GO AND
MAKE
DISCIPLES
Matthew 28:19
Discussion-driven based youth ministry curriculum in three 12-week series.
We provide the recipe and ingredients.
You still need to cook.
BEFORE YOU BUY
Is this the right curriculum for you?
We’d rather tell you up front. The YPT Curriculum is built for depth, not production value.
It’s a good fit if you want…
✓ Teenagers discussing Scripture and learning how to think theologically about life and faith.
✓ A plan that makes whole disciples: Head, Heart, and Hands.
✓ Leader notes that teach and disciple your volunteers as they prepare.
✓ Stories from Scripture and Christian history that work in any culture.
It’s probably not for you if you want…
✕ A lesson you can read and prep five minutes before students arrive.
✕ Videos to play, games, or a graphics package.
✕ Pop-culture references and hot-topic lessons.
✕ Curriculum that does the teaching for you.
these aren’t 'bad things’… it’s just not what YPT does.
“We don’t believe in plug-and-play curriculum that you can read five minutes before students arrive.”
You want to make disciples. Let the
YPT Curriculum help
Our Discipleship Philosophy
We aren’t the first generation of Christians who are concerned about the next generation.
Instead of reinventing discipleship, maybe it’s time to revive it.
For nearly 2000 years, Christ’s Church faithfully discipled new believers through a framework called catechesis (pronounced “cat-uh-key-sis”). This discipleship plan was built around three branches of Christian maturity: Christian Doctrine (Head), Christian Spirituality (Heart), and Christian Living (Hands). Many churches have moved away from catechesis over the last century… and it hasn’t worked out so well.
Most churches tend to be strong in one branch of catechesis, dabble in a second, and mostly overlook a third. Each year, the YPT Curriculum will release three series (usually 12 lessons long), one in each branch of catechesis. By teaching the YPT Curriculum, you will ensure that your teenagers see how the gospel shapes their whole life: head, heart, and hands.
Start with the Core Discipleship Curriculum, since this is where Christian discipleship has always begun. Then, continue with the Ongoing Discipleship Curriculum. Each series is available individually, because we want to serve your church rather than forcing you into our approach, but we highly recommend implementing the whole curriculum. Following our plan will help students build from the ground up, and will get them into the routine of our curriculum’s unique format, which will teach them to think and live theologically.
“One of the best student ministry curriculums you are going to find out there. The leaders in our ministry have found it very easy and helpful to use. Lots of content to choose from and very well thought out in both scope and content. Church history openers, Scripture based with deep theology, leading to head, heart, and hands. You won't be disappointed by using this curriculum.”
Tim, Youth Pastor in Illinois
“This curriculum moves well from introduction through exegesis and into application. It demonstrates the relevance of Scripture to modern lives in a way that connects with teenagers.”
Scott, Youth Pastor in Canada
Order a 36-week discipleship plan for $250, or individual 12-week series for $100 each. we strongly recommend starting with the Core Discipleship Curriculum to build a solid foundation, and then continuing with the Ongoing Discipleship Curriculum. Samples of each series are available below.
YPT’s “Core Discipleship” plan will serve your students a whole year of curriculum, featuring three 12-week series (36 weeks total). If you’re new to the YPT Curriculum, then start here.
This includes the Apostles Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and Ten Commandments. Each series includes a Leader’s Guide and Student Guide. Each lesson will lead your students into Scripture and then guide them to discuss how to think theologically about the text and how to apply it to their head, heart, and hands.
These series are the “Core Discipleship” bundle because they are the three main subjects that Christians have taught new disciples throughout Church History. Each branch of discipleship addresses a major aspect leading to spiritual maturity: Christian Doctrine, Christian Spirituality, and Christian Living. If you want your students to know what it means to be a Christian, to know how to maintain a personal relationship with their Heavenly Father, and how to live a life that honors Jesus Christ, then this is the right series for you!
Learn more about the YPT Curriculum on the curriculum page of the website.
YPT’s Ongoing Discipleship Curriculum delivers 36 weeks of curriculum for your youth ministry. That’s enough for a full school-year, assuming you take a few weeks off here-and-there.
Featuring three 12-week studies, each includes a downloadable Leader’s Guide and Student Guide:
The Attributes of God (Christian Doctrine): Do your students know how to describe God, biblically? This series focuses on a key attribute each week, in order to help your students grow in their understanding of who God is and what he is like.
Building on the Bible (Christian Spirituality): Do you tell youth to read the Bible, or do you teach them how to do it? Walk through the different types of writing you’ll find in Scripture and identify the key “ingredients” that will help you understand what it means.
Growing in Godliness (Christian Living): Do your students know how the gospel shapes their relationships? As Christians, we bear God’s name and represent him in this world. How can we do that well if our views on gender, sexuality, family, friends, and conflict are build on worldly foundations?
A sample lesson is available on YPT’s Curriculum page, where you can also learn more about our curriculum strategy. Each series is also available individually, though we strongly recommend teaching them together, throughout the school-year.
The YPT Curriculum is built around the three branches of discipleship, as practiced throughout Christian history: Christian Doctrine (head), Christian Spirituality (heart), and Christian Living (hands). Each year, our curriculum publishes a new series under each branch to equip you for whole-person discipleship.
