Posted January 9, 2012.

Youth pastors are always contemplating, “How can I foster a committed, unified youth group?” Many church attenders would judge a youth group’s success based on numbers, perhaps, base it on a unique and exciting program schedule.

These can be great achievements and benchmarks for growth, but most youth pastors would trade half of their attendance, for students who are unified with each other and committed to truly following Christ’s teaching. Not just during youth nights, but within their daily lives.

I’m currently a few months into my fourth year as a youth pastor. Most would say I’ve had a successful youth program. And yet, much like other youth pastors, my opening question has come to mind many times over the past few years.

Most of the students I work with have three different personas, depending on whether they’re at church, at school, or online. I believe that most of them truly have an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ. Still, most of them never seem ready or willing to fully dive into a daily, unashamed commitment to Christ and each other.

“With teenagers, is that even possible?”

Well, I know it’s possible because I’ve experienced it, not as a youth pastor, but as a student. Halfway through my high school career, I was blessed to enter a thriving youth group. There were loads of students and plenty of trips and activities to attend. Better yet, the friends that I made at this youth group were vastly different than the Christian kid that I claimed to be.

I wish I could say that it was due to the great youth pastor we had, but he moved on soon after I started attending the youth group. The difference was in the students. Specifically, with the guys that befriended me. These guys really desired an authentic relationship with Christ. Their passion ran so deep, that they attended a weekly Bible study together at a youth worker’s home. Soon enough, they invited me to attend.

Now, just to be clear, these guys were not some out-of-touch Bible-thumping types by any means! There are plenty of photographs to prove that they were very normal teenage guys. However, they applied what they learned in Scripture. For the most part, our fun and entertainment seemed to always fit within the boundaries of whether or not our relationship with God might suffer. What was considered cool was not good enough to move away from what we understood from Scripture.

Flashback to this year.

There is an ongoing reflection in my mind of what creates this type of youth group environment. What qualities keep a youth group committed to Christ and each other? Fortunately, Francis Chan has answered this question within a couple of teaching series’ for students. The first is titled Surrender: Others Before Self and Christ Above All. See the following series trailer below.

As I think back to my youth group experience, it’s true. Many times, we chose to surrender what was cool in the world’s eyes, to create our own styles, speech, behaviours, and entertainment. For the most part, we were also courageous enough to state our belief in and commitment to Christ. Even though, we knew that in certain circles we may be ridiculed for our position.

Last night, I explained much of this to our students, youth workers, and a couple of parents. I followed with the promotional videos for Francis Chan’s Surrender and Courage teaching series. This semester, I hope to challenge our students to surrender the things in their lives that are keeping them from consistently following Christ.

Following this series, I hope the students will learn to courageously embrace their positions in Christ, to the point where they can daily walk with confident faith.

Join the Conversation; Share Your Thoughts

• What tools do you use that unite students and develop their commitment to Christ?