20 Practical Ways To Create Spiritual Formation This Summer
Teenagers get an extra 7+ hours daily during the Summer. What are they going to do with it?
Spiritual growth results from spiritual discipline.
Here are 20 practical ways to create greater spiritual formation and discipleship in the summer. And that means reading the Bible and making your bed!
It just takes a few simple practical commitments to produce a stronger faith. Summer discipleship is life-changing.
Whether young people are spending time serving, volunteering, memorizing the 10 Commandments, exercising, or any of these ideas, they are growing their faith and taking advantage of the time off.
Don’t miss out on making this season count with these 20 practical ideas for spiritual growth and discipleship.
1. Starting a new habit only takes about 20 days of doing something new
• The journey of 1000 miles begins with one step and it gets you closer to your goal
2. Take the first 20 days of summer '25 to start a new habit of personal devotions
• Start it today!
3. Set aside 10 minutes daily - that is about one hour weekly
• Taking 10 minutes a day and about an hour a week with transform your life, and you won’t recognize yourself by the end of the summer
4. While listening to worship, read a proverb every day and pray the proverb
• Use the app on your phone to help take notes and to set reminders
5. You have 7 extra hours since you are not in school
• What are you going to do with them?
6. Set a time to wake up and go to bed
• Don’t spend the entire summer sleeping in or staying up late because often times it is the little things like this that set the most discipline people apart
7. Volunteer in the youth ministry
• Every youth leader would love to have extra help in planning events, the youth service, and other programming
8. Get an accountability partner to help you both with your summer devotions
• Nothing will help these principles more than having a teammate … Show me your friends and I’ll show you your faith
9. Invite your friends to youth group
• With less schoolwork and athletic activities this is a great time to bring your friends to youth group
10. Go on a global mission trip
• A global mission trip is a priority changer in your life to be able to see how well you actually have it in America, and, to help you share your faith
11. Go on a local mission trip
• Serving at a soup, kitchen, shelter, or doing street evangelism with the youth ministry is a great faith building apologetic
12. Work a part-time (or less) job
• This can help you with your savings and your giving and your summer activities
13. Write out your story in 300 words or one page and memorize it
• Write out your before and after you met Christ and memorize this - it will be easier for you to witness and become strong in your apologetics of your faith
14. Pray for 1 friend and then share your story to lead that 1 friend to Jesus
• Maybe take the first month of the summer and pray for one person and then the next month is when you begin to serve them and share your faith with them
15. Prayer walk around your school for students, teachers, coaches, and staff every week
• This will increase your prayer life also and take you public
16. Focus on the relationship with your family
• Family is the number one problem in America and it is also the number one solution to our problems
17. Spend time talking to your mom & dad and learn the story of your parents
• Father’s only spend about 18 minutes a week, face-to-face, talking to their children, and this has to change
18. You must go to a church camp because of the spiritual formation that happens
• The life change that happens in suddenlies can change the course of your life
19. Make your bed daily ... that new habit will add discipline to your life
• Even if you don’t do anything else in your day, at least you made your bed!
20. Do your daily exercise such as riding a bike, walking, or an athletic activity
• Often times your spiritual and mental and total health is influenced by your physical health
We must create practices that protect our principles. These practices are what tell us we are serious about our Christian Faith.
Because at some point, all of us must make THE faith OUR faith. It cannot be our mom and dad’s, or our grandmother and grandfather‘s faith. It cannot be our youth pastor’s faith.
At some point for every young person, the faith must become their faith.
If you start this new normal you won't recognize yourself at the end of Summer ‘25. Spiritual growth will result from spiritual discipline.