I read a lot of books on student ministry, having served students in various capacities for over two decades. A lot of them are full of programming ideas for attractional student ministry models. Simple Student Ministry: A Clear Process for Strategic Youth Discipleship is for the rest of us. Based on the “clarity – movement – alignment – focus” process design model first presented in Simple Church, by Thom Rainer and Geiger, Simple Student Ministry brings the same straightforward simplicity to the church’s high school and middle school ministries. Rainer, Geiger and Borton – and many others of us – simply believe that the church’s discipleship process, rather than the prevailing entertainment needs of the average 15-year-old, should drive the architecture of the student ministry. At the end of the day, according to Jesus, our goal in the lives of students must be to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Geiger and Borton will encourage you in this book that it is possible to simply build your ministry on this biblical mandate. At the end of the book, Geiger and Borton provide great examples of several large, medium and small youth ministries that are built upon a simple discipleship model, as they suggest. They only listed a few, but I think you’ll find more and more student ministries being structured this way in the years to come. If you’re ready to quit your job as a teen social activity coordinator and really move your students toward maturity in Christ, you will enjoy this book!
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