Youth Ministry Concentration

Applied Toward a Degree in Youth Ministry

This major will help the Youth Specialist clarify his calling and mission, develop a God-breathed strategy for fulfilling that purpose, acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to do so, and finally release all that God has placed within him to accomplish all God has called him to do.

A study of youth ministers was published as Youth Ministry That Transforms: A comprehensive analysis of the hopes, frustrations and effectiveness of today’s youth workers by Merton Strommen, Karen E. Jones and Dave Rahn. This study listed the following explicitly identified professional development needs of persons in professional youth ministry:

• Communicating Biblical Truth
• Understanding Adolescent Development and Counseling
• Effective Ministry Strategies
• Biblical Knowledge and Pastoral Ministry Skills
• Knowledge of Family Development and Parental Training Skills
• Training in Administration and Management
• Opportunities to Gain New Ideas
• Opportunities for Peer Mentoring Relationships

CLU Offers the Following Courses to Meet These Needs:
(*Indicates courses that apply to more than one area.)

Biblical Knowledge:

General Knowledge and How to Study the Bible:

BIB100 Understanding the Bible
BIB110 Mastering the Word of God
BIB390 Bible Research Methods

BIB101 – BIB109 Bible Survey of specific sections of the Bible
BIB310 – BIB382 Focusing on specific books

*THE101 Basics of Christianity
*THE120 Foundational Experiences

Pastoral Ministry Skills:

*REN103 Communion with God
*COU202 Counseled by God
*COU203 Cornerstones of Communication
*COU301 Prayers That Heal the Heart
EVA210 Personal Evangelism
EVA215 Miracle Evangelism
*LEA303 Developing the Leader Within
*LEA310 Apprenticed to Leadership

Communicating Biblical Truth:

MIN310 Experiencing God in the Small Group
REN206 Increasing the Anointing
*THE101 Basics of Christianity
*THE120 Foundational Experiences
THE310 The Bible Speaks to Contemporary Issues
MIN340 Raising a Standard
MIN415 Anointed Preaching

Understanding Adolescent Development and Counseling:

*MIN330 Becoming a Youth Specialist
*REN103 Communion with God
REN105 Father Heart of God
*COU202 Counseled by God
*COU203 Cornerstones of Communication
*COU301 Prayers That Heal the Heart

Effective Ministry Strategies:

MIN325 Your Theology of Youth Ministry
*MIN330 Becoming a Youth Specialist

Knowledge of Family Development and Parental Training Skills:

COU305 Parenting for Success
*COU203 Cornerstones of Communication

Training in Administration and Management:

LEA103 Gifted to Succeed
*COU203 Cornerstones of Communication
LEA201 Creative Problem Solving
LEA205 Creating Your Mission Statement
MIN211 Building Dynamic Teams
*LEA303 Developing the Leader Within
*LEA310 Apprenticed to Leadership
LEA321 Visionary Leadership
BUS320 New Trends in Management

In summary, the following courses are recommended for the student pursuing a concentration in Youth Ministry.

The courses listed below may be taken as a certificate or applied as a major concentration toward an Associate’s, Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctoral degree. Additional work is required when an undergraduate-level course is taken on the graduate level. Course substitutions and combining major concentrations are possible when working toward a degree. Discuss these options with the Dean. The key is to follow God’s passion within your heart. Students in the Master’s and Doctoral programs earn approximately 30 credits for each degree from specific courses, and the remaining 10 credits by doing practical ministry work and earning “practica” credits.

The following courses may be purchased individually or as a total package. If purchased as a pre-paid package, the cost of tuition is reduced by 20%. Two to five courses are sent at a time, as the student requests. Prices are subject to change without notice. Payment may be made by credit card.

To receive a certificate a student must complete a minimum of 10 of the courses below. One of them must be Communion With God.

BIB100 – BIB382

Specific Bible courses as needed or desired by the student.

REN103 Communion With God (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$342.84

REN503 Communion With God (Graduate Level) (Course Syllabus) 4 credits $445.78
Have you ever wished you could sit down and have a long talk with the Lord? When you're worried or confused, wouldn't you love to see the situation from His perspective and hear how He wants you to respond? When things don't seem to be going your way and your prayers aren't answered the way you had hoped, wouldn't it be great to hear Him tell you where He is in the midst of it, and what He is working out in your life?

