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As I browse youth pastor forums it is pretty common to come across the guy or gal asking for last minute help on a Saturday night. We have all been in this situation where we just know that we simply can’t make tomorrow happen. Whether it be the flu, a death in the family, or you procrastinated all week, the truth remains the same: you have no idea how Sunday is going to work in your absence (or mental absence if you decided to wait until the last minute to plan). [Read more…]
I posted this article almost exactly a year ago, but read through it again for a second time. If you are discouraged about your ministry budget, lack of volunteers and want to rally your leadership to invest in the next generation, then I believe you will find some great nuggets in this article by Duane Smith. This can help you take a much closer look at what we as youth pastors are up against.
Redefining Youth Ministry in a Postmodern Culture, Revitalizing Reformed Churches
by Duane Smith
INTRODUCTION
We are living in confusing times. Many culture watchers are convinced that our society is undergoing a transformation of broad proportions. This cultural shift goes by various designations. Some observers tell us we are in the throes of a transition from a Christian to a post-Christian era. Others declare we are moving from a Constantinian to a post-Constantinian situation. But the most widely used description suggests we are witnessing the emergence of a “postmodern” society. Whatever may be the preferred nomenclature, the various voices are in agreement that the cultural shift now transpiring carries grave implications for the church.1
These thoughts of Stanley Grenz, former professor at Carey Theological Seminary, Vancouver, BC, in the preface to Making Sense Out Of Church, provoke us to rethink the effectiveness of our current ministry paradigms. The “grave implications” to which Grenz refers are evident to those involved in youth ministry. Many of our congregations seem stuck in “cultural lag,” a slow or delayed response to changing paradigms, resulting in the loss of relevance or impact, particularly with younger generations. Even when churches seek to understand these postmodern shifts, most struggle with simply “keeping up” in a rapidly shifting youth culture. Cultural analysts note that in the 1980s and early 1990s, the landscape of youth culture shifted significantly about every six to seven years; today this shift seems to occur every three years.
Recent statistics regarding baptized youth also reveal evidence of cultural lag. Approximately eight out of ten adolescents will leave their RCA or CRC roots within a year of high school graduation. Certainly this is one factor affecting the forty-year plus membership decline within the RCA, yet it’s a factor we have not addressed well. Revitalization efforts, if effective at reversing this decline, must embrace the reality that our static youth ministry efforts are not effective in the long term. Although solutions will not come easily, we must begin to elevate youth ministry as a higher priority. We are losing connection with today’s generation. We will likely continue to die as congregations and denominations unless we pay serious attention to this issue.
We Need Courage and Wisdom to
Embrace a Changing World
Most researchers and authors currently exploring the postmodern shift recognize the enormity of the challenge before us. Creating and implementing new and effective youth ministry models will be demanding work. Ron Hutchcraft, a thirty-year veteran of student and family ministry, calls the challenge we face “a battle for a generation.” “Youth ministry, Jesus-style, requires the courage to leave our comfort zone and plunge into the surf and storm as he did.” Hutchcraft further notes that “if this generation is lost, it won’t be because the world is more powerful than we are, or has something better to offer. It will be the result of not showing up. We won’t lose by fighting. We will lose by forfeit.”2
We Must Elevate Youth Ministry to a
Status of Higher Priority
Traditionally, youth ministry has not received priority attention within our churches. Recent analysis of the churches within the RCA Synod of the Great Lakes revealed that the average congregation invests less than 7% of its operating budget in youth ministry,3 even though according to George Barna, 41% of those who comprise American churches are 18 years of age or younger.4 In some cases, less than $500 is annually allocated for youth ministry efforts. Additionally, further polling reveals that only one in ten churches claims to have a vibrant youth ministry. Likewise, the profession of youth ministry has been one of the lowest paying vocational careers in America. In some cases, those in professional youth ministry receive a compensation package that is 60% less than other similar professions requiring the same level of education.
