By The Way Ministries Online Store

The Handbook For Youth Ministry

As young youth leaders in the 1980's we discovered that there were not a lot of places to go to get continuing education and networking in youth and family ministry practice, theory and theology. In many cases, you simply created as you went, prayed a lot and hoped the Holy Spirit would guide you when you walked in to face your youth each week. A lot has changed since then, but many of the basic principles of good youth ministry remain, so we wrote a few down. 

You'll find a lot of ideas about why and how we do youth ministry. Some will look and sound a lot like some of the theories of Lutheran youth ministry pioneers who we had not met until the networking of Lutheran youth ministry leaders began in the 1990's. Some are unique and different, but they are all proven methods for approaching the sometimes challenging, but always powerful world of ministering to youth and their families. 

To make this a more helpful tool, we went beyond the why and how and added a solid dose of the practical in the form of actual curriculum pieces that we have used and found successful. We hope this will prove an informative and helpful resource as you journey in faith with those God has called you to serve.