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Jesus Centered Youth Ministry: Guide for Volunteers: Moving from Jesus-Plus to Jesus-Only
Is it possible for a youth ministry to shift toward a passionate, persistent, and permeating focus that draws students into a closer orbit around Jesus?
Absolutely! But this adventure shouldn’t be the responsibility of just the lead youth worker or the youth pastor. It’s an opportunity for the entire team to share the joyous adventure of guiding teenagers toward a clearer understanding of what Jesus really said and did, and how faith matters in their lives.
That’s why we’ve written Jesus Centered Youth Ministry: Guide for Volunteers—a condensed version of author and longtime Group Magazine editor Rick Lawrence’s wildly successful book Jesus Centered Youth Ministry. This guide delivers a laser-sharp focus on practical, sustainable ways to put JCYM ideas into practice.
This guide will quickly become your volunteers’ go-to handbook as they pursue ideas for creating a ministry that orbits around Jesus in every way. They’ll encounter page after page of field-tested ideas for planting and nurturing a ministry environment that is Jesus-magnetic.
Help satisfy teenagers’ hunger for Jesus in richly nourishing and sustaining ways by leading your team in the journey of shifting the orbit of your ministry.
Absolutely! But this adventure shouldn’t be the responsibility of just the lead youth worker or the youth pastor. It’s an opportunity for the entire team to share the joyous adventure of guiding teenagers toward a clearer understanding of what Jesus really said and did, and how faith matters in their lives.
That’s why we’ve written Jesus Centered Youth Ministry: Guide for Volunteers—a condensed version of author and longtime Group Magazine editor Rick Lawrence’s wildly successful book Jesus Centered Youth Ministry. This guide delivers a laser-sharp focus on practical, sustainable ways to put JCYM ideas into practice.
This guide will quickly become your volunteers’ go-to handbook as they pursue ideas for creating a ministry that orbits around Jesus in every way. They’ll encounter page after page of field-tested ideas for planting and nurturing a ministry environment that is Jesus-magnetic.
Help satisfy teenagers’ hunger for Jesus in richly nourishing and sustaining ways by leading your team in the journey of shifting the orbit of your ministry.
96 pages, Paperback
First published February 5, 2007
20 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Rick Lawrence
36 books9 followersRick Lawrence is the long-time editor of GROUP magazine and co-leader of the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. He also speaks frequently for conferences and workshops, consults for national research organizations, and publishes prolifically—with 31 books (authored, coauthored or edited), hundreds of articles, and a small-group curriculum to his credit.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 5, 2021
I started this book and, upon finishing the first chapter, I was estatic. So much of what Lawrence said spoke to me. I wanted to know more about centering my youth ministry on Jesus, about putting Him front and center.
As you can probably guess from the three star rating, my excitement was short lived. It’s not that this is a bad book, I just found it very repetitive. Lawrence spends the first almost 100 pages of this 200~ page book simple restating the premise over and over again.
Not only that, but sometimes I found myself wondering if he was taking the premise a little too far. Yes we need Jesus, but if the story of Jesus was all we needed, than why didn’t God just give us the gospels? There’s room for discussion of the Holy Spirit, discipleship, prayer, etc. alongside our discussions of Jesus, and I feel like “bee lining”(a phrase from Spurgen that regularly comes up) every text to Jesus can lead to some cases of Eisegesis.
Overall, this is an ok book. It has some good ideas, neat practices, and a fantastic premise. It just stumbles a lot getting there at times
As you can probably guess from the three star rating, my excitement was short lived. It’s not that this is a bad book, I just found it very repetitive. Lawrence spends the first almost 100 pages of this 200~ page book simple restating the premise over and over again.
Not only that, but sometimes I found myself wondering if he was taking the premise a little too far. Yes we need Jesus, but if the story of Jesus was all we needed, than why didn’t God just give us the gospels? There’s room for discussion of the Holy Spirit, discipleship, prayer, etc. alongside our discussions of Jesus, and I feel like “bee lining”(a phrase from Spurgen that regularly comes up) every text to Jesus can lead to some cases of Eisegesis.
