Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of two global gatherings—one in Florida and one in Finland. In both instances, the Lord overwhelmed me with His goodness as I saw people from every tribe, tongue, and nation gathered to celebrate what God is doing and to reaffirm their commitment to reach the world with the Gospel. It was inspiring!

As I’ve traveled throughout different countries—from dusty villages to urban megacities—I’ve been awed by the beauty of the global Church. Through translators and tear-filled prayers, I’ve experienced its power. The Church is alive—and it’s worth celebrating.

One Body, Many Parts

Scripture tells us:

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:12

That truth isn’t limited to your youth group or your church. It spans continents. It echoes in house churches in Southeast Asia, in underground gatherings in the Middle East, in youth camps across Africa, and in storefront churches in Latin America.

It’s easy for students to think the Church begins and ends with what they see on a Wednesday night or Sunday morning. But the Church is global. And Jesus is continuing to build His Church in every corner of the world.

What an incredible opportunity we have as youth leaders—not only to teach our students this marvelous truth, but to invite them into celebrating it.

Global Perspective Changes Local Passion

When students get a glimpse of the global Church, it often ignites something new in them. They realize the Gospel isn’t just a message for their friends; it’s the hope of the whole world. That perspective doesn’t pull them away from local mission—it fuels it.

It reframes how they pray. It expands how they serve. It humbles their assumptions. And it deepens their gratitude for the freedom and resources they may take for granted.

Whether through a mission trip, a video story from a young believer overseas, or a simple moment of prayer for persecuted Christians, even small exposures to the global Church can reshape a teenager’s faith.

This is one of the reasons I’m so excited about our Lead THE Cause event this summer. We’ll be welcoming 15 international leaders from a dozen countries who will take part in this experience with us. The 400 students and youth leaders attending will get to meet these leaders and hear their stories—bringing the global Church to life in a personal and powerful way.

Unity in the Midst of Diversity

One of the most beautiful things about the global Church is how diverse and yet united it is at the same time. Different expressions of worship. Different styles of preaching. Different rhythms of gathering. And yet—one Lord. One faith. One mission.

In a world that’s increasingly divided, the Church has a chance to be a living, breathing testimony to what unity in Christ looks like.

Let’s not keep that vision from our students.

A Challenge for You—and Your Students

This month, take time to expose your students to the global Church. Show a story from another country. Pray for a church across the world. Invite a missionary to share. Challenge your teens to give or go.

And remind them: They are part of something so much bigger than themselves. The global Church isn’t just out there somewhere. They belong to it. They’re in it. And they’re called to love it, pray for it, and celebrate it.

Because the Church of Jesus Christ—global, local, diverse, united—is worth celebrating!

The post A Worship That Transcends Borders appeared first on Dare 2 Share.

Last month, we kicked off the “Don’t Miss It!” campaign, revealing findings from our recent Gospel Advancing survey project with a livestream. These results didn’t just confirm what we’ve seen—they amplified it. You can watch the recording of the livestream here.

1. The impact of Gospel Advancing ministries

The data from the survey shows just how powerful Gospel Advancing youth ministries are, year after year. Compared to typical youth groups, a Gospel Advancing youth group has:

• 3x the number of students sharing the Gospel
• 10x the number of Gospel conversations
• 30x more mission engagement
• 3x the number of students discipling other students
• 3x more overall youth group growth

What sets these ministries apart is their clear commitment to evangelism training and disciple-making strategies. But ultimately, the most powerful factor is you—the leader setting the pace, personally living out the mission.

2. Why your leadership matters

You are the key to how far your students will go in their Gospel Advancing efforts. Here are 10 reasons why your role is so vital:

1. You believe in the power of the Gospel and the potential of teenagers.
2. You are present in the lives of your students.
3. You train and equip your students to share the Gospel.
4. You create opportunities for outreach and service.
5. You’re building God’s Kingdom, not your own.
6. You tell the Gospel story weekly and invite students to share theirs.
7. You lead by example—not just by instruction.
8. You’re more than a teacher or pastor—you’re a leader of young leaders.
9. You’re appointed by God to shepherd these students.
10. You are loved by God and reflect that love to your students.

