Over the past few weeks, we’ve been participating in our own version of March Madness—one where we were trying to find the champion (or loser) for the best (or worst?) youth ministry cliché. We started with 32 and have narrowed it down to the ultimate winner.

Before we reveal who won this year’s Youth Ministry Cliché battle, some insight from Sparkhouse’s Erik Ullestad on why he thinks the final two came down to the ones that it did.

Youth Ministry Cliché: Relational Ministry Bracket

Coming in from the Relational Ministry Bracket as a number three seed, “Bring a friend” remained a crowd favorite throughout the voting process.

According to Ullestad, “This is, perhaps, the most clichéd programming aspect of youth ministry. It’s an earnest attempt to teach young people about evangelism. But, if we’re honest, it’s one of the few times that we’ll claim that ‘numbers matter.’”

Youth Ministry Cliché: Youth Group Bracket

Its challenge, Youth Group Acronym Names, was ranked as a number one seed in the Youth Group Bracket coming into the tournament. Ullestad isn’t surprised to see that this one found its way into the championship round.

“Is there anything more closely tied to youth ministry than clever names? It’s got the perfect mix of mystery and meaning. You hope kids will be excited to come to F.R.O.G. because it sounds zany and fun, but you secretly can’t wait for the opportunity to explain what it means.”

And now, the winner (or loser) of this year’s Youth Ministry Cliché Tournament…

It was a close championship, with the winner only gaining ONE extra vote over the other! The Cinderella story lives on with “Bring a friend” winning the entire tournament!

Tell us in the comments—is this what you expected? Or is there a better (or worse) Youth Ministry Cliché that should have won it all?