At Momentum Ministry Partners, we’re determined to equip the next generation of young church leaders with the resources, education, and passion they’ll need to succeed in spreading their faith and sharing the Gospel with others. We proudly partner with local churches to provide unique ministry experiences. These include our renowned national youth conference, Urban Centers, Travel Teams, and Momentum EDU program. Momentum Ministry Partners provides the participants of all of our programs with the leadership and guidance to pursue a personal relationship with God so they can confidently unlock their full potential. While we’re deeply proud of all of these programs, there is no doubt that our national youth conference continues to be one of our proudest (and most popular) achievements. In this blog, we’re taking a closer look at our national youth conference to see how this unique experience can transform the lives of students and church leaders alike.

If you’re a church leader who’s looking for engaging ministry experiences—such as our national church conference in 2023—for your young church members, Momentum Ministry Partners is here to support you.

Momentum National Youth Conference

Designed for 6th – 12th grade students, the national Momentum Youth Conference has been operating for 50 years and is one of our proudest achievements at Momentum Ministry Partners. Momentum Youth Conference was developed with a specific goal of supporting the local church and partnering with them for success. We love when churches bring their entire youth group to share in our unique national youth conference experience. It’s our vision that the Momentum youth conference can be that “mountain top” experience that your youth group looks forward to the entire year, and sets a tone that lasts through the entire year for your ministry.

Hosted at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana, our youth conference is an all-inclusive week-long event. What do we mean by all-inclusive? By hosting at a university, we have ample resources at our disposal to offer the best possible experience. We take care of all the lodging, food, and planning so you can fully immerse yourself in the experience without worrying about those details. This is just one way that we aim to serve our local church partners. We want youth leaders to have their time and energy freed from these administrative tasks so they can spend it on discipling students.

Each day youth leaders start the day at a breakfast meeting where they’ll receive training and encouragement for their unique ministry roles. Each day students will have a two main stage session, in-depth break out sessions, their choice of afternoon activities (including intramural sports tournaments, art classes, group games, ministry opportunities, and more), and close the day with a debriefing session with their own youth group.

Why is the Youth Conference Experience Valuable?

A carpenter is nothing without his tools, and at our youth conference, we provide church leaders with the tools they’ll need to lead their local churches and inspire their youth groups. We invest in our local church partners and provide the resources, education, and inspiration to build your student ministry.

We strive to create an atmosphere centered on the students and their specific needs. We don’t offer a “canned” message that we share every year. Rather, we re-develop our youth conference theme and messaging every year around specific sessions designed to address the current pressing needs and questions that are facing students and church leaders.

We are constantly in touch with current youth ministers and take their big ideas, themes, and the questions that they are seeing in their student ministry. We use those to focus our breakout sessions around these current topics. For example, let’s say several members of your ministry are struggling with ways to confidently and effectively share the Gospel with friends in school. We’ll develop an entire breakout session around this topic. Or let’s say your students are struggling with Bible study. We’ll create an entire breakout session (or what we call Power Tracks) dedicated to this need. Our goal is to provide life-changing sessions that meet students exactly where they are.

What Makes Momentum’s Youth Conference Unique?

As a church leader, you know that there’s quite a few options when it comes to choosing an annual youth conference or summer mission trip. But we believe that you’ll recognize the difference of Momentum Youth Conference from day one.

Our support and focus on the local church and its service to its own members sets our youth conference apart from many others. We give each youth group their own breakout space—a room assigned just for them—that can serve as a home away from home. They can use this exclusive space to debrief after each day, discuss, and plan out their goals. Our team can also provide specific questions for each group to help them get the most out of that day’s activities.

Additionally, we strive to expand our conference beyond the traditional youth camp experience. Each day, we build in service opportunities for youth groups to go out and implement the lessons and values they’ve learned and discussed. Similar to our breakout sessions, we design these service opportunities around your interests and goals. We partner with local churches and organizations to provide hands-on ministry experiences for students. Whether this takes the form of volunteering time at a rescue mission or developing a service project at an elderly home, we focus on providing hands-on, real world experience in the community for young church members.

Additionally, our selection and variety of world-class speakers sets us apart. Each year we’re excited to enlist several nationally-recognized speakers, such as Francis Chan, Louie Giglio, Jackie Hill Perry, Lecrae, Anne Beiler, and others. We also balance our lineup with a range of unique and inspiring voices of current pastors and leaders serving on the front lines of ministry. We love working with these speakers as they can connect with our conference attendees, both students and youth leaders, in a unique, relatable, and meaningful ways. This balance creates an atmosphere where students can learn, listen, serve and follow Jesus.

Beyond the Youth Conference

While we do everything in our power to make our youth conference as memorable and impactful as possible, the event can only last so long. Our national youth conference is seen as an annual highlight for many youth ministries, but it’s often just the beginning of their ministry year. The days at our youth conference fly by for both pastors and students, and after the last day of conference, we strive to keep our community engaged for the long-run.

We stay connected with both church leaders and students after the youth conference has concluded. For youth pastors, our team stays connected by offering coaching opportunities and resources from trusted ministry veterans. We’re here to answer questions, coach through specific topics, and support you as you lead your ministry. For example, if the members of your youth ministry are struggling with engaging with the community, we’ll offer ideas (such as our Urban Centers) to help.

For students, it’s all about bringing the resources and inspiration to them. We frequently share and post on various social media channels with content that keeps students engaged with the lessons they learned and provide opportunities to share their faith. It’s truly amazing how much students can learn and grow during the short time at our youth conference. But we also know this is just the beginning, which is why we emphasize continual support and a range of resources for both students and youth pastors.

Conclusion – Momentum Ministry Partners Youth Conference

As a youth minister or church leader, you’ve probably taken your youth group to a youth camp or youth conference. But we promise that there’s nothing quite like the Momentum national youth conference. Hosted on a college campus in Indiana, our youth conference is a week-long experience that is sure to stay in the hearts and minds of your young church members long after it’s over.

Contact us today to learn more about our full lineup of unique ministry opportunities, including our Travel Teams, national youth conference, Momentum EDU, and more. By connecting with local churches and church leaders, we know that we can successfully work to spread the gospel, touch more lives, and confidently prepare the church for a brighter future.