Overall, this is an ok book. It has some good ideas, neat practices, and a fantastic premise. It just stumbles a lot getting there at times
March 31, 2018
Awful and out of touch
The author obviously has spent his life with children who were churched their entire lives. And he too was churched his entire life. It is my understanding that he cannot relate to those outside the church. And that's what we should be concentrating on, isn't it? I felt like I was reading a book written by Growing Pains guy. And any teenager I know would smell the phony 10 miles away.
The author obviously has spent his life with children who were churched their entire lives. And he too was churched his entire life. It is my understanding that he cannot relate to those outside the church. And that's what we should be concentrating on, isn't it? I felt like I was reading a book written by Growing Pains guy. And any teenager I know would smell the phony 10 miles away.
October 5, 2020
Tsk tsk I expected so much more. It came heavily recommended as part of my discipleship pastor duties include youth ministry. Warning the author is a product of Warren’s Saddleback church . He states the problem well enough: youth ministry does not communicate the biblical Christ. He says we need to follow the model of Spurgeon: make a beeline for the cross. But then he offers solutions that are no different that what produced the original premise.
Ugh... had promise but more of the same.
Ugh... had promise but more of the same.
August 8, 2017
A great lens to think about youth ministry through
This book was full of ideas for how to focus our youth ministry efforts on Jesus. I enjoyed that each chapter ended with an article by someone else on the topic.
This book was full of ideas for how to focus our youth ministry efforts on Jesus. I enjoyed that each chapter ended with an article by someone else on the topic.
December 17, 2021
I read this book together with the youth leaders at the church I pastor at. I’m glad I did. The basic premise of the book is what drew me and our youth leaders to it: Jesus is not to be taken “for granted” in youth ministry. Jesus Christ is not a “given,” and far too many students come out of youth group with an impoverished life with Christ as a result of that underlying assumption.
The two critical questions around which “Jesus-centered” youth ministry circulates are - Who do I say Jesus is? Who does Jesus say I am? I think this is a helpful way of thinking about it. We discover who Jesus is, and in so doing discover who we are. Youth ministry in this paradigm is less about “don’t have sex, don’t do drugs, don’t listen to rock and roll,” and more about teaching students to live into what is true of them in Christ.
I give three stars because many of the stories Lawrence tells as nauseatingly self-congratulatory. Some readers can work through those. I find it off putting. I’m much more inspired by stories of transformation in the life of students than I am stories of how impressive the author him or herself is.
The two critical questions around which “Jesus-centered” youth ministry circulates are - Who do I say Jesus is? Who does Jesus say I am? I think this is a helpful way of thinking about it. We discover who Jesus is, and in so doing discover who we are. Youth ministry in this paradigm is less about “don’t have sex, don’t do drugs, don’t listen to rock and roll,” and more about teaching students to live into what is true of them in Christ.
I give three stars because many of the stories Lawrence tells as nauseatingly self-congratulatory. Some readers can work through those. I find it off putting. I’m much more inspired by stories of transformation in the life of students than I am stories of how impressive the author him or herself is.
January 4, 2019
Still a good resource as it nears 15 years old. A bit redundant at times.
August 3, 2007
WOW! This book has sparked a revival of sorts in my life. A quest to know Jesus and him in his fullness. I am not a youth pastor, but this is one of the best books I have read in a long time about Christianity. The author Rick Lawerence is transparent and real as a writer, sharing his own discovery that Jesus wasn't the focus of his faith. Read it!
March 4, 2015
This book has helped me set aside the distractions that I often substitute for Jesus when teaching or leading students in their faith journey. I expected this book to be overly simplistic. Instead, it's the most refreshing book on ministry I have read to date. I am blessed to have come across it.
June 11, 2008
This book was a great study / practical application of what Jesus can do with a ministry that is focused on Him. Great read for anyone who wants to get back to the "Why" in ministry...
April 21, 2015
A must read for people who minister to teenagers, or anyone of any age for that matter.
January 8, 2017
Great book! Challenging for YMers to focus on whats most important.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews