student ministries resource manual

Transcription

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2 credits Student Ministries Resource Manual Published by Word of Life Local Church Ministries A division of Word of Life Fellowship, Inc. Don Lough - Executive Director Jack Wyrtzen & Harry Bollback - Founders Ric Garland - VP of Local Church Ministries USA P.O. Box 600 Schroon Lake, NY talk@wol.org Canada RR# Grey Road 18 Owen Sound ON N4K 5W lcm@wol.ca Web Address: Publisher s Acknowledgements Writers and Contributors: Jodi Brown, Mike Ellis, Jeff Farris, Dale Flynn, Ric Garland, Bill Hough, Dori Phillips Editors: Doug Armbrecht, Bill Hough Curriculum Manager: Don Reichard Cover Design: Alan Furst, Inc. Copyright 2014 Word of Life Fellowship, Inc. All rights reserved. ii

3 contents table of contents Welcome... v How to Use the Student Ministries Resource Manual... vi Looking Back Before We Look Ahead (A Brief History of Word of Life)...vii Section 1 How s My Vision? Building Upon Biblical Principles Section 2 What Should I Expect Now? Becoming Principle Based in a Program Driven World Section 3 Three Keys to Success Leadership Discipleship Evangelism Section 4 Let s Get Organized! An Organizational Chart for Your Student Ministry Section 5 What s My Responsibility? Administrative Coordinator Bible Study Coordinator Discipleship Coordinator Evangelism Coordinator Engage Coordinator Activities Coordinator Discipleship Group Leader Section 6 What Do We Do at the Weekly Word of Life Meeting? The Weekly Word of Life Meeting from Start to Finish Section 7 The Reality and Rewards of Creative Discipleship Biblical Principles of Discipleship Implementing Creative Discipleship Section 8 Helping You Do Ministry Better! Area Missionary Role Orientation Transfer Meetings Ministry Visits Planning Meetings Annual Review iii

4 contents Section 9 Leadership Team Planning, Evaluation, and Accountability Program Planner Meeting Evaluation Leadership Team Progress Report Section 10 Essential Materials: Manuals, Notebooks, and More Student Bible Study Pressure Points The Book of Stuff Christian Service Manual Where Do I Go From Here? Discipleship Series Section 11 Here s a Book for You Section 12 Getting Students Involved in Ministry Engage Evangelistic Events Section 13 I d Like to Place an Order Ordering Material Section 14 Let s Go to Camp! Section 15 Word of Life Bible Institute is for Me! Section 16 Can You Lend Me a Hand? Seven Ways Seven People Can Help You Section 17 The Word of Life Team Serving You Section 18 Technical Stuff About Subscriptions and Finances Subscription Requirements and Qualifications Financial Involvement of the Local Church iv

5 I am thrilled to welcome you to this exciting ministry! Word of Life Student Ministries is seeing unprecedented growth and expansion for which we thank the Lord. We are thankful that you are part of the growing number of leaders impacting this generation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! welcome This Student Ministries Resource Manual is designed to help you disciple and evangelize students through your church and in your community. Whether you are a new or veteran leader, this resource will equip and encourage you in your ministry of reaching youth whose needs constantly change with biblical truth that never changes. I believe together we can make a difference in the lives of students. Such belief leads us to make the following commitments to you. On your behalf we are committed to: Biblical Principles The principles of God s Word provides the rock solid foundation for all we do. In a changing world we stand with confidence on the unchanging Word. Excellence Your students deserve excellence in ministry. Producing curriculum, programming, and activities to captivate your young people is more than our goal it is our commitment to you! Strategy Through Word of Life Student Ministries, you will establish a game plan for ministry that will remain consistent throughout the teen years. Stability and success grow out of such a well-planned strategy. Accountability We in student ministry leadership cannot afford to be an island to ourselves. Interaction and personal accountability is one of the secrets to successful ministry. Be assured that it is our desire to help you excel through our commitment to accountability. I am confident that you also share in these commitments. Combining these commitments along with the ideas, insights, and strategies in this manual will help you to effectively disciple and evangelize young people. Our staff is praying for you. Never hesitate to contact your Area Missionary for advice, assistance, or just to talk things over. It is our honor and calling to serve you. In Christ, Ric Garland Vice President Local Church Ministries v

6 how to use how to use the student ministries resource manual The Student Ministries Resource Manual is designed to be a valuable resource for those who minister to teens using the Word of Life Student Ministries program. It is our recommendation that you read this manual once a year. We believe you will pick up new ideas and resources each time you read it. But don t just read it and set it aside. Keep it handy; we have designed it to be an ongoing source of help and direction for you. Most every aspect of your student ministry can be found in the table of contents. While you will benefit the most from reading the Student Ministries Resource Manual from cover to cover, we also know there are times when you will want to brush up on a particular aspect of your ministry. Just look up the area you are interested in and read about it. In fact, if you want to read Section 6 before Section 3, that s fine by us! It is our main desire that you read and benefit from the years of ministry wisdom and experience reflected in these pages. You will want to read this manual if You are a Word of Life Student Ministry leader You are interested in becoming a Word of Life Student Ministry leader You want to know more about Word of Life Student Ministries You have a desire to be the best leader of students you can be You have a heartbeat for discipleship and evangelism You have insomnia and can t go to sleep (No, wait Don t do that! If you read this manual late at night you will become so excited about the prospects of ministry that you will not be able to fall asleep!) Enjoy your reading! vi

7 history looking back before we look ahead (A brief history of Word of Life) Just as a mighty oak tree starts with a tiny acorn, so Word of Life Fellowship had a very humble beginning. In 1932, Jack Wyrtzen was saved while a member of the 101 st Cavalry Band. A year later, he and his wife, Marge, dedicated their lives to the Lord while attending Pinebrook, a Christian camp in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. It was then that he gave up his dance band in order to follow the Lord. For the next several years ( ) Jack attended the Hawthorne Evening Bible School while maintaining his regular job of selling insurance. It was during this time that he started conducting street meetings and manifested a real desire to see people come to the Lord. After completing Bible School, Jack stepped out by faith and started Word of Life Fellowship, Inc., in One of his first endeavors was to conduct a weekly radio broadcast utilizing two stations in the greater New York City area WBBC and WHN. One year later was the beginning of the live Radio Rallies meeting at the Gospel Tabernacle in Manhattan, NY. It was also at this time that Harry Bollback joined the staff of Word of Life. As a result of great music, fantastic testimonies of people finding the Lord, and a clear presentation of the Gospel, the rallies outgrew the facilities at Gospel Tabernacle. They moved to the Mecca Temple that seated 3,000 and eventually to Carnegie Hall with 3,000 inside and 3,000 outside. It was only a matter of time before they outgrew those facilities as well and had to move to Madison Square Garden, where they had 20,000 inside and 10,000 outside. They packed the place to overflowing seven different times! In 1945 and 1946, a new vision for the lost was launched. Word of Life took their first missionary trip to Mexico and Great Britain. It was also the year that Word of Life Island was purchased for $25,000 making it the beginning of our camping ministry. The Word of Life Inn was added in 1953 with the Word of Life Ranch being acquired in 1955, thus providing Christian camping for the entire family. During this time Jack continued with the rallies, even hosting one at Yankee Stadium with 40,000 attending. The first overseas Word of Life Camp began in Sao Paulo, Brazil in This was the beginning of what would eventually become Word of Life International Ministries. vii

8 In 1957, a local pastor in Northfield, Massachusetts by the name of Paul Bubar invited Jack Wyrtzen to conduct a series of weekly meetings. At the close of the meetings, Paul shared with Jack his burden to have a youth program that was part of the local church, led by laymen who would be trained by Word of Life. Initially the idea was negatively received because Jack felt that he already had too many irons in the fire, but the seed had been planted. The more Jack thought about it, the more he became convinced of the need for a grassroots program for teenagers not just one-night or weekend crusades, but a solid, lasting work that could help young people in the local church. The time was right and in 1959 Jack called up Paul Bubar to see if he was interested in coming to Schroon Lake to head up the operation. He said yes, and so what is now Word of Life Local Church Ministries was born. Since 1959, Word of Life Local Church Ministries has developed its programs and outreach all across the United States and Canada. Word of Life is also reaching into 60 countries around the world. Later it expanded its program to include Children s Ministries for those in grades one through six and Early Learners Ministries for children ages four through six. In 1987 Paul Bubar was asked to assume the position of Director of International Ministries. Mike Calhoun, who had served for two years under Paul as the National Field Director, was appointed as the new Director of Word of Life Local Church Ministries. Mike has also served as a Student Ministry leader, Area Missionary, and Regional Director. In 2009, Ric Garland was installed as the Executive Vice President of Local Church Ministries. Currently there are approximately 44 Area Missionaries and a large number of Associates. These men and women are working with over 1,300 ministries in local churches across North America. Weekly, over 25,000 young people are being discipled through the Word of God. These young people are being challenged to reach their world for Jesus Christ! Today, we are thrilled to serve you as you begin to disciple and evangelize your students. We thank God for the godly heritage He has given us and look forward to the great work you are going to accomplish for the glory of God! viii

9 vision how s my vision? Vision is defined as the sense of sight; ability to see; ability to visualize; foresight. As you begin your Word of Life Student Ministry, you need to check your vision. Now you could schedule an appointment with your ophthalmologist but that s not the kind of vision we are talking about. What do you see when you look at the students in your church and in your community? Potential? Problems? More than likely you see a little of both. Let s think of the vision we are discussing here as the ability to understand God s principles, to perceive God s power, to focus on God s purpose and to overcome the obstacles to do God s program. Vision is what separates the leader from the average man or woman. Let s take our definition and break it down and examine it for a minute. A dynamic vision for the students of your church and community begins with BIBLICAL FOUNDATION the ability to understand God s principles, Your vision for students must be based upon God s principles, not on the desires, wishes, or wants of youth, parents, or leaders. That s why Biblical Principles serve as the foundation of the triangle. No ministry will be any better than the foundation upon which it is built. In this day and age, it is easy for our vision to become clouded. There seem to be a number of foundations upon which we can choose to build our ministry. 1-1

10 1. Experience Whatever worked when you were a youth, you will try to repeat. You remember all the good memories and tend to forget the others. What worked then should work now. After all you did not turn out too bad. 2. Example You may think, If it works for others, it might work for me! We tend to imitate others, whether it is the fellow youth leader across town or the leaders we grew up with. 3. Emotions Whatever feels right. We tend to be concerned about what the students want. Take a vote or survey the group and build the ministry around their wants and feelings. The only problem is what they want today they will not want next month. Trying to avoid what they dislike and build upon what they enjoy is building upon a constantly changing foundation. Experience, example, and emotions may be important elements to vision, but they cannot be the basis for it. A clear vision for ministry must begin with the principles of God s Word. Make a decision right now to base your student ministry on God s principles, not man s programs. Basing your vision for ministry to students upon the principles of God s Word is exciting until you realize that you can t accomplish this by yourself. That s when you need to perceive God s power, To do the work of God you need supernatural power. You can only build a Biblical Philosophy of ministry when you start with God s principles and perceive God s power. HOW TO DEVELOP A BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY So how do you develop a Biblical Philosophy of student ministry? Simple, just group Biblical Principles with the knowledge of a particular subject (in our case it is the knowledge and understanding of teenagers). Would you like to know the philosophy of ministry for Word of Life Student Ministries? It is: Reaching youth whose needs constantly change with Biblical truth that never changes! Do you see how we combined our knowledge of teenagers ( youth whose needs constantly change ) with the Biblical Principle ( truth that never changes ) to arrive at this philosophy? 1-2

