Not A Mega Church? Building a Youth Ministry that Lasts no matter what size Church you are!

21Dec/090

Bridging the Gap

Over my 12 plus years in full-time youth ministry, I have encountered all sorts of highs and lows.  Of the many lows, the one that I have experienced to be most hurtful and harmful is the communication and relationship gap I have seen between parents and children.  As a parent of 4 young ones, I know that most parents do not actively seek to destroy their children in any way.  Although there are always a few bad seeds, I have seen so many great relationships between parent and child.  Nonetheless, it happens.  As I have been dealing with one closer to home lately, I have tried to examine what my role as a Youth Pastor is in this.

As I have been processing, I have come to the conclusion that as a Youth Program we have to address this communication gap between parents and children.  I know that we are not the savior here and by addressing this potential gap as there will still be miscommunication and problems between children and their parents.  But, like a previous resolved issue I had with not talking about the sex and dating topics, if we fail to address this and offer ways to help and encourage, I believe we are doing a disservice to those in our church and outside of it as well.

So, I am now brainstorming ways to bridge the gap between parents and teens.  One of the things we are going to do is to address this gap at one of our Sunday Night gatherings in January.  It goes along with a Series Katie came up with and we've entitled it "What Parents and Teens wish each other knew". As Katie and I are just beginning to plan it out, one of the parts that I would like to see happen is that we give the parents and teens (who come together to this event) an opportunity to talk about life and what is going on.  I know this doesn't sound "life-changing" or "new", but in my area (Northern VA), people are extremely busy.  Parents work 2 jobs or the mom and dad both work full-time.  Students play in sports, involved in clubs, play in the school band or do all 3.  It is a busy lifestyle here which means that parents and teens do not get an opportunity to just sit down and talk anymore which could cause a possible communication gap between the two parties.

A few months ago, I asked a parent of 4 whose children are all high school and older how she survived the teenage years without her children getting into a bad crowd or in trouble with the school or the law.  She said that one of the key things they did as a family was to have dinner together each night.  What a novel concept - have dinner together as a family!!  Just kidding, but seriously, a simple thing like having dinner together opened the door for them to talk and stay involved in each others lives. I think by giving students and their parents an opportunity to talk, especially if they are not talking at home, helps them bridge that gap between them.

Now, this is just 1 idea that I had and am still thinking through what else we can offer parents and teens.  But what about you?  What are you doing or can you do to bridge this gap?

TAKE A MINUTE and...

  1. Brainstorm ways you can help teens and parents bridge the relationship and communication gap.  What are things you have tried or heard that works?  Talk to other youth ministers and see if they have any ideas and/or if there is a way you all can do an event together.
  2. Talk to some of your students and parents and see what are things they need and would like to see you do as a Youth Minister (please note, just because they believe you should do x,y and z does not mean you have to do x,y and z).  By you doing this, it gives you a pulse of where your parents and students are in regards to this issue.

If you have an idea that you have seen work, please post it as a way to encourage others bridge this gap.

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24Sep/090

Investing in Students

For the first time in my ministry career, I have a full-time Youth Staff Associate!  I have had quite a few (5 to be exact) part time help throughout my 6 years at Cedar Run, but nothing quite like this.  Not only is my Associate a female which brings great balance to our youth program, but she is very well organized and creative - everything I am not.  So, I'm really pumped for her and what she is offering our program and young ladies.

Although I have been very grateful for all she has done so far, I know that she has been overwhelmed at different times since her arrival.  A big part of this is because ever since she came on board in July, she has been swamped with what people are expecting her to do.  They will stop her on Sunday morning or send her emails about what they feel her job is.  Have you ever had people try to tell you all the things they think you should be doing?  I'm sure you have because as non-mega Church Youth Pastors, we are expected to be the "All-in-One".  We are the face, heart and soul of the ministry (thanks for the phrase Barry Hill).  Because of this, it can be very easy for us to forget what our purpose in ministry is.

During times like these we need to step back and remember the primary reason we got involved in youth ministry.  That is to invest in students and win them to Christ.  The fact is for us to do effective youth ministry, we need to be out with students regularly getting to know who they are, what they like and building trust so that you can take them deeper in Christ one step at a time.  It is NOT to be locked up in offices from 9 to 5.  It is NOT to create cool programs or events.  It is NOT to send letters out.  And it is NOT to come up with the hippest run-on characters.  Although all these aspects are important and necessary, our primary responsibility is to be with students.

