Preparing Students to Share the Gospel

Preparing Students to Share the Gospel

4
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Kids & Youth
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We can all agree that sharing good news with a friend is pretty exciting. It’s especially true when the news has a direct impact on your friend’s life—an extra ticket to a theme park, the cancellation of class, or maybe an invitation to a highly anticipated party. In a similar way, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ can be just as thrilling. We get to encourage someone through our testimony and explain the power of God, hopefully leading to their salvation.

As a youth leader, teaching your students how share the good news of Jesus is one of the most important things you can do, especially with the growing number of young people today who are uninterested with the church. It’s natural to help your students learn about standard teen issues like godly relationships, temptations, or peer pressure—but how well can they communicate the foundations of their faith to others?

For young Christians in middle and high school, the thought of sharing the gospel might sound easier than it actually is. Students deal with an immense amount of social pressure and fear of judgment due to the impact of social media, television, and music. And no matter their personality type, talking to new people—especially about religion—can be a bit frightening.

In order to help prepare and equip your youth group to share the gospel with others, there are a few things you can do to ensure they feel confident and keep realistic expectations as they learn the ins and outs of evangelism.

Start with the Basics

In order to ensure that your youth ministry is prepared to share Jesus with others, find out if they know the basic elements of the faith: Who is Jesus and what did his work accomplish? What are the implications of his death and resurrection? Do they agree that surrendering their life to Jesus and believing in him is the only way to salvation? Walking them through the fundamentals of the gospel will give them the foundation necessary to have a good conversation about Christ.

One method to help the students who struggle to remember the nuances of the gospel is Scripture memorization. Memorizing Scriptures like Romans 10:9–13, Ephesians 2:8–9, and 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 can help them understand and share the gospel. And series like Finding Truth with Francis Chan can also help your students approach Scripture in a healthy way.

You can also prepare them through Bible study. Deep theological insights aren’t always necessary when leading someone to Jesus, but knowing what the Bible says about Jesus is a great start. The more your students know about Christ and his work, the better their conversations about the gospel will be. Remind them about how well they’re able to describe their best friend or favorite celebrity to someone. The more intimately they know Christ, the better conversations they can have.

The Importance of Apologetics in Youth Ministry

We live in a world that doesn’t value the traditional route of passing out tracts or standing on the street corner with Bible quotes on a poster board. Techniques have changed because we live in an age of information—and thanks to the internet, young people have access to whatever answers they need. For this reason, students hoping to share the gospel should consider studying apologetics.

In a nutshell, apologetics helps students defend their faith or justify the reasons for their beliefs. When people have questions or become confused about how Christianity fits into the rest of the world’s religions, students can know how to respond. Check out Quick Shots with apologist J. Warner Wallace for more tips on how to address hard questions.

Apologetics is also helpful because there are a lot of misconceptions about Jesus among unbelievers. Learning to defend their faith and dispel the myths and confusion others have about Christianity could be a great way for students to bring others to Christ. Talking about apologetics doesn’t have to be complicated either—the series Apologetics with Matt Chandler is a great way to start the conversation with your students.

Expectations

At the end of the day, one of the most important things you can do for your students is prepare them for rejection. Rejection is a normal part of life. Young people deal with issues like peer pressure and cancel culture often enough to keep them nervous about putting themselves out there. Remind them that not everyone they share the gospel with is going to receive it well, or even want to have the conversation. They could lose friends, or even gain enemies. But if they have realistic expectations beforehand, evangelism can be much less intimidating and much more exciting. As long as they remember that changing the heart of someone is the Holy Spirit’s job, and not theirs, they can share the gospel without unnecessary pressure.

Now is a great time to help your youth group learn how to share the gospel, talk about Jesus, and encourage others to do the same. In Mark 16:15, Jesus commanded for all of us to proclaim the gospel to others and obeying him has no age limit. Show your students that they can make a godly impact on not just their classmates, but the entire world—and the time starts now.


If you are looking for Bible study resources for your student ministry, we have a year-long plan full of great studies to help you get started, complete with questions to help you facilitate conversations.

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Alyssa Gossom

Writer, RightNow Media

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