YPT Curriculum
You want to make lifelong disciples
The YPT Curriculum can help
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
Each 12-week series is available individually, although we recommend following the curriculum plans outlined 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 does it means to be a Christian?
Year One: Apostles’ Creed
Year Two: Attributes of God
Year Three: Union with Christ
Hands: Christian Living
how should I honor God with my life?
Year One: Ten Commandments
Year Two: Growing in Godliness
Year Three: Walking in Wisdom (Proverbs)
Heart: Christian Spirituality
how can I have a relationship with God?
Year One: Lord’s Prayer
Year Two: Building on the Bible
Year Three: Praying the Psalms
An inside tour of what to expect in the YPT Curriculum and how you can adapt it for your ministry context.
Lesson Outline
download one of the sample lessons above to see how this outline is put into practice
Intro: 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
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.
-
The YPT Curriculum is built around the framework of catechesis. This is the pattern of discipleship the Church has practiced for the last 2000 years, but churches moved away from it in the past century.
Catechesis is about so much more than encouraging kids to memorize a catechism! It’s relational discipleship that prioritizes Christian Doctrine (Apostles’ Creed), Christian Spirituality (Lord’s Prayer), and Christian Living (Ten Commandments).
The YPT Curriculum is built around those three branches in order to lead youth to honor the Lord with their head, heart, and hands. Each year, there will be a series under each branch, in order to help you disciple students well.
We have intentionally written the curriculum for an international audience. This is why our stories and illustrations are drawn from Church History and Scripture, rather than from pop culture. We want all youth workers to be able to use the YPT Curriculum to disciple the next generation.
-
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!) reading every bullet point in the lesson to your students. Those are for you to read as you prepare, so you know how to modify the lesson for the teenagers in your ministry.
-
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.
Some of these lessons address difficult topics and confusing Bible passages. We have worked hard to give you tools in the Leader Notes and Explain portions of the Teacher’s Guide so you’ll be able to make the lessons understandable and applicable. Be patient and give your teenagers the chance honor God with their mind. They can do it. You can too!
-
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, because you’re called to shepherd your students and you know how best to adapt the content to meet them where they’re at. Our goal is to give you everything you need to do that well.
-
When you purchase a series, you’ll receive a file with two documents, a Leader’s Guide and a Student Guide. Each PDF has all 12 series so you can print it out fully, or lesson-by-lesson.
The Leader’s Guide includes leader notes to help you prepare to lead discussion. These leader notes are long because we want to give you all the biblical/theological background you need to lead discussion for your group. Please don’t use every note, use them to discern what would serve your particular group best.
The Student Guide includes the opening story, biblical text (that way everyone can read the same translation together), and the discussion questions with room for them to write a response.
-
Each Curriculum plan includes three 12-week series for 36 weeks of curriculum, for $250.
You may purchase one series at a time for $100 each, if you’re unsure about using the whole series.
-
Yes, discounts are available for churches who cannot afford to pay for the curriculum. YPT will work with you to make it fit within your budget.
International churches are especially welcome to contact Mike regarding discounts.
Please contact Mike to inquire about discounts.