11 We can accomplish this philosophy with God s principles and through God s power! We are making great progress! Our next step is KNOWING GOD S PURPOSE to focus on God s purpose Maybe you have asked yourself, Can I really know God s purpose for our student ministry? We believe you can! In fact, it s really not that difficult. You begin with Biblical Principles applied to your understanding of teenagers to develop your philosophy. Out of your Biblical Philosophy grows your Biblical Purpose for ministry. When you put it all together you can say, Our purpose is to evangelize and disciple young people to a dynamic Christian life through mature leadership in the local church. That is a good statement as to how you are going to accomplish Reaching youth whose needs constantly change with biblical truth that never changes! Now we come to the Biblical Program. Knowing your Biblical Principles, clarifying your Biblical Philosophy, and identifying your Biblical Purpose all lead to doing the program. Understanding and applying the first three levels enables you YOUR GAMEPLAN to overcome the obstacles to do God s program. What is a program? Simply put, it is tools and procedures used to accomplish your purpose. It is your game plan. We are glad that you have chosen to use the Word of Life program to help you accomplish your purpose in ministry. The balance of this Student Ministries Resource Manual is designed to help you get the most out of all the Word of Life program has to offer you. We trust you are as excited as we are to have a Biblical Program to accomplish your Biblical Purpose, which flows from your Biblical Philosophy that is firmly founded upon the Biblical Principles of God s Word! 1-3

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13 expect what should i expect now? So now that you have this handy-dandy, nifty Word of Life program, your entire Student Ministry will be fantastic, your students will love you and their parents will think you are great! Why, this program dices, it slices, it even French fries! Um, excuse me too many infomercials! If this were an infomercial it would be a very unique one. Our uniqueness lies in the fact we are going to tell you all about the Word of Life program while at the same time cautioning you not to be program driven. You may wonder, What do you mean, program driven? Let s answer your question with a two-question quiz: 1. When you get a headache, do you use aspirin, Tylenol, or the like to counter it? 2. Have you ever used mints, candies, or breath sprays to make your breath smell nice? IMPORTANT AREAS OF YOUR MINISTRY A yes answer to either or both reveals program-driven thinking. How? Think about it. Do painkillers really get rid of the headache? No, they typically mask the pain. Do candies and the like get rid of the bad breath? No, they counter with a stronger pleasant taste. Masking the pain or sweetening the halitosis is only dealing with the program, not the principles. When you deal with the cause of the headache or bad breath then you are dealing with underlying principles. So, you ask, what does all this have to do with the Word of Life program? Well, let s look at a few important areas of your ministry in light of program and principles to see the connection. Attendance When your attendance goes down, it is the fault of the program, right? Not necessarily! If you are changing from a program-driven ministry to a principlebased one your attendance might go down. Before we can put on the roof and paint the trim, we need to establish a solid foundation. Sometimes we need to tear down what we have built in order to establish a better foundation. Then we can build a bigger and better house. This illustration applies to student ministry. Initially, your attendance may go down. But don t fret, if you are establishing your ministry on biblical principles you will turn this around (this manual will help you in the process). Participation We tried to get everyone to purchase a Student Pack but they didn t. Those who did are not doing their quiet time every day. Therefore, this Word of Life program is not as good as they said it would be. Such a statement reflects a program-driven mentality. 2-1

14 THE PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHES THE PURPOSE Remember our program is how we accomplish our purpose. Our purpose is to evangelize and disciple young people to a dynamic Christian life through mature leadership in the local church. Are all the young people you seek to disciple at the same level of spiritual growth and development? If they are like every teenager we have encountered, they are not. Since they are not the same in regards to their spiritual growth and development, they will not be the same in their levels of involvement. While every Christian student should read their Bible daily, every one will not. They could each memorize Scripture, but they will not all make the same progress. The point is that their degree of participation will vary because their abilities and desires are different. A program mind-set would conclude that since everyone is not involved to the same degree the program must not work. A principle-centered mind-set says, I will meet each student where he or she is and will seek to lead each student closer to Christ. That is true discipleship! IDEA: Participation should be evaluated in light of the individuals you are working with. We believe it is best to hold the standard high. By this, we mean you should publicly encourage every student to read their Bible seven days a week. On an individual basis you may praise one student who read only three days, while exhorting another who read five days to do better. Why? Because the one who read three days read more than he ever has in one week. He met his potential at this point in his spiritual growth. The other student that read for five days, while more than three, he was below his ability and level of spiritual growth. Remember you are not working the Word of Life program, you are working to help individuals grow spiritually, using the tools that Word of Life provides for you. Evaluate participation on an individual basis. Whether you are a new leader or a veteran leader it is easy to slip back into a program mind-set. Just remember, we are not saying a program is bad. We only want to make sure that the program is ultimately founded upon Biblical Principles. Discipleship Your Area Missionary may have already told you (if he did not, he will soon) about Creative Discipleship. This is the Word of Life discipleship program designed to promote spiritual growth in the life of every student. It allows you to develop, together with the student, a plan for spiritual growth in the life of each student. As they progress spiritually you can encourage them with frequent Creative Discipleship rewards from your local church. So now you think success or failure is determined by how many students earn the rewards, right? Wrong! That is program thinking! Principle-based thinking says if a student makes progress in reaching his or her spiritual potential, ministry is taking place. 2-2

15 SCHOLARSHIPS THE KEY TO DISCIPLESHIP Word of Life Student Ministries also wants to encourage progress in the spiritual growth of your Creative Discipleship students. Each student has the potential of receiving 25% off a week of summer camp each year, as well as a scholarship to the Word of Life Bible Institute or another Christian College. (For more information on Creative Discipleship see Section 7.) Accountability Accountability is the key to discipleship, but after a few years one can slack off in the area of accountability. After all, the students know what we expect of them. You need to remember that we all get what we inspect, not what we expect. I may expect my son to clean his room but it is the thought and reality of my inspection that motivates him to clean it up. The same holds true with the students you desire to disciple. Therefore, expect your Area Missionary to inspect your life and ministry. He does this because he wants to help you be biblically successful. Then you need to hold your other leaders accountable. In turn, all leaders need to hold the students accountable. You can hold them accountable by phone calls, s, text, letters, and personal times together talking about their quiet time, Scripture memory, and overall spiritual growth. Such accountability is vital! WHAT TO EXPECT So if you are wondering What can I expect from the Word of Life Program? A program based upon biblical principles. The consistent application of the biblical principles will change lives. It might not all be fun and games at the beginning because some would rather look at programs instead of the principles (this can create a degree of tension). A program that s designed to encourage spiritual progress, rather than to just build a program. Your Word of Life Area Missionary will encourage you to be a godly individual who will influence students with your life and lips. 2-3

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17 success three keys to success There are two rules for success in life: Rule 1: Don t tell people everything you know. Rule 2: See Rule 1! We don t know who came up with the preceding anecdote dote, but we do know we are going to violate their number one rule. We really want to tell you all we can to help you succeed in your ministry to students! In this section of the Student Ministries Resource Manual you will discover the three keys to the success of your student ministry. They are: 1. The Leadership Team 2. Discipleship 3. Evangelism The Leadership Team Have you ever heard, Everything rises and falls on leadership!? Well, it s true. The most important feature of a successful ministry to students is the leadership team. BUILDING THE TEAM Why a leadership team? Remember why you are doing what you are doing. You want to see lasting results. When a ministry is built around the leadership of only one or two people, there is a great danger of it all falling apart when they are no longer available. With a leadership team there may be occasional adjustments to the people who make up the team, but there is always an experienced core to keep things consistent. And, by the way, who wants to do everything anyway? With a leadership team there is shared responsibility and no one individual needs to get burned out. How many leaders do we need? This is usually one of the first questions you will face as you put together your leadership team. Remember your goal is discipleship, and true discipleship doesn t happen in a crowd. A good rule of thumb is one leader for every six young people, but no less than four leaders on the team. The job is just too big for any less. What this means is a large youth group will need a proportionately greater number of leaders on the leadership team, while a smaller youth group should have no less than four leaders. When it comes to recruiting a leadership team we hear two basic problems. First, No one will volunteer. Second, We can get leaders, but we just can t seem to keep them. Both problems can be frustrating but they can also be overcome. It is difficult to get people to volunteer for unknown responsibilities. Read the Help Wanted ads in your local paper. You won t find any that read: 3-1

18 Help Wanted: We are not real sure what we will need you to do or when we will need you to do it. Just show up and if we can find a job for you, or one we don t want to do, we will be sure to put you to work! The response to such an ad would be less than desirable. To help you avoid the same problem in your student ministry, we provide you with a detailed list of leadership responsibilities so everyone will know what is expected of them. By the way, a clear set of leadership responsibilities will also help you keep leaders. If someone offers to help, but all they do is sit in a chair during the meeting, it won t be long before they are gone. Use me, or lose me is an important phrase in ministry. A top notch leadership team should be PAID for: Pray for the leaders God wants on your team. (Luke 10:2) Approach those you have prayed for and ask them to pray about joining the team. Invite them to sit in on your meetings and observe the ministry first hand. Discuss with them specific areas of involvement and the commitment required of them. DISCIPLESHIP DEFINED Now that your team is together, what are you going to do? It almost goes without saying that the heartbeat of a biblical ministry is the Word of God. The study of the Bible from a doctrinal or a topical approach is the primary focus of Word of Life Student Ministries. The outgrowth of effective Bible study is (1) Discipleship and (2) Evangelism. Discipleship Discipleship: what is it, and how is it done? Discipleship, in a nutshell, is training someone to be what you already are. We re going back to the importance of the leader again (another reason to pray for the right leaders on your team). The desire of Word of Life Student Ministries is to help your young people develop godly life patterns through personal discipleship. Word of Life will help you disciple your young people in five key areas: 1. Quiet Time (Daily prayer and Bible reading) 2. Scripture Memory 3. Christian Service (Sharing the Gospel with others) 4. Reading Christian books 5. Faithfulness to the local church 3-2

19 As we have already said, discipleship does not take place in a crowd. True discipleship is carried out in the context of a relationship. Godly, growing leaders will produce godly, growing students. It is a principle of Scripture that we reproduce after our kind. The kind of leaders you have will determine the kind of students you will have. EXERCISE YOUR CLUB Remember: discipleship is not a Word of Life idea; it is a Biblical Principle (Matthew 28:19-20). Evangelism A healthy student ministry is a growing ministry. The exercise of sharing the Gospel is part of being healthy and growing. A ministry that only feeds on the Word but does not exercise will become flabby. No, we don t mean they will gain a bunch of weight, but flabby in the sense that their attention is only on themselves, which is not healthy. You will find Evangelism emphasized in three ways: OUR GENERAL RESPONSIBILITY 1. In your weekly Word of Life meeting: Many of your lessons have an evangelistic thrust. 2. In your church: Involvement in Christian Service opportunities gets your students involved in sharing the Gospel with others. 3. In your community: Word of Life sponsors area wide evangelistic events that attract hundreds and often thousands of young people to a clear presentation of the Gospel (Call your Area Missionary for the dates of the Evangelistic Events in your area; also ask him about a S.T.O.R.M.). (For more information on Evangelistic Events see Section 12.) Jack Wyrtzen, the founder of Word of Life often said, It is the responsibility of each generation to reach their generation with the Gospel of Christ. If you do not reach the students in your community with the Gospel, who will? So there you have it. Three keys to the success of your student ministry. Now that you have read over them, you know they are worth remembering. Take a moment now to write them down in the space provided:

