Programs

Five commitments. Long-haul.

YMF exists to do five things — each one addressing a different part of the same problem. Always name the actual programs; never hide behind vague “we support youth ministry” copy.

The five commitments

Intercede · Discern · Form · Sustain · Send

Month of Prayer

November. Daily prayer points for young people and youth ministers. The fellowship's primary act of intercession.

Pipeline

Three-year practical formation program for theological students and trainees. Bridges academic training and hands-on ministry — the gap no college fully covers.

Leaders' Cohorts

Monthly peer supervision for full-time youth ministers. Once a month, with ministers who have stayed long enough to tell you the truth.

Residential

Flagship four-day annual formation intensive. 36 leaders attended in 2025. International faculty in 2026. The work of staying, examined carefully.

The Project

Nine-year church partnership. Places a supported youth worker in a church that wants to invest but can't yet fully fund the role. First partnership begins 2026.

The crisis in numbers

80%+

of youth ministry roles in Australia are part-time. The system cannot sustain what it asks of people.

70%+

of young people raised in the church leave by the age of thirty.

1 in 4

Australian churches have no 12–18 year olds in any ministry at all.

Median number of young people per church where any are present.

The Fellowship · three ways to engage

Pray. Promote. Provide.

YMF is not just an organisation — it is a fellowship. The mission-agency model only works when there is a community around it. That fellowship engages in three ways.

Pray

Interceding for young people across Australia, for the churches that serve them, and for the leaders who carry that responsibility.

Promote

Advocating within your networks for youth ministry as a vocation worth choosing and sustaining. Connecting YMF with people, churches, and resources that can help.

Provide

Supporting the financial base that makes the model work — funding roles, programs, and the operational capacity to grow.