Youth ministry programs prepare people to work in churches with children and young people. Students learn methods of counseling and religious education. They study youth evangelism.

Young people face many challenges to religious belief and to moral behavior. They are starting to define themselves as independent of their parents. To some extent, they turn for guidance to the attitudes and behavior of their peers. They may be faced with some dangerous choices for the first time. If you are interested in a career in religious leadership, you may recognize the special value of reaching out to help young people. Thus you may want to study youth ministry.

About 50 colleges offer a bachelor's degree in this field. Normally such a program takes four years of full-time study beyond high school. With this degree you may work as a youth advisor in a church, or you may work in a parachurch organization such as a campus ministry or evangelical movement.

The program teaches you how to communicate with youth. You study psychology and sociology, especially as those sciences apply to the behavior of young people. You learn how to get young people to open up to you so that you can understand their problems and concerns. You study the ethics of the counseling relationship.

A large part of the curriculum consists of religious study. To represent your religion, you need a good grounding in the Bible. You study various approaches to interpreting biblical texts. You also study the history and practices of your church. And you examine the philosophical issues that are at the heart of religious belief, worship, and ministry.

To minister effectively, you need to know how to relate people's personal issues to religious guidance. You study how biblical texts relate to common personal problems, especially those of youth. You learn how to create sermons. You also learn strategies for creating a youth-friendly environment. You learn how to borrow from popular culture without compromising your message. Your program may include some supervised experience working with a local youth group.