As I travel, I am frequented with questions regarding youth ministry health. While many books have been dedicated to this cause, most sincere inquirers are looking for a tangible tool to help them cultivate a vigorous youth ministry. While my response may vary according to each church setting, I can emphatically tell you that mission’s GIVING is crucial to your future ministry health. By creating a giving culture, you will foster and fan a loving youth ministry.

“For God so loved the world that He gave….” God’s love is directly related to His giving. Show me a youth ministry that gives much, and I’ll show you a youth ministry that loves much. Allow me just a few moments of your time to illustrate three rewarding reasons why I encourage youth ministries to practice mission’s giving through Speed the Light.

1. Mission’s giving becomes an indispensable discipleship tool.

By challenging your students to sacrificially give to missions, you help them cultivate a Christian worldview and a heart for the lost. Furthermore, you give them a safe environment to test their faith and believe God for more.

When my son, Ricky, was 17 years old, he approached my wife and asked that we give him cash for Christmas. At first nothing seemed amiss. What teenager doesn’t like cash!? For that matter, what youth leader doesn’t enjoy some cash? But he rocked our minds as he clarified his intentions. “I want to give all my Christmas money to Speed the Light. I want every penny you and dad give me…every dollar grandpa and grandma give me and every cent Omi and Opa give me to go to Speed the Light.” He went on to say, “I want to go one year with nothing so a missionary can have something, so someone can be saved.” When I heard that, I knew that he got it; missions wasn’t just mom and dad’s passion anymore.

My children have had three different youth pastors, and while their styles of youth ministry have varied, each of them had an uncompromising commitment to mission’s giving. In the process, my children have not only grown in having a heart for the lost but have experienced first-hand miracles as a result of their faith being stretched. We credit much of our kid’s passion for missions to their youth leaders (staff and sponsors).

Truth be told, human nature values that which costs something. I love King David’s response to a freebee, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24, NIV).

"Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." – William Carey

2. Mission’s giving defines your youth ministry’s existence.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Only as we align our mission with His do we begin to fulfill our reason for being. Jay Mooney heard a fellow youth minister say something that has since stuck with us: “Our goal should not be ‘youth ministry’ but ‘youth in ministry.’” Every time you help a student give beyond a token offering for missions, you propel Jesus’ heart for your students’ lives, your life, and your church.

3. Mission’s giving serves as a measuring gauge for your success.

We can learn much about our student’s spiritual maturity by evaluating their mission’s giving. It’s far too easy to say that we love the lost, and even love God for that matter, and never measure our success in transferring a passion for reaching the world to our young people. I’m not suggesting we evaluate our individual student’s giving and rate their spirituality by how much they give. Rather, use their giving as a gauge to help you evaluate your effectiveness in teaching them to give and, more importantly, have a love for the lost. Chart their giving over the last several years and honestly assess your effectiveness.

"The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become." – Henry Martyn, missionary to India and Persia

I can’t think of a better remedy for an ailing youth ministry than teaching them to give. Our American culture is steeped in a selfish, myopic, self-centered mentality, and unfortunately our youth grow up with this in their spiritual DNA. A youth ministry that exists only to entertain, cloister, and/or shelter our young people, will soon find itself headed for extinction. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son….” God’s love is inseparable from His giving; ours should be as well.

"Lost people matter to God, and so they must matter to us." – Keith Wright