A Re-Imagined Paradigm is Needed
If eight out of ten baptized youth are exiting our churches soon after high school graduation, the time for change has come. Old paradigms of ministry are no longer effective. For instance, during the 1980s and 1990s, many youth ministries were built on the “field of dreams” concept, i.e., “if you build it they will come.” The idea was to create an impressive facility with “bells and whistles” that would “attract” community youth while keeping covenant youth excited. Today, there seems little we can build that will attract students. Most do not care if we have great auditoriums and nice game rooms. What they long for are authentic relationships that dive deep into spiritual understanding. (Developing meaningful relationships is the one constant that has not and will not change in effective youth ministry.)
We need a few churches to become innovative leaders in youth ministry development, churches that will move outside the box of traditional ministry and embrace innovative strategies that engage youth in the cause of Christ. The average congregation invests less than 7% of its operating budget in youth ministry.
Larger churches must begin to share their resource wealth with smaller churches. This means that we must break down the walls that separate churches in our communities and explore community-based youth ministry approaches. When it comes to youth ministry, most of our churches are segregated and dysfunctional at best. Rarely have our congregations worked together with any sense of synergy. We live in communities where 50% or more of the youth are now unchurched, yet we remain isolated and ineffective.
Churches with innovative youth ministries then can become centers for youth ministry development, effectively cultivating and training leaders to coach and mentor youth. At the same time, our denominations must take the lead in advocating fair and equal treatment of youth workers, keeping these leaders engaged in kingdom work instead of sending them packing because of economic hardship. We must embrace our mission as “going into the world” instead of waiting for lost youth to find our church doors.
The biggest challenge will be articulating a new or revised paradigm that works. Webster’s Dictionary defines paradigm as “a set of assumptions, concepts, values and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them.” What core assumptions, values, and practices might we need for developing a pardadigm of youth ministry within our postmodern context? In his book Unfreezing Moves, Bill Easum argues that congregations must break out of a mere maintenance model and move into a missional model of ministry in general. He writes,
Most Protestant congregations are stuck in the muck and mire of their institutions with little or no movement toward joining Jesus on the mission field. To them faithfulness means supporting their church and keeping it open. For them to be faithful to their God-given mission, they must be freed up from their slavery to their institutions to live for others on the mission field, freed up to function in a constantly changing world.5
RETHINKING YOUTH MINISTRY
God is a God of mission. The Father sent the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit to reconcile the world to God. As God sent Jesus, so Jesus sends the Church to be ambassadors of reconciliation in the world. Thus Jesus provides the primary model for missional youth ministry. The Gospel narratives suggest that Jesus’ ministry was characterized by clarity of purpose and the practices of teaching, equipping, and sending. More specifically, we can note the following about Jesus’ ministry:
These aspects of Jesus’ ministry can be translated into guidelines for a missional youth ministry today.
Articulating a Clear Mission and Vision
Most churches, although unconsciously affirming the value of youth ministry, have never clearly articulated why their youth ministry exists. Without a defined mission and purpose, many churches find themselves “shooting in the dark,” hoping to somehow hit the target. As our statistics indicate, many miss. Clarity of mission must accompany conviction regarding the necessity of youth ministry. Clearly articulating a youth ministry mission and vision is the starting point that ultimately can lead to the development of strategic, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely goals.
Identifying a Wider Target Group
Today’s adolescents face adult challenges and temptations at younger and younger ages. What were once typical experiences for high school and collegeage students are now typical for middle schoolers. Walt Mueller, president of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, refers to this shift as “age compression.” Age compression is created, in large part, by the media and popular culture. According to Mueller, “marketers have used [age compression] as a strategy to expand a product’s market by pushing adult-type products, values and attitudes on kids at younger ages. What’s resulted is an environment where what used to be for 18-year-olds is now for six-year olds, who are increasingly dressing, talking and acting like yesterday’s 18-year-olds.”6
Therefore pilot churches testing new paradigms of youth ministry must focus on younger students, especially those in fifth through eighth grades. We are losing connection with today’s generation. We will likely continue to die as congregations and denominations unless we pay serious attention to this issue.