3. Stay connected and keep leading

Thank you for your passion, your leadership, and your faithfulness. If you’re not already part of the Gospel Advancing Leaders Facebook Group, join today to share stories, ideas, and best practices. And don’t miss next year’s Energize Youth Ministry Conference—a national gathering where you’ll be encouraged, equipped, and energized for the road ahead.

Keep leading the way. The momentum is building—and the movement is growing!

The post The Momentum of a Movement appeared first on Dare 2 Share.

I’m thankful I didn’t stay stuck in that old mindset. It’s one of the reasons I’m so passionate about what we do here at Dare 2 Share—partnering with leaders like you to equip and inspire your students to share the Gospel with their friends.

This is also why I am excited to reveal the findings from a Gospel Advancing research project our team launched nearly two years ago. Here are the top five reasons I’m so thrilled about what we discovered:

1. Does it even work? The answer is in.

The genesis of the Gospel Advancing research project was a simple question:

Does Gospel Advancing ministry produce students who will make and multiply disciples? Simply put, does it work?

Praise God—the resounding conclusion to the study was yes!

And not just a theoretical yes—this is backed by real stories, real numbers, and real transformation in students’ lives.

2. Gospel Advancing doesn’t have to be complicated.

One of the things we at Dare 2 Share learned from the research project is that we sometimes overcomplicate things. Yes, we’re learning (you can stop nodding your head now).

We’re in the process of simplifying the way we explain things. Part of that will be communicating that the steps a youth leader needs to take to implement a Gospel Advancing youth ministry are simple as well.

You don’t need a seminary degree or a massive budget—just a heart to see students grow as disciple-makers and a willingness to take the next step.

3. Big impact, big results: What the numbers reveal.

Not only does it work and is simple to implement, but the results are massive. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, because we’re revealing the full results of the research project later this week (you’ve been invited, you should come!), but I’ll give you one stat to encourage you:

Students who are part of a Gospel Advancing youth group share their faith about once a week, on average. That’s 50 times every year.

This is in contrast to students who are part of a more traditional youth group, who typically share the Gospel once every other month. You can do the math!

4. Students are ready—you just have to ask.

Students are eager and willing to be activated to share the Gospel and make disciples.

They’re looking for purpose, and when they see the eternal impact they can have, they step up with boldness. Give them a vision to reach the lost, provide the tools and training they need to confidently and clearly share their faith—and they will do it!

Many are just waiting for someone to believe in them and show them how.

5. You are the difference-maker.

That’s right! Last but definitely not least, you make all the difference. The single greatest factor that influences a student to become a disciple-maker is the presence of an adult in their life who is modeling it for them.

Your example matters.

Your students will go deeper in their faith journey as they see you model sharing the Gospel and making disciples. They will go for it—not just because you teach them, but because you do it with them.

Don’t underestimate the value of who you are and the impact you’re having in your students’ lives. You are making a difference.

Don’t miss our live presentation!

It works! It’s simple! It’s massive! They’ll do it! You matter!

These are only five of the reasons I’m excited about the findings from our Gospel Advancing research project. There are more reasons I’d love to share with you—and I’m not the only one who’s excited to share them.

Please join Dare 2 Share’s founder, Greg Stier, our vice president of ministry advancement, Gustavo Gonzalez, and myself on Thursday, April 24 at 10 a.m. MT for a special live-stream presentation of all our findings.

You won’t want to miss what we have to share!

The post Why Your Youth Ministry Matters More Than You Think appeared first on Dare 2 Share.

