6 Steps Toward Planning Your 2026 Youth Ministry Year
It’s that time again. It’s December, which means we have to plan for the year. I don’t know about you,
Many youth pastors assume that if their students aren’t asking tough faith questions, they must not have them. That’s not true. Students are absolutely wrestling with doubt — they just might not feel comfortable bringing it up in church. In fact, even your most “solid” students have doubts that they’re wrestling with. It would almost be a little bit weird if they didn’t.
“How do we know God exists?”
“If God is loving, why is there so much suffering?”
“Can I trust that the Bible is true?”
“What makes Christianity different from other religions?”
If youth ministries don’t create space for those questions, students will find answers elsewhere. And even in the world of AI, those answers may not always be biblical or articulated in a way your church agrees with. But the good news is that doubt doesn’t have to destroy faith. In fact, when students learn to wrestle with hard questions, it can actually deepen their faith. So here’s how to teach teenagers about apologetics and help them navigate doubt with confidence.
But before we begin, here’s our best youth ministry series on apologetics.
Time needed: 1 hour
Materials Needed
Bibles or Bible apps
Tuning fork or a short video/audio clip demonstrating resonance (optional but helpful)
Index cards and pens
Whiteboard or poster board
Start the lesson by asking: “Have you ever heard a sound that made something inside you feel… aligned?”
Introduce the metaphor of a tuning fork—a small tool that, when struck, causes other objects tuned to the same frequency to vibrate in response. This is resonance. And this is the starting point for teaching apologetics to students.
Open to Luke 24:32. The disciples on the road to Emmaus say, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
That burning within is resonance. Jesus revealed Himself, and something in them responded.
Tell students: “Apologetics isn’t about winning arguments. Apologetics is about helping people recognize the voice they were made to hear.”
Pro Tip: Rather than training debaters, you’re teaching students to help others feel the echo of the gospel in their own soul.
Before students can defend what’s true, they need to know what’s false. Introduce the idea of the “hollow gospel”—a version of Christianity that reduces God to a transactional dispenser of blessings in exchange for good behavior.
Ask students:
“What messages have you heard—online, at church, or from other Christians—that made the gospel sound shallow or performative?”
“What do you think people outside the Church believe Christianity is about?”
Now open Romans 1:25 — “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie…”
Let students see that counterfeit gospels have always existed. The Resonant series pushes them to name those lies and examine whether any have slipped into their own understanding of faith.
Pro Tip: Apologetics rooted in clarity and conviction is always more compelling than vague good intentions.
Now that students have named what’s hollow, lead them into what’s resonant. Write five words on a whiteboard: Identity. Love. Grace. Purpose. Justice.
Ask students: “Which of these do you feel most drawn to right now?”
Explain that these are the gospel values explored in the Resonant series—not just ideas about God, but emotional entry points to who He is. When the gospel is shared in a way that truly reflects Christ, people feel something line up.
Use Acts 17:22–28. Paul begins with cultural observation (“I see that you are very religious…”) and moves into gospel proclamation by saying, “In him we live and move and have our being.”
That’s resonance. Paul is showing his listeners that what they’ve longed for was always pointing to Jesus.
Pro Tip: Good apologetics starts by connecting the dots between our longings and the God who made us.
Use this reflection exercise to help students internalize the idea:
Have them write on index cards:
One “hollow gospel” message they’ve heard or believed
One moment when the real gospel resonated with them—when they felt grace, love, or purpose in a way that felt more real than anything else
Let a few share aloud if they feel comfortable. Then ask: “If someone asked you what Christianity is really about… what would you say?”
Remind them: defending the gospel starts with knowing it—not as an idea, but as something that changed them.
Pro Tip: Students don’t need airtight answers. They need anchored lives that point to something real.
Want the full five-week series that inspired this lesson?
Get the Resonant series—complete with Message Manuscripts, Video Messages, Discussion Guides, and Graphics.
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