Free Bible Study Discussion Guides!

A few years ago Robin and I wrote a series of Bible Study Discussion Guides for a local church in Bonn, Germany.  The small group program at this church had become basically teaching groups (old school Bible studies).

In an effort to revitalize the small group program, we started writing our own curriculum, which was translated into German.  The purpose of these Discussion Guides is to both build relationships and learn spiritual principles.  The result was better than we expected!

We have an entire year’s worth of weekly Small Group lessons (52 lessons) in 4 main themes (including 26 lessons on Spiritual Disciplines). And we want to give them away for free.

Click on this link to download the free Discussion Guides (zip file): Small Group Discussion Guides (English)

What to say to a new youth pastor (part 7)

Establishing our core values – our why – allows us to focus on what really matters.  You can't accomplish much without focus.  The difference between a light bulb and a laser is focus. 

Your why helps you define your “win.”  Your team must understand what a win looks like, or they won’t know what we’re after.  In American Football, we celebrate first downs, but they don’t win a game… touchdowns do.  And even then, just getting a touchdown doesn’t mean you win the game.  We need to spell out for our people what it means to have a win in our ministries.

In order to do this, you need to put a face on the vision.  Let me illustrate: When we were pastoring university students in Texas there was a young man that I had invested in a relationship with.  I had earned the right to tell him about Jesus, and he committed his life to Christ.

A little while later I was talking with this young man during a college retreat.  As we were walking he put his arm around me and said, “Jon, I want to thank you.”

I asked, “Why?”

He said, “Since I’ve given my life to Christ, my life has been changed.  I haven’t smoked a joint in a whole month!”  And when I cast the vision to our team and our church, I told this story (with his permission).  I helped them see what a win looked like in our ministry: a lost person coming to Christ and growing in his/her relationship with God and with others.

What to say to a new youth pastor (part 6)

Discovering your why will make life and ministry much easier.  It will give life to your vision, mission and strategy.  And it will enable you to prioritize.

In most churches, it’s not a lack of vision that’s the problem.  It’s a lack of resources (people, money and stuff).  And because of this lack of resources, it’s imperative that we learn to prioritize.  Having clearly defined core values will enable us to say no to the wrong things in order to save resources for the right things.  These “wrong things” may not be wrong for another organization; but they are wrong for us.  Not every good thing is a God thing.  It’s important to remember that God hasn’t called us to do everything… He’s called us to do our thing.

What to say to a new youth pastor (part 5)

The next thing I would say is the importance of establishing “why.”  So many times we focus on the “what” (vision) or the “how” (strategy).  But these are lifeless without the why.

The why can be summed up in our core values.  The interesting thing is that most churches have basically the same vision statement.  It goes something like this… “reaching lost people, investing in lives and making disciples.”

The thing that makes each church unique is its core values. (For a more in-depth understanding of this principle, check out Church Unique)  When we understand the why for our youth ministry, we can begin to define who God has called us to be.  A better term for this is discovering our DNA.

InSight Youth Leader Conference is NEXT WEEKEND!

We are now only one week away from the InSight Youth Leader Conference.  I am so pumped about this!  It will be a time to speak into the lives of European youth leaders.  Many of these youth leaders feel alone and underprepared. 

The European Spiritual Estimate states that less than 1% of European teens have a genuine relationship with Christ.  This is our chance to impact this lost generation by empowering leaders.  We would appreciate your prayers for this conference from Mar. 18-20.

After the conference, we will be making many of the sessions available for download on mp3 (along with other free materials), so be sure to check the website regularly: http://insight2010.eu.

Leadership Podcast

FfO Youth Leader Seminar – Q & A (Jon Perrin) - This podcast is from a Youth Leader's Seminar I taught in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany recently. Although it primarily applies to youth leaders, the principles taught will benefit anyone in church or ministry leadership. The title of the series is "Questions we must answer".  This is the question and answer session at the end of the seminar.

http://www.perrinministries.org/upload/FfO_YLS-Q_A.mp3

New Leadership Podcast

FfO Youth Leader Seminar - Session 3 (Jon Perrin) - This podcast is from a Youth Leader's Seminar I taught in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany recently. Although it primarily applies to youth leaders, the principles taught will benefit anyone in church or ministry leadership. The title of the series is "Questions we must answer".