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21 5 ORGANIZATIONAL PRINCIPLES organized let s get organized! By now your vision should be clear with the understanding that your program is built upon biblical principles. Your expectations are now based upon principles, not the program. Understanding the importance of Leadership, Discipleship, and Evangelism you are now ready to say, Let s Get Organized! Organizational structure is important. I like structure in my life. I love charts, graphs, and anything else that I can organize. Am I talking your language? For some of you I am. Then there are the rest of you. How do you live? Well, I will keep this section easy so those of you who do not like organization, but know it is necessary, will appreciate what I have to say. Some weekly Word of Life meetings may have as few as six students, others with 24, and still others with 300 or more. While your organizational structure will look different, there are some principles that will be the same. There is that word principle again. You d think we would get tired of talking about it, wouldn t you? Principle 1 An organizational chart is necessary for accountability. Without one, the program will get lost in the cracks. This will direct us to the right people to fix a problem or share a little praise. Principle 2 Since discipleship through mature leadership is part of your purpose, you need to have enough mature leaders for discipleship. Our experience has shown that you need one mature leader for every six young people in your student ministry. Principle 3 For all churches a minimum of four leaders is needed to begin your Word of Life Student Ministry even if you have fewer than 24 students. With the various responsibilities that need to be covered to run a successful student ministry, four is the minimum. Principle 4 Your Area Missionary, while technically not in your organizational chart, will be an important part of your ministry through teaching, encouraging, coaching, and being a resource person for you. Never hesitate to call him for help or resources. Principle 5 Expect to grow! Your ministry has the potential to double, triple, or even greater. You should always be recruiting leaders and planning for growth. 4-1

22 SMALL CLUBS Organizational Charts 6 20 Students Pastor Administrative Coordinator Area Missionary Leader Leader Leader MEDIUM CLUBS Students Pastor Youth Pastor / Administrative Coordinator Area Missionary Leader Leader Leader Leader Leader Leader LARGE CLUBS Students Pastor Youth Pastor Sr. High / Jr. High Admin. Coordinator Area Missionary L L L L L L L L L L L L 4-2

23 SUPER SIZE CLUBS Students Pastor Sr. High / Jr. High Youth Pastor Area Missionary UL UL UL UL UL UL UL UL UL UL UL UL 6L 6L 6L 6L 6L 6L 6L 6L 6L 6L 6L 6L 36S 36S 36S 36S 36S 36S 36S 36S 36S 36S 36S 36S KEY: UL Unit Leader L Leader S Student Now, some of you are thinking, Yeah, right. Us with over 100 students? Dream on! Well, you are right! Dream! Enlarge your vision! Perceive God s power and focus on God s purpose. Even if you are starting out with six students, prepare for what God can do. CUSTOMIZE YOUR CHART Finally, notice that the key is breaking down your numbers, no matter how big, to a size where everyone is being individually discipled. Your chart will probably need to be customized for your student ministry. Your Area Missionary is trained in this area and can help you develop an organizational chart for your ministry, especially for those of you who are "organizationally challenged." 4-3

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25 responsibility what s my responsibility? By reading this far you have a better idea of what to expect in your Word of Life Student Ministry. You also know that leadership is a key to your ministry s success. Perhaps you have thought through the organizational structure of your group. Now we need to look at six specific leadership responsibilities to be shared among your team. In this section you will learn more about Administrative Coordinator Bible Study Coordinator Discipleship Coordinator Evangelism Coordinator Engage Coordinator Activities Coordinator There is also one responsibility every leader on your team will have and that is: Discipleship Group Leader Administrative Coordinator Have you ever been in a group where no one is in charge? That is frustrating to say the least. To effectively lead your ministry, someone will have to be in charge. This does not mean their vote is the only one that matters, or that they are the one who does everything. It simply means that they will be responsible to organize your team. So what does an Administrative Coordinator do? This individual is responsible for the (1) general operation of the student ministry, (2) planning, (3) communication, and (4) the Leadership Team contest. Let s look at the key elements of this individual s responsibility. General Operation of the Student Ministry Two important general operation tasks are hospitality and finances. Hospitality As your ministry reaches out, hospitality will be an important issue. Helping all students feel accepted and welcome in your ministry is important. A well lit room that s organized, has some music playing, and a few adults and students around to welcome others goes a long way in this High Tech Low Touch world. Appoint three to four students or adults to welcome visitors and guests to your meeting. Have Let s Get Acquainted cards for guests to fill out. 5-1

26 Finances Money is a necessary part of any student ministry and must be planned for. We suggest that you plan a budget for the year, and communicate with the leadership of your church the needs you have. Parents will also want to know well in advance the expenses they can expect due to the activities their teens are involved with. Your Word of Life Area Missionary has lots of experience at planning budgets. Feel free to call him if you would like some assistance in this area. PLANNING Planning The Administrative Coordinator will guide the leadership team in both calendar and detail planning through the monthly planning meetings. The following tasks should be accomplished at a Monthly Planning meeting: Make assignments for the weekly meeting Who is doing what? Your Program Planner will help you make sure all the bases are covered. (For more information on the Program Planner see Section 9.) Discuss problems One of the best ways to avoid problems on your leadership team is to keep open and ongoing communication among team members. During the monthly planning meeting problems should be discussed and solutions found. If you cannot find a solution, call your Area Missionary. Your Area Missionary is a great resource and would be happy to offer his advice. Plan for the future The monthly planning meeting should set the course for what will be happening in the next several weeks. During the planning meeting you should discuss the following: Preview upcoming lessons The Bible teacher should brief the entire leadership team on the lessons that will be taught in the next four to six weeks, and any special dynamics that will take place during the teaching time. Plan upcoming events and activities The leadership team should take this time to discuss and plan any activities, Christian Service opportunities, and events that are planned for the next month. This is the time to make assignments to be sure all of the details are taken care of for transportation, funds, and equipment that will be needed. Review the progress of the discipleship groups Each leader will have students they are specifically working with during the discipleship group time of your weekly meeting. The monthly planning meeting is a great time for the leadership team to review the progress of those they are working with so that each leader can be an encouragement to your students. 5-2

27 Communication The Administrative Coordinator will keep open lines of communication with: The Pastor and Church Staff Keep the church staff up to date on the calendar of events and the blessings of the student ministry. The Leadership Team Planning meetings are a key time of communication with the Leadership Team. You should also plan times to be together for fun and fellowship. The Parents of the Students Parent Insight lessons in your Student Bible study, provide you with a good vehicle for communicating with the parents of your students. The Word of Life Area Missionary Use the Program Planner as well as the phone to communicate with your Area Missionary. Give him a call; he loves to hear from you! Leadership Team Contest The Leadership Team Contest (LTC) is a means of motivating you and your leadership team to excellence. The Administrative Coordinator will see to it that the Leadership Team Progress Report is completed and sent to your Area Missionary on a weekly basis. (For more information on the Leadership Team Contest see Section 9.) The Youth Pastor will typically fulfill the responsibilities of the Administrative Coordinator. Bible Study Coordinator This individual is responsible for determining the teaching schedule and the Bible teacher(s) needed to lead the weekly Student Ministry. Some Word of Life Student Ministries have one Bible study teacher while others like to rotate the teaching among the leaders. Whether you have one or multiple teachers it is the responsibility of the Bible Study Coordinator to establish the order in which the lessons are to be taught and to secure the teacher(s) for the lessons. This is important because solid Bible teaching is a non-negotiable of a weekly Student Ministry meeting. So what do we mean by non-negotiable? Simply this, if your meeting does not contain effective teaching of the Word of God, then it simply does not qualify as a Word of Life Student Ministry. Wow! Now that is a bold statement! Rather than rotating teachers each week we recommend having a Bible study teacher cover a group of lessons for a module. This enables the teacher to build upon each lesson and gives greater continuity to the series of lessons taught. 5-3

28 The selected Bible teacher will be responsible to study and prepare for each week s lesson. One of the characteristics of a good Bible teacher is advanced planning. The teacher may have a great grasp of the truths of God s Word and be a great communicator, but without planning ahead, opportunities to use the creative dynamics written into the lesson may be missed. The Bible teacher should look ahead to the upcoming lesson plans and be as creative as possible in teaching God s Word. The lessons are written with multiple suggestions to involve your students in the Bible study. Using the various teaching dynamics suggested in the lesson plans will keep the teaching fresh and will keep the interest of the students. Besides, frequent lectures can be boring! 6 YEAR CYCLE OF BIBLE DOCTRINE LIFELINES CURRICULUM And now a little something for those who like detailed information. The Word of Life Bible study material is organized into a cycle of six years. Each year focuses on a different doctrine or doctrines. Year Description 1 God the Father and the Bible 2 Jesus Christ 3 The Holy Spirit 4 The Church, Its Allies and Enemies 5 Man, Sin, and Salvation 6 Future Events Within each year, the Student Bible study curriculum is divided into seven 4-lesson modules plus two multi-lesson sections for a total of 36 lessons. Add the two Pressure Point topical studies and that makes 44 lessons in all, not including the Parent Insight lessons. Here is a breakdown of the curriculum: Parent Insights (section) Three lessons These lessons are designed to help your parents better understand your Word of Life Student Ministry program. Great for teaching at a Parents Meeting or Fellowship. Student Life Basics (section) Four lessons Foundational lessons, essential for those with many youth who are new to Word of Life student ministries. You have the choice of teaching some or all of these lessons. Bible Lesson Modules 1-6 Four lessons each Each module is built around a theme, covers a portion of the doctrinal focus for the year, and includes creative promotional and decorating ideas. 5-4

29 Bible Book Module 7 Four lessons This module is built around a theme and covers a particular book of the Bible in four focused lessons. It also includes creative promotional and decorating ideas. Current Issues (section) Four lessons These lessons will tackle contemporary issues that young people are facing. Two Pressure Points Topical studies Eight lessons Four-lesson series that provides an in-depth study on a current topic. Discipleship Coordinator Another fulfilling position on the leadership team is that of Discipleship Coordinator. This person is responsible for the organization and oversight of the discipleship groups and coordination of the Where Do I Go From Here? interactive discipleship ministry. The organization and oversight of the discipleship groups involves: Assigning each student to a group. One member of the leadership team heads up each discipleship group. Making sure the leaders are prepared and equipped to facilitate discipleship in their group. Accountability. The Discipleship Coordinator should make sure: * Each discipleship group leader fully understands their responsibility. * Each leader is keeping the students Creative Discipleship Reward Sheets up to date. TIPS WHEN FORMING CREATIVE DISCIPLESHIP GROUPS Rewards * Ask each discipleship leader what rewards his or her students need. * Obtain the necessary rewards for each discipleship group. * Distribute the rewards to the students each week. Here are some tips to help you form your discipleship groups. 1. Do not make the groups too big. No more than six students, please. If you do not have enough leaders to keep a one leader to six students ratio, then you need to recruit more leaders. Discipleship doesn t happen in a crowd. 2. Balance out your groups. What we mean by this is, don t put all the pretty girls or ugly guys in their own group. Don t put all the really bright kids in one group and the kids who think the SAT test is a test to remember where you sat last week in another group. Okay, enough of this silliness. What we really mean is that you want a balance of students in each group. You do not want all the spiritual students in one group and all the carnal ones lumped together in another. You want a healthy balance. 5-5