Additionally, we can no longer approach ninth through twelfth grades together. Both research and the experience of youth workers suggest that the first two years of high school are radically different from the last two years. The typical “youth group” approach does not connect with eleventh and twelfth graders. These adolescents today are more interested in leadership roles and mission opportunities.
We also need to expand our youth ministry efforts to include late adolescents and young adults post high school, ages eighteen to twenty-four. This group seems to be all but forgotten within many RCA and CRC congregations. While some in this age range take on leadership roles in youth ministry, a high percentage slip through cracks and exit our congregations.
Equipping a Team to Invest in Youth
Youth ministry leadership that connects relevantly with adolescents fifth grade through post high school requires that we move past the mindset that one paid professional or vocational youth leader can adequately do the job. Typically, churches hire vocational youth workers who are young and highly relational, thus able to attract students with a magnetic personality. This fits with the “if you build it they will come” paradigm. However, this leader type often fails to produce long term results. Administrative and organizational responsibilities are a challenge, and the young, inexperienced youth worker lacks the maturity and experience to develop a strong volunteer team. These youth workers are often short-term, leaving their positions within one to three years. Students who develop a close friendship with this type of leader feel abandoned, and since volunteer leaders are not adequately trained, the youth ministry is placed on hold until the next star is hired. Consequently, the next youth worker arrives with new dreams and ideas but encounters skeptical students, all wondering how long this one will stay. Churches continue to spin their youth ministry wheels, while never gaining long term traction.
We must rethink the role of the “hired” youth worker. The youth worker should not be viewed as a “hired gun” to do the work of youth ministry for the congregation. Instead, the youth worker must be seen as a team facilitator, similar to that of a coach. The model of ministry as coaching is supported by developments in leadership theory. Easum writes,
A new understanding of organization is emerging, born out of quantum physics, chaos theory, and a return to biblical principles of organization. The thrust of this theory is team ministry, built around a gift-based, permission- giving, servant-empowered approach to leadership. The role of leadership is to provide an atmosphere of trust and permission so people can follow God’s leading rather than the will of a handful of people who try to control everything that happens.7
Implementing a gift-based style of youth ministry leadership within RCA and CRC structures will require significant change in our current systems. As mentioned above, we must deconstruct the concept of hiring a “director” that somehow will be “all things to all students.” The typical director excels in some areas of ministry but struggles in others areas in which he or she lacks skill and passion. This inevitably leaves “leadership voids and holes” within any youth ministry infrastructure. In contrast, gift-based team leadership allows a ministry director to excel in areas where he or she is gifted. This model creates space for others to utilize and express their gifts within the greater whole, a much more well-balanced approach. In the business world, this concept is often referred to as synergy, “the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual efforts.” Today’s effective youth leader (vocational or volunteer) knows both how to mobilize a team and how to create and foster synergy within a team.
By revisiting Jesus’ ministry model, we can conclude that a minimum of one effectively trained youth leader is needed for every twelve potential students that a congregation is seeking to reach. The role of the “hired” director/facilitator now becomes identifying, recruiting, equipping, deploying, and coaching youth ministry apprentices and leaders. In this paradigm, the “volunteers” are championed equally with the trained and equipped “youth leaders,” as they are entrusted to invest relationally in the lives of a small group of teens (rather than just serving punch and cookies in the back of the room).
Deep Relational Ministry–The Heart
of Jesus’ Ministry Model
Jesus invested in twelve seemingly average people. He journeyed with them through life. He spent significant, quality time with them. He became vulnerable and transparent on both good days and challenging days. His disciples saw him angry, grieving, distressed, lonely, disappointed, struggling over God’s plan, and praying that there could be another way. They saw him live faith and daily “work out” his relationship with the Father. We might say that field trips were a valuable component of his mentoring. Seldom did he use a classroom or a building.
When we compare this kind of intense interaction with the amount of time that youth ministers (let alone ministers in general) interact with young people, the latter seems woefully inadequate. Popular culture has far more interaction with adolescents than youth workers. According to Walt Mueller, adolescents engage popular culture for approximately twenty-five hours each week,8 while the average youth leader spends one or two hours with the same students. How is it that we truly expect any degree of lifechanging impact?
Time is not the only issue to be addressed when developing relational youth ministry. We must also change the kinds of interactions we have with adolescents. The three-point, carefully articulated, theological argument, packaged in a thirtyminute lecture is a “terribly boring package.” Yet we continue to see many youth leaders and pastors frozen in this “talking head” teaching methodology. We dismiss the youth and say “see you next week.” The youth worker should not be viewed as a “hired gun” to do the work of youth ministry for the congregation. Instead, the youth worker must be seen as a team facilitator, similar to that of a coach.
Hutchcraft writes, “Too often we expect a teen to be attracted to Christ through approaches that he or she probably considers irrelevant, uninteresting, and culturally foreign. Then we interpret this disinterest as rejection of Christ when, in reality, he may be rejecting the package in which we have presented him.”9
Today’s youth are interested in spiritual realities. The church must learn to connect spiritually with this generation in new ways. Conversations with post high school adolescents who remain active and involved in their congregations suggest that they stay engaged because of two factors. The first is authentic relationships, often cultivated through the context of middle school and high school ministries that utilized small groups. In most cases, these small groups were facilitated by one or two caring adults who invested in the teens outside of youth group or church functions. The second factor for their continued involvement in the church is that these older adolescents and young adults felt valued by their church. Each was given meaningful leadership and service roles within a gift-based, servant-empowered environment.
Jesus Challenged Them
as Emerging Leaders
Jesus never forced belief on his disciples. Instead he looked for teachable moments. He seized life opportunities to challenge the disciples’ faith, creating and cultivating an environment where meaningful questions could be pondered. He used illustrations and stories, tying real life situations and faith together. He provided space for them to wrestle through issues that did not make immediate sense, and he never became angry when they “didn’t get it.” He could see their potential beyond their current condition.
Today’s teens are under-challenged. Too often we conclude that youth are only interested in eating pizza, playing video games, or being entertained. Yet youth today are quite interested in questions of faith, social issues, or helping a friend through his or her parents’ divorce. As we rethink youth ministry in our Reformed settings, we must interact within adolescents’ real life settings. We must create challenging opportunities for them to discover their potential (God’s call) within the framework of a real life context–e.g., through extended, inter-generational mission trips.
Jesus Ultimately Transferred
Responsibility to Them
Jesus imparted responsibility to his disciples, ultimately trusting this rag-tag group to build the church. Here is where a massive paradigm shift is necessary. Serious questions must be asked regarding the viability of our static, Reformed church infrastructures. Why is it that all aspects of our churches are controlled by adults? Why is it that youth seldom have a voice? Why is it that youth do not serve in many leadership roles? Why is it that systems are lacking to help youth discover and implement their spiritual gifts? Why it is that youth ministry often receives the budget “leftovers”? It is within these “adultcontrolled environments” that perhaps the greatest disconnect occurs between the church and youth. Because there are so few opportunities for youth and young adults to connect through leadership and service roles, many, upon high school graduation, feel lost, with no purpose or reason to remain involved. They conclude that they are not wanted or needed. So it’s not surprising that many “check out” between the years of eighteen and twenty- four. As part of a redefined ministry context, student leadership development, accompanied by opportunities to serve, must become a high priority in every RCA and CRC church.
From Awareness to Action
Youth ministry must be redefined. No one church has it down to a science. No one approach will work in all congregations. And so we find ourselves faced with an exciting yet daunting challenge. Will we take the effort to rethink and redefine youth ministry, or will we continue to watch younger generations disconnect from our churches? Statistics verify that time is not necessarily on our side.
The purpose of this article has been to raise awareness and foster greater action. Although time tested solutions are not offered, rethinking youth ministry by revisiting Jesus’ model seems like the logical starting point. As we extrapolate from this model, I believe we can begin to build a framework that will reconnect us with younger generations. Student leadership development, engagement in missions and social action, and the creation of authentic communities that foster meaningful theological reflection and action will be part of the equation. The result can and should be revitalized congregations and Reformed denominations, a people gathered, equipped, empowered, and sent to be the presence of Christ in this world.
This is in response to a former article I wrote on DIY Student Ministry. This is the final topic I’m covering in this series. After writing on numerous topics where it is much better to recruit, delegate, and empower others to come alongside you and do student ministry, I’m living in the middle of this one currently. This is a pioneer year for mission experiences with our students, we have three trips running this month – one middle school, and two high school trips. With over 80 students involved on trips with another 60 students back in Austin with regular programming, I could never do this alone.
When you delegate, you empower. When you empower, you give ownership. When you give ownership, someone will likely do it better than you and if they don’t, at least they will be invested in something that they are contributing to. When you empower a leader or volunteer with a task you are not just getting a task finished you are getting someone bought into the larger picture of what leadership is by helping them understand the smaller nuts and bolts of what holds this whole thing together we call student ministry.
With our experiences combined, my wife and I have collectively participated on well over 50 different short-term missions, along with leading a handful ourselves. Each experience whether easy, difficult, domestic or international has proven invaluable in how we design a trip for students. Everything from support raising, to travel/lodging details, and simple details that could be lost such as sensitivity to food allergies. A huge blessing for us was that Gateway saw my wife’s experience and needed a part-time Global Director – she helps organize and empower trip leaders during this season. While this is a huge blessing for me and by me I mean student ministry…it comes with its hurdles. When you “know” how you want an event or trip to run sometimes it can be easier to just do it rather than explain your thoughts and bring others into the process.
This has been my challenge since coming on staff at a new church but I’m glad to see this weakness now and eager to explain more and give away more in the upcoming months. It was made very clear in my first few months here that I had an issue with delegating projects or tasks… because I felt things needed to be done in a particular way and I had little time to explain these philosophies or processes while doing them myself. While these moments could have their appropriate places – it won’t be very often that you are doing something that someone else couldn’t do.
For big event planning you must realize that there are many details to be considered. If you don’t think so, you probably shouldn’t be the project planner/manager. Just a snapshot of my recent project: rental vans, charter buses, lodging, showers, week-long schedule with every hour accounted for, expenses, reimbursements, trip leaders, adult leaders, kids club curriculum, kids club games, kids club music, kids club crafts, emergency response number, and the list goes on and on.
If you as the student pastor or project planner get sucked into any of these details and doing them yourself, the rest of the project could easily unravel and unfold in such a way that you wouldn’t have wished for. When it comes to project planning and pulling off the big event you should have one role and one role only…this actually sums up the entire DIY series. YOUR ROLE IS NOT – JUST DO IT, but rather JUST DELEGATE IT. Be sure to follow up with encouragement and constructive criticism, just because you delegate it doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.
This post goes out to all my volunteers and part-time staff that keep student ministry operating and firing on all cylinders. You are rockstars in my book and do so much more than most would ever credit you. Delegating to you is not a way for me to “get out of it”, delegating and empowering you all actually allows me to get more into it, helping me keep my eyes on the big picture. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
This is in response to a former article I wrote on DIY Student Ministry. This is the first of ten areas that I’m covering in this series.
It’s Sunday morning and students start pouring into your room for the program. The lights are stuck on some weird pink color, the woofer is pumping so loud that the gray haired people are coming and asking you to turn it down, and for whatever reason that projector keeps flashing “replace bulb”. So what do you do? Well, this isn’t the first Sunday all of this has happened, its actually a rut you find yourself in and you carry on like usual and yet somehow seem to “make it work” for your students and leaders.
