The following Description of a Discipled Youth Worker was created during the Sonlife Advanced 2 seminar in Johannesburg in June 2000. The description refers to either a lay youth leader or a full-time youth pastor. Each quality includes a description of the quality; a key scripture reference; a Bible character who personifies the quality; the knowledge, skills and attitude involved; and the key relationships that will be impacted.
Quality #1: Passion for God
Description: A person who pursues intimacy with God as their first priority.
Key Passages: 2 Kings 23:25
Personification: Josiah
Active Knowledge: The priority of relating to God; God's desire to relate to them; value of practising spiritual disciplines.
Proven Skills: Communicating with God; practising spiritual disciplines; taking spiritual retreats.
Core Attitudes: Commitment to a love relationship with God; dependence on God; spirituality.
Key Relationships: Their God-relationship encourages others to deepen their relationship with God.
Quality #2: Servant Leadership
Description: A person who leads others in a humble and loving way.
Key Passages: Numbers 12:3
Personification: Moses
Active Knowledge: Leadership is earned though serving people; considering other's interests above their own; how to motivate people to grow spiritually and work together with others.
Proven Skills: Leadership skills, including planning, organising, directing, supervising, time/stress management; motivation, communication, decision making, change/conflict management.
Core Attitudes: humility; gentleness; purposefulness; decisiveness.
Key Relationships: Their interaction with others is gentle and strong.
Quality #3: Heart for Evangelism
Description: A person who leads youth to Christ in personal and ministry contexts.
Key Passages: John 1:40-42
Personification: Andrew
Active Knowledge: Lost people matter to God; the gospel is powerful to save people; peer evangelism is the most effective way to reach the lost; people need equipping for evangelism.
Proven Skills: How to share the gospel; how to teach others to share the gospel.
Core Attitudes: Evangelism is a priority in ministry, peer evangelism works.
Key Relationships: They foster a passion for the lost in others; and have contact with lost people.
Quality #4: Building Spiritual Growth
Description: A person who establishes new converts in the faith and grows believers to maturity.
Key Passages: Galatians 4:19
Personification: Paul
Active Knowledge: People grow in the context of relationships; spiritual growth is not spontaneous; people pass through commitment levels as they grow; contexts that facilitate spiritual growth.
Proven Skills: Developing methods and curriculum to build spiritual growth in people; mentoring; teaching spiritual disciplines.
Core Attitudes: We are responsible to help others grow spiritually, God can use us to help others grow; my relationship with God will determine my effectiveness in helping others grow spiritually.
Key Relationships: They spend time with new believers to establish them in the faith and they invest in the lives of believers to help them grow deeper.
Quality #5: Equipping for Ministry
Description: A person who equips youth for evangelism, missions, service and leadership.
Key Passages: 2 Timothy 2:2
Personification: Timothy
Active Knowledge: People do not learn a skill just because they have been told to do something – they need training and coaching; people must be involved in evangelism, missions, service and leadership.
Proven Skills: Motivating people for ministry; teaching knowledge and skills about evangelism, missions, service and leadership; coaching and mentoring.
Core Attitudes: Multiplying through people; helping people find their place in ministry.
Key Relationships: They help people identify where God wants them to be and provide the skills they need to be effective in that ministry.
Quality #6: Teaching Effectively
Description: A person who communicates Christian truths effectively.
Key Passages: Acts 5:34-40
Personification: Gamaliel
Active Knowledge: How people learn and learning styles; principles of effective communication.
Proven Skills: How to help people learn; how to teach to touch all learning styles; how to communicate with conviction and persuasion.
Core Attitudes: Confidence; Integrity.
Key Relationships: They are surrounded by people who want to listen to what they have to say, and who are positively impacted through their teaching.
Return to Model of Youth Ministry