So, how are you doing with that?

TAKE A MINUTE and...

  1. Examine where are you spending your time.  Are you spending enough time with students or are you getting trapped doing other responsibilities too much?
  2. What could you do today and the rest of this week to invest in the youth in your program?

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15Jun/090

Getting the Right Students Involved

Years ago, and I mean years ago, like 1960 to 1980s years ago, there was a youth ministry theory called the Key Kid Theory.  Have you ever heard of this before?  Unfortunately, if you try to google it, you cannot find it.  I first heard about it when I was attending classes at Messiah College, working towards a Christian Education degree.

The Key Kid Theory is a strategy that if you, as the Youth Pastor or Head Youth Leader, focus on beginning and developing relationships with the key (i.e. popular) students at the local high school or in the youth program, you would be able to draw many more students to you youth program or event.  It is a theory that requires you to spend most of your time and energy building and developing relationships with these select students.  The benefit is that hopefully you will be able to draw more students into your program because now you have the “cool” factor as you have “cool” students coming to whatever you are doing. It is very controversial and I have found that a simple discussion on this can often turn very heated.

What do you think of this kind of approach?  Do you think this is the right approach to take in attracting key students?  Does this still happen in today’s ministry?

Unfortunately, I believe that many youth ministries still operate on this theory today.  I say unfortunately because I do not believe that this is the right approach to take for a few reasons:

  1. There are no more key kids. Back when this theory was in prominence, you had your all-star quarterback and head cheerleader that everyone wanted to be around.  If you wanted to draw students to an event you were hosting, having them there would cause others to follow.  However, in this day and age, the all-star quarterback and the head cheerleader are the heads of just 2 of the numerous groups in the local middle and high schools.  There are so many other groups in school now that you cannot simply focus on building relationships or winning the right with just a group or two.  If you do, you will miss out on the majority of the students in your school or your ministry.
  2. This theory encourages favoritism. When you focus on a few key students, you are choosing to alienate the others in your program. You are creating a class system – the cool and the uncool, the haves and have-nots.  Sure, you can argue that you are taking this approach because you want to and will reach the have-nots.  But, you focus on them only after you get the haves, only after you win the better students. This is counter to all Christ was about.  He constantly spent time with and won the right with everyone, especially the uncool, poor, desolute and the have nots (Mark 2:13-17). James 2:1-10 also highlights the importance of loving everyone the same, not matter what they look like or do.

Even though I am not advocating a key kid theory, I do believe you can and should surround yourself with the right students in your program.  You need students to help you for a variety of reason.  For starters, it gives them ownership of the program and allows them to use their gifts for the Lord.  Secondly, it provides you with additional leaders to minister.  Working at a non-mega church, it can be hard to find the right leaders to help you minister to your youth.  By having these students involved, you have additional leaders you can use at any given time.  Lastly and most importantly, surrounding yourself with the right students is a perfect opportunity to take students deeper in Christ.

This approach is different than the key kid theory because with key kids you are using the popularity of a few to gain attendance and prominence of your program.  The right student approach is designed to focus on students first, program second.  It is a great opportunity to take your students to that next level.

Who are your right students?

What makes up the right student?  For starters, anyone could be one.  Unlike the key kid theory, you are not alienating anyone because being the right student has nothing to do with popularity, race or gender.  It has everything to do with surrounding yourself with students who are ready to take that next step in their relationship with Christ.  They are the ones that have a desire to go deeper, have a heart to reach others and have the ability to make an impact for Christ!  In the Youth Specialties Artsource Clip Art, they have a clip art called F.A.T.  You may have heard it before, but it stands for someone who is Faithful, Available and Teachable.  Your right students will be someone who embodies these three characteristics.

Faithful: Finding the right student requires you to find someone who is faithful to Christ first and foremost.  In Matthew 6:33, Christ challenges us all to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.  When you are looking for that right student, you have to find someone who has a desire to grow in his/her relationship with Christ.

I have encountered a lot of students in my time that have had a lot of potential to do great things.  They are funny and very charismatic, but their desire and passion for Christ is very little.  No matter how much time I spent with them, they just did not want Christ that much.  Unless your potential right student knows Christ and is actively seeking him first, they are the wrong student for what you want to accomplish.