Jesus promised that "My sheep hear My voice" (Jn. 10:27). If you are one of His sheep, then He is speaking to you and you are hearing His voice! The problem is that we have not learned how to recognize His voice and differentiate it from all of the other voices that bombard our hearts and minds. This course will help you discern the voice of the Lord within your heart, clearly and consistently, leading to a deeper intimacy with Him as well as greater faith, hope and joy. Your life will be transformed!

“I'm taking Communion With God. I am so blessed so far. My life is already completely transformed. I went from hearing God speak to me once in a while to hearing Him not just in my journaling times but even throughout the rest of the day. What a difference this has made.”

— Andrew Steck

 

“We have been using Communion With God for some months now in all our home groups and one after another people whose prayer lives were dry difficult affairs have blossomed as they have heard the Heavenly Father commune with them, His children.”

— Rev. Bill A. VanZutphen,
Baptist Church, Wollongong, Australia

 

“Oh my, I am speechless...I have completed only the first several lessons in Communion With God and my life has been totally, totally transformed. He is such a wonderful, wonderful God. A few months ago I told Him I was desperate for more of Him...I had no idea His answer to my prayer would be so exceedingly abundantly above anything I could ever have imagined. My days and nights are now filled with His presence. Thank you for your service to Him, Mr. Virkler. I will be in touch as I progress through the course....”

— Amy

 

THE101 Basics of Christianity (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$271.95

If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do? (Ps. 11:3) This course is a non-technical presentation of the foundations of Christianity. It deals with the basics of the Scriptures, salvation, Christian culture, the Holy Spirit, ceremony, faith, worship, healing, satan, righteousness, peace, joy, prayer, giving, ministry, heaven, and hell.

THE120 Foundational Experiences (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$324.85

An intensive study of the six foundational experiences of the Christian life as found in Hebrews 6:1,2: repentance from dead works, faith towards God, doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, eternal judgment. Students will learn how to live in these truths.

REN105 Father Heart of God (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$304.42

This highly experiential course is designed to draw you into a closer relationship with your heavenly Father, in which you have not only a theological understanding of His deep love and affection for you, but you also know it because you have personally felt it. You will also learn how to help others overcome any hindrances in their lives that prevent them from experiencing the love of the Father for themselves. Prerequisite: REN103 Communion With God.

“I not only realized that the love of Father is so widely needed and missed in the Church, but it is needed in the entire world. The message of Father’s love is not only for the saved, but the unsaved as well. It is what will get them saved. It is what the world needs to hear; your heavenly Father loves you. He loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die for you that you might live.”

— Student taking Father Heart of God

LEA103 Gifted to Succeed (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$270.94
"To each of us grace has been given according to the measure of Christ's gift...And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints." Do you know which of these heart motivations God has given to you? Is God asking you to express this heart motivation within or outside the structured church, or both? Which ministry or vocation is He asking you to express yourself through? What kinds of people do you need next to you to make you most effective? These questions and many others will be answered.

REN206 Increasing the Anointing (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$335.84

It is only as we minister in the anointing of the Holy Spirit that we can effectively touch the hearts of others. This practical course trains you how to sense the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, how to get to know Him as a Person, and how to release His power to heal a hurting people.

“Throughout the duration of this course, I have been provoked to go after God like never before: to receive a greater measure of His anointing to bring liberty to captives, and God’s presence to all I encounter. I am challenged to fast and pray more on a regular basis, learn more about the anointing and start living out, through simple daily obedience, what God has called me to. I am also learning not to rely on my strength to get the job done, but to solely rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, and this too will increase the anointing on my life, which in tern will affect everything I do.”

— Student taking Increasing the Anointing

COU202 Counseled by God (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$328.84

We will let God speak to our hearts and counsel us about the basic emotional pressures of life. These include anger, doubt, depression, condemnation and inferiority. We will learn to let God replace these with His opposites, as His voice releases His grace within our hearts. Those whom the Son sets free are free indeed.

“This practical course not only changed my life and gave me freedom in many parts of my life, but the tools I have been given through this course are having a lasting impact on the lives of many young people all around me who in turn will pass it on to others, leading many more young people into emotional wholeness.”

— Student taking Counseled by God

COU203 Cornerstones of Communication (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$335.94

Communication is the center of all relationships, yet most of us are untrained in the dynamics of great communication skills. With practice, every relationship you have can be more effective and fulfilling.

“I think I can safely say that effective communication skills are one of the most, if not the most, important set of skills one can have in day-to-day living. Without the ability to properly communicate, we cannot get through life properly, as relationships are a central aspect of our lives.

“As a result of this course, I have learned skills that I will be using every day of my life. I have always been faced with situations that have required excellent communication and negotiation skills. Many situations were changed because I was able to implement some of the things I had learned about negotiation from this course. This stuff works!”