30 3. Don t mix girls and guys in the same group. Each gender has issues they are dealing with that are best handled by a leader among peers of the same gender. Girls should be with a female leader and the guys with a male leader. 4. Unclick the cliques Avoid allowing cliques to talk you into letting them all be in the same group. We want this time to be the most productive time possible and cliques can be counter-productive to a meaningful discipleship time. The coordination of the Where Do I Go From Here? interactive discipleship ministry involves: Becoming thoroughly familiar with the Where Do I Go From Here? interactive discipleship series. The best way to become familiar with the discipleship series is to read through all of the lessons and then to personally take a new convert or young Christian through the program. Training discipleship leaders and spiritually mature students in the use of the Where Do I Go From Here? interactive discipleship series. You could also train both young adults and older adults in your church family. They can have a real impact in the lives of students through a one-on-one discipleship ministry. Wouldn t it be great to be able to introduce a new believer to another believer who will personally disciple them for the next six to ten weeks? Assigning a leader to make contact with the new convert within 24 to 48 hours of their decision in order to begin the discipleship series. Evangelism Coordinator Here is an exciting responsibility. The individual who serves as the Evangelism Coordinator is responsible to plan and prepare for evangelistic outreach involving Christian Service and Word of Life evangelistic events. Fulfillment of this leadership responsibility is a great way to add some life to your ministry through consistent outreach. What is outreach? We re glad you asked! WBasically, outreach is anything you do where you are reaching beyond the walls of your church to evangelize the people in your community! 5-6

31 To best accomplish evangelism through Christian Service: Read through the Christian Service Manual. In it, you will find many Individual and Group Christian Service opportunities to use in evangelistic outreach. Plan regular Group Christian Service outreach opportunities. We recommend planning one Group Christian Service per month. Many leaders have found it helpful to plan the Group Christian Service as a part of a regular monthly activity. For example you could have a Tract Blitz one to two hours prior to a regularly scheduled youth activity. Remember, Christian service involves evangelism and every student in your student ministry may not have the same evangelistic zeal. Do not quit having group Christian Service outreaches if only a few students participate. What if Jesus had quit because he only had a few men involved in outreach? Encourage the discipleship group leaders to get their students involved in the Individual Christian Service opportunities. Each week s Bible study has a Try this week section, which is a suggested Christian Service opportunity for the week. You are permitted to print and copy the opportunities in the Christian Service Manual for the discipleship group leaders to give the students in their group. To best accomplish evangelism through Word of Life evangelistic events: Plan Plan to attend the Word of Life evangelistic events in your area. For a complete listing of events contact your Area Missionary. Get the events on your church calendar, student ministry calendar, and personal calendar. Promote Outreach must be promoted well in advance with creativity and enthusiasm. Also remember to inform the parents of the students concerning the upcoming events. Provide Transportation to and from the event. Additional adult help as needed. Register Be sure to register for the event by the deadline. Your prompt registration enables your Area Missionary to plan well for the event and it typically saves you money as you avoid any late fees. Remember, the Evangelism Coordinator does not have to do everything listed 5-7

32 above. (We don t want any of you passing out while reading this from being overwhelmed!) They just need to make sure that someone is manning that post. Don t forget to check up on those you delegate to, so that you are sure every area is covered. Hey, while we are on the subject of Word of Life evangelistic events, it seems appropriate to share with you some very important insurance information in regards to Word of Life events. Sharing this information makes our business manager very happy because this is the kind of stuff he wants you to know. IMPORTANT INSURANCE INFORMATION Insurance Policy: Word of Life Fellowship, Inc. is a non-profit, charitable organization dependent on God and His people. Those who engage in activities sponsored by Word of Life waive and release Word of Life from any claim for personal injury or property damage that may arise from participation in the activities. Participants in Word of Life sponsored activities agree to carry insurance or have the resources to cover the expenses related to personal injury or property damage. Engage Coordinator Engage is the Word of Life program designed for students to gain experience in using their gifts and abilities for God s glory. The role of the Engage Coordinator is important to every Word of Life Student Ministry. This person is responsible to understand how to implement Engage and to encourage and help Christian students present their gifts and abilities to God through ministry involvement. Getting students involved in using their gifts and abilities in the ministry of the local church is no small undertaking but is vital to the growth and maturity of your students. What church would not benefit from young people who have grown up experiencing the joy of serving Christ and desire to continue that service as young adults? It is exciting to be involved in training the next generation of local church leadership! The following make up the scope of the Engage Coordinator s responsibilities: Study Become familiar with the resources and helps in the Engage Handbook. Thoroughly read and understand the current Engage procedures and make certain that every participating student and coach knows the procedures that apply to them. Promote Encourage all students to participate in Engage. The Scenario chosen each year is broad enough to allow every student to participate in something through the creative Elements. God did not create us to be spectators, but participators. 5-8

33 The Discovery Phase is designed to help you kick-off the Engage process in your church. Whether you host one at your church or join other area churches, you will be introduced to the Scenario, given an explanation of the different Elements and have an opportunity with your group to brainstorm ideas to use in your church s presentations. Getting the students involved in the planning stage gives them ownership and increases the effectiveness of Engage. To learn more about setting up a Discovery event at your church or see if one is being planned in your area, connect with your Area Missionary or go to Recruit Enlist adults to help train the students. Coaches do not need to be part of the leadership team but should have a level of interest in, or experience with, the Elements they are coaching. This is a great way to involve parents and other adults in ministering to your students. Plan See that there are regular practice times scheduled. Minister Engage is preparation for ministry. If the students only practice and share their presentations at Engage events, they are missing the point. Schedule an event or opportunity in your area where you can have the students put into practice the skills that they have developed through Engage. Encourage Be involved with the progress of all participants and offer words of encouragement about their progress. Everyone starts somewhere. Register Complete all the necessary paperwork for the Discover, Develop and Deploy phases of Engage and registration on time. Activities Coordinator The Activities Coordinator is responsible to plan, promote, and prepare social activities for fun and fellowship. The focus of the activities is internal. These events are not primarily designed to reach outside your church (although no one will complain if you reach out through an activity), but rather will be more social in nature and designed for having fun. 5-9

34 The Activities Coordinator will be involved in Planning Monthly activities require thorough planning. Some areas to keep in mind in your planning are: * Date of activity (Be careful not to schedule too many activities) * Guest speaker needed * Cost of activity (Your activities can pay for themselves and not drain the youth budget if planned properly) * Purpose of activity * Time of the activity (Probably don t want to stay out too late on Saturday night) * Amount of help needed * Appropriate dress for the activity * Transportation needs Promotion If the activity is worth having it is worth promoting with energy and zeal. Evaluation Evaluate what worked well and what could be done in the future to make the activity more effective. Discipleship Group Leader The discipleship group time is one of the keys to discipleship taking place in your ministry. Earlier it was stated that Bible study was a non-negotiable part of a Word of Life Student Ministry. Well, guess what the other non-negotiable is? Yep, you guessed it: Discipleship! During discipleship time each member of the leadership team has the privilege and responsibility to invest their life in the lives of young people. Each student should be challenged to set realistic spiritual growth goals for the year. Remember that your students want to be challenged and they need your input and observations. During discipleship time the group leader will work to help each student reach their agreed upon goals for the year. Review the Creative Discipleship Reward Sheet with your students individually and determine what growth would mean for each one. (Example: quiet time five days a week and all 24 Scripture memory verses for the year, or three days of quiet time and 12 verses.) Let them know that you will pray for and personally encourage them to reach their goal. Discipleship time is most effective in the context of a caring relationship. That s another reason we recommend a one-to-six leader-student ratio. You have probably heard it but it is worth repeating here, They don t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. This time together should be enjoyable as well as a time for accountability and encouragement in the disciplines of the Christian life. The best time to meet with your discipleship group is following the Bible study. The experience of many has shown

35 minutes to be the optimum amount of time to meet together. During your time together you will want to encourage your students by: Helping them make personal application to the Bible study. The Student Bible study pages found in the Book of Stuff will help you in this area with the discussion starters at the bottom of the Liven It Up sections of the lesson. This great tool can be ordered from Word of Life Local Church Ministries. Ask your students to share highlights from the past week s Quiet Time. It s always good to get them to be specific especially in the area of personal application. The purpose is not for you to preach to them but for them to understand how they can apply God s Word to their everyday life. Your encouragement at the thoughts they share can be used of God to motivate them in their walk with the Lord. Having your group share prayer requests is a great way to build your relationship with them. Be sure to write down the prayer requests they share and check up on prior requests to see how God has been working in their lives. DIVIDE AND CONQUER Before or after your weekly meeting is a great time to check their Quiet Time, listen to their Scripture memory verses, check on the books they have read, assign Christian service opportunities, and update their individual rewards sheet. Well, there you have it! We ve covered the major responsibilities to be divided among your leadership team along with one very important responsibility each team member will have: Discipleship Group Leader. If you are a new leader, you should look back over the list and think of which responsibility you would like to fulfill. A veteran leader may want to think of ways to improve in his or her area of service. Every leader will want to be sure to choose an area of involvement compatible with their spiritual gifts and personality. We all do better when we lead from a position of strength. Now some of you may be thinking, Yeah, but I am not strong in any of those areas. Great! You have tremendous potential to learn and grow this year. As you learn and grow and stretch out of your comfort zone, it will be a very exciting year! 5-11

36 Use the space below to assign your leadership team responsibilities. Our Leadership Team Responsibility Name Phone Administrative Coordinator: Bible Study Coordinator: Discipleship Coordinator: Evangelism Coordinator: Engage Coordinator: Activities Coordinator: As leaders in our Word of Life Student Ministry, we commit ourselves to the evangelization and discipleship of young people to a dynamic life through our leadership in our local church. Such a purpose grows out of our philosophy of ministry of Reaching students whose needs constantly change with Biblical truth that never changes! And it is upon the unchanging foundation of biblical principles that we labor to build our ministry to students. 5-12

37 CLUB FORMAT what now? what do we do at the weekly word of life meeting? Now we have arrived at an exciting part of our Student Ministries Resource Manual, the actual format of your weekly Word of Life meeting. Before we proceed with this section, let s have a brief review. Remember the first section of this manual? You know, where we talked about vision? In that section, we highlighted how we arrived at a Biblical Program and what it produces. See if you can put the following components in their proper order. Biblical Philosophy Biblical People Biblical Purpose Biblical Principle Biblical Program Just draw a line from the phrase on the left to its proper location on the triangle. We will give you the answer later on in this section. When we talk about meeting format we are talking about how we implement our Biblical Program. The program is the means to help us accomplish our oops, I can t tell you now because that would make it too easy to complete the above review. Oh well, let s look at the components of a great weekly Word of Life meeting. In this section you will learn more about Why you should always arrive early. Seven key words to help you effectively run your weekly meeting Twenty-one sharing time topics that work and how priming the pump will energize your sharing time. One dozen prayer time ideas. A very practical STUDY plan to make your Bible Study one not to be missed. General and specific tasks to be accomplished in your discipleship groups. Your weekly Word of Life meeting can be one of the most exciting 90 minutes of your student s week. Friends, fun, activity, singing, sharing, prayer, Bible study, small groups, announcements, and refreshments all combined with caring leaders will make this a time your students will not want to miss. Here s an overview of what should happen to make your weekly meeting an exciting place for students. A successful meeting starts before the successful meeting starts. By this we mean, if the program is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. your leadership team should arrive 20 to 30 minutes early to: 6-1