For a long time, I was driven by the idea of having the largest youth group in town. I believed that reaching numerical milestones—10 students in a small church, 50 in a medium-sized one, and 100 in a large church—was the mark of success. However, I began to realize that my focus on numbers was more about competition than about Kingdom growth.

Years ago, I heard a Gospel Advancing leader put it this way: 

When you’re chasing a certain number for your youth group, it breeds a spirit of competition between you and the other youth groups in your town. But if your goal is to reach every lost teen in your community, it breeds a spirit of collaboration and networking. 

This perspective changed everything for me. It was no longer about attendance but about making disciples and advancing the Gospel.

Measure what truly matters

Traditionally, youth ministries measure success using the ABCs:

• Attendance: How many students are showing up?
• Building: How cool and relevant is our youth space?
• Cash: How big is our budget for events and activities?

While these can be helpful, they don’t fully reflect the biblical mission of youth ministry. Instead of focusing solely on these metrics, what if we measured our ministry’s success based on spiritual growth and disciple-making?

Think about it like this: What if, instead of counting how many seats are filled, we started counting how many hearts are changed? Here are some better questions to ask for biblical outcomes:

• How many students are stepping out and sharing their faith?
• How many verses have our students memorized, hiding God’s Word in their hearts?
• How many students are showing up for outreach events, eager to serve?
• How many have truly put their faith in Jesus and are committed to following Him?
• How many students have taken the bold step of baptism, publicly declaring their faith?
• How many are making disciples of other students?

When we focus on these things, we create a youth ministry where real discipleship happens, where students grow in their faith, and where transformation takes place beyond just numbers.

Biblical foundations for measuring success

Success in youth ministry should align with Scripture. Consider these key biblical principles:

• Making disciples: ‘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.’ Matthew 28:19
• Gospel proclamation: For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. Romans 1:16
• Spiritual growth: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! 2 Peter 3:18
• Celebrating salvations: ‘In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’ Luke 15:10

These passages remind us that our focus should be on making disciples, sharing the Gospel, and celebrating life transformation.

Celebrating the right things

One way to shift the culture in your youth group is by celebrating these biblical outcomes. For example, you can:

• Display or give white balloons to celebrate new believers.
• Display or give blue balloons for baptisms.
• Have students share testimonies when they’ve had Gospel conversations.
• Recognize students who have memorized Scripture.

Making these moments fun and exciting reinforces what truly matters and encourages students to take their faith seriously.

A new definition of success

Success in youth ministry isn’t about competing for the largest group—it’s about faithfully making disciples. By shifting our focus from the ABCs to biblical outcomes, we create a culture where students grow spiritually, share their faith, and impact their community for Christ.

Let’s measure success not by numbers alone, but by transformed lives and the advancement of the Gospel.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!
1 Corinthians 10:31

The post Redefining Success in Youth Ministry appeared first on Dare 2 Share.

Then, through a series of God moments, I found myself connected to Dare 2 Share. As I began to apply what I learned from that ministry, my own ministry radically changed. Young people began coming to faith, and they started reaching their friends with the Gospel. The vision I had for youth ministry came to life because of how Dare 2 Share helped me reshape my approach.

One of the most foundational shifts in my thinking was expanding my vision to include the teenagers in my community who weren’t connected to any youth group. God began to grow my heart for the lost students in my area. The words of Matthew 9:36 become more personal as I considered the teenagers who were part of my mission field:

When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

At Dare 2 Share, we identify “the crowds” in our vision statement: Every teen, everywhere, hearing the Gospel from a friend. The crowds are the 1 billion teenagers on the planet. We want to see youth leaders from all over the world raised up to mobilize their student to reach “the crowds” in their communities.

A vision for every community

So what does every teen, everywhere, hearing the Gospel from a friend look like in your community? Simply put, how many teenagers are there in your community who don’t yet know Jesus?

