Online Youth Ministry Course
Jesus-Centered Youth Ministry
Enroll Today
Master practical ways to help young people deepen their attachment to Jesus.
Enrollment
Group U's enrollment keys make it easy to enroll in your course or certification at anytime!
- Purchase your course or certification enrollments.
- You'll receive a unique enrollment key for each enrollment purchased.
- Visit group.com/enrollatgroupu to use your unique enrollment key to enable your course or certification on a Group U account (new or existing).
Enrollment Fee
$99
$198 value
Number of Enrollments:
Save some money!
Bulk Pricing
Group U makes it easy to purchase multiple course enrollments for you or your team at a discounted rate!
Discounts below apply to any combination of courses in one transaction.
- 1-4 courses No discount
$99 per course enrollment - 5-9 courses 20% discount
$83.95 per course enrollment - 10+ courses 30% discount
$73.46 per course enrollment
If you plan to purchase over 15 courses, please give us a call at 1-800-447-1070 for custom pricing.
Course Overview
Harsh news: Fresh research confirms that practices used by nearly every youth ministry on the planet subtly ease Jesus out of the spotlight and into the shadows. Which means your well-intentioned strategies for prompting spiritual growth in your youth group might actually be fatally flawed.
Good news: When your youth ministry’s everyday practices, strategies, and activities all orbit around Jesus, everything changes. Your teenagers discover who Jesus really is—and who they really are. Students grow, deepen, and find their true identity in Jesus.
In this youth ministry training course you’ll discover how to craft a ministry that magnetically draws teenagers into an abiding, nurturing, challenging, life-changing friendship with Jesus.
Course Outline
Getting Started
Discover how to navigate your online course, get connected to our ministry network, and download a copy of the Course Notes.
Welcome
Meet Rick Lawrence, author of Jesus-Centered Youth Ministry, The Jesus-Centered Life, and executive editor of the Jesus-Centered Bible. With over 30 years of youth ministry experience, he’ll help you create a youth ministry that’s shifted toward a passionate, persistent, and permeating focus on drawing students into a closer orbit around Jesus.
Module 1. Confronting Our Brutal Reality, Embracing Our Prevailing Hope
Despite our best efforts, today’s kids are often just not getting who Jesus really is, and how he’s the center of everything. In this module we’ll examine the realities of today’s culture and the hope of connecting youth to a real relationship with Jesus.
Module 2. Exploring the Impact of Environments
Environments shape our culture. This means that the environments of our ministry have a kind of “forming” impact on us, whether or not we’re aware of it. This module will help you take your first steps toward creating a “Be the Pig” ministry environment.
Module 3. Application vs. Attachment
The “try harder to get better” strategy of applying biblical principles is not powerful enough to transform a young person’s life. We’ll outline the strategy that Jesus used with his disciples for true life transformation.
Module 4. The Two Foundational Questions
The two foundational questions that Jesus asked his followers can serve as a framework for doing ministry. This module will provide you with a menu of ministry practices so you can create an immersive environment that naturally draws teenagers into a “pig” commitment to Jesus.
Module 5. Changing Our Language
Words matter, and the words you use in youth ministry really matter. Making a Jesus-centered change in the language you use in ministry can have a profound impact on the kids you lead. This module will provide some simple ways to show you how.
Module 6. ‘Taste and See’ Jesus
King David exclaims, “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good…” Discover the impact it will have on your youth when you provide lots and lots of “tastes” of Jesus—experiences and insights that they ingest, not just admire from afar.
Module 7. Wallowing in Mud Puddles
In this module we’ll discuss a strategy for helping youth draw near to Jesus called “wallowing in mud puddles” because it’s in the mud puddles that we often get to the core of Jesus’ heart. We’ll show you how—all without having to get muddy!
Module 8. Helping Teenagers Embrace Their ‘True Name’
In a Jesus-Centered youth ministry, students focus on “who does Jesus say that I am”? We’ll explore what it looks like to create a “naming” environment, so youth live out their true name to experience God’s power.
Module 9. Growing a Jesus-Centered Ministry
Equipped with new skills and “Beeline” ministry practices, you’re ready to immerse students in a more trusting, risk-taking, and consuming relationship with Jesus.
Course Outcomes
U Discover
The real root of the “church dropout” problem.
How to create a ministry environment that focuses on attachment.
This youth ministry training course offers “beeline practices” to immerse students in a more trusting, risk-taking, and consuming relationship with Jesus.
Ways to help teenagers discover their true identity in Jesus.
U Will
Master practical ways to help young people deepen their attachment to Jesus.
About the Instructor
Rick Lawrence is an author, ministry leader, and longtime executive editor of Group’s Simply Youth Ministry resources. He’s led the Simply Youth Ministry Conference and co-creates the 50-city Simply Youth Ministry Local Training tour. He’s the general editor of the best-selling Jesus-Centered Bible and is the author, co-author, or editor of 38 books.
Group U Ministry Certification
Enroll now and you’ll be on your way to achieving Ministry Certification.