Our recommendation is to begin with YPT’s Core Discipleship Curriculum, to set a solid foundation. Then, keep building your students’ faith with this Ongoing Discipleship. Learn more about our discipleship strategy on YPT’s Curriculum page.
Three Branches of the YPT Curriculum
Head: Christian Doctrine
“What is true about God, and why should I believe it?”
Year One: Apostles’ Creed
Year Two: Attributes of God
Year Three: Union with Christ
Hands: Christian Living
“How can I live to honor the Lord?”
Year One: Ten Commandments
Year Two: Growing in Godliness
Year Three: Walking in Wisdom (Proverbs)
Heart: Christian Spirituality
“How can I have a personal relationship with my Heavenly Father?”
Year One: Lord’s Prayer
Year Two: Building on the Bible
Year Three: Praying the Psalms
Each series is written by seasoned youth pastors with theological training:
Dr. Mike McGarry, Dr. Andrew Slay, Nick Hartman, Dr. John Gardner, and Dr. Chris Talbot.
Discounts are available for churches who cannot afford to pay for the curriculum. Thanks to our generous donors, YPT will work with you to make it fit within your budget. Contact Mike to inquire about discounts.
Lesson Outline
Each lesson follows the same five movements in about 45 minutes. Download one of the sample lessons above to see how this outline is put into practice
Opening Story: a modern re-telling from either Scripture or Christian History that displays the importance of the lesson’s main emphasis.
Biblical Foundation: Discussion questions and leader notes to build the lesson on God’s Word.
Living Theologically: Discussion on the question, “What does this passage teach about God, people, and the Gospel?”
Applying the Bible: Lead students to apply the lesson to their head, heart, and hands.
Closing Prayer: A short prayer your group can read to close your time together.
An inside tour of what to expect in the YPT Curriculum and how you can adapt it for your ministry context.
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NO! We wrote this curriculum with volunteer leaders in mind.
We want to make biblically rich and theologically deep ministry accessible for every youth ministry.
You will need to prepare and review the material before teaching it, but it’s written so that volunteers will learn and grow as they prepare to teach their students.
Our goal is to give you everything you need to do that well.
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Since YPT’s discipleship strategy is built around catechesis, we want to build our discipleship in alignment with the way Christians have always discipled new believers. That means starting with the Apostles’ Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and Ten Commandments.
The Apostles’ Creed has always been viewed as baseline Christianity, not advanced theology.
The Lord’s Prayer guides believers to cultivate a personal and regular prayer-life, and to pray according to Jesus’ instruction.
The Ten Commandments have always been taught as a model of what it means to live a life that honors the Lord.
“Ongoing Discipleship” builds upon that foundation, assuming that students already have a foundational understanding of essential doctrine, they know how to pray, and are submitting themselves to God’s commandments for daily living.
Forthcoming years of the YPT Curriculum will add to the “Ongoing Discipleship” line and can be mixed-and-matched to create your own lineup of ongoing discipleship.
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Each lesson was written with a 45 minute Bible Study in mind, but can be easily adapted to other settings.
Please note, our goal is to provide you with all the exegetical, theological, and pastoral background you’ll need to lead an effective study for your youth.
We DO NOT intend (or recommend!) using/reading every bullet point in the lesson to your students. Those are for you to read and grow as you prepare, so you know how to answer students’ questions and guide conversation.
Modify the lesson for the teenagers in your ministry.
If you have younger students, you’ll want to choose which section gets most of your time and emphasis, but please do not completely skip any of the sections.
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This curriculum was written with a 45 minute small group or Bible study in mind, for youth ages 12-18.
If you choose to use this series for a larger-group setting, you can turn the Introduction and Biblical Foundations sections into a message to teach, and then split into smaller groups to discuss the Living Theologically and Application sections.
Other people have chosen to use the curriculum as their exegetical study, which prepares them to write their own message for students.
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Some choose to print the Student Guide out fully, and then bind/staple them as booklets for students at the beginning of the study. If you do this, we recommend keeping them in the classroom where students meet, since they’ll probably never be seen again if youth bring them home.
Others choose to print handouts lesson-by-lesson.
Still others choose to only print the “Living Theologically” and “Application” pages as a single-sheet, two-sided handout.
YPT has included all opening stories and Scriptures within the lesson so everyone is reading the same story together, and discussing the same Bible translation. But each leader is free to use (or not use!) the Student Guide however they see fit.
Note: The samples above include a sample Leader’s Guide and Student Guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
MAKE IT FIT YOUR GROUP
One lesson. Three ways to lead it.
Every lesson is written for a 45-minute Bible study or small group with students aged 12-18. Your group might not look like that, and that’s okay. Keep every section, and adjust the time and setting to serve your students.
Bible Study or Small Group
Teach the lesson as written. Open with a story, spend about 15 minutes each in Biblical Foundations and Living Theologically, then 10 minutes applying it to the head, heart, and hands before closing in prayer
Younger or New to the Bible
Read the passage and use one of the discussion questions in Biblical Foundation to start building Bible study habits and establish the truth of God’s Word. Then give extra time to discussion and reflection in the Living Theologically and Application sections.
Message + Small Group
Use the Opening Story, Biblical Foundation, and parts of Living Theologically to prepare your message for the whole group. Then small group leads walk students through Living Theologically and Applying the Bible every week. Tip: print just those two pages of the student guide as a double-sided handout.
READY TO START?