No Guts No Glory

How to build a youth ministry that lasts

Edited by Alan Stewart. Contributors: Steve Couch, Al Horn, Ken Moser, Alan Stewart, Tim Thornborough, and Edward Vaughan.

This wise, practical and biblical book of advice about how to lead a Christian youth group can also serve as an effective training course for a team of leaders.

How to use this book

No Guts, No Glory is a resource for leaders of Christian youth groups. We have put together some material to help you build a youth group that lasts—that is, a group that is committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and looks forward to spending eternity with him. We write from the conviction that young people can be changed as they come into contact with this Jesus in the living Word of God.

This book is designed so that it can easily be used with youth leaders. There are eleven chapters, looking at different areas of youth ministry. Included in each chapter are questions for group discussion.

You could use these chapters as the basis for youth leaders’ meetings. Perhaps you could encourage your leaders to read each chapter and write answers to the questions before the meeting. Then, when you meet, you would only need to summarise the material, and spend the rest of the time discussing how it applies to you. Close your meeting by praying to God for wisdom to know how best to apply the things you have learnt.

One other thing. Throughout this book, fictitious little stories are used to illustrate some of the common mistakes in youth work. They are composite stories, and are certainly not meant to be hurtful to our brothers and sisters in ministry. Indeed, most of them are drawn from our own ministries, our own mistakes. We are not the El Supremos of youth ministry. The only reason we know anything is that collectively we have made almost every error described in this book.

Our aim is to encourage you to think carefully and biblically about what you are doing with your youth group. We hope that you will be stimulated to teach the Bible, to encourage evangelism and to make disciples. More than anything, we hope that Jesus will extend his kingdom as a response to our prayers.

Chapter titles:

1. Where are all the young people?
2. The paradox of youth ministry: What are we aiming for?
3. Prayerfully teaching the Bible: The youth leader’s basic task
4. How to avoid punching the air: Setting goals and achieving them
5. The when and how of youth work: Successful programming
6. In search of the perfect haircut: Choosing youth leaders
7. Multiplying yourself: Growing the ministry team
8. Flat out like lizards: A strategy for evangelism
9. Friends and foes: Parents, discipline and games
10. Mountain-top experiences: Making the most of camps
11. Confessions of a youth leader: Sex in your youth group