I know the feeling all too well, this has happened to me in multiple environments and I’ve seen many student pastors fall victim to a room that is not functioning properly for them. Here’s the good news, this is not a DIY project! There is an army of students, parents, technicians, other staff, leaders, volunteers that are willing to help. Here is the secret of all secrets, “MAKE THE ASK!” Letting down your pride and letting others into your problem areas can only help the process get better, misery loves company right?! But seriously, you need to move away from these items so that you can connect with people.
Here are a few simple truths or common practices that have helped me:
Confession, I’m guilty of reading Popular Mechanics magazine. I love to find articles on do-it-yourself (DIY) projects around the house. Whether its staining the wood trim around our windows or changing the oil on my motorcycle, I find it fascinating to learn and do things on my own.
While time alone and DIY projects are life giving to me…I know that doing student ministry alone is not! I hope you would agree with me that student ministry was not created for the student pastor. The student ministry is not a DIY project for one to carry all alone.
Student ministry is not about you! It is not about what you accomplish, it is not about the best message you ever gave, and it is certainly not about the youth space or branding that you have created for students. At the end of your term as student pastor, you will eventually be forgotten and replaced. That might seem a little harsh, but its the truth. Remembering that student ministry is not about you, and keeping that in front of you, will only benefit your ministry and expand its reach. Only when you have this mindset are you able to truly empower your volunteers and students do some ministry of their own.
You may be thinking, “If I want things done right, then I need to do it myself.” Get over it. When you empower others to do ministry you relinquish your rights to be the “do-er” but you don’t relinquish your rights to be the visionary. Practice painting the picture for people, and let them do it! It won’t be done the way you would do it, but more is being accomplished overall through others than if you run a DIY SM. Many times I have found that when I empower someone else…whether it be a mom, dad, student, or fellow staff member…they do a far better job than what I could have done myself! The best memories in student ministry are made when many hands work together, making the job light, everyone is participating by putting their best foot forward in an area that needs attention. Healthy teamwork within your ministry is necessary in moving things forward.
Here is a list of to-do’s that many student pastors (including myself) are guilty of when it comes down to a DIY SM:
…and the list could go on and on. As the student pastor you can’t do it all on your own. Empower your people!
After writing this article I feel compelled to write out a few thoughts on each item listed above. Stay tuned.
Question for you: What has been your biggest mistake or learning point in a DIY project? Whether in ministry or personally?
I had a great opportunity to invest into some of my leaders by taking them to the Orange Tour in Dallas this past week. It was an awarding experience, including some great bonding moments with my volunteers and staff. If you are familiar with the Orange strategy you know what kind of stuff we studied, if you aren’t it’s rather simple – “What if church leaders and parents synchronized their efforts to fuel wonder, discovery and passion in the next generation?” By combining the critical influences of the light of the church (yellow) and the love of the family (red) the Orange Strategy shows a generation who God is more effectively than either could alone.” –www.whatisorange.org
The main focus of the conference was “Lead Small” – what a great focus for my volunteer team, seeing that we don’t have a functioning small group model to offer all of our students currently. This helped pioneer some great discussion and what we will be trying to achieve for our ministry in the year ahead.
My greatest takeaway –
“When you lead change, you decide to make adjustments to present methods for the sake of a sacred mission.”
I love the story that was shared at Orange of a current lead pastor, Carey Nieuwhof, who started ministry in a relatively old church setting. When he came on staff, he walked into one of his first staff meetings and asked the question, “I’ve been driving around Toronto all day trying to tune in on some organ music, I can’t seem to find any, why are we playing organ music on Sunday mornings?” He knew something needed to change in order to reach the current culture – not change the message nor the mission, but rather the method, the style of music being offered.