38 Make sure the room is set up and ready for the students. (Heating or air conditioning on, chairs in place, lights on, props gathered, etc.) Meet as a leadership team to pray for the night and your ministry to the students. Review the Program Planner and leadership responsibilities for the night. Turn on music to fill the room. Have refreshments ready to serve, especially if you serve them as the students arrive. Have all meeting preparation done so you are ready to greet the students and visit with them as they arrive. This is the beginning of building relationships with them. CLUB FORMAT THE BEST 90 MINUTES Now we are ready to start. Along with each aspect of the program are suggested times and a key word relating to this portion of the program. Refreshments (8 to 10 minutes as the students arrive) Key: Parents If you know students, you know they like to eat. A key to great refreshments can be the parents of the students in your ministry. The Administrative Coordinator can personally ask them to provide refreshments on specific dates throughout the year. Be sure to let them know the favorite snacks and munchies your group likes (you don t want them to bring pimento cheese sandwiches, unless of course, your students like them!). You may choose to have your refreshments at the start of your meeting or at the end. Regardless of when you have this time you should be sure to have plenty of snacks for your group. Keep in mind that this is not just a time for the students to eat, but it is an ideal time for the leaders to interact with them in a casual and relaxed environment. Ice Breaker (8 minutes) Key: Participation This is a time to capture the attention of your students. By beginning with an exciting event or game you provide a rallying point for the students. The key is getting them to participate by being involved in an icebreaker, or cheering for a friend or team, or by simply enjoying the wacky game. This does not need to be a long time. With good planning and preparation a successful Ice Breaker can effectively break the ice in eight minutes. You do not need to wait on everyone to be present to start your Ice Breaker. By starting on time you will keep your entire meeting running on schedule! You will also train your students to be on time, because if they come in late it will be evident that they are missing an exciting aspect of their meeting. 6-2

39 Announcements (5 minutes) Key: People Announcements can be exciting as you promote upcoming events. Involving various people in your announcements will keep this time from becoming stale. You will want to announce upcoming: Activities, evangelistic events, special meetings, student birthdays, and Christian Service opportunities. Each announcement should be: Clear, complete, creative, brief, and enthusiastic. Some creative ways to make announcements include: Posters, bulletin boards, skits, PowerPoint presentations, and videos to name a few. Song Time (7 minutes) Key: Prepare The key to song time is preparation. You should know the songs you will sing and be prepared to lead those songs. The effective use of singing will serve to prepare the students hearts for the entrance of God s Word. Selecting songs that relate to the Bible Study is a great way to further impress the truth you are studying upon the hearts and minds of the students. It is best to have musical accompaniment for your song time. There are many options available to help in this area: Students or leaders playing guitars or keyboards and split track CD s are some of the options you can use. It is also good to have the words to the songs available for your students and the visitors you have in your meeting. A computer slide presentation with the words, a transparency with the words, a chorus book, or a song sheet will help. Share and Prayer (10 minutes) Key: Prime This is an important time in your meeting when you give the students an opportunity to share the Lord s work in their life. Psalm 107:2 reminds us to, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. In Hebrews 13:15 we are encouraged to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, "the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." Through this special time you want to create an opportunity for the students to speak freely of the things of the Lord. Our desire is that such expression would carry over to home, school, work and other areas where the student will interact with his family and friends. It is through this time that you want to create an environment where they have the freedom to talk about the Lord. Experience has shown this time to be the most profitable when you prime the pump. The leader responsible for the sharing time should ask three to four 6-3

40 6-4 students, in advance, to be prepared to share in your meeting. These students should be given the sharing topic so they are ready at the appropriate time. Typically when one or two share others will follow. Priming the pump will greatly enhance your sharing time. The following will help your sharing time. Guidelines for sharing time: 1. Have a sharing time topic posted, for all to see, to stimulate thinking about the upcoming sharing time (see specific suggestions below). 2. Remember to prime the pump by asking a few students to be prepared to share. 3. As your singing nears its conclusion remind everyone of the sharing topic and then sing one last chorus prior to sharing time. The advantage of this is that it gives the students an opportunity to prepare for the sharing time. This tends to eliminate the silence that often takes place at the beginning of the sharing time. 4. Encourage the students to be on the lookout for things during the week that they can share. Have them write them down and bring these encouraging incidents to the meeting to share them with the rest of the students. 5. Do not allow others to laugh or make fun of anyone s sharing. Specific sharing time suggestions: 1. At the beginning of your ministry year, you might want to give your students something specific to share. For instance, go around the group and have each one tell the others about one good thing God did for them in the past week, or even over the past summer. Remind them that every real joy comes from above. You will get some strange and perhaps even dubious responses, but it will be a start, providing you an opportunity to contribute on their level, thus setting an example of sharing. 2. Vary the people who participate in the sharing time. 3. Write out little slips of paper that can be passed out to select students. These slips of paper contain sharing topics such as the following: a) share your personal testimony, b) share your favorite Scripture verse, c) share something that you received out of the Word during your quiet time this past week, d) share an experience that you had in witnessing to someone, e) share how you would respond if a person were to come up to you and say, I want to become a Christian. Give them a few minutes to prepare, then proceed with the sharing time.

41 4. Have an object lesson sharing time. Introduce the sharing time by telling the students that each of them will have to pick some object around them in the room and on the spur of the moment give a brief object lesson, using a particular object (such as: a piano, a door, a light bulb) and give a spiritual application. For example, This light bulb will not light unless it is screwed tightly into the socket. We cannot function properly as Christians unless we are tightly connected to Jesus Christ. 5. Have a sharing time when the students tell when, where, and how they were saved. 6. Here are some other suggestions for jump starting your sharing time: a. A blessing received from a Christian Service opportunity. b. Something learned on a Christian Service opportunity. c. Something learned in a weekly Word of Life meeting, church service, or series of meetings. d. Evaluation session on a subject of mutual interest and need such as: (1) Blessings of faithfulness in quiet time (2) My spiritual growth in the past three months (3) My desire to witness for Christ (4) My desire to grow spiritually (5) Standing up for Christ in my school e. Victories in personal witnessing. f. Blessings received from other students during sharing time. g. Favorite Christian song and why. h. Favorite Scripture verse and why. i. Favorite Bible character and why. j. Personal testimony in one minute. k. Mark the chairs in your room with an X or a Y. The students will then share according to the marking on their chair: X = favorite verse of Scripture; Y =testimony of answered prayer. l. The temptations they have faced in the past week. Were they victories won or were they lost? m. Trials or tests that the Lord brought during the past month or two. (See James 1:2-3 and substitute test for tempt in each case.). n. Get feedback on a startling verse of Scripture or quote with definite spiritual implications (the application made voluntarily). Example: Being a Christian is not real unless it involves a spiritual change. The outward signs should naturally follow. o. Discussion of a subject evident from daily life. Example: 1 John 2:15-16 says that all worldliness can be classified as 1) lust of the flesh, 2) lust of the eyes, or 3) pride of life. In what forms did you see these appear during this past week? p. Problems faced at school with tentative solutions offered with a view of maintaining a good Christian testimony. 6-5

42 q. Answers to prayer in the past month. r. Current prayer requests with explanations designed to encourage more prayer support. s. Devotional thoughts on spiritual relationships to Christ. Examples: Vine and branches, Shepherd and sheep, Son of God and sons of God, Chief Cornerstone and living stones. t. Blessings of examples in a Christian home. u. The way students have been able to put into practice the application of a prior Word of Life Bible study. Remember the purpose of sharing time is to get the students talking about the Lord and their relationship with Him. Always work to get the students talking. Do not give up after a few tries at sharing time. Also be careful that you do not allow this time to become a mini-message from one of the leaders. Prime the pump each week. Give it time and sharing time will soon become a real highlight of your meetings. Prayer time: This should be a worshipful time when the students draw near to God and share in bringing needs, burdens, and people before His throne together. Make sure you write down the requests in your Quiet Time Prayer Pages (encourage your students to do the same) and follow up with the students on the progress of their requests. Utilize variety in your prayer time. Some of the following ideas may help: 1. Choose only three senior high students to pray for the requests shared in prayer time. 2. Popcorn prayer: The students will pray one after another in short sentence prayers. Each person can pray multiple times during the prayer time if they want. 3. Pray only for an upcoming Word of Life evangelistic event. 4. Pray only for an upcoming church event. 5. Pray only for the salvation of unsaved students (by name). 6. Pray only for those with physical needs. 7. Everyone write their prayer requests on a 3x5 card and exchange them with someone else in the group to pray for during the upcoming week. 8. Pray for the missionaries of your church. 9. All prayers can only be two sentences. The first sentence is a Thank you and the second is the request. 10. After each request is given ask another student to pray for that request at that time. 11. Take prayer requests for the students spiritual growth needs. 12. Have prayer time in your discipleship groups. 6-6

43 Prayer time is important because: 1. Prayer time teaches about God s accessibility. Isaiah 59:1 reminds us that God is always ready to listen. 1 John 5:14 says, And this is the confidence that we have in him, that...he heareth us. Students need to be confident in God s accessibility through prayer. 2. Prayer time makes students aware of specific answers to specific requests. 1 John 5:15 goes on to say, And if we know that he hear us we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. You will want to have the students share answers to prayer requests recorded in their Quiet Time prayer pages from time to time. It is exciting to hear of God s work in response to our prayers! 3. Prayer time brings a greater sensitivity to one another s needs and burdens. Galatians 6:2 says, Bear ye one another s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. 4. Prayer time prepares hearts for the Bible study God listens to us and then we listen to Him. Psalm 46:10 says, Be still, and know that I am God. The answer to the review at the beginning of this section is here! It would be too easy to find if we put it at the end. Biblical Philosophy Biblical People Biblical Purpose Biblical Principle Biblical Program Did you place the items in the right order? If you did, call your Area Missionary and tell him he needs to take you out for a cup of coffee because you passed this important review. Bible Study (30 minutes) Key: Practical The Bible study is the focal point of your Word of Life meeting format. Everything you do either leads up to the Bible study or flows out of the Bible study. Songs, sharing, and prayer can all be themed around the Bible study, preparing the way for the Word of God to change the lives of your students. Your discipleship group times should help to connect the truth taught with the lives of the students. To make the Bible study the highlight of your meeting: 6-7

44 S.T.U.D.Y. Well! Imagine the impact your Bible study will have if you put in two and one-half to three hours of preparation per study. Whoa, I don t have that kind of time! you may be thinking. But maybe you do. Let s say it s Wednesday night and you just finished teaching your Bible study and it was so-so. You really want next week to be better. Preparing a day before or the day of your meeting is just too hectic (and less than effective). You really want to do better but you are not sure of what to do to improve. We have some great news for you. The following S.T.U.D.Y. plan should prove to be a great help in preparing and presenting high impact Bible studies to your students. 6-8 Scan: The day after you teach, invest just 30 minutes to scan over the upcoming Bible study. No heavy-duty preparation here, just a thorough read of the entire lesson (look up all of the Scripture references in the lesson while you are at it). Take Notes: On the next day spend another 30 minutes reading over the Bible study. Take notes on what you have read. You can underline, highlight, and write notes in the margin of your Student Bible study. Later in the week you will want to write out your teaching notes for the Bible study. We have noticed that the most effective teachers teach from the notes they have prepared from the Student Bible study. No doubt they have studied and prepared and are not trying to read the lesson to their students. Understand: If your student ministry meets on a Wednesday and you are following this plan, then today is Saturday. This is a great day to invest another 30 minutes seeking to better understand the truth to be taught. Today you will have the time to do a little extra research as needed. You will have some time to think through the lesson in light of the students you will teach. Remember, you never teach a class, you always teach individuals. Try to understand what this lesson will mean to Marilyn, Mike, Dwight, and Shannon. How will it impact your students? Delegate: You are now four days away from teaching your lesson. Today is a good day to delegate the various dynamics and visuals needed to make the greatest impact in your teaching. For those who meet on Wednesday, today in this study schedule is Sunday. This is a great day to see the people at church whom you will need to be involved in the Bible study on Wednesday evening. Yourself: The next two days you can invest in getting yourself ready to teach the lesson. Study the notes you have written and reread the Scripture passages. Pray for God s wisdom, guidance, and direction in understanding and teaching His truth.