A few years ago, I was having a conversation about this very topic with the youth pastor at my local church in Arvada, Colorado. Together, we identified that there are 14,000 teenagers in our community who need to be reached with the Gospel. Here’s how we arrived at that number:

• First, we identified how many teenagers attend the middle schools and high schools in our community—public, private, and home school combined: 14,650.
• Then, we added up the number of students who are plugged into churches and youth groups in our area: 650.
• Lastly, we subtracted the churched kids from the total school population, and that gave us the number of teenagers who need to be reached with the Gospel in our area: 14,000.

This became our local expression of every teen, everywhere, hearing the Gospel from a friend: all 14,000 teenagers in Arvada, Colorado, hearing the Gospel from a friend.

A vision for your community

Now, let’s ask the same question for your area:

• How many teenagers are in your community?
• How many teenagers are plugged into a local church?
• How many teenagers still need to be reached with the Gospel?

Chances are, the number of teens in your community far exceeds what you and your students can reach on your own. The solution? Networks. Prioritize building relationships with other youth pastors in your area and work together to reach all the teens in your community by teaching students to pray for, care for, and share the Gospel with their peers.

If you want to start or improve a Gospel Advancing network in your area, check out this article and curriculum that will walk you through it step by step. Together you can reach them all!

The post Embracing the Vision to Reach Every Teen appeared first on Dare 2 Share.

Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

I’ve recently come across several variations of that simple yet profound quote. It succinctly points out the hard truth that if you’re not seeing the progress you want, it’s likely because of the practices you have—or don’t have—in place. It seems innocent enough, and it makes perfect sense, but it stings when I think about the youth ministries I’ve led, and even youth ministry as a whole.

For years, in the youth ministry world, we’ve talked about the graduation evacuation—the  struggle of having fewer seniors than juniors, fewer juniors than sophomores, and so on. In recent years, the Pinetops Foundation released a study called The Great Opportunity that identified how the Church is losing 1 million Christian students from the faith every year, a trend they predicted will continue for at least the next 30 years, barring serious intervention.

What’s your youth ministry system?

Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

Ouch! There’s that sting.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, it was never meant to be this way.

Jesus modeled a disciple-making ministry throughout the Gospel books in the Bible, offering us a clear example to follow. In Acts, we see extraordinary stories of church growth, as people spread the Good News of Jesus. Paul, too, lived a disciple-making life, urging churches to do the same—a central theme in his epistles.

If your student ministry isn’t reflecting the results we see in Scripture, don’t be discouraged—be discontent, and change the system.

The shift doesn’t need to be drastic. You just need to add activation. It’s about creating spaces where teens can put the faith you’re teaching into practice.

Ideas to activate your students’ faith

A simple hack is to add a Go Share Day to break your students out of the normal rhythm of Bible study lessons and curriculum—both of which are necessary and helpful for their spiritual development. These outreach events, which could be held on the last Saturday of every month, offer an easy way to start programming activation into your student ministry.

The simple model of the Cause Circle—praying for, caring for, and sharing the Gospel with the lost—is a great way to structure your monthly activation experience. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Prayer Activation

• Have students prayer-walk around middle schools and high schools, praying for their friends to believe in Jesus.
• Set up a table with chairs in a public area, like a park, and make signs offering to pray for others. 

Care Activation

• Make care packages for peers that include treats, a card with the G.O.S.P.E.L., a handwritten note, and an invitation to an upcoming event.  
• Collect canned food for a local food shelter, and then volunteer there.

 Share Activation

• Plan a fun night with inflatables, laser tag, and pizza, and include a time where students can share their testimonies and the Gospel either up front or personally with their friends. 
• Go to a park with snacks and games, and have your students share the Gospel with people they meet.

Activating your students, alongside the biblical education you’re already providing through lessons and curriculum, is the catalyst that could set their faith on fire.

Change your system—transform the results. It’s time to take action and see what God can do through a faith that’s lived out, not just learned.

The post One Simple Way to Improve Your Youth Ministry Results appeared first on Dare 2 Share.