 

http://www.perrinministries.org/upload/FfO_YLS-Session3.mp3

Insight 2010 Youth Leader Conference!

The Insight 2010 Youth Leader Conference is coming to Loerrach, Germany from Mar 18-20!  For more info, click the picture below.

 

What to say to a new youth pastor (part 4)

I think the next thing we need to remember is to think long-term. Youth ministry is a marathon, not a sprint. And results look different in youth ministry than they do in adult ministry.

Adults are much more adept at making outward changes than teens are. Inner changes are just as difficult for both groups. Teens are also good at "faking it."

The real test of a good youth pastor is if his or her teens are still serving God 10 - 15 years down the road. If my former students have solid marriages (and good kids) and solid relationships, if they are good employers or employees, and if they are still serving God and pursuing His plan for their lives years down the road, then I can consider myself a successful youth pastor.

If the timeline of their lives could be represented by a line (a continuum), then my influence in their lives as a youth pastor would basically be a dot. As a youth pastor, I have to concern myself with the line rather than with the dot. And that affects the decisions I make, the things I preach and the example I set before them.

What to say to a new youth pastor (part 3)

Next I would say to start with what you have.  You don't have to have a super-cool, rockin' worship team with MTV quality graphics to be a good youth group.  As I said before, just concentrate on what you have now, not what you don't have.  Focus on your strengths, and the strengths of your team and group members.  As you add more teens or team members with other strengths, you can add more capabilities.

When I was a youth pastor in Bonn, we knew in our rental facility (which provided us with a different meeting room each time we met) and with our members' talents, we could never be like the youth group down the street that had an amazingly cool, rockin' worship team.  We had to focus on what we could do best: loving teens.  We determined that each teen that came through the doors would be truly welcomed, engaged in conversation and loved, just as they were.

In the same way, you have to determine what you can actually do.  Yes, dream big.  And don't despise the day of small beginnings.  The youth group down the street started out with a less than perfect band, but kept working on it until they saw the dream become a reality.

But you have to start with what you have, not complain about what you don't have.  When you're faithful in little things, God is able to give you more.

What to say to a new youth pastor (part 2)

Along with that first thought, I would also encourage you to find out who you are.  God has made each of us unique.  We only need to look at fingerprints and retinal scans to see this.

He has given each of us unique gifts, talents and abilities.  And He gave us each of these abilities for a purpose.  He's an intelligent designer... He knew exactly what He was doing.

Jeremiah, speaking on God's behalf, says,

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jer. 29:11

It's important that you discover who you are.  As you discover who you are, it'll be easier to determine who He has created you to be.  And you'll be a better leader when you base your self-esteem on who He has created you to be.

What to say to a new youth pastor (part 1)

Question:

What words of wisdom would you give to a new youth pastor?

Answer:

The first thing I would say is to be yourself  - get to know your strengths and weaknesses, that way you won't be tempted to try to be someone else.  You can never succeed by trying to be someone else.  Teens are drawn to someone that isn't afraid to truly be themselves.  Besides, you don't have to be the coolest person in the world to be a great youth pastor.  You have to love, pastor and teach/train your students.

Focus on your strengths and recruit to your weaknesses (ask those with strengths you need to volunteer).  One of the best ways to build a group is to do what you do best.

New Leadership Podcast Uploaded

This podcast is from a Youth Leader's Seminar I taught in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany recently.  Although it primarily applies to youth leaders, the principles taught will benefit anyone in church or ministry leadership.  Check it out on our Podcast page at: http://www.perrinministries.org/pmwp09/category/Podcasts/

New Leadership Podcast

Click here to check out the new Leadership Podcast we've uploaded.  It's called "The Price of Leadership".

Leadership Podcast

Finally! I've been promising a monthly Leadership Podcast for months... it's finally uploaded. This month's topic is Faithfulness vs. Fruitfulness. It's bilingual (English/German), so all our German-speaking friends can enjoy it as well. Click here to check it out.

Youth Evangelism (part 12)

I want to end this series on youth evangelism by covering what I feel is an extremely effective wrap-up technique when sharing your faith with someone - especially when it's in a street evangelism setting.  It's what I call the "wrap-up prayer."  I learned the value of this by watching my friend, Mario speak with people on the street.  Mario is one of the most gifted people I know when it comes to sharing his faith with lost people.