45 THIRTY MINUTE INVESTMENT Prepare your heart and mind to teach His life-changing Word. There is truth to the saying, Teaching from the head reaches the head. Teaching from the heart reaches the heart. Teaching from the life reaches lives. Wow! It is exciting to think of the impact you will make in the lives of students if you S.T.U.D.Y. this way for each lesson. An investment of 30 minutes a day will give you three hours of preparation for each lesson. Think of the confidence you will have in your teaching! Do you think you could find 30 minutes during the day to prepare like this? Giving up the evening news or one reality show would not be a loss, but would be a great investment in that which is eternal. The Word of God and the souls of men are the only two entities on this earth that are eternal, so studying the Word to teach your students is truly an investment in eternity. BIBLE STUDY COMPONENTS Utilize the Group Dynamics Every Bible study includes various group dynamics to assist in teaching. Use them! The more you involve your students in the learning process the more they will learn. Studies have revealed that most people only remember up to 10% of what they hear. So if you were to lecture for 30 minutes they may remember up to three minutes worth of what you said. No doubt you want to do better than that. Dramas, visuals, role-play, discussions, and the other group dynamics written into the lesson will enhance the impact of each Bible study. Teach with a Purpose Every lesson has a personal application. You are not teaching to fill time but to impact lives. Never teach God s Word without giving a personal and practical application of the truths taught to the lives of your students. Utilize the Lesson Options The lesson adaptations will give you helps and additional ideas that will enhance your lessons. Following each lesson you will find a Junior High Adaptation, a Senior High Adaptation, a Small Group Adaptation, and a Large Group Adaptation. Where appropriate, you will want to use one of these for your meeting. Read over the lesson adaptations each time you prepare for a lesson, as they will give you additional ideas to use in presenting your Bible study. The lessons in Student Bible study have the following components: 1) Lesson Objective: A clear and concise purpose statement for the Bible study. 2) Look It Up! The passage(s) of Scripture the Bible study is built upon. 3) Listen Up! An introduction to the Bible study to be taught. 4) Learn It! Definitions of key words used in the Bible study. 5) Checklist: A list of needed resources to teach the Bible study. 6) General Lesson Format: The body of the Bible study to be taught including the group dynamics. 6-9

46 7) Liven It Up! A chart, graph, or visual to be used during the Bible study. 8) Truth for Life: Practical principles for everyday life. 9) Live It! General application and conclusion of the Bible study. 10) Lesson Options: Adaptations for the General Lesson Format. 11) Reference Materials: Resources to help the teacher in further study. 12) Discipleship Groups a. Discussion Starters Questions to use in discipleship groups for lesson comprehension and application. b. Try this week Suggested Christian Service opportunity for the students. Each lesson in the Bible study includes: 1) Listen Up! An introduction to the Bible study to be taught. 2) Look It Up! Bible text the lesson is built upon. 3) Learn It! Definitions of key words used in the Bible study. 4) Liven It Up! A chart, graph, or visual to be used during the Bible study. 5) Truth for Life: Practical principles for everyday life. 6) Live It! General application and conclusion of the Bible study. 7) Try this week A suggested Christian Service opportunity. Discipleship Groups (30 minutes) Key: Personal Discipleship groups are designed to give each discipleship leader a place and time to personally encourage the spiritual growth of the students in their group. There are general and specific discipleship tasks you should accomplish during this time. General Discipleship tasks for discipleship groups: Help the students set and achieve spiritual growth goals. Review the Creative Discipleship Reward Sheet with your group and determine what spiritual growth would mean for each student. (Example: five days of quiet time a week and all 24 verses of Scripture memory for the year, or three days of quiet time and 12 verses.) Let them know that you will pray for and personally encourage them to reach their goal. Compliment individual progress frequently. Remember, we get what we honor. Be a good listener. Allow them time to share some experiences they ve had, both good and bad. 6-10

47 Specific Discipleship tasks for discipleship groups: Make personal application of the Bible study to their lives. The discipleship resources in the Book of Stuff will help in this area. Personal and practical application of the lesson taught is an important aspect of your time together. Share highlights from your Quiet Time with them. Communicate the importance of having a daily quiet time. Take prayer requests in your group; record them on your Quiet Time prayer pages. Pray for one another during your discipleship group time and throughout the week. Assign specific responsibilities to help and motivate them in their spiritual growth (for example Christian service opportunities, Scripture memory verse, and required reading books). A suggested Christian service opportunity is in the Try this week section of the Bible study pages in the Book of Stuff. In the Look It Up section you will find the Scripture memory question and reference. Incorporate these into your discipleship group time. Get to know your students. Talk with them. Listen to them. Ask questions. Know their likes and dislikes. Build relationships with those in your discipleship group. Remember, they don t care how much you know until they know how much you care. From Ice Breakers to Discipleship Groups your weekly Word of Life meeting can truly be among the best 90 minutes in a student s life. The order of the meeting format and the suggested time frames give you the best plan to follow. You can personalize and record all of this information for your meeting on your Program Planner. (For more information on the Program Planner see Section 9.) For additional customization ideas call your Area Missionary. 6-11

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49 discipleship the reality and rewards of creative discipleship Creative Discipleship is designed to help motivate your students to grow in their relationship with Christ. In this section you will learn more about The biblical principles of Creative Discipleship The philosophy of Creative Discipleship The purpose of Creative Discipleship Five key characteristics of your students How Creative Discipleship builds upon these characteristics Implementing Creative Discipleship Requirements to earn Creative Discipleship rewards Requirements to earn Creative Discipleship scholarships Setting up your Creative Discipleship groups Biblical Principles of Creative Discipleship We learned back in the section on What Should I Expect Now? that a Biblical Program is based upon Biblical Principles. So let s look at the Biblical Principles upon which Creative Discipleship is built. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example (Philippians 3:17). Paul is pretty bold here isn t he? He says a pattern or example to follow is important. You wouldn t make a dress without a pattern. You wouldn t build a house without a plan. Likewise; a growing, godly student needs a pattern to follow. You are to be that pattern! Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you (Philippians 4:9). Wow, Paul is telling the people he served that they should do the things they learned, and received, and heard, and seen in him. Could the same be said of you? Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:1-2). Here the Word of God teaches us that discipleship is a process. What Timothy had heard and learned concerning Paul he was to pass on to faithful men who would in turn teach others the same. Are you getting the picture? Paul is talking about more than just Bible study, isn t he? These Biblical Principles help us develop the philosophy of discipleship. 7-1

50 DISCIPLESHIP DEFINED CREATIVE DISCIPLESHIP PURPOSE The Philosophy of Creative Discipleship Discipleship is teaching others to be what you already are. Think about this for a minute. Discipleship isn t just teaching the Bible. It is living it! Students want to see Christ through your life, not around it. Does this mean you have to be perfect? Of course not! But it does mean that need to be growing in Christ. The Purpose of Creative Discipleship So what is the purpose of Discipleship? It is to motivate students to grow in their relationship with Christ. We believe you must build relationships with the students in order to help them develop intimacy with Christ. To be effective you must understand your role as a leader. At times it will be well received and at other times it will be met with resistance. Through it all, remember that your objective is to lead the students in your group into a closer relationship with Christ. Checking boxes off on their reward card is not your purpose, only a means to help you achieve your purpose. GETTING CREATIVE DISCIPLECHIP STARTED Now let s look at your students. Five key characteristics of your students Their lives are heavily influenced by school and culture. At least 95% of your students are on a school campus and are familiar with periodic times of review, school progress reports, as well as incentive and reward programs. Our consumer culture has also familiarized your students with frequent buyer programs and reward cards. They live in the immediate Educational research shows that the early adolescent is still developing their cognitive skills to think long term. Since their long term thinking skills are not yet fully developed, they tend to live in and for the immediate. They are independent The home life for most students undergoes significant changes often leading to an independent mind-set. One out of two students do not live with one of their biological parents and one out of three is from a single-parent home. While parental involvement in a student s spiritual development is the ideal, it is too often not the norm in our society. They are individuals The intellectual and spiritual development of each student varies along with their spiritual giftedness. They appreciate being treated as individuals. 7-2

51 They need encouragement It has been said that encouragement is oxygen to the soul. Sadly, too many students do not receive this encouragement in their homes. The local church can and should be a significant source of encouragement to your students. How Creative Discipleship builds upon these characteristics. Their lives are heavily influenced by school and culture. There are eight Reward Cards on the Creative Discipleship Reward Sheet. Students enjoy seeing their Reward Cards fill up and leaders enjoy seeing their spiritual progress. This is effective because students are already familiar with a reward card concept. They live in the immediate Creative Discipleship allows you to use this age characteristic for their spiritual growth. Each time a student fills up the ten spaces on a Reward Card he or she will get a reward the following week. Students can earn rewards that interest them. Think like a teen. Where do they like to eat? Where do they like to shop? What do they like to listen to? What do they enjoy doing? If you don t know, just ask them, they will tell you. Now go out and get some gift certificates from the restaurants and stores your students like. You can also get some $5.00 Word of Life Gift Cards that your students will enjoy using at Word of Life events, bookstores, and snack shacks. They are independent Creative Discipleship allows students to achieve rewards even if they have little or no parental help. Christian Service opportunities can also be assigned to match each student s likes and areas of gifts and abilities. They are individuals Creative Discipleship allows the student to move along at his or her pace with your guidance. Students do not have to follow any particular order with their Scripture memory, Christian service opportunities, or reading of books. They need encouragement Creative Discipleship allows you to demonstrate that your local church is behind each student s spiritual growth. The frequent rewards they receive from the church will truly honor their efforts in a timely manner. 7-3

52 Implementing Creative Discipleship Direct the students to the Creative Discipleship sheet and the Creative Discipleship Reward Sheet in their Book of Stuff. These two sheets present an excellent summary of the Creative Discipleship process. Add the sharp Creative Discipleship banner to your youth room this year (see the Word of Life Local Church Ministries Product Catalog for ordering info.) Each discipleship group can have a Celebration Party. Celebrate ahead of time what God is going to do in their lives this year. Plant seeds of anticipation! Have cake, balloons and create excitement. Requirements to earn Creative Discipleship rewards WHAT TEENS CAN EARN One of the great things about the requirements of Creative Discipleship is that any student may participate, even if he or she joins later in the year. He or she would still be able to fill up Reward cards and earn rewards. Putting Creative Discipleship rewards to work for you is easy: Each discipleship leader will have Creative Discipleship Reward Sheets in their Book of Stuff (one for each student in their discipleship group). On the reward sheet there are eight reward cards with ten spaces each. The spaces are marked off as each student completes: Total marks Quiet Time a week of faithfulness (as defined by your leaders) 32 Scripture memory 24 Christian Service 18 Books (2 marks per book) 6 7-4

53 student ministries resource manual Notice the various sections on the front of the Creative Discipleship Reward Sheet Name Write the student s name here The eight Reward Cards This is where you will mark the student s progress. Remember, a reward is given for every ten spaces marked (a Reward Card has been completed). 7-5

