One of the most important milestones as a Christian is putting others before ourselves. Philippians 2:3-4 teaches that we should clothe ourselves in humility, consider others to be better than ourselves, and look out for their interests. That’s a tall order! Developing a life like that in teenagers takes time and intentionality, but it’s so worth it.
The best way to help your students grow in humility and care for others is outreach and evangelism. Many adults shudder at those words and will opt to leave that work to the ‘professional Christians.’ Still, if you engage teenagers early, those practices will not be quite as intimidating. Here are some best practices to help your students engage with outreach and evangelism.
Outreach
- Create regular rhythms of serving – If you only do an outreach event once a quarter or fewer, then students will not develop a heart for service. Discipleship is caught, not taught. Meaning that leading by example is much more effective than what we preach from the stage. Develop relationships with Christ-centered outreach organizations in your city and serve with them once a month or more.
- Personally invite students – Announcements from stage are great, but let’s be honest, they’re not very effective. Instead, try to invite a handful of students to serve with you each week. These personal invitations go a long way to pull a student out from the crowd and into a serving opportunity. Plus, this gives you a route for great conversation during the outreach event.
- Empower your students’ passion – Teenagers today are some of the most justice-driven people in our world. Chances are, some students in your Youth Group have a deep passion for a specific cause. Whenever you notice something like that, run toward it! Those students will become your key volunteers and will often invite others to join them. You may also work with those students to create new outreach opportunities to fit their passions.
Evangelism
- Pray for the lost – We’re not going to just assume this is happening. Prayer is the fuel to the fire of evangelism. As Youth Workers, we should be praying for the lost regularly. We should encourage, challenge, and check in with students to do the same. If you and your students constantly pray for the lost, you will see them share Christ with their friends.
- Teach them how to share the Gospel – Can each of your students articulate the Good News of Jesus? The easiest way to do this is by preaching it every week! Saturating students with the Gospel will help them learn the language themselves. You can also give them examples of one-verse gospels that they can share with their friends and provide them with opportunities to write and share their testimonies.
- Celebrate all the wins (especially the little ones) – Rejection is by far the most common reason people don’t practice evangelism. Although rejection is inevitable, we can help students overcome that fear through constant affirmation. So, ask your students if they shared the Gospel with someone recently. If they did, celebrate them! Affirm them privately by sending them an encouraging text and publicly shouting them out during your message. This will keep their passion going as well as encourage others to do the same.
Christ desires to move in and through the students in your sphere of influence. Consider this quote by St. Teresa of Ávila:
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which He looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are His body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Kyle Williamson
Director of Student Leadership Development