The Difference Between Good and Game-Changing Youth Ministry
Good youth ministry isn’t good enough.
In his book, The Art of Forming Young Disciples, Everett Fritz tells a story that every youth minister should read. It’s the story of how he transformed a good youth ministry into a game-changing one—and what that difference means for the future of the Church.
Everett writes about running a parish youth group that had all the outward signs of success: a great worship band, solid leaders, top-tier resources, and a room packed with teens. But when he looked at a photo of seventy-five graduates from his youth group, he was struck by a painful truth. Only ten of them were still practicing their faith in college.
At the same time, Everett was on the brink of burnout, caught in the relentless demands of running a big weekly youth group. Something had to change.
So, Everett decided to try something different. He decided to experiment with a model of youth ministry that closely imitated what Jesus had done with his disciples. He asked a few of his adult volunteers to form weekly small groups, each focused on mentoring a handful of teens.
The results were transformative. The teens loved their new small groups. The attention they got in their small group was individualised, the topics they focused on were relevant to them, and they started to develop close friendships within their group.
The leaders loved the new small groups as well. Freed from the pressure of planning big group activities or trying to write a talk that addressed the needs of a 13-year-old guy and a 17-year-old girl at the same time, they could focus on the part of youth ministry that was most rewarding – mentoring young people.
Everett scaled the big youth group gatherings back to once a month, so that leaders could focus on small groups. Within a year, the ministry had expanded from three small groups to twelve. The number of teens participating doubled – from 60 teens participating in the youth group to 120 teens being discipled in small groups.
That’s the difference between good and game-changing youth ministry.
Good vs Game-Changing in a Diocese
As the manager of a diocesan youth ministry team, I can’t stop thinking about Everett’s story. It begs the question: If that’s the difference between good and game-changing ministry in a parish, what does it look like at a diocesan level?
Good diocesan youth ministry looks a lot like good parish youth ministry. If good parish youth ministry is a well-attended youth group, good diocesan youth ministry is a calendar of well-attended events.
Since coming out of the COVID pandemic, my team has rebuilt a good diocesan youth ministry. We’ve host quarterly Masterclass events for youth leaders, Theology on Tap gatherings for young adults, and large-scale events that draw over 1,000 young people.
But is it “good” enough? The number of Catholic young people who are still practicing their faith into adulthood is declining, and thaat trend shows no sign of slowing down.
Since reading Everett’s story, the question I’ve been grappling with is: What would game-changing diocesan youth ministry look like? What will it take to reverse the trend of young people leaving the Church?
The Difference Between Good and Game-Changing
Let’s use our Masterclass events as an example. These are quarterly events for youth leaders that include workshops, dinner, and an evening prayer experience. It’s a good event. But what would game-changing look like?
Frequency: Good is a quarterly event. But Jesus didn’t form his disciples by meeting with them quarterly. Game-changing would need to be more frequent, to build real relationships and momentum.
Personalisation: Good is running workshops for a wide audience of youth leaders. ut a five-year youth ministry veteran and someone starting their first youth group have vastly different needs. Game-changing would address those individual needs.
Prayer: Good is a quarterly prayer experience to spiritually re-charge youth leaders. Game-changing would be equipping them to establish a daily practice of prayer, so that they can be spiritually re-charged every day.
Good is quarterly Masterclass events, but game-changing sounds like it’s some form of regular one-on-one or small group mentoring with our youth leaders. When we’re willing to ask the question, the answers can look quite different from the ministry we’re currently doing.
The Need to Ask the Question
Good youth ministry isn’t good enough. We need to ask ourselves the hard questions: Does this ministry have a shot at reversing the trend of disengagement, or are we just slowing it? Is this game-changing, or is it just good?
It takes courage to ask these questions. Good ministry often looks successful on the surface. It’s comfortable, familiar, and even celebrated.
Game-changing ministry, by contrast, requires risk. It demands stepping out of comfort zones, challenging the status quo, and trading signs of outward success for deeper, more meaningful impact.
But the payoff is worth it. Everett’s story is proof. If you’re bold enough to ask the question, the results can be game-changing.