How to Disciple a Teenager Well by Jonathan McKee

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How to Disciple a Teenager Well

by Jonathan McKee

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n the nineties, youth ministry was so focused on "effective outreach" that often "effective spiritual

growth" was moved to the back burner.

This went on for about a decade, until the church had to begin doing triage with kids who had been rai

n the church, but never discipled to own their own faith.

Now, the most common questions I hear from youth workers and parents are:

How can we equip teenagers to truly live out their faith in a world full of distractions?”

What is the secret to helping kids own their faith by the time they move out on their own?”

How do you actually disciple teenagers today, connecting them with positive adult role models who w

mentor them on how to walk like Jesus?”

A few years ago, in our book Ministry by Teenagers, my good friend David R. Smith and I addressed th

proverbial elephant in the room: the growing number of teenagers raised in the church who will walk

away from their faith during or shortly after high school. It’s a sad reality, one plagued by conjecture o

what the real problem is.” Rather than throwing stones, David and I offered some tried and true

methods to disciple teenagers, help them live out their faith in word and action, giving them opportuni

o serve on their own as well as in a student leadership team.

But what does this specifically look like?

n other words, we can use words like “disciple” and “mentor” all day long, but what does this look like

with teenagers in the church today? Simple questions like, “What discipleship material works well with

oday’s kids?”

think that’s what my blog reader Rich was asking:

’ve been reading your book Ministry by Teenagers , and I totally love it. I’m going to be modeling my

student leadership team after those principles this school year. It’s been a tremendous help as I seek

o give my SLT some structure, direction and purpose.

did have a question for you. What kind of discipleship materials do you recommend for the student a

mentor to use?

Good question, Rich. This blog is a good format to give specific and current examples of effective

http://www.churchleaders.com/#http://www.davidrsmith.org/http://www.jonathansresources.com/Books/MinistryByTeenagersbook.aspxhttp://www.churchleaders.com/#http://www.churchleaders.com/#http://www.churchleaders.com/#http://www.churchleaders.com/author/JonathanMcKee/http://www.churchleaders.com/youth/youth-leaders-blogs/index.1.htmlhttp://www.churchleaders.com/youth/index.1.htmlhttp://www.churchleaders.com/


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discipleship material. I find that there isn’t just one rubber-stamp, “catch all” discipleship material that

use. It really depends on the kid, their gender, their age, their maturity, their passion, their questions,

heir struggles …

So, I really try to adjust the content to the kid.

Here are some examples of effective discipleship material I recommend:

1. If I have a kid who has a lot of questions about faith or Jesus, I might take them through Lee Strobe

A Case for Faith or A Case for Christ . Or Tim Keller’s A Reason for God. (Is it just me, or do you think T

Keller might just be the C.S. Lewis of the new millennium?)

2. If I have a kid who is a showing great leadership potential, I might take them through a John Maxwe

book about leadership, or one of my favorites still, Finishing Strong by Steve Farrar. (I still think this is

he best book to take a leader-guy through.)

3. If I have a normal teenager (guy or girl) who is going through typical teenager stuff (peer pressure,

emptations, disagreements, enduring through difficult times … ) then I’d probably take them through

brand new THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR TEENAGERS, coming out in two weeks. In

his fictional premise, I was able to deal with real world issues that teenagers struggle with today.

The book is a devotional that tells the story of three teenagers struggling to survive “against the odds,

and it comes with 27 sets of discussion questions pointing them to the truth from the scriptures. It’s la

out so kids can read it and go through the questions on their own, in a small group or with a mentor.

Doug Fields describes it well: “Jonathan’s Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide for Teenager s is exactly t

ype of devotional teenagers will actually read. In a fun and interesting way, Jonathan helps teens tack

ough issues like coping with pain and depression, drinking, loving difficult people and the temptation t

ndulge in fleshly desires. The teenagers in my small group will be blown away that there’s a Christianauthor who uses the popular post-apocalyptic fictional premise to address their real-life issues.”

4. If I had girls that were going through the typical pressures girls face, I’d probably have my female

adult leaders take them through books from Hayley DiMarco. Doug Field’s daughter Tori recommended

ome of her books to my daughter Alyssa and she really liked Sexy Girls: How Hot Is Too Hot? and

anything from the God Girl series.

5. But I also like to use scripture. Sometimes I’ll just take a kid through the book of Matthew or Galati

or Ephesians. If I have an adult leader who would prefer a “study guide,” then I might give them

omething like the WELCOME TO THE FAMILY book that we provide as a FREE download on our websit

on this “FOLLOW UP” page. I’ve used this with brand new believers and kids that have been in the chu

heir whole lives.

6. I just wrote another devotional for guys coming out next April called The Guys Guide to God, Girls .

and the Phone in Your Pocket . If you get my free blog and/or book emails, then you’ll hear about that

when it comes out.

http://www.thesource4ym.com/ConnectWithUs/default.aspxhttp://www.thesource4ym.com/Outreach/DiscipleshipGuide.aspxhttp://www.jonathansresources.com/Books/ZombieSurvivalGuide.aspx


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n all of these situations, I like to meet with the kid regularly in a casual place (an ice cream shop, Tac

Bell … ) and talk about real life. If we go through a book, we’ll say, “Read chapter 1 by next week and

et’s talk about it.” When we meet, I start with laughing, joking, asking about his week (doing way mor

stening than talking). Then we review what we read. If it’s a book with discussion questions, I’ll go

hrough those discussion questions.

Discipleship goes way beyond youth ministry. Followers of Christ are going to be compelled to use the

model that He used so effectively: Go and make disciples.

My church is learning this right now. We’re developing some mentor programs that go beyond the typic

youth leaders.” We’re trying to train adults from all over the church and connect them with young peo

who have a desire to grow in their faith. Last month, we had a training after church and had about 30

adults (mostly nonyouth-staff) attend. Our hope is to have these 30 people sitting in coffee shops and

amba Juice with a kid several times a month this next year, talking about real life and even using som

of the materials I recommended above to help young people draw closer to Jesus.

What are you doing to make disciples?

What resources do you use?

Print version

Jonathan McKee, president of The Source for Youth Ministry, is the author of

numerous youth ministry books including the brand new Connect: Real Relationsh

in a World of Isolation, and the award winning books Do They Run When They Se

You Coming? and Getting Students to Show Up. He speaks and trains at camps,

onferences, and events across North America, and provides free resources for youth workers

nternationally on his website, TheSource4YM.com. Used with permission from thesource4ym.com.

More from Jonathan McKee or visit Jonathan at www.thesource4ym.com

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