When I connected with the handful of other youth leaders in the area, my excitement must have been evident because the most seasoned youth leader in town pulled me aside to offer some encouragement—and a bit of advice.

Johnny, the youth leader in his 50s, who had been at his church for more than a decade, shared: “Don’t lose your excitement for youth ministry, but know that it’s going to take about three years for your youth group to reflect your personality and begin to take shape the way you envision it.”

At the time, I shrugged it off, tucking it away somewhere deep in the recesses of my memory, and proceeded to do things my way. It wasn’t until a few years later in my ministry career that I truly understood how right Johnny had been.

As I came to this realization, it led me to reflect and ask: “What exactly have I been modeling for my students? If this youth group has finally taken on my personality, what does that even look like?” It was a turning point in my ministry, a moment when I realized the weight of the example I was setting for the teenagers I was called to lead and the urgent need to take it more seriously.

I share this story to give you a similar word of encouragement as you faithfully lead your students. What you do and how you live will shape your youth ministry—whether that takes three years, more time, or less.

There are three things I wish I had started doing earlier in my ministries, and I challenge you to model these for your students.  

2. Care for the lost people in your life.

This might take the most intentionality of the three. Caring for someone requires getting into their lives, getting to know them and their needs, and being present with them. It could be a commitment to grab a cup of coffee with them (my personal favorite), invite them over for dinner, or go for a walk in your neighborhood and listen to what they want to talk about. Whatever you do, give yourself adequate time to be with them. Make it a priority.

3. Share the Gospel with the lost people in your life.

As you pray for their salvation and find ways to care, be sure to go all the way and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them. Out loud. With words. I admire Paul’s commitment to sharing the Gospel:

 “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2.

Is it evident to the lost people in your life how important Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection are to you? Are you so passionate about who He is and what He did for you that you can’t help but share the hope you have in Jesus?

I want to challenge you to commit to sharing the Gospel with the person you’ve already committed to pray for and resolve right now when and where you plan to have this conversation with them.

Be intentional along the way to share your stories and intentionally train your students to do these things as well. Before long, as your youth ministry begins to reflect your example, you’ll find yourself leading a Gospel Advancing movement in your city with students reaching their friends and making disciples.

I’m convinced it can be this simple: As you model a lifestyle of prayer, care, and sharing the Gospel, your students will see your example and follow it—and I’m convinced it won’t take you anywhere close to three years.

That’s a life worth living and a youth ministry program worth building.

The post 3 Ways to Transform Your Life and Ministry appeared first on Dare 2 Share.

What would it look like if you and your students went into this school year with a renewed sense of purpose and mission? What might happen on their school campuses if they viewed them more as a mission field to be explored and less of a mine field to be navigated?

As this school year begins, here are five practical ways to coach your students in leading the way to reach every teenager at their middle schools and high schools with the love and truth of Christ.

1. Start a Cause Crew on each campus your students attend. A Cause Crew is a group of believing friends from your youth group or other churches who hold each other accountable to pray for, care for, and share the Gospel with their peers. Have your youth group start a Cause Crew on each campus where at least one of your students attends. Have older students include younger students as a way to disciple them and ensure that this process gets repeated year after year. If you have campuses with only one youth group kid on them, encourage that student to recruit believing students from other churches.

2. Leverage See You at the Pole to start a prayer movement, not just a stand-alone, annual prayer experience. Challenge your students to meet weekly on their campus to pray for their school, their friends, and the community. Have them identify a day, time, and place—Wednesday mornings at the flag pole, Monday afternoons in the school lobby, Thursday during lunch in the cafeteria, or whenever works for them—for this weekly prayer gathering to take place.

3. Participate in Go Share Day on the last Saturday of every month. This is an easily customizable, monthly outreach experience in which students around the world simply go out into their communities to share the Gospel. Consistent participation will make evangelism a regular rhythm in your youth ministry. Take your students to places where their peers are likely to be, such as malls or parks, or equip them to connect with other teens in online platforms like Discord or Instagram.