I pray for all those pastors and ministry leaders that are timid to change programs and think differently about current structure in order to reach the next generation, especially those that don’t have a church home. While the gospel message will always be the aim in my ministry and should continually be our foundation, this generation and culture is changing at a pace that we must keep up with.
Will you lead change for the sake of a sacred mission? For the sake of the next generation in the church?
What goes up must come down…so the saying goes. But what about the rocket ship? If it goes high enough it will reach zero gravity and stay in orbit for a long time! That ship is not coming back down unless given a force in the opposite direction in from which it came.
In ministry, don’t you wish you were juggling with rocket ships?! What some of us would give, to know that we could throw a task so high that it succeeds in flight and all we need to do is keep an eye on it, making sure the flight pattern is on the right path.
Often pastors, staff, and volunteers throw one ball up at a time just for it to come back down. One area of your ministry needs help, attention, a process – you spend hours, days and even weeks helping it succeed. Just when you think you have thrown that ball high enough you see many others speeding at you like asteroids about to hit your ministry. You have now lost focus of the one ball you spent so much time with! And very soon, it too will be speeding back at you.
I’m not here to say I have the answers to this juggling act, but rather offer some sympathy and encouragement…
I know ministry is exhausting at times, find strength in the Spirit. I understand you are frustrated, find contentment in the Gospel. I recognize you are probably not getting the results you desire at the moment, find fulfillment and joy in being a child of God!
What are you juggling right now? Budgets, retreats, capital campaigns, small groups, recruiting leaders, meeting with students, parents, equipping volunteers, casting vision for staff, writing messages for Sunday. I’m right there with you. So, how do I juggle these tasks? I recognize that the Spirit has given each one of my staff, leaders and volunteers a gift. I play to their strengths. You are not alone in ministry…so don’t do ministry alone!
How am I currently juggling? I try to begin with prayer, knowing that God is ultimately responsible here. “God, give me someone to oversee this check-in process.” Now you have to act! Seek out people who have a gift of hospitality – put them in charge of overseeing your greeting and check-in process. This one person can focus on the one ball of greeting. Seek out who has a gift of humor, I strongly believe God has created some people to be more funny than others…and every student ministry needs one. Have this person focus on the one ball of games. I am a partnering students with these adults in the juggling act, help share the load and feel the ownership. I would strongly discourage you from just putting anyone in a postion of coaching or ownership in an area of your ministry, make sure they are qualified, passionate about that specific area, and gifted in that way. It is better to keep looking than try to find a quick fix!
As these teams develop, you do not get a free ride. In some cases, your position becomes more difficult. You will have to learn how to explain your vision, desires, why’s and how to’s, when it comes to juggling. Hopefully, somewhere along the way you aren’t the one juggling all the balls that make up your ministry. You have gone from juggler to aircraft control tower – directing the airspace in your ministry where your rocket ships have launched and are flying high!
I am praying for all the pastors out there today who are juggling away. I pray that God guides you to people who hold gifts and passions that your ministry needs to successfully launch!
If you are really interested in learning how to juggle, take a shot at it!
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It’s a task for sure. My wife and I are doing our best to have a one-to-one meeting with each of our leaders and volunteers as we hit the ground running. It is important to give individual attention and care to each sheep in the flock. This comes naturally for some, but is difficult to follow through for anyone. My calendar is quickly filling up with back to back meetings for the next month! I would ask the question, “What are your priorities? Are they on your calendar?” As the shepherd of a flock, you must prioritize your sheep, all of them. If you aren’t caring for them, I hope someone is leading them to food and water! Sure, some eat more than others and some like to sleep all day, but being handed the duty of shepherd the initiation is on you to reach out and care for them. Eventually you should provide a good shepherd to sheep ratio by developing other shepherds, you cannot provide quality care for 30+ people. A quote for the day from a book I’m reading, “The Way of the Shepherd”
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
While developing a team and sharing vision, it doesn’t matter if you know how to build a rocket ship…go out of your way to show sincere encouragement, compassion, and love for your staff and volunteer team. Think about serving them before you think about leading them.
