10 Ideas to Better Attract New Students

Here is a list of 10 ideas to bring in new students:

10.  Hang out at their school.  When you hunt a deer, you have to leave your house.  When you go fishing, you have to be in the water.  When you find new kids to share Christ to, you have to go to their natural habitat.

9.  Hit up the kids who are going to your church, but are not involved.  A lot of times, all kids need is an encouragement.  I remember as a high school kid, I simply invited one girl who I used to know, but had not seen in a while.  She ended up really reconnected with Jesus and the church and now, its all good in the hood like throwback and timbs.....

8.  Hold an event specifically targeting new bodies in the door such as a battle of the bands or a movie night.  If I hear one more youth pastor say, "Our revival will bring people from all over the world in," I will be forced to slap someone.  The church needs to meet people in the middle at first.

7.  Make youth group more enjoyable.  I like Bible study as much as the next youth pastor, but for real, if it puts your leaders to sleep, odds are, your kids are passed out.  Its O.K. to make church enjoyable, the higher ups will never know your kids had a good time.

6.  Make youth group deeper.  Opposite to number 7, I have to say my admiration of going deep.  If a kid learns every lesson you teach in 3 weeks, you need to expand your cirriculum.  My motto is "Do work!" and basically means go all out on everything.  No one has ever said my youth program is not intense enough.

5.  Champion mini-van parents.  Everyone knows who I am talking about because if you do not know a peer who is one, as a kid, you rode with one.  A mini-van parent is typically a mom who always has a full van full a kids, less than half her own.  Build that relationship and encourage their bringing of new students.

4.  Make all new students feel welcome.  Sounds crazy simple, but there are a lot of crazy bad youth pastors out there.

3.  Love the world.  You show Christ through love, you will bring in new people to the faith.  Jesus wasn't super popular at first because he offered salvation.  He was followed by thousands because he loved.  Therefore, if you love like Jesus, you will have thousands of students.  If you love realistically, you will have more kids than you can take care of.

2.  Prizes.  I have heard this has worked for others, which is pretty sweet.  I have never been in a church with money, but I hear that it is pretty great.

1.  First, and most importantly, get your kids to bring their friends!  Students are the best evangelizers around because they do not have the idea of rejection and they love to have fun and be with friends.  We prep our kids with a really complicated line they tend to be able to handle, "Do you want to come to church with me, it's really fun."  Crazy, I know, but legit, it works!

Best luck and now, go and make disiciples of all the nations!

-Schutte