Of course we leave room for the Holy Spirit to move, and we trust the speakers and the writers. But perhaps the reason we trust other people so much is because we re not sure what we want our students to remember, understand, and apply. If the truth were told, what have become foundational for us are our methods, not our content. The leadership team of our student ministry at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, has invested many hours developing a ministry strategy that would be content-driven. What has evolved from our hard work is a ministry model that allows us to create environments based upon seven key biblical principles, or checkpoints as we refer to them.
Content drives our context.
We are committed to creating relevant environments. But the environment must support the content. We have discovered that once we have identified what we want students to walk away with, creating the right environment is much easier. Our environments are more focused and effective. This approach to student ministry does not de-emphasize the importance of a creative, fun, and relevant environment.