54 3. Mark off squares for: This shows how many times each spiritual discipline can receive a mark on a Reward Card on the Creative Discipleship Reward Sheet. The following letters will be helpful when marking the reward spaces. Q = Faithful week of Quiet Time A total of 32 spaces can be marked with a Q V = Verses from Scripture Memory Pak A total of 24 spaces can be marked with a V C = Christian Service A total of 18 spaces can be marked with a C B = Books read A total of 6 spaces (2 per book) can be marked with a B 4. Scripture Memory A listing of all of the memory verses for the current year. As a student quotes a verse, make a check mark or draw a line through the reference. 5. Books Fill in the three titles of the books read. Two books from the Selected Reading Books in the Student section of the LCM catalog and one missionary or Christian biography of your choice. Reading the entire New Testament counts as any two books. Now let s look at the back side of the Creative Discipleship Reward Sheet 6. Christian Service A listing of Individual and Group Christian Service opportunities. Students can repeat each Christian Service up to six times. 7. For Camp and Word of Life Bible Institute or other College Scholarships Spots to put check marks when 180 days of Quiet Time have been completed and a score of 80% or higher has been achieved on the fill-inthe-blank Scripture memory test. 8. Address A great way to keep in touch with your students beyond the times you see them in church is to , call, or text them. You can also send them a note in the mail or use Facebook. It s all about building relationships to draw them closer to Christ. So this information is vital! 7-6

55 student ministries resource manual Requirements to earn Creative Discipleship scholarships Take another look at the back of the Creative Disciple Reward Sheet. There are three spots to put a checkmark. You check one when you have completed 180 days of your Quiet Time, one when you have achieved a score of 80% or higher on the fill-in-the-blank Scripture memory test, and one when you complete 20 of the Liven It Up sections. When these three spots are checked and all eight Reward Cards are filled in, several great things happen. 7-7

56 1. Creative Discipleship Camp Scholarship A discount on a week at Word of Life summer camp. 2. Creative Discipleship Bible Institute Scholarship A $ scholarship to the Word of Life Bible Institute for each year ($3, maximum) of Creative Discipleship, or 3. College Scholarship Check on the Word of Life web site (lcm.wol.org/content/scholarships) for colleges and universities that offer scholarships of varying amounts to those who complete Creative Discipleship. NOTE: A Creative Discipleship Scholarship may be combined with Engage scholarships, STC scholarships, PLUS one of the following: Word of Life Staff scholarship or discount, Pastor or Christian worker scholarship or Word of Life Chancellor s scholarship. IMPORTANT NOTE: For students to be eligible for a scholarship, church leaders must submit all completed documentation for Creative Discipleship award recipients by the 1st of June of the award year. The Creative Discipleship Reward Sheet will be reviewed by a Word of Life Area Missionary. This review is to confirm the student has completed all the necessary requirements to receive their scholarship award. Setting up Creative Discipleship Groups How do you do this? You divide the students among the leaders so that each leader can focus on just a few. Experience tells us that the average leader can handle no more than six young people in his or her discipleship group. What do you do before your first discipleship group meetings? 1. Separate your junior high and senior high students. If you have over 40 students in your ministry you may lose your senior high students if you keep junior high and senior high together. We suggest that you have two separate Bible studies; one for your junior high and another for your senior high. However, if you have a smaller group and it is necessary to keep them together for the meeting, we recommend that you separate these ages for your discipleship groups. 7-8

57 2. Keep girls with female leaders and guys with male leaders. This is necessary both physically and morally. 3. We recommend that you keep these groups for the entire year. By doing this you are able to build relationships within the group. 4. Identify your students according to three categories: Lost or Carnal Usually about 15% of your group fits this category. Lukewarm Usually about 70% of your group fits this category. Hot Usually about 15% of your group fits this category. This division is for your reference only. You are not putting your students into categories to pigeonhole them. You are identifying their spiritual condition so you will best know how to minister to them. A lost student has different needs than a spiritually growing student. List all of your students and ask God for wisdom, insight, and discernment to know their spiritual needs. Note which category you think they belong to. Now you are ready for the next step. 5. Divide your students among your leadership team. Give each leader a mixture of the three categories. Don t be afraid of breaking up cliques. Oh sure, they will complain, but cliques are unhealthy and you can handle it. 6. Do not put more than six students in each group. Starting with three or four is ideal and gives you room to grow. 7-9

58 Discipleship Activities: What to do BEFORE your weekly meeting 1. Pray for your students 2. Arrive 15 minutes early 3. Be sure the Creative Discipleship Reward Sheets are updated and remember to bring the rewards for those who earned them. What to do DURING your discipleship group time Every week you will be meeting with your group right after the lesson. 1. Help them to make personal application of the Bible study. (The Student Bible study will help you in this area by providing discussion starters built upon the lesson. This great tool can be ordered from Word of Life Local Church Ministries.) 2. Ask your students to share highlights from the past week s Quiet Time. It s always good to get them to be specific, especially in the area of personal application. The purpose is not for you to preach to them, but for them to understand how they can apply God s Word to their everyday life. Your encouragement at the thoughts they share can be used of God to motivate them in their walk with the Lord. 3. Have your group share prayer requests. This is a great way to build relationships with them. Be sure to write down the prayer requests they share. Also check up on prior requests to see how God has been working in their lives. 4. Before (or after) your weekly meeting is a great time to check their Quiet Time, listen to their Scripture memory, check on the books they have read, assign Christian service opportunities, and update their rewards sheet. What to do AFTER your weekly meeting 1. Call each student to encourage them in their quiet time. 2. Visit their home. 3. Write letters, , Facebook, or text them. 4. Take a student through the Where Do I Go From Here? interactive discipleship series. 7-10

59 ministry helping you do ministry better! Word of Life Local Church Ministries has always been committed to providing high quality leadership training FREE as a part of our ministry to churches. In this section we will highlight the resources that are available to you. In this section you will learn more about What the role of your Area Missionary is and how to take full advantage of them as a resource. How the orientation sessions will help you get off to a great start! Transfer Meetings and why they are important. How a ministry visit from your Area Missionary can help you. Hundreds of web based leadership training resources found at the transferlive.com web site. The value of planning meetings; how to plan them and what to do at them. Why you should do an annual review at least every other year. Your Word Of Life Area Missionary If you have been in any kind of sports in high school, you probably recognize the importance of having a good coach. In fact, in most sports, the team with the best coach usually will be in the running for the championship. We have a coach for your ministry team called an Area Missionary. His role is like that of a coach. Not like a consultant; a consultant will be helpful, evaluate things and provide helpful suggestions and then move on. Not like a team owner; he does not have the authority of the owner (church leadership/pastor staff). He is like a coach; brought in with a philosophy of doing things, a play book, with a plan to help the team be the best they can be. By adopting the Word of Life ministry in your church, you have given the Area Missionary authority (as a team owner does to a coach) to take the philosophy and discipleship tools of Word of Life and show your ministry team how to implement them effectively in your church. You will notice that we will reference your ministry coach through many of the ways we seek to help you do ministry better. That is because he is someone that desires to get to know your ministry team, your pastors and your church. Our passion is to equip local churches to evangelize and disciple young people. Put succinctly, we love helping you do ministry better. ORIENTATION Orientation If you are like most people with something new, you are eager to get this new Word of Life ministry started. You received a box of stuff from Word of Life, you opened the box and looked at its contents and thought, What do I do with all of this stuff? That is why your Area Missionary coach has already (or will soon) scheduled a personalized orientation. The orientation is designed to show 8-1

60 you how to implement the philosophy and tools of Word of Life into your ministry. Because we want to be thorough, we ask you to invest five hours in two meetings. Goals of Orientation Session One: Understand how to best incorporate the Word of Life tools into your youth ministry. Gain a good understanding of discipleship tools you will be using. Learn how to make a lasting impact in your small group ministry. Goals of Orientation Session Two: Lay out the teaching strategy and schedule for the year. Plan out in detail four exciting and impactful ministry nights. Leave knowing your specific responsibility for the next month of ministry. How to maximize the value of your orientation Plan to have your entire leadership team present. You will not want anyone left out of this important training session! (It would be a great idea to invite the pastor to the first session.) Arrange to have child care as needed. Have leaders view the two pre orientation videos (approx. 15 minutes) prior to the first orientation session. Have leaders read over this Student Ministries Resource Manual. Bring questions to ask your Area Missionary. (The only dumb question is the one that isn t asked!) Make sure you have all of your Student Ministry materials with you (just bring the box of material that was shipped to you and you will have all you need). LOCAL LEADERSHIP TRAINING Transfer Meetings You will find Transfer Meetings to be unique from other meetings you might attend because it is more than a meeting; it is a time when you gather together with other like-minded leaders. You share many of the same interests. As a group, you are characterized by your desire to disciple and evangelize young people. Transfer meetings accomplish four goals: Training Training on relevant topics characterize each Transfer Meeting. Those experienced in Student Ministry have prepared helpful lessons to further equip you. The instruction, discussions, and practical applications greatly benefit your leadership team. 8-2

61 Encouragement Encouragement can be the high-octane fuel that keeps you going. Attending a Transfer Meeting can provide you with the boost you need. An idea from another leader, fellowship with others in a similar ministry, a time of praise and prayer, a dynamic lesson offering insights into a specific area of ministry; many of these sources of encouragement are found at Transfer Meetings. Accountability Transfer Meetings are designed to build relationships among leaders and your Area Missionary to help you be the best leader you can be. Your accountability relationships with other leaders do much to build you and your ministry. Motivation After visiting with other leaders from your area, enjoying a time of fun and fellowship, sharing in prayer and praises, and learning practical ministry helps and ideas, you ll find yourself motivated! You ll be anxious to get back to your area ministry to implement all you have learned at the Transfer Meeting. MINISTRY VISITS Your Word of Life Area Missionary has a schedule of the Transfer Meetings available for you and your leadership team. We know you are busy and that is exactly why we have strategically planned and scheduled these incredible times of training carefully. Be sure to connect with your Area Missionary for the dates in your area and get them on your calendar. As you plan to take your leadership to the next level, these sessions will need to be a priority. Ministry Visits Your Area Missionary is a ministry coach with the goal of helping your ministry be the best it can be. Word of Life Missionaries have years of experience and they have the combined resources of Word of Life Local Ministries behind them. Your missionary will drop in on ministries each year to help in the following ways. Encourage your walk with God We know the foundation in any ministry is the growth of the leadership in their walk with God. Don t be surprised if your missionary shares something from that day s Quiet Time passage and be ready to share yours as well. Give constructive feedback We all become accustomed to our situation. A visitor will always see things with fresh eyes. What they see can give you great insight and help you move your ministry forward. Your missionary has the advantage of seeing things with a different perspective that could be very helpful for your ministry. 8-3

62 Gain new ideas As your missionary goes from church to church, they will see many different variations of how to do youth ministry and how churches are implementing Word of Life in their church. You may be doing something in a way that will be a huge help to another church. Evaluate future training needs As our missionaries observe ministries from week to week, common needs arise and helps to give them clear direction for planning future leadership training sessions and tools. Transfer Live Web Site Word of Life Local Church Ministries has over one hundred ten-minute youth ministry training videos. These videos are designed to be short, content packed videos that help in specific areas of ministry. We cover areas ranging from improving your weekly meeting, small group leader training and personal spiritual growth. Make sure you check out our web site at transferlive.com to see all the resources available. Planning Meetings Most people don t plan to fail; they just fail to plan. But you are not most people; you are a Word of Life Student Ministry leader and Word of Life Student Ministry leaders plan. Those who are successful in their work are those who Plan their work and work their plan. What we have to do is far more important than any job you can think of, as we are involved in a ministry that impacts students for eternity. Certainly the call to disciple and evangelize is worthy of our time in planning. So let s make some plans. Planning Leads to Excellence Prayerful planning puts your team on the path to an impacting ministry. Sometimes we feel that planning just takes too much time; but in reality planning leads to excellence, lack of planning leads to stress. Young people are worth your investment We have a small window of time with these young people so it is vital that we plan well so we make the most of this time. What we have to do is far more important than any job you can think of, as we are involved in a ministry that impacts students for eternity. With this in mind let s talk about two types of planning meetings. Big Picture Planning (Annual) Set aside ½ day at the beginning of the ministry year to do the following. Talk through goals, what is it that you want to accomplish this coming year? Lay out teaching strategy. Your ministry should have a teaching schedule. This does not mean that you can never deviate from it, but 8-4

