During my three decades of youth ministry, I learned how to plan, promote, and pull off an exciting Wednesday night youth service. I acquired strategies for mobilizing volunteers and motivating students to bring their friends. And I felt the adrenaline rush when a youth event attracted more students than anticipated.

However, I also sensed the pressure of the next week, the next Wednesday, and the next event.

There was always an expectation for more, bigger, and better — for the next time to top the last one. Over the years, I often wondered whether this strategy works.

In my conversations with youth leaders, many quietly express the same concern. I hear the exhaustion in their voices. They want to do more than just draw and entertain a crowd. They want to make lifelong disciples who make disciples.

Finding Answers

What predicts whether a student will continue growing in faith after high school?

As part of my Ph.D. work at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri, I conducted a study to help answer that question.

With permission from Kara Powell and the Fuller Youth Institute, I replicated the longitudinal study Powell conducted for her book Sticky Faith.

Working with leaders from the Assemblies of God national office, I followed a group of AG students over a five-year period, surveying them annually to determine what factors contribute to ongoing spiritual growth as young people enter adulthood.

Participants answered questions about their spiritual formation and relationships with God. I considered how their friendships with Christians, non-Christians, parents, church leaders, and other adults affected their faith. I also tracked their involvement in church.

The results — published in the Assemblies of God Youth Study (AGYS) — confirmed some of my suspicions and challenged a few assumptions.

As it turned out, attending Sunday services in high school did not necessarily predict continued spiritual growth in later years. Neither did factors like a student’s gender, grade point average, family income, or church size.

Three major factors did make a difference in the lives of those whose faith flourished after high school.

The first and most important was an internal motivation for making decisions based on biblical values. Students who grew into faith-filled young adults prioritized honoring and obeying God. Thus, they wanted to pray, read the Bible, attend church, and volunteer.

Incentivizing teens to do these things using rewards or other external motivators did not result in long-term spiritual growth. Simply asking students to engage in spiritual disciplines is not enough either.

External pressure does not produce lasting fruit. Long-term discipleship requires the internal work of the Holy Spirit.

Young people who demonstrated internal motivation were more likely to serve others and express a sense of closeness to God. And they were less likely to drink alcohol, gamble, view pornography, and engage in premarital sex.

The second factor contributing to long-term faith was the involvement and support of Christian parents. Discipleship moves at the speed of relationships. The AGYS found that no one has a more significant influence on a young person’s worldview than parents.

This is in line with a number of other studies on the topic. In fact, one researcher found non-Christian parents pass on non-Christian beliefs, values, and practices as effectively as Christian parents. We must not underestimate the power of parents in shaping the next generation.

External pressure does not produce lasting fruit. Long-term discipleship requires the internal work of
the Holy Spirit.

The final element associated with ongoing growth was participation in small groups. Involvement in a safe and supportive small group environment developed lasting faith more than any other church activity or program.

Students need opportunities to share their struggles in a relational ministry context. Successfully connecting with such opportunities often has a positive effect on a young person’s retention and long-term growth.

Practical Implications

Models of youth ministry revolving around entertainment might be fun and attractive. However, discipleship requires more than just attendance. The sobering truth is we can draw a crowd without making disciples.

Entertainment is not discipleship. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). That’s the kind of commitment students need for long-term faith.

The Holy Spirit — not a rewards-based series of fun Wednesday nights — guides this internal journey. To promote discipleship, we need to shift the focus of youth ministry away from what students do to who they are in Christ.

We must also shift some creative energy toward families. Resourcing and partnering with Christian parents to disciple their children yields lasting results.

Students who don’t live in Christian homes need godly adults to step in as spiritual mothers and fathers. These mentors can model faith and provide encouragement, support, and accountability.

There is no guaranteed formula for making disciples who will keep following Jesus. It’s not a matter of adding or eliminating a particular program. Ministries and programs don’t produce disciples on their own.

Helping students grow spiritually requires intentionality. The best structure for young people fuses faith, life and experience.

Small groups provide opportunities for students to ask questions, talk about their daily challenges, receive prayer and encouragement, and come alongside one another.

Additionally, leaders can take time during youth services to connect the experiences of camps, conferences, and events to students’ daily spiritual lives.

For example, I always followed youth camp with teaching on Wednesday nights about the Holy Spirit.

Life in the Spirit

Discipleship is the process through which the Holy Spirit shapes us, making us more like Jesus.

We must not limit the Spirit’s activity to service response times or youth camp experiences. Students need those moments. But they also need to learn what it means to walk in the Spirit Monday through Saturday.

How a teen responds to the promptings of the Holy Spirit will affect the next steps in his or her journey. Youth ministry should help young people develop personal interaction with the Spirit that continues throughout their lives.

This requires intentional teaching. Do students know what we mean when we say God spoke to us? Do they imagine an audible voice is the only way to hear from God?

We should talk about the many ways in which the Spirit guides believers, using both biblical examples and personal testimonies as illustrations. And we need to encourage students to put these lessons into practice as they seek God for direction in the big and small decisions they face.

Such discussions will help students understand the importance of spiritual habits. For example, a story about a time when a Scripture verse seemed to jump off the page as the Holy Spirit provided direction highlights the value of Bible engagement.

Students need to know that interacting with God is not just for church. God is with them and wants to lead them when they are at home, in school, and with friends. A young person’s ability to recognize nudges from the Holy Spirit has profound implications for the rest of his or her life.

The Church has a choice when it comes to youth ministry. We can entertain young people for a brief time during their teen years. Or we can make disciples who make disciples who make disciples.

To equip students for a lifetime of faith, we must exchange short-term strategies for a long-game approach.

This article appears in the Spring 2023 issue of Influence magazine.