There are plenty of passages, topics and principles from God’s Word to fill up every week in Sunday School and youth group for far more than the few years we have with our students at youth group. At the end of the day, you’re going to have to make some choices about what to cover, what to go after again and again and what not to cover altogether. A few weeks ago I wrote about some common reasons that certain topics are overlooked or avoided in a typical youth group teaching calendar, but this time I want to take on the idea of a few topics you should teach every year you’re in youth ministry.

We’re coming off of an apologetics series and I started to reflect on teaching series we seem to revisit almost every year. Here are a few of the essential topics we go after regularly:

Purpose/Identity
Your students need to know who they are and whose they are. Discovering their purpose in life as a young person can change the trajectory of their life forever. This helps deflect bullying and builds a long, determined and healthy view of their time on earth.

Sex/Relationships/Friendships
This is something that is on teenagers minds all of the time, and these topics are often taught incorrectly by peers. Even a teenagers own body is sending them the wrong message at times. Help students navigate this – we are unashamed to talk about it regularly.

Apologetics/Foundations/Doctrine
We want students to graduate from high school with their faith intact. Better yet, we want a faith that lasts a lifetime. In order to do this you have to make sure foundational beliefs and doctrine is taught on a regular basis.

Tough Topics/Questions
Doubt is a powerful tool that can either lead people into a deeper faith or dismantle it altogether. I believe youth ministry has to allow students to ask tough questions and provide a place for some of the answers to be discovered.

What else do you think should be taught on every year?

JG