Where does mission fit in your youth or kids’ ministry? A practical planning guide
Without the faithful work of the local church, Ministry Support Advisor Al James says he would not have come to Christ. It was through the patient and probing questions of my church leaders that during his teen years he made a clear decision to follow Christ, commit to his people and live for him in everything he did. Evangelism in the local church reaches new people for Christ.
For most of the last decade, Youthworks has been developing and communicating The 7 Principles of Effective Ministry to Children and Youth. During this time, one of the key priorities at Youthworks has been to ‘See young people coming to genuine faith in Christ’. Part of effective ministry to young people is Mission.
In October 2025, the Youthworks Ministry Support team was deeply thankful when the Anglican Diocese of Sydney Synod passed a resolution regarding mission to the lost – specifically a special five-year focus on attendance, mission & young people.
A summary of the resolution is as follows:
By resolution 13/25, among other things, the Synod invited all parts of the Diocesan fellowship to join in a special five-year focus to prayerfully seek to grow our attendance in churches by five percent for each of the next five years through conversion of the lost through faith in Jesus, and encouraged all parishes to shape their allocation of resources during the special five-year focus with clear regard to – (i) the insight that 24.1% of the population are children and young people and 78% of Sydney Anglicans became Christians before the age of 18, and (ii) that 31% of the population were born overseas, calling us to equip ministry with children, youth, and their families in culturally responsive and cross-cultural ways. (1)
A focus on mission at a diocesan level? Fantastic! A special focus on evangelism and young people? Excellent!
But with this renewed intention we figured we’d put our heads together to come up with something to help you put this intention into an actionable plan.
Introducing the Effective mission to and with young people planning guide!
This guide distils the wisdom of the Ministry Support Team as we have thought hard, observed ministry, and met with youth and kids ministers engaged in mission to young people. It aims to provide:
1) The most important principles for mission to and with young people
2) Key practices for effective and faithful mission
3) A discussion guide to use as a staff team or in youth or kids’ ministry teams to put mission on the agenda and to help you formulate a plan that works in your setting.
Our prayer is that this handy resource will help you take the next step in mission to and with young people, for the glory of God.