Available: You may have a student who is very faithful to Christ and your program and wants to help out in some way.  However, this student is not always available because he/she plays a sport(s), is highly involved at school, has a job or other recreational conflicts that prevent them from help out very much.  We live in a very busy world where people and programs are tugging on our students left and right.  They are not always bad things as there are many good things for them to do.  If a student has so much on their plate, they are probably the wrong student for you because they have limited availability.

For example, I had this great student a few years ago who was well grounded, had a servants heart and had a desire for his friends to come to know Christ.  The problem was that he was involved in so much!  He had a girlfriend, was very involved in Young Life, played, coached and refereed sports.  Not only that but he was very involved in school activities!  This person would have been great to have serve with us at the Church, but he was never available.  Did that limit what Christ did in his life?  No Way!  God did some great things in his life and the life of others.  But, it did limit what he could do at Cedar Run.

Deciding whether or not someone is available or not is a tough call to make, but it needs to be made.  In the long run, there are few things more frustrating for students and Youth Pastors alike when the desire for them to be involved is there, but the actuality for them doing what is needed is NOT there.  In order for a student to be the right student, he or she needs to be available.

Teachable: Being teachable is key.  Being faithful and available are very important, but if you have a student who fits the first 2 categories but is not teachable, he/she is not worth the investment you will put into them.  When someone is teachable, that means they are willing to be taught and desire to learn.

I have been doing youth ministry full time for over 12 years and following Christ whole heartedly for over 16 years.  I could easily say that I know it all and that there is nothing more for me to learn.  But that is not the case.  As Proverbs 12:15 says, “Fools think they need no advice, but the wise listen to others.”  The moment we think we know it all and are not willing to learn is the moment we lose our effectiveness for Christ.

In order to be the right student, someone has to be teachable.  God has so much He wants us to know and learn that we have to be open to his leading and direction, no matter how well versed we feel that we are.

Once you have set up the criteria, students can decide for themselves if they are ready to be the right students for what you are looking for.  You are not alienating anyone, you are simply taking students who want to, go to that next level.

How to Invest in them?

Now that you have identified the right students, it is important to invest in them properly.  Investing and building into them is very similar to how you invest in your leaders.  You want to give them skills to be successful in ministry, but you also want to help them out with life skills.  What is it they need to hear or know about a followers of Christ in today’s world?   For each youth program, your training time with the students will look different depending on what your mission statement and primary focus is.  However, here are a few suggestions you could use for your F.A.T. Training Times:

  • Spend time digesting Scripture together.  This is not another Bible Study, but use this opportunity to build into your leader students and inspire them to take leaps of faith similar to what is found in the Bible.
  • Give them ownership of your program.  They are available to help, so include them in planning and preparing.  At Cedar Run, we created Ministry Teams for students to serve in.  Having them being able to meet in those Teams during this time is important.
  • Walk through a book together.  There are great books out there that you all can spend time covering like “Improving Your Serve” by Charles Swindoll, “Holy Sweat” by Tim Hansel or “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster.  Reading and processing books like these will inspire your students to take that next step and continue to pursue Christ all the more.
  • Use this time as a way to teach and live out community and accountability.  Over the course of your meeting time, break up into guy and girl small groups where you are getting real with each other.  Break down walls (not literally please) by building trust and support with each other.  It can be a powerful time.

You have an awesome opportunity to surround yourself with all sorts of students when you are in ministry.  But, if you can identify some of the right students to catch your vision and run with you, you, your ministry and most importantly, they will be much better off.  You are going to be training and equipping your students who could have a far greater impact in life and in ministry than you will.  What’s not to like about that?

TAKE A MINUTE and…

  1. Examine if you have the right students in your program.  Are the F.A.T.?
  2. How are you going to raise them up?  Use the summer months to start planning out a fall training and leadership time.
  3. Invite some new students to become the right students you surround yourself with.  Encourage your other volunteer leaders to identify students as well so that you can kick this off successfully in the fall.

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10Jun/090

Walking with our Students and Reinforcing Ideas

Recently, my family and I went to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA.  If you have never been to a Great Wolf Lodge before, check them out as it's a great family place.  Basically, it's an indoor water park attached to a hotel!  It is pretty amazing and extremely exhausting.

While were there, I had an interesting experience with my 3 year old that lead me to come to 2 conclusions about youth ministry.   She reminded me how important it is to be walking with our students regularly and the value of reinforcement.

