By
Madilyn Dowell
YOUT 201 - B02
Survey of Youth Ministries
Liberty University SOM Online
Ministry Interview Project: Strategy Paper Assignment
Submitted to Dr. Richard Brown
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
What I Learned:
In completing this project, I learned many important things. First, it was interesting to
discuss Student Ministry not only from the perspective of a ministry leader, but from its
consumer, the student. Second, I learned that Student Ministry is highly individual. This means
that it is done on an individual level by building relationships with the students personally. Third,
I learned that Student Ministry is adaptable and must be malleable. While certain general
principles will always ring true, the applications of those principles will change not only with the
passing of time, but with each demographic. What worked 5-10 years ago may not work in
today’s student culture. The methods that were effective at a previous church may not be
effective at the next church. Effective Student Ministry bears in mind who it is trying to reach,
identifies the needs, and adapts its methods – while protecting the integrity of the main Message
– to meet those needs.
Based on my observations through the Cultural Observation Project, and conversations
with Student Pastor Justin Kennedy and high school student Sarah Kathryn Dowell, my eyes
were opened tremendously to the overwhelming need for effective student ministries in student
culture today. Sarah made the truthful yet heartbreaking point that youth today look for
acceptance and validation through so many mediums, whether it be social media,
experimentation with alcohol and substances which I personally witnessed in the Cultural
Observation Project, premature toxic relationships, or simply making bad decisions to fit in.
There is a major lack of values within student culture today, and because of this, many
adolescents do not have any moral basis from which to guide their lives. Additionally, because of
the false identity/pretense anyone can portray on social media, comparison, envy, and lack of self
worth are consuming adolescents at an impressionable age in a way that previous generations
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have not experienced. This broke my heart for lost adolescents in a way I hadn’t previously
experienced.
Pastor Justin explained the effects that Covid 19 has had not only on his Student Ministry,
but on student culture as a whole. The needs of adolescents today have been exacerbated by the
isolation, depersonalization, and frustration of the pandemic. Adolescence is already
characterized by massive amounts of change, and that is difficult enough for students to navigate
in and of itself. Factor in a global pandemic on top of that and you’ll find that students are
hurting. They want to be seen, heard, and understood. They are looking for direction and they are
looking for hope. What better hope than the hope of Jesus Christ? The need for effective student
ministries today is tremendous. Now more than ever, we need to step into students’ lives and
influence them positively.
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Prayer Strategy:
Based on the responses I received from Pastor Justin and Sarah, I learned that student
culture poses many more obstacles for Christian students today than previous generations.
Christian students face so many things that are constantly vying for their attention, as well as
scrutiny for their faith. Additionally, lost students are even more susceptible to this peer pressure
since they don’t have solid values to keep them anchored in Truth. Sarah explained that she
comes in contact with both lost and saved peers in her daily life. She makes it a priority to
routinely pray for those peers in her life; that fellow Christians would stand firm and respectfully
share their faith in love, and that lost students would be presented with the gospel and
opportunities to hear about and come to know Jesus. Pastor Justin explained that, bearing both
lost and saved students in mind, he would ask himself while preparing for the week’s message,
“who is this message for?” and he would plan the events and messages for the week around that
student. He prays for all his students, but focuses specifically on praying for that one student for
God to minister to.
My strategy for prayer can be broken down into 4 parts. First, I would encourage a
culture of prayer among the servant leaders within the student ministry. This means speakers,
small group leaders, and all volunteers would be praying over the Student Ministry as a whole,
for each other’s personal requests, and over individual students. Second, I would seek to create a
culture of prayer within the students themselves. Because of the criticism and peer pressure that
Christian students are confronted with, it is rare for them to pray publicly or even place emphasis
on prayer privately. So, to help students understand the power and impact of prayer, I would give
them opportunities to pray during services or events. Not only will this increase their boldness,
but it will give them ownership, foster their spiritual development, and be a witness to their
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Personal Connection Strategy:
unsaved peers in attendance.
Third, once a culture of prayer was cultivated amongst both leaders and students, I would
establish a Prayer Box system where saved and unsaved students alike could submit prayer
requests at their desired level of discretion. Then, I would assign groups of students and servant
leaders into “prayer teams” to cover those prayer requests each week. Sometimes it can be hard
for students to verbally express a prayer request in a group setting, but the option of anonymity
can encourage students to still share those requests and allow their student community to cover
them in prayer. Finally, I would share weekly updates and prayer concerns – while respecting
cases of confidentiality – with the pastoral staff. This ensures that the leadership of the church
knows what is going on in the Student Ministry and they can pray for specific situations
regarding both saved and unsaved students. This also fosters the connection between the student
ministry and the rest of the church.
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Both Pastor Justin and Sarah explained major needs within student culture that influenced
how I would make personal connections. Because social media is a language that young
people speak, it can also be used to reach them. So, the first part of my personal connection
strategy to connect with both saved and lost students would be to create a social media for the
student ministry. This includes Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Though face-to-
face connection may be preferable, or even seem more effective, being sensitive to students’
methods of communication helps get their attention. “As student ministry leaders, we need to
be aware of the shape of our culture and be willing to embrace new means of reaching
students”.1 If social media is a medium relevant to students, I can use it to my advantage to
turn virtual connections into intentional in-person relationships.