Where do you start in getting people on the same page? Within two months coming into my position of student pastor I quickly realized that many of my leaders had a heart for students and community. Though that might be a good thing, I also realized that the definition of student ministry and community was very different for each individual. At the same time we had just done a pancake push to recruit more leaders. With an updated roster containing more than 60 names the last thing I wanted to do was shake things up and lose leaders. I knew that clarity, direction and vision was desperately needed as we move ahead together in aligning our efforts to maximize our potential. We offered a vision lunch and 30 of our leaders showed up. Getting them on the same page, I gave them a vision statement and a student ministry handbook. While it may seem like shuffling papers at times, this stuff is a must for any ministry!
VISION. You need something short, simple, easy to remember but all encompassing to what you are about as a ministry. This vision should be a rally point for leaders and students alike. Anyone should be able to critique your programs, small groups, outreach nights, camps, retreats, etc. against your vision and see that they line up. What are you striving for in ministry? What is the end goal for your staff, leaders, volunteers, and students? Does it match your churches philosophy of ministry? I am still tweaking the statement, but this what we have landed on for now.
Get connected to God. Get connected to people. Stay connected to both.
If we were successful in doing this as a ministry I think the end result would be an alive and thriving student ministry. The following vision of student ministry was a benchmark that was passed on to me from Bobby Pruitt, my high school youth pastor.
Student ministry is not student ministry until the student is doing ministry.
My desire would be that my leaders understand that small groups, teaching, music, and dynamic programs are all good things but these things are not the end result we are chasing after. Student ministry is not a 4-7 year sprint spiritually, crossing the finish line when the student graduates high school. We pray the individual student will be equipped to take every opportunity for the rest of their lives starting in middle school to look to the interest of others and display the attitude of Jesus, as found in Philippians 2.
STUDENT MINISTRY HANDBOOK. I think phrasing it like that sounds a bit less constrictive than a policy manual or rules to follow…but it is what it sounds like. To both our veteran leaders of 8+ years and those new leaders just expressing interest, this handbook provides in greater detail how we are going to accomplish the vision. The handbook provides the reality of expected duties that a leader will sign off on claiming they understand we are on the same page. It contains specific serving role protocol along with descriptions, requirements/expectations of a leader/volunteer, and a section on child abuse protocol and procedure. Prior to going over sealing the deal with the handbook there is an online application they are asked to fill out that covers references and background checks. Here is a sample of our most current Student Ministry Handbook.
Here are a few things I think should be included in any handbook and discussed with any leader or volunteer serving in student ministry:
Get your ministry on the same page. Give them a vision to follow and handbook to go to when questions come up or they want to know where you stand on situations that will occur in ministry. Subscribe via email to lifeofayouthpastor.com in the upper right hand corner of this page.
My move from Chicago to Austin is now complete and we are settling into our new home here. Settling may not be the right word, things are crazy busy as we strive to launch for a new school year right around the corner!!! I am still meeting new staff members, being introduced to some of my volunteers, hanging out with students, etc. All along, trying to wrap my head around how youth ministry is being done here currently while continually asking God, “How do you want me to serve here? What is your desire for these students/leaders/volunteers?” Though it may seem like the calm before the storm, I think the waves are getting choppy and my ship is headed full steam ahead into a school year of programming, recruiting leaders, and establishing healthy community. Anyone else feel the storm brewing? While I have done this all before at my previous church it does feel like a new ship and some unchartered waters…where do they keep the life-jackets, where is the throttle, how much food and water do we have aboard, do we have any leaks that need patching or repair?!
I need some key items going into this storm. These things I must keep aboard to ensure health and safety for my staff/volunteer team, while also providing good vision and direction to get us to the other side, knowing we accomplished what God had asked of us after the school year is over.
Here are a few key things that came to my mind, what would you add to the list or emphasize?
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