Walking with our Students

My 3 year old is very adventurous and bold.  She loves to try new things and can be very independent from my wife and I, which as you can imagine, can be very heart-wrenching for a parent.  However, when we got to the water park inside the Lodge, she immediately froze up and didn't know what to do with all the water, slides and things to do.  She became very timid and scared on taking a step in any one direction.  We eventually decided to go to the kiddie slides.  When we got there, she did not want to go down, even though she had been on those types of slides before.  So, I showed her what to do by going down the slide myself and waited for her to come afterwards.  She was still very hesitant, but eventually sat down on the slide, ready to go.  But, before she would allow herself to go down the slide she made sure that I had my arms out at the end of the slide, ready to catch her.  She came down, I caught her and she said, "Let's do it again"!  So, we did it again, and again, and again, til, eventually, she didn't need me to help her anymore.  She was fully comfortable doing it herself.

This act shows the importance of us, Youth Pastors and Head Youth Leaders, walking through life with our students.  As their leaders, we are in charge of presenting Christ to them and in case you didn't know, that is not one of the top 3 most popular things to do as a tween or teenager.  Therefore, we have our work cut out for us.  But, if we walk with our students by building relationships with them and showing them how to live their life for Christ through our example, we can help them know and understand the great value of being in a relationship with Him.  My daughter was scared to death to go down the slide by herself, but because she saw me go down it and she trusted me to catch her when she came down, that helped her overcome that fear.

The same can be true when we walk with our students and help show them how to live for Christ by the way we live our lives and do things.  Christ models this clearly in Matthew 4:19 when he says to come follow him, for he will make them fishers of men.  How do you think he made them fishers of men?  Do you think he relied on their great fishing ability to hook men and women?  No, he helped them become fishers of men by walking through life with them and modeling how to live their lives.  He didn't just teach them, he showed them how to do it.  We need to be walking through life with our students and modeling Christ to them.

Reinforcement is Key

The very next day, I had a similar experience with my daughter which revealed another powerful truth about youth ministry.  As we came into the water park, my daughter decided she wanted to go down those slides again.  I thought to myself, "Great, she's going to be able to go down by herself and all I have to do is watch and make sure something drastic doesn't happen".  Well, that's not exactly what happened.  As soon as we got to the stairs to go up the slide, she became scared and timid again.  It was like she never went on the slide before!  I quickly became very frustrated with her because I couldn't figure out why she wouldn't go down.  But, non-the-less, I walked her up and went down the slide again to show her it was ok.  Then, before she would come down, I had to hold out my arms to catch her, just like I had to do the day earlier.  When she came down, she realized how fun it was and then pick up right where we left the day before - not needing my help to go up and down the slides, just be an observer.

My daughter had completely forgotten what it meant to go down that slide and the fun she had until she experienced it again.  She needed that joy reinforced.  In the same way, our students tend to forget the joys and benefits of following Christ on a daily basis.  It is a tough world we live in today where trials and struggles happen daily.  When we experience those trials, it can zap out all we know to be true about Christ.  It's not suppose to happen that way, but depending on the trail, our students can become very discouraged and forget about all Christ has done for them and others.

Therefore, we  have to keep on reminding them and reinforcing the material and experiences they have.   Christ is the perfect model of this as well.  Throughout the gospels, Christ taught numerous times on love and service.  Then, in John 13:1-17, he reinforced his teaching with actions.  He showed just how important these teachings were by reinforcing them later.  Spiritual highs and lows will come and go for the students.  But, if we are there affirming them and reinforcing the greatness of God, they have the opportunity to never forget the power of the living God and benefit greatly!

TAKE A MINUTE and...

  1. Examine who you are walking with.  Which students are benefiting from spending time with you ?  If you are not currently investing in any students, make a list of students you would like to begin to invest in and seek to begin to build those relationships.
  2. How are you reinforcing material learned and giving your students experiences that will encourage them and help them constantly know the joys and benefits of following Christ?  If you are not currently reinforcing ideas, now, with the of school here, it is a great time to review and reinforce ideas and teaching from earlier in the year.

Questions, experiences or thoughts?  Feel free to post them here so we can be encouraging each other.

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1Jun/090

Are we preparing for the future of the children?