The second part of my personal connection strategy to connect with both lost and saved
students would be to listen. On a fundamental level, this involves listening to what is going on
in their lives, listening to them talk about what they’re passionate about, etc. Students will
unconsciously give us hints to know how to reach them if only we listen to them. Beyond this
fundamental level, I can talk to the students about the ministry and listen to their suggestions.
If they tell me things that I can do to adapt the ministry to better reach them, then I can
implement their suggestions as long as they are universally beneficial and do not compromise
principles, and thereby improve the overall ministry. By implementing these suggestions, the
students will know I am listening and my rapport with them will grow stronger.
The third part of my strategy, geared more towards connecting with lost students, is quite
simple really. It involves simply showing up for students. To build lasting rapport with
students, you must first show them you care. They will not care about what you have to say to
them until
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1 Steve Vandegriff, Richard Brown, “The Essential of Leadership in Student Ministry,” in Student Ministry
Essentials: Reaching. Leading. Nurturing. (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2015), 34.
Outreach Strategy:
you show them that you care about them as a person. So if a student has a band, I can listen to
their mixtape and talk to them about it. If a student is an avid baseball player, I can make an
effort to attend a few of his games. If a student is a dancer, I can attend one of her recitals.
Things like this can show students that I am genuinely invested in their lives, and they will be
more inclined to respond positively to my leadership because of it. “Simply being there for
someone speaks more than words”.2
The final part of my strategy, geared more towards connecting with saved students, is to
give parts of the ministry away. This could mean allowing them to handle check-in, help with
games, help lead worship, help run tech, speak during a message, etc. Giving part of the ministry
away illustrates the principles of giving trust to gain trust. By giving them responsibility within
the ministry, I am not only giving them ownership, but also my trust. When students know that I
trust them, they will trust me. Trust is the very foundation of any solid relationship, and
relationships are what make effective ministries.
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2 Vandegriff, Brown, “The Essential of Youth Workers Knowing Their Roles,” 43.
For my outreach strategy, I would create a Student Night of Worship held at the student
center. The first part of my outreach strategy involves casting the vision of the event to the
servant leaders and volunteers. I would assign certain people to oversee student check-in, snacks
and refreshments, small group break-out sessions after the worship and brief message, and
standby volunteers ready and willing to speak and pray with anyone who wants to know about
Jesus or come to salvation during the event.
The next part of my outreach strategy is twofold, and would take place two months in
advance of the event. First, I would communicate the event to the students and create a signup
sheet for them to register for the event and have the opportunity to serve alongside the adult
volunteers in the aforementioned areas. Second, I would communicate the event to the church
worship team. The worship team would be brought in to backup the student worship leaders.
This would represent unity across the whole church to everyone in attendance. It would be such
an incredible witness to the students to see their peers partnering with the adults on the worship
team to lead the event.
After this, I would communicate the Night of Worship to the church and to the
community. This could be done through social media advertisements, announcements, flyers
around the church, and flyers around the community. Communicating the event to the church
will help the church know specifically how to pray for the Student Ministry and help reinforce
the church-connectedness of the Student Ministry. I would encourage the students to invite their
friends and peers, both saved and unsaved. The students could either share the existing Student
Ministry social media advertisements or personally create their own social media posts. They
could advertise simply by word of mouth at their schools, hangouts, and extracurricular
activities. This would give the students a sense of ownership and incite them to bring others in on
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Statement of Integrity:
it. They would also have the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Once the worship team members and student worship leaders are confirmed, I would
meet with them to pray over a theme centered around the presentation of the gospel from which
to derive the setlist and message. Once the setlist is decided, 2-3 rehearsals would need to take
place within the month leading up to the Night of Worship. After these details are decided, they
will need to be communicated to the small group breakout-session leaders so that they can be
prepared.
On the Night of Worship, the students would be helping run things. Snacks and
refreshments would be served as people filter in. Then, one of the student worship leaders would
give an exhortation/call to worship and the set list would start. All transitioning prayers and
exhortations between songs would be given by the student worship leaders. After the worship set,
I would give a brief message, then the students would break out into small groups to discuss the
message. It would be my hope that salvation would occur, and the students would have had a
hand in making that possible through their leadership in the event.
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Bibliography
I, Madilyn Dowell, interviewed Student Pastor Justin Kennedy of Ocean View Baptist
Church, on February 25, 2022, and high school student Sarah Kathryn Dowell, on February 23,
2022 and have followed all necessary instructions.
9
Vandegriff, Steve, Brown, Richard. “Student Ministry Essentials: Reaching. Leading.
Nurturing”. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2015. Accessed February 28, 2022.
https://app.logos.com/books/LLS%3A9780802492203/references/biblio.at%3DThe
%2520Essential%2520of%2520Leadership%2520in%2520Student%2520Ministry
%7Cau%3DVandegriff%2C%2520Steve%7Cpg%3D25%E2%80%9334.
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