Page 74 - Youth Discipleship Student Textbook

2. Ask them questions which they can answer.

Asking your students questions, especially about their personal life or what they are learning,
communicates to them that you are interested in their lives.

3. Praise Efforts, not Results

Praising them for their achievements sets your relationship with them as a conditional one. You do well
and then I will acknowledge you. They probably have enough of that in their lives already. Get excited
when they attempt to launch out and try something.

4. Make Things Competitive.

Youth love competition. It is a very strong motivator. Assign them to teams and have them complete in
various events in the program. It could be sports, skits, Bible knowledge, sharing what was in last
week’s lesson, squirt gun shooting, and just about anything. Give them huge points, starting at 1,000
points for every correct answer (one point doesn’t seem like much, but 1,000 points is a lot!).

5. Show them you are interested in them.

Find out what is important in their lives. Perhaps one of them has a flute recital. Attend it and praise
them for their accomplishment. Anytime you build them up by demonstrating that you are genuinely
interested in their lives, they will respond to you in a desire to return the favor.

6. Remain Positive

A negative attitude will generally produce negative results. If your attitude toward them is positive and
uplifting, you will motivate them to achieve within themselves. Your positive attitude, regardless of the
circumstances, will inspire your students to achieve excellence.

7. Ask them to become like you.

18
Romans 15:18 says, For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished
through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed…

A good leader stands out in front of the army and tells his troops to follow him into battle. As Paul told
the Romans that he would not ask them to do anything that had not already been accomplished in his
life, so the youth leadership should do the same. Don’t expect your students to do as you say, but to do
as you do.

8. Make the youth events memorable and exciting.

You must put some effort into making sure that each event when the youth come together is a highlight
of their day or month. Years ago I became the youth pastor of a small group of 13 students who were
pretty much not really interested in our youth group. I started out asking them about what they wanted
to accomplish as a group but got almost no response. I asked them if they wanted to grow in numbers.
They all agreed that that would be great…the more the merrier.

73