63 it does give the teacher(s) a schedule so they can be well prepared. Put major events on calendar. These events should be based on your goals for the year. Make sure you merge all of this with what is happening at your church as well. Split up small groups. Take careful thought as to how you might make up your groups. Check out the video Small Group Selections, Who Goes Where? by Hayley Miller at transferlive.com for guidance on this. Extended time of prayer. Take time to commit the year to the Lord. Detailed Planning (Monthly) Your monthly planning meetings are so important that they deserve a high priority approach. Schedule all of your planning meetings at the start of the year. If you wait until the week before the meeting to schedule it, you will be frustrated as many leaders will already have other things planned. Set aside 90 minutes each month. o If your meetings are too long you will find it difficult to get your leadership team to attend. o If you have a large leadership team a monthly meeting with all team members may not be possible. In this case develop another level of leadership (key leaders), giving each of your key leader a group they communicate with. Meet monthly with your key leaders and have them communicate to the leaders you assign to them. Pick a time and stick to it for a year. o A set time is easy for all to remember (like the first Sunday of every month at 3:30 p.m.) o If you choose to meet on a weeknight (like the last Tuesday of every month) plan to have food and childcare available. Review goals each month to be sure you are on staying on track. Review events in the next 90 days and go over the details that need to be accomplished for it to run effectively. What events do we have on the calendar? Is there anything we need to do in preparation for the event? Lay out in detail the next four (4) ministry nights. Go into detail on each meeting and talk about how you will make each one an impacting night. Each leader should leave knowing clearly the direction and their role in the next 4 youth ministry meetings. Plan your meeting agenda using the tool below. It was created to help you think through what items should be one your meeting agenda. It would also be helpful to invite your Area Missionary to one of your planning meetings in the year. He can be a great resource. 8-5

64 Big Picture Planning Meeting (Annual) Subject Bible Study Overview Agenda Items A summary of the Biblical Teaching, Biblical Living, and Bible Book Study lessons will excite the leadership team with the direction for the year. Calendar Preview Church events (date, time, and place) Church meetings (revivals, special meetings, socials) Student Ministry activities Leadership Events Transfer Meetings Leadership training opportunities Future planning meetings Upcoming lessons to be taught Word of Life events Evangelistic events Ministry opportunities Discipleship group activities Word of Life Engage Detailed Planning Event Detail Planning Purpose of the event Budget Location Speaker Transportation arrangements Food and drink plans Time frame Extra help needed Dress standard for the event Promotion Delegation of Responsibilities 8-6

65 Monthly Planning Meeting Subject Detailed Planning Problem Solving Evaluation Agenda Items Weekly Meeting Detail planning 4 weeks of meetings Refreshments Game/Icebreakers Announcements Worship Songs Bible study module and dynamics to use Discipleship group topics Problems to work through: Schedules Student issues Parental issues Weekly meeting issues that need to be worked on Problems to discuss with your Area Missionary How are we doing in? Past meetings Past activities Discipleship involvement Leadership team responsibilities Progress toward achieving goals Evangelistic events Getting students involved in ministry opportunities Word of Life Engage participation 8-7

66 Annual Review It has been said, Practice makes perfect. The late Howard Hendricks made this excellent observation when he said, Practice makes permanent. Evaluated practice makes perfect. Nothing will improve without evaluation with the focus to improve. That is the main focus of the annual review. We strongly recommend that every first year Word of Life ministry have the Area Missionary come and help with this meeting. Time Frame The best time for this meeting is anytime from the end of your current ministry year to a month before you kick off your fall ministry. Focus of meeting The entire leadership team will work through a process to evaluate every area of your ministry. We use a ministry evaluation form to guide in this process. Usually 1-3 areas are highlighted for improvement and a detailed plan will be formed to accomplish this. After the first year, this detailed evaluation could be done every other year to continue the process of growth in the ministry. 8-8

67 plan & accountability leadership team planning, evaluation, and accountability There are some great meetings to assist you in your Word of Life Student Ministry. Our staff is looking forward to visiting with you at HD3 or HDX, Flashpoint and Checkpoint conferences, or Transfer and Planning meetings. These meetings reflect our passion to help and serve you. But we provide you with more than meetings. In your box of material you will find a lot of ministry tools to help you disciple and evangelize students. One of those tools is a single sheet of paper that is invaluable to the success of your ministry. You may not think of a sheet of printed paper as a tool, but we do. It is a tool designed to help you in your ministry as much as a rake is designed to help you rake up leaves. Funny thing about tools is that you have to use them. A rake in the shed will not get one leaf out of the yard. And if this sheet remains in its shrink wrap packaging, you will fail in three essential parts of any student ministry: planning, evaluation, and accountability. In this section you will learn more about The Program Planner, on which you plan what you will do in future meetings. The Meeting Evaluation, on which you evaluate the effectiveness of your last meeting. The Leadership Team Progress Report on which you hold the leadership team accountable to the Area Missionary The Leadership Team Contest procedures Program Planner The Future The first of the three forms this folded sheet of paper contains is the Program Planner. It encompasses future meetings and is most often completed by the Administrative Coordinator. When you complete the Program Planner you will know what s happening, at least four weeks into the future (some like to plan six weeks at a time). Your view of the future can be as detailed as you like. We think the more detail, the better. In fact, history has shown us that the best Student Ministries are built upon a detailed plan. Notice the seven key areas on the Program Planner below. 9-1

68 student ministries resource manual Just reading over the above Program Planner is exciting! When you put this much detail into your planning there will be students and adults alike who will want to be a part of your ministry. Such a plan will give you and your leadership team great confidence, as you will know where you are headed. It will also keep you from monotony and boredom as, without a plan, it doesn t take long to lapse into doing the same old thing week after week. Without a plan refreshments usually don t happen, a game is played until everyone is sick of it, you will sing the favorite five, and it won t be long till you skip sharing time because it just doesn t work. You ll lecture your way through the Bible study and have very little time left for discipleship groups. Announcements end up as a list of things to read off to the group by whoever remembers to bring the list. A meeting run without a plan is actually a plan for disaster. 9-2

69 Instead of the no-plan, plan for disaster approach, you are ready to plan for the future. You want a well run meeting that keeps them coming back for more. Having such a meeting is not as hard as you might think; it just takes a little planning and preparation. Here s how: 1. Plan for the future at least four weeks at a time in your monthly planning meeting. 2. Bring four blank Program Planners to the planning meeting. 3. Record the lesson titles and dates of the meetings across the top of the four program planners. 4. It s usually best to plan each item across the four weeks instead of planning an entire meeting one week at a time. By this we mean you should plan your refreshments for week one, then week two, followed by week three, and finally week four. Do this with each of the seven points on your Program Planner. Planning that way enables you to get a Big Picture perspective. It also keeps you from planning the same thing from one week to the next. If you plan one week at a time, you may find yourself singing the identical song or songs two weeks from now. If that happens regularly, the meetings will get too predictable and become boring to the students. The greater the predictability the less the impact. On the other hand, the less the predictability the greater the impact. REFRESHMENTS TIME: STUDENTS ARE VISITING AND TALKING. ICEBREAKER: HIGH-ENERGY FUN TIME FOR ALL. ANNOUNCEMENTS: SERVE TO EXCITE THE STUDENTS ABOUT UPCOMING EVENTS AND CHRISTIAN SERVICE. SONG TIME: GO FROM LIVELY CHORUSES TO WORSHIP SONGS. SHARE AND PRAYER TIME: STUDENTS LISTEN TO AND PRAY FOR THEIR PEERS; THIS TIME CALMS THE GROUP AND PREPARES FOR THE LESSON. BIBLE STUDY: THE KEY THRUST OF THE NIGHT!* DISCIPLESHIP GROUPS: ALLOWS FOR CONVERSATION BASED UPON THE BIBLE STUDY OR THE TOPIC AT HAND. 5. SPECIAL NOTE: There is a rhyme and reason to the order of events in the Program Planner. It is what we call an Hour Glass plan. *The focal point of your meeting is the teaching of God s Word in the Bible Study. Everything else either leads up to it or flows out from it. 6. When possible, theme your meeting around the lesson for the night. Sing songs that relate to the lesson. Have a sharing time topic that will complement the lesson. Plan and announce the Christian Service that is recommended in the lesson. When you plan your entire meeting around the theme of the lesson, your teaching will have a greater impact in the lives of the students. IMPORTANT POINT: You don t need to say, We are singing this song because our lesson is on this topic. Just sing the songs and follow your program, the students will see the connection. 9-3

70 7. Be sure to involve the entire leadership team in this planning process. One leader can come prepared with four to six icebreakers to choose from for the month. Another may have several songs or choruses to choose from. The more your leadership team is involved in the planning process the more they will see how important they are to the whole of your student ministry. You may want to consider bringing some students in on the planning process. Their input can prove to be very helpful and insightful. It will also help to generate in them love and loyalty for the ministry as they are now investing in the planning process. Planning in detail will give you great confidence in what the future holds for your meetings. With a well-planned program you will anticipate and not dread the meeting. While it may take one to one-and-a-half hours to plan in such detail, you will find it to be well worth every minute invested. Remember also, the more you plan, the better you will become at it as time goes on. Meeting Evaluation The Past The second of the three forms this sheet contains, the Meeting Evaluation, is on the other side of the fold. On it you briefly review the meeting of the past week. Sometime after your meeting, later that evening or within the next couple of days, you want to use the Meeting Evaluation to review how the meeting went. Basically you will be evaluating two aspects of your meeting: first, your program, on the top half of the form and second, your progress, on the lower half of the form. Such an evaluation will enable you to commend the leaders and aspects of the meeting that went well; correct the areas that need help; and commit to pursuing excellence in all you do. Looking over the following Meeting Evaluation, what areas would you commend and what areas do you see that need some correction? 9-4

71 Remember: there is only one alternative to evaluation and that is deterioration. If you want a student perspective on your meeting just ask a student to evaluate it for you. It may well be eye opening. Leadership Team Progress Report The Present Unfold this amazing sheet of paper and you find the Leadership Team Progress Report. Every Christian should have an accountability partner and this form serves to keep the leadership team accountable to the Area Missionary. 9-5

72 student ministries resource manual At first glance, the Leadership Team Progress Report looks like some accounting form and if math or numbers don t float your boat you may be tempted to sail on by this important tool. Twenty-four items seems like a lot of progress to report on each week and it is. So we are not asking you to report on all 24 each and every week. On average, you will report on 10 to 12 lines a week. Look at the sample report below and you will notice some items are recorded on a weekly basis; others, monthly; and some, only once a year. Now that doesn t seem too hard to keep up with, does it? WEEKLY ACCOUNTABILITY 9-6

73 student ministries resource manual MONTHLY & QUARTERLY ACCOUNTABILITY YEARLY ACCOUNTABILITY Filling in numbers on the preceding form is a piece of cake. It s what the numbers represent that cause some leaders to choke. If someone were to ask you if reading the Bible is important for a Christian you would no doubt tell him or her it is. If they asked about Scripture memory being profitable, you would affirm it to be so. But what if they wanted to know how many days you read your Bible this past week and how many verses you memorized this past month? What would you say? How would you feel? Initially you might be speechless and feel uncomfortable, especially if you weren t reading your Bible 9-7