4. Use school yearbooks as prayer guides. Have the teens in your youth group pray for every student, by name, and repeat this discipline as many times as possible throughout the school year.

5. Include other youth groups in your city or community to lead the way with you. We are better together and can accomplish much more for the Kingdom of God if we lock arms with other youth ministries to do this.

Pray over these ideas with your students. Figure out which one to implement first, then second, and so on, all the way through the list. Have your students come up with additional ideas they can try during the school year to keep God’s mission a priority for your ministry and the Gospel message front and center on their campuses.

The post Back to School: Get Your Students on Mission appeared first on Dare 2 Share.

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This mentality has gotten me into a lot of trouble in life. But no matter how many times I learn this lesson (the hard way), I still find myself pushing against systems and structures. They feel restricting. And as an Enneagram 7, I want to have as much fun in life as possible. 

But I’ve also discovered that rules, structure, and boundaries can actually help get me where I want to go. Rather than closing me in or holding me back, they set me free to grow and thrive. This is especially true in my spiritual life. Spiritual disciplines (structures) help me fall more and more in love with Jesus and keep me focused on Him. In doing so, I become more like Him.

The same is true for our students. But getting them to embrace spiritual disciplines can feel a bit like coaxing a cat to swim. To kick off the process, try—perhaps counterintuitively—starting with a practice that’s probably neck-in-neck with fasting for the most neglected discipline: Scripture memorization.

This discipline had fallen off my radar for quite a while, but I recently started prioritizing it and—wow—it’s made a big difference in my walk with God!

Here’s why: Memorization plants Scripture deep into our souls, making it part of who we are and transforming us from the inside out. When we memorize Bible verses, we’re taking the very words God spoke through His Holy Spirit as He revealed Himself to humanity and making them part of us. As the psalmist wrote: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). That’s powerful.

Why Start with Memorization?

Scripture memorization is a great first discipline for students because:

• It gets them into God’s Word in bite-sized pieces—an appetizer, if you will.
• Your whole group (including you!) can do it together. The joint effort can build camaraderie, help more people follow through, encourage them to advance the Gospel, and perhaps even incorporate some fun.
• As Jesus demonstrated throughout the Gospels, memorized Scripture is our most powerful tool against temptation, doubt, and personal attacks.

5 Power Verses for Youth Ministry

There are many excellent passages your group could choose to memorize (they’re all God-breathed, after all), but here are five suggestions, along with the reasons why they’re valuable:

1.

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” – Psalm 119:105

I recommend this verse because it highlights the power of God’s Word—and explains why Scripture memorization matters. When students love God’s Word and understand its value for their lives, they’ll keep coming back to it to draw on its truths.

2.

“Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the Gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’” – Galatians 3:8

This passage may be a bit unexpected, but it’s important because it affirms that the Gospel has been God’s plan from the beginning and is the consistent and cohesive story told all through Scripture. All the way back in Genesis 12:2-3, God told Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” The rest of Scripture—and human history to this day—reveals how God miraculously accomplished that through Christ.

3.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

This might be a “gimme” for your students who grew up in the church and already have it memorized. But even if it seems elementary to some of them, it’s an important one to have in the hopper because it communicates the Gospel all on its own.

4.

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” – Romans 1:16

Our students should never be ashamed of the Gospel, no matter what might be at stake, and they should know that it’s the power of God to save the life of anyone who believes in Jesus. If they have this verse memorized, the Holy Spirit can use it to challenge and encourage them in moments when they’re wavering about whether or not to share the Gospel with someone.

5.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.” – 1 Timothy 4:12

We need to build our students up and empower them to lead. God believes in them and knows they have the ability to lead not just their peers, but anyone and everyone. As these words become part of who they are, may they be emboldened to lead the way with us.

