I’ve been doing youth ministry long enough to remember when cell phones became ubiquitous. Before that time, we would often need to make sure that a student who didn’t have a cell phone could call home and reach their parent. Sometimes, even that parent didn’t have a cell phone, so there wasn’t any good way to contact them.
Now, cell phones and technology seem to be an inevitable part of ministry. I know some youth pastors want to remove all technology from youth groups to focus on the in-person aspect. I can understand the motivation there. I enjoy going for long stretches without my phone to be more focused.
But our students aren’t us! They grew up with phones as much a part of their lives as we did with TV. So, how can we use technology to help students grow in their faith? Let’s explore a couple of ways.
Bible Reading Plans
Encourage your students to do a Bible reading plan on the YouVersion app. It’s great when you have accountability for reading your Bible together. This free app lets that happen without buying into any program or putting down any money. As a youth group, you can advertise that you will be doing a certain plan during the month and get students to join you. You can even see other students’ comments on the plan. If our phones will send us notifications anyway, why don’t we have them notify us to read the Bible?
Social Media Application
It’s always great to have real practical steps that students can take after they hear a youth group lesson. What if we started incorporating social media into our application? What I mean by that is, is there something a student can do on social media to put the faith lesson into practice? Can you encourage students to post a Bible verse on their personal page? Can you ask them to share a youth group video that invites their friends to church? Social media doesn’t have to be a scourge on our society. We could use it as a tool for good!
Give Students Tools to Grow
I know I like creating resources for my students. But we don’t always have to reinvent the wheel! Is there a podcast that you find personally encouraging? Is there a Spotify playlist that you use to connect with God? Sharing these with your students can show them how you are personally growing in your faith and can encourage them to do the same. You can record your youth group lessons and put them into a podcast or YouTube video for your students to digest later. Or you could do a quick 5-minute recap for your students so they can listen back to what they learned. Bonus points for sending it out to your small group leaders, who will be rehashing the lesson for students!
How would you use technology for your student ministry? How could you incorporate phones into students’ faith journeys? I’d love to hear your suggestions!