Within Reach: The Power of Small Changes in Keeping Students Connected

A few small changes can make a big difference.As your students graduate high school, are they graduating from church too?Research shows that the majority of teenagers who are active in church during high school stop attending shortly after. In a new study, Lifeway Student Ministry and Lifeway Research have partnered to identify the factors that are contributing to this disturbing trend as well as those factors that contribute to teens staying in church. In his first book, Student Ministry That Matters, Ben Trueblood laid out a clear approach to creating a healthy student ministry in any context. In this book, Ben points student ministry leaders to the hope found within this startling statistic. The solution is not a full-scale revamping of student ministry. Rather, the hope for helping students build lifelong faith and keeping them connected to the church after high school is just a few small changes away.Benefits Prepare students to stay connected to a local church once they graduate high school Identify where we are, what we’re finding in the data, and action steps we can take in the church and in families to keep students engaged Understand factors that influenced students who stayed in church and those who didn’t Consider what’s going on in the home and how this contributes to students staying in or leaving a local church Identify tools and establish a clear and simple course of correction: Here’s where we’re missing it, where we can evaluate, and where we can move onBen Trueblood serves as the Director of Student Ministry for Lifeway Christian Resources. Ben has eighteen years of student ministry experience, fourteen of which were spent in the local church as a student pastor. In addition to his role at Lifeway Ben is involved in training, consulting, and speaking to student ministries throughout the U.S.He is driven by a desire for student ministries to expand God’s Kingdom, to see the lives of students transformed by the gospel, and to develop students who shape the culture in which they live. Ben is also the author of Student Ministry That Matters and A Different College Experience.Ben and his wife, Kristen, have four children. In his free time Ben enjoys family, hunting, is a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan, and is an affiliate streamer on Twitch under the name of Flashbang_CSN.Connect with Ben on twitter at: @bentrueblood