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How to Disciple a Teenager: 6 Helpful Resources for Faith Development

Good question! This blog is a good format to give specific, current examples of effective discipleship material. I don’t use just one rubber-stamp, “catch all” discipleship material. It really depends on the individual’s gender, age, maturity, passion, questions, struggles, and so on. I really try to adjust the content to each teen.

6 Discipleship Resources to Use With Teens

Here are some examples of effective teen-discipleship material I recommend:

1. Apologetics materials

If a teen has a lot of questions about faith or Jesus, I might take them through Lee Strobel’s A Case for Faith or A Case for Christ. I also recommend Tim Keller’s A Reason for God.

2. Leadership guides

If a teen is showing great leadership potential, I might take them through a John Maxwell book about leadership. Another favorite, especially for guys, is Finishing Strong by Steve Farrar.

3. Teen-targeted materials

If a teenager (guy or girl) is going through typical teen stuff (peer pressure, temptations, disagreements, enduring through difficult times…), I’d probably take them through THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR TEENAGERS. In this fictional premise, I deal with real-world issues that teens struggle with today.

The devotional tells the story of three teenagers trying to survive “against the odds.” It comes with 27 sets of discussion questions pointing kids to the truth from Scripture. Kids can read it and go through the questions on their own, in a small group, or with a mentor.

Doug Fields describes it well: “Jonathan’s Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide for Teenagers is exactly the type of devotional teenagers will actually read. In a fun and interesting way, Jonathan helps teens tackle tough issues like coping with pain and depression, drinking, loving difficult people, and the temptation to indulge in fleshly desires. The teenagers in my small group will be blown away that there’s a Christian author who uses the popular post-apocalyptic fictional premise to address their real-life issues.”

4. Ideal for Teen Girls

For teen girls, I’d have female adult leaders take them through books from Hayley DiMarco. Doug Field’s daughter Tori recommended some of those to my daughter Alyssa. She really liked Sexy Girls: How Hot Is Too Hot? and anything from the God Girl series.