Have you ever heard an athlete or celebrity say that they are doing a good work "for the kids"?  I've heard it many times and when a person says this, they are saying that their actions and deeds were inspired by or are meant to benefit the children.  Well, over the Memorial Day weekend, I had a "for the kids" moment.  Over the weekend,  my family and I went to a BBQ with a bunch of friends and their families. It was a great day with tons of food, lots of laughter and lots of children and young teens hanging out and playing.

While we were at the BBQ, I looked at all the children having fun and I began to think of their future.  Unfortunately, when I did that, it broke my heart.  I thought that although these are innocent, playful children right now, some or most of them would end up getting involved in partying, drugs, sexting or whatever the new craz is when they get older. Talk about a "Debbie Downer"!   I know it's the age old question, but what is it that drives them to these temporal pleasures? What is it that causes them to search these things out? How can these children, playing around with water guns and swinging on swings sets branch out to these things?  More importantly, I began to wonder how can we help?  How can we, as believers and ministers, meet their needs and show them Christ so that they do not need to venture into this area?

First, it starts with you and your family in your neighborhood.  My wife heard Elle Lofaro speak at our Church's Women Retreat a few years ago and she challenged all the women to be the oak tree of the neighborhood.   An Oak tree is a big tree that stretches out wide, thus it is a source of shade for people to come under.  People can come to it during or after a long hot day in the sun and rest under the shade to restore their strength.  In the same way, your neighbors can come and rest under your oak tree - your house.  Your house can be the oak tree of the neighborhood where people will want to come, catch some shade and go on with your day.  It can be a place where they regain strength and move on with their day.

By being followers of Christ, we can offer our neighbors something they can't find anywhere else.  As Christ said to the woman at the well, "whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst (John 4:13-14)."  As a family, we can offer them this living water in which they do not have to be thirsty anymore.  Can your neighbors find this water at your house?  Can they find rest there or is your house just like everyone else?  As followers of Christ, we are called to be witnesses for him (Matthew 28:19-20).  Therefore, our houses should reflect Christ to all who come into it and when we do that, children and adults alike can be impacted for His glory.

Secondly, as ministers, we need to be thinking strategically with our Children's Ministry or Christian Education Director. Students don't become sex crazed, beer bingeing students overnight. Nor will they become youth who are passionate about Christ and all he has for them overnight as well. By coordinating a strategic plan from childhood to young adulthood, you can give the children and youth a knowledge base that can help them handle each of life's situations that they encounter.  Of course we know that knowledge does not always result in appropriate actions, but it is our responsibility to help our students process that knowledge so that they can make the right decisions.

In life and ministry there is only so much we can control.  Ultimately, children and youth are going to make their own decisions about life.  But, what are you doing for the kids?  What can you do in your neighborhood and in your ministry that will help provide them with a godly perspective?

TAKE A MINUTE and...

  1. Brainstorm ways that you and your family can be the oak tree in your neighborhood
  2. Set up a meeting with your Church's Christian Ed of Children's Ministry Director to start thinking strategically about a plan to minister to the children and youth at your Church.

Do you have some thoughts on this?  What are other ways we can be strategic in caring for our next generation of Christ followers?  Post a comment or suggestion.

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20Apr/090

Being on Guard

In my last post, "Staying Connected", I highlighted the benefits of being connected in the digital, mobile world.  I still believe it is very importance for us to be connected.  HOWEVER, in Sunday's Washington Post, I was reminded that for every good thing to help us minister better, there are pitfalls and opportunities for Satan to mess with us and prevent us from being as effective as we need to be.

Please take a minute to read this article.  It actually involves an Assistant Principle at the local High School in my town.  Even thought it involves an Assistant Principle (not a person in ministry), I couldn't help but think that this could be any of us!

I hope you can take time to read this article as it cause me to make sure I am on Guard.

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16Apr/092

Staying Connected

Can you picture your first computer? What did it look like and what could you do on it? Do you remember the first time you connected to the internet? How long did it take you to go from page to page? Can you picture your first cell phone? What did it look like and what were its capabilities? How about the first time you sent an email, how weird was that? When was the first time you tried a digital camera?

The world has changed so much since our first computers, cell phones and the first time we got on the web or sent an email. Our desktop computers have turned into small, thin laptops. Our clunky, gray screened cell phones have turned into mini-computers that have many different functions. The internet has gone from a slow, fun thing to do to a must have information mega-tool. We have gone from having tons of pictures in albums to storing them on CDs and on the internet. Technology has changed so much of how we function today. We have become a digital, mobile world where people are doing all sorts of things in the palms of their hands. The question is, are you connected to it?

