Student Ministry

• Foundations for Student Ministry

  The course covers the development of a personal philosophy of youth ministry, the personal life of the youth minister, intergenerational student ministry, evangelism, and discipleship of students, camps, retreats, missions, events, building a volunteer team, inter-staff relationships, and other duties required in a balanced student ministry.

• Strategies for Biblical Communication

  This gender-inclusive course is designed to aid in the construction and delivery of expository and theological-thematic sermons. Students learn how to craft two sermon series (expository and topical).

• Practical Issues in Student Ministry

  Instruction in the organization and administration of an effective youth ministry. Topics of study will include administration, organization, budgeting, strategic planning, leadership, conflict management, discipline issues, risk prevention, and liability. General ministry issues such as weddings, funerals, hospital visits, baptisms, etc., will also be addressed. Students will learn through a combination of lecture, discussion, and hands-on programming.

• Counseling Youth

  This course is designed to offer insight and skills into the basic problems of adolescents. An overview of common adolescent problems, areas of family conflict, and special crisis issues common to youth are examined. Counseling Youth provides a Christian framework that will enable the student to minister directly to troubled teens and to assist the student in evaluating various counseling models and techniques when referring youth for professional counseling. Students will accomplish this through lecture, discussion, small groups, and case studies as well as observations outside of the classroom.

• Strategies for Teaching

  This course is designed to explore the strategies governing the teaching/learning process and the methods used to convey biblical truth in the lesson plan, the classroom setting, and the teacher/student relationship.

Student Ministry Program Description and Outcomes

• Program Description

  This program is aimed at training and inspiring the next wave of student ministers to effectively lead Christ-centered student ministries, guiding teenagers to become lifelong disciples of Jesus. Courses in this program are very practical in nature using lectures, projects, guest teachers, current studies of youth culture, and interviews with student workers on the field, hands-on experience, internships under veteran student ministry mentors, and one-on-one evaluation meetings each semester with the Student Ministry Program Coordinator.

• Program Outcomes

  Students completing the BA in Student Ministry will be able to:

  1. Clearly state their purpose and goals for student ministry.

  2. Create a small group ministry for the purpose of discipleship and accountability for teens (adolescents).

  3. Purposefully recruit and lead a team of adult volunteers in ministry to teenagers.

  4. Design, administrate, and lead a Christ-centered student ministry for a specific context.

  5. Articulate issues of risk management in student ministry and create appropriate systems to manage potential issues.

  6. Effectively communicate lessons and sermons in a student ministry context.

  7. Identify the unique needs of adolescents and their family systems and be able to demonstrate spiritual and emotional pastoral care.