— Student taking Cornerstones of Communication

LEA201 Creative Problem Solving (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$361.99

Spirit-born creativity is no accident; it requires purposeful activity. This study will open the doors of your understanding so that the creativity of God can flow through you continuously in ways such as you may have only dreamed. You will examine step-by-step how God progressively fills each of the five senses of your spirit with Himself, until His creative miracle is released into the natural realm.

LEA205 Creating Your Mission Statement (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$258.95
In a world in which we are daily forced to make decisions that lead us either closer to or further from our goals, no tool is as valuable in providing direction as a mission statement - a brief, succinct, and focused statement of purpose that can be used to initiate, evaluate, and refine all of life's activities. People or groups with carefully defined missions have always led and surpassed those who have none. In this course you will be guided through every step of both defining and fulfilling a mission.

EVA210 Personal Evangelism (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$271.15

This course is a study of practical approaches to personal evangelism. It includes learning how to initiate the conversation with someone, present the Gospel to him, and lead him to Christ, if he is ready. It includes spending thirty hours in actual, practical, personal evangelism. (Option #1: Lead someone to Christ and disciple him for six months - receive 1 additional credit; Option #2: Train another soul winner - receive 1 additional credit.)

EVA215 Miracle Evangelism (Course Syllabus)

1 credit

$176.90

God's plan to reach the world involves miracle evangelism. Discover how we, like those in the book of Acts, can experience signs, wonders and healing miracles in our lives and ministries as we join the great end-time harvest through miracle evangelism.

MIN211 Building Dynamic Teams (Course Syllabus)

1 credit

$125.95

"...they ordained them elders in every church…" (Acts 14:23). Biblical precedent indicates that local churches were governed by a team of elders. God never let the rulership of the body rest on the shoulders of one man, knowing that each of us has weaknesses and limitations, and that no one man can completely represent full truth, wisdom and power as Jesus did. This course will help local church leadership function more effectively as a team, honoring the gifts of all. Prerequisites: LEA103 Gifted to Succeed (required); MIN210 Five Fold Ministry Gifts (recommended). This course will be most useful if you are currently part of a leadership team.

BIB390 Bible Research Methods (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$384.86

Generally the student will take this course during his third year, near the completion of the core courses. In it he will be asked to do a complete Scriptural study, discovering what the Bible has to say about the vocation/ministry he is planning to enter. This will give him a biblical worldview. The student will be trained to do original Bible study utilizing the Greek and Hebrew, by learning to use an Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, a complete concordance, a Bible dictionary, a Greek lexicon, a study Bible, and an expository dictionary. No previous knowledge of Greek or Hebrew is required.

COU301 Prayers That Heal the Heart (Course Syllabus)

4 credits

$422.73

This course teaches a series of seven specific prayers that will break bondages within your heart caused by spiritual forces. These prayers include breaking generational sins and curses; severing ungodly soul ties; removing negative beliefs and inner vows; healing traumatic scenes; and casting out demonic energy that has connected itself to these inner wounds of the heart and soul. The entire healing process is sealed by doing an intensive meditation on biblical passages that bear on the issues being healed so God can grant you illumined insights from His Word.

“Who needs prayers that heal the heart? Just about everyone! God has really done a work in me through the studying and revelation of this ministry. He has given me a burden and a heart to see all people set free from all kinds of oppression. After all, He did command us to do so and minister to people's needs. Prayers That Heal the Heart is going to be a major part of what I do vocationally for the rest of my life. I have a burden and a desire to see people walk in the liberty purchased for them on Calvary, and for them to experience the ZOE life God has come to give us. Thank You, Lord, for Your anointing to do what You did and see people come into all that You have for them.”

— Student taking Prayers That Heal the Heart

COU305 Parenting for Success (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$281.94

Great relationships with your children don't just happen. They must be cultivated. Become the kind of parent that makes your children proud to be your children. Learn how to bring out the best in each of your children. Parent them for success.

LEA303 Developing the Leader Within (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$274.98

This course is designed to help you develop the attitudes, skills and character traits you will need to become the leader God has called you to be. You may need to establish new patterns of thought and action, and break old habits that have been keeping you back. If you truly devote yourself to the requirements of this course, you will be a more effective and successful leader at the end of it.

