Everyone Answers

My youth ministry discussion tanked on Sunday. Every question I asked fell flat. Despite my efforts to pry responses out of my students, they remained universally unengaged.

As a veteran youth worker, I know these days happen. Even so, they’re still frustrating – especially when you walk into a discussion excited about it, fully expecting students to be as excited as you are.

Immediately following this dismal discussion, I led my student leadership team meeting. In an effort to constantly improve the effectiveness of our youth ministry, every week I ask student leaders:

1) What did we, as a student leadership team, do well last week?
2) What do we, as a student leadership team, need to do differently this week?

As part of this evaluation process, one of my student leaders brought up the morning’s awful discussion. After collectively lamenting over it, I asked them, “What can we do to make our Sunday morning discussions better?”

That’s when one of my student leaders suggested we start utilizing an everyone answers question each week.

Read the rest of this article here.

Jen Bradbury on Youth Ministry

Jen serves as the Minister of Youth and Family at Atonement Lutheran Church in Barrington, Illinois. A veteran youth worker, Jen holds an MA in Youth Ministry Leadership from Huntington University. Jen is the author of The Jesus Gap: What Teens Actually Believe about Jesus (The Youth Cartel), The Real Jesus (The Youth Cartel), Unleashing the Hidden Potential of Your Student Leaders (Abingdon), and A Mission That Matters (Abingdon). Her writing has also appeared in YouthWorker Journal, Immerse, and The Christian Century. Jen is also the Assistant Director of Arbor Research Group where she has led many national studies. When not doing ministry or research, she and her husband, Doug, and daughter, Hope, can be found traveling and enjoying life together.

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A Mission That Matters: How To Do Short-Term Missions Without Long-Term Harm

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Now Available!

Unleashing the Hidden Potential of your Student Leaders

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The Real Jesus

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The Jesus Gap

What Teens Actually Believe About Jesus

Based on National Research

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