Challenge: Join your students in committing to memorize each of these verses, one a week, for the next five weeks. Let’s see what God will do in our lives and in theirs as we memorize His Word together!

The post 5 Verses Your Students (and You!) Should Memorize appeared first on Dare 2 Share.

God began revealing this fact to me and through His working in my ministry and life I felt a strong conviction to solve this issue. You probably aren’t too surprised to learn that it didn’t take me too long to stumble on to an organization called Dare 2 Share. I have learned countless things from Greg Stier and this ministry and have had the opportunity in three different Student Ministry settings (1 as a volunteer sponsor and 2 as the full time Student Ministry Pastor) to implement various evangelism principles, ideas, curriculum, and tactics.

Here are 3 things you can do (that I started doing) to begin incorporating evangelism into your ministry setting:

1. Share the Gospel every week. At first, this idea was the hardest to come to terms with. I guess it made rational sense in my mind but I can remember this sensation of stepping off a ledge and not knowing if my foot was going to find solid ground the first time I did this. I saw immediate impact as a result of implementing this principle nearly 10 years ago and continue to do so today.
2. Train your students. My passion for evangelism and teens sharing their faith burns brightly within me, but I’ve had to wrestle through the fact that every student I have the opportunity to minister to will not embrace that passion with the same zeal. This is one of the big reasons I enjoy taking our students to evangelism training events. These kinds of experiences train them but also serve as a filter for me to see which students rise to the challenge and pursue their friends with the Gospel.
3. Allow students to share their experiences. Even if there are only 1 or 2 students that catch the vision and start sharing their faith they will, as peers to your other students, have a unique opportunity to motivate the rest of group. Certainly we can all spare a few minutes out of our weekly program to allow students to share their stories. It is one thing for me to share the Gospel and my own evangelistic endeavors, but there is something highly impactful about students being encouraged and challenged by their friends.

These are 3 things I have found hugely beneficial to my ministry in implementing evangelism.  What are some steps you have taken to focus on evangelism in your Student Ministry?

The post Evangelism – Where Do I Begin? appeared first on Dare 2 Share.

We were hosting a community cookout on the last night of our trip. I was sitting around a picnic table with 5 of our students and there were 2 kids from the neighborhood that were there with us. I had already brought up going to church with our 2 new friends and I was ready to turn the corner from church attendance to believing in Jesus. At that moment I really felt encouraged by the Holy Spirit to try to be more engaging than asking a few pointed questions and getting to my Gospel presentation so I did something I’m not always good at: I let other people talk.

I asked a simple question: What do you know about Jesus? It was great to hear the two of them respond with their answers. The older sister said that Jesus was born of a virgin and the younger brother said that Jesus was real. Even though they only provided single responses their answers provided a launching point to get into the Gospel.

Then I turned to our students and asked a similar question: What is one thing that you know about Jesus? I limited to “one thing” as I didn’t want to overwhelm the two students that we were talking with. They randomly shared that Jesus was sinless, that He loves us, He died on the cross, rose from the dead, and that He forgives our sins.

I took all of their answers and then summarized the Gospel based on what they had all contributed. This was really cool. I walked through the Gospel using every answer that each of the students had provided and I filled in a few blanks along the way. It was cool to see how their faces lit up when I pointed to them and reiterated what they had shared. All of them were excited to hear the entire Gospel unfold. Tribal Evangelism had taken place.

This was the first time I had really engaged in a group presentation of the Gospel. It was a fantastic experience for a variety of reasons:

• it got the students all involved in sharing the Gospel
• it served as a pop quiz for my students and helped me evaluate what they did and did not understand about the Gospel
• it was an engaging conversation that everyone got to participate in

What are some creative ways you have shared the Gospel? How do you prompt and encourage your students to share their faith when they are outside of their comfort zone? Join in the conversation below and share a moment from your summer in which the Gospel came up!

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