LEA310 Apprenticed to Leadership (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$271.94
Mentoring or apprenticeship was Jesus’ style of training. He committed Himself to twelve intense relationships for about a year and a half, raising up leaders after Him who turned the world upside down for His sake. In this course, we will explore the mentoring relationship from both sides: as an apprentice who is learning from a leader and as a leader who is developing his team. (It is possible and beneficial to be in both positions at the same time – continuing to grow and learn from those who are ahead of us while leading and developing others into their potential.) We will discuss what is involved in a good mentoring relationship, responsibilities of the mentor and the apprentice, how one enters and terminates such relationships, and very practical steps for developing leaders who will stand with you, help carry your load, and continue your vision after you are gone. “There is no success without a successor.”

MIN310 Experiencing God - Lamad Encounter Groups (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$323.75
Classtimes are to be times of experiencing God and sensing the transmission of the life flow of the precious Holy Spirit among the classroom participants. They are to be much more than studies of God. They are to be experiences with God. This course will teach you how to make every classtime a time of encounter with the Lord where each one receives an impartation of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

BUS320 New Trends in Management (Course Syllabus)

1 credit

$104.95
Everyone manages someone, whether you are a business person, a pastor, or a homemaker. What are God's rules for successful management, which will allow the release of His blessing? We have discovered twenty biblical principles for effective management. These are being used by the most successful corporations around the world. We ground each one in Scripture and provide worksheets so you can easily evaluate your management style. May God's maximum blessing be released in our homes, churches, and businesses. Leaders manage people well.

LEA321 Visionary Leadership (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$257.95

Jesus' leadership approach with His "staff" ran counter to most of the management styles and techniques employed today. In this course, you will explore the three categories of strengths behind Jesus' leadership techniques: the strength of self-mastery, the strength of action, and the strength of relationships. You will learn a plan to heighten your awareness level in each category and to assist you in the process of mastering them all, which is necessary for you to become an empowered leader in this millennium.

MIN325 Your Theology of Youth Ministry (Course Syllabus)

3 credits
$282.98
The foundation of your youth ministry must be a well-defined theology / philosophy that God has given you about the purpose, goals and methodologies of your youth ministry. Without such a support, you will be an aimless reactor, recreating the experiences of your youth, copying the latest fad, or frantically trying to keep control of unfocused youthful energy.

In this course you will explore various views of what youth ministry should be. You will examine your own beliefs in light of these viewpoints, and how those beliefs have been expressed in your ministry. Then you will take time to hear from God, asking Him to show you the theology He wants as the foundation for the ministry He has called you to, and how to express that theology accurately and fully. (NOTE: It is assumed that you are already involved in some aspect of youth ministry.)
Prerequisites: REN103 and LEA103; also recommended is MIN211.

MIN330 Becoming a Youth Specialist (Course Syllabus)

4 credits

$359.99
In this foundational course, you will think and pray through your philosophy of youth ministry and explore ways to maximize your effectiveness in reaching young people for Christ. You will examine the theological, developmental, sociological and historical frameworks for youth ministry and evaluate various models both old and new. You will look at the skills needed for effective youth ministry and allow the Holy Spirit to examine your life to reveal your strengths and areas in which you need to grow. Finally, you will assess various resources for youth ministry and how you can use them more effectively.
NOTE: This course requires you to apply what you are learning in an actual youth group. If you are not currently working with a youth group, you will need to develop a relationship with one for the duration of this course.

THE310 Bible Speaks to Contemporary Issues (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$279.99

In this course we will examine the foundation of Christian ethics. We will study the Scriptures to discover the precepts and principles we are given about such subjects as sex, family, honesty, suicide, abortion, the education of children, welfare, inflation, humanism, and gambling. We will then go one step further to discover the character of God which provides the foundation of the commands. We will learn to apply the Test of Truth and the Evidence of Truth in any situation. Finally, and perhaps of greatest importance, we will learn how to pass our moral standards on to the next generation.

MIN340 Raising a Standard (Course Syllabus)

2 credits
$198.94
The vast majority of today's young people have been indoctrinated with the creeds of situation ethics, such as: "The end justifies the means;" "There are no absolutes;" "I'm okay, you're okay;" and "Truth is relative." And all too often, parents and youth workers are unable to communicate their values with the authority and persuasiveness that would help the searching young person embrace them as their own. This course uses materials produced by Josh McDowell and Campus Crusade to sound the alarm about our floundering youth and provide clear guidelines to help every believer develop a truly biblical, Christian ethic.

MIN415 Anointed Preaching (Course Syllabus)

3 credits

$287.99
This course will teach the student how to get his messages from God and deliver them under the anointing of the Holy Spirit's power.