym, where students can play athletic or board games, serve as a good opportunity for students to invite friends in a non-threatening environment. 

Evangelistic Programing. What events or programs do we have planned that are focused on sharing the Good News of Jesus with students who might not know Him?  These programs and events are focused at reaching students who don’t know Jesus. One side benefit of them is that some of our students who might assume that they know the Gospel can also hear it and think about it. Evangelistic events can be focused on bringing in lots of students or could be focused around inviting students who might have questions about to come and ask those questions in a local coffee shop.

School Outreach Programing. How are we partnering with other youth workers to reach kids inside the local schools? A great resource to accomplish this is meeting teachers in the local schools and seeing how you can assist and encourage them and the students in their school. Sometimes school outreach might include going into schools and helping lead Bible studies. Other times it could mean writing letters to the school teachers in your church and reminding them that their presence as Christian teachers in public and private schools can have a huge effect on students. 

Leader Training. How are we recruiting and training our volunteer youth leaders throughout the school year? We would admit that we must have youth leaders who are growing in their competencies if we want to have a healthy youth ministry. This is why we should consider how we are training our leaders in groups and individually. 

There are obviously more categories and ideas to consider as we plan our youth ministry events and programs. These are just meant to get your brain thinking about the coming school year. However, these five give a foundation of how to think through revitalizing our ministry calendars.