I have worked in youth ministry my entire adult life. The biggest religious trend in that time has been the rise of the “nones.” This term refers to people who don’t identify with any religion.

Gallup has been asking Americans about their religious affiliation since 1948. In 1993, when I graduated from high school, 82% of Americans claimed to be Christian, while just 6% claimed no religious affiliation. By 2021, the share of Christians had fallen to 67%, while the ranks of nones had more than tripled to 21%.

Gallup’s figures may be too conservative. Pew Research Center reports the nones grew from 16% of the population in 2007 to 29% in 2021. Among youth 13–17, the share is 32%.

If the rise of the nones is the biggest religious trend in our lifetime, the biggest ministry challenge may be how we reach and retain youth for whom religion is increasingly optional.

Based on 25 years of working with teens in various capacities, I’ve noticed that spiritually healthy, missionally effective youth ministries typically do four things well.

1. Community

First, they build caring communities.

This involves making a space for students to feel they belong and matter. It requires identifying and developing youth workers who have a gracious heart toward teens and want to build relationships with them.

“Caring community” needs to be more than words in our mission, vision, and values statements, however. It must be part of our organizational culture, something we practice daily.

Jesus said, “Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12–13).

The arrow of care in Jesus’ words points from us to them.

Too often, we youth workers turn the arrow in the opposite direction. We want teens to love us. We want them to think we are young, cool and talented. If they do, they’ll join our youth group.

In a 2021 survey from Springtide Research Institute, just 1 in 10 teens and young adults reported hearing from a faith leader during the pandemic — an intensely stressful time for many youth.

That statistic reflects what happens when our arrow of care points the wrong way. We fail to serve young people in need. Could this be why many teens no longer affiliate with any religion?

We need to love students with time, attention, and appropriate affection. This requires understanding youth culture and having grace to walk with teens on their spiritual journey. When we do that, they’ll find a home in our ministries. They’ll start to love, care for, and forgive one another, too.

Who wouldn’t want to be part of that kind of community?

2. Discipleship

Spiritually healthy, missionally effective youth ministries also disciple young people well.

Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20).

Identity is a big deal to teenagers. In secular culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status often hold pride of place in a kid’s identity. Jesus wants all of us to find our identity in Him.

My colleague Elly Marroquin leads the discipleship initiative of the Assemblies of God national office. Her team recently developed a resource called “7 Dimensions of a Spirit-Filled Disciple.” Those dimensions describe what a lifelong follower of Jesus looks like. They include Bible engagement, experience of the Holy Spirit, missional habits, prayerful conversation with God, worshipful delight in God, compassionate service, and a lifestyle of generosity.

These dimensions describe outcomes, not methods. How well is your ministry producing these outcomes of spiritual life in young people?

Deconstruction
understandably
worries parents
and youth
workers alike.

I ask because deconstruction has become a buzz word. It refers to questioning everything you’ve been taught about Christianity. Some who do this will leave Christianity entirely. Others will move in a liberal theological direction.

Deconstruction understandably worries parents and youth workers alike.

I sometimes wonder, though, whether young people are deconstructing cultural religion more than biblical Christianity. As my friend Gary Garcia puts it, “I’ve often noticed that those who are deconstructing their faith never constructed much of a foundation in the first place.”

Youth ministry should help students lay solid foundations of lifelong discipleship to, and identity in, Jesus Christ.

3. Outreach

Youth ministry should do outreach well.

John 4:31–35 reports an interesting conversation Jesus had with His disciples. After a long day of ministry, Jesus sat down at the town well, while His disciples went searching for food.

When the disciples returned, they said, “Rabbi, eat something.”

Jesus replied, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

This confused the disciples, who thought maybe someone else had brought Jesus food.

Then Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

Jesus was talking about the work done for the sake of evangelism and demonstrating God's love to people who have not heard the gospel.

In the Bible, evangelism and discipleship are closely related. We start the journey of discipleship when we respond to the gospel. As we mature spiritually, we share the gospel with others. This is our missional purpose.

Spiritually healthy, missionally effective youth ministries understand this. They recognize the Church has not done its job if it has just created community for and discipled young people who are already part of the congregation. The Church must move outside its four walls.

I have always enjoyed coming up with creative ways of reaching out to unsaved, unchurched and de-churched teens. This is youth ministry at its most innovative and fun.

The key goal, however, is to enlist young people in doing the work of outreach. This is how they grow spiritually. So, make sure teens understand the spiritual needs of their community. Ask them to prayerfully consider creative ways to reach their generation. Help them see their campus, neighborhood, sports team, place of employment, and even home as a mission field.

Then expand their horizons. A burden for the lost must extend past their school, city or nation to the global mission field. Teach students about world missions, and give them opportunities to work short-term in a cross-cultural experience.

4. Family

The final thing spiritually healthy, missionally effective youth ministries do is engage family.

The church and family cooperate in the spiritual formation of young people. Jesus commanded the Church to “make disciples.” Paul told parents to “bring [children] up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

Engaging family has two benefits. First, it creates a bridge so young people can develop a consistent character at church and at home. Family members are powerful allies in the discipleship journey.

Second, family members can provide feedback regarding the effectiveness of your ministry. How is the youth ministry schedule affecting the family dynamic? What felt needs does the family have? What is the spiritual maturity level of the parents or guardians? How can you help them?

Conclusion

A fellow youth worker recently said to me, “I don’t know that youth today are less Christian than they used to be, but I do know they are more comfortable saying and admitting things past generations kept quiet about.”

He may have a point, though the statistics I cited above seem to show a generational loss of faith. Either way, we have our work cut out for us. Young people are looking for community, identity and purpose. They’re willing to turn things upside down to find them.

Do we have enough credibility with teens to be part of the process of turning things right-side up again?

This article appears in the Summer 2022 edition of Influence magazine.