He always concludes a conversation with a person on the street by asking if he can pray for them.  If they aren't ready to commit their hearts to Christ yet, he asks if he can pray for them before he goes... maybe they would be interested in receiving prayer for healing or a problem they're dealing with, or just a prayer that God would bless them.

I was surprised how many people - especially in post-Christian Europe - are open to this.  During this prayer he asks God to bless them, and to reveal himself to them.  Afterwards he thanks them for their time and offers the number of a local church they can contact with any questions or for help.

I hope this series has been both informative and encouraging to you.  Be blessed as you spread the Gospel message by sharing Christ's love with a lost world!

Youth Evangelism (part 11)

Now I want to talk about sensitivity... and this is HUGELY important!  We have to be aware of and sensitive to the atmosphere when we're sharing our faith.

Among the things you have to be sensitive to:

*Setting:

• Person - Are they young, old, rich, poor, etc?
• Place - Are there a lot of distractions around?
• Attitude - Are they bored, interested, distracted, sad, tired, etc?
• Weather - If it starts to rain while you're outdoors, or it is very hot, maybe you should ask if they want to go indoors or somewhere in the shade.

*Time: Are they on their lunch break, on their way to work, in some sort of hurry?  Are their kids running wild?  Are their arms full of groceries?

*Holy Spirit leading: Above all else, the most important skill we need to learn is to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as He leads us.  As we said in Part 6 of this series, Jesus dealt with different people in different ways.  He always responded to the Holy Spirit's leading (Jn. 5:19, 14:24, 31).  He will always show us the appropriate thing to say/do or not to say/do.  We become sensitized to His leading by spending time reading the Word of God and in prayer.

Youth Evangelism (part 10)

Another thing to remember is that evangelism is done with someone, not to someone.  As a teen, I went "street witnessing" with a guy.  We ended up at a gas station and I watched as he hammered the guy behind the counter with "the Gospel".  This continued even when real customers came into the store.  And it didn't stop until the guy basically gave up and said, "Okay, I'll pray with you."

After this, I determined I never wanted to do street witnessing again!  It was embarrassing, both for me and the guy behind the counter.  The man I went with thought he had really accomplished something.  But in hindsight, I'm sure the guy behind the counter was just doing whatever he could to "make the hurting stop!"

I have learned that in sharing my faith, the most effective thing I can do is to listen to the other person and try to find common ground.  So often we are trying to formulate a good comeback in our minds while the other person is talking, but this isn't truly listening.

Listening is a form of respect.  I respect the other person enough to really hear what he/she has to say.  It's been said that he who listens controls the outcome of the conversation.  I truly believe this.

If we listen to what they have to say, hearing their words, reading their body language and reading between the lines, we'll know how to respond appropriately.  And the correct response will help open their hearts to the truth.

Youth Evangelism (part 9)

Another important thought... don't alienate your audience.  What I mean by that is: drop the "God talk"!!!  You need to lose the Christian jargon from your vocabulary.  Words such as holiness, righteousness, salvation/saved, forgiven and sin aren't part of everyday vocabulary.  Be creative in the way you present the concepts and you won't have to use the church words.  If you do use the words, at least explain what they mean with illustrations an unchurched person can understand.  You never want to alienate your audience!

In the same way that a fisherman needs to exercise caution while fishing, we need to be careful in the way we present the Good News.  If a fisherman scares the fish away, he/she won't catch anything!  It's the same with us... if we are too "churchy" in our presentation, they won't hear a word we have to say.

Youth Evangelism (part 8)

It's important to remember that when want to lead a person to Christ, we need to invite them, not confront them. If we're not careful, our desire to answer a person's questions (or at least the questions we think they have) will devolve into an argument on topics such as evolution. We're called to touch hearts and lives, not win arguments.

While we do want to answer their questions, coming to Christ isn't a leap of intelligence or understanding... it's a leap of faith. There is no way I can absolutely prove God's existence to a person, just as they can't prove to me that there is no God. The best proof of a living God is a changed life.

If they choose not to believe, that's okay. As I said in part 1 of this series, we are only one link in the chain of events that God will use to bring them to Him.