Teaching Fish to Breathe: Why I Think We’ve Been Measuring Student Ministry Wrong (Playbook Ep. 1)

Teaching Fish to Breathe: Why I Think We’ve Been Measuring Student Ministry Wrong (Playbook Ep. 1)

July 1, 2026 · 20 min

About this episode

Nathan Palatsky discusses the challenges of student ministry and the need to rethink how discipleship is approached for different generations.

Since I was in youth, the big question has been… “Why are students leaving the church after graduation?” That’s been the game since I was in youth group. I’m a millennial. We’ve blown through Gen Z and most of my students are now classified Gen Alpha. Everything about their lives is different. But we generally haven’t changed how we reach them. I think those are the wrong starting questions. The better question is: “What kind of disciple are we trying to produce?”

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