Why does a youth pastor have to be connected digitally? For starters, this is a great way to stay connected with teens. In a recent cnet.com article, it stated that “advertisers are clamoring to reach teens in digital environments because that's where they're spending much of their time--either online, with cell phones or playing video games.” Take a quick look around your youth program. How many of your students are on facebook, have a smartphone where they are texting, checking email, surfing the web, taking pictures and sending them to their friends or are tweeting something or another. Today’s youth are connected to the digital world. It is a primary source of communication for them and a perfect opportunity for you to stay connected to them.

Secondly, as a relational based ministry, we need to be out with students. But, at the same time, we have to be in the office doing administrative work, planning and answering calls and/or emails. By being mobile and connected digitally, you can be with students while also being able to receive important emails or calls as needed. I know Youth Pastors are not CEOs of huge companies where their immediate response is vital, but I do believe it is important to be able to be reached at any time.

Now, there are always exceptions to the rule. My friend Robbie Pruitt, the Youth Pastor at the Church of Epiphany in Herndon, VA, DOES NOT have a cell phone. In his overly exaggerated and entirely too long of a list of reasons why, he does have some solid reasons. For instance, he said that by not having a cell phone it causes him to plan ahead better and it allows him to be with people rather than always having a phone ring when he is spending time in a meeting with others. He also said that he has an office and phone line and he checks his voicemails and his email regularly. These are all very good reasons why not to have a cell phone.

However, the fact that Robbie does not have a cell phone does not mean that he is not connected. He carries his laptop around everywhere and prefers email. He also stays connected to his youth and others through his blogs (one of them is My Two Mites - http://robbiepruitt.blogspot.com) and facebook. Even thought Robbie does not own a cell phone does not mean that he is not connected. The point is that we live in a mobile, connected world. If we are not connected in some form or another, then we are missing opportunities to engage people in today’s world.

How can you be digital/mobile? Here are just a few ways you can become digital:

  • Start a Facebook account, if you haven’t already (MySpace is out). This social network is free and is great, not only to connect with students but also your friends and other Youth Pastors
  • Get a Smartphone (or at least text messaging and email ability)
  • Use a Laptop
  • Take more digital pictures and videos and post them online so everyone can see them. Facebook is great for this.

I know it is easy to say that you need all these things in order to be digital and work in a mobile world. The fact is, as Robbie has pointed out, you do not need all these items, but I do believe that you do need some of them to stay engaged in the culture. The bigger question is how can you afford all these things, especially working at a smaller church/organization with a limited budget from your youth program? I have never worked with a budget of more than $15,000 before and I know that you can these supplies. It may just take a little creativeness on your part.

Here are some ways you can creatively stay connected with a limited budget.

  • Find out exactly what your budget is and where you are spending money. See if there may be wasteful spending and if any funds can be reallocated into different, more necessary areas.
  • Post a Needs List at your church. There may be business men/women who have an older model laptop or phone they can give you. Or, they may have a new one that they want to give you. A few years ago a parent called me up to see if I needed a brand new PDA that he had just gotten. I did not need it, but another Staff member at our office did so he gave it to her. People are generous and want to give, especially when there is a need. However, if we never let anyone know our needs, we may never find out exactly how generous they can be.
  • Write a Needs Proposal to your Church Leadership about these specific needs. If your church/ministry wants you to be with students, this is a perfect way to reach them and stay connected to administrative needs at the same time. You may not have enough money to get all these things from your youth budget, but the Church should have office and administrative money they could pull from. My suggestion is to not get greedy and try to get the most expensive MacBook Pro or a $300 smartphone with the most applications. As you examine your needs, you will be able identify what devices you need to be successful. Then, you can formally go before your Church Leadership, Board or Elders to make a proposal for these items. The key here is to outline exactly why you need these items.

As you get engaged with these items to help you be more efficient and reach more students, I want to issue a word of caution on being connected. Having these products is great because you are connected all the time. In the same way, it can also be a bad thing that you are connected all the time. For example, in Exodus 20:8-10a, God says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.” Just because we are connected, does not mean that we have to have technology physically connected to us all the time. When it is your day off, take a day off. Don’t answer your phone, check your email or even facebook. When we do this, we are working and not keeping the Sabbath as God commands us to.

Secondly, as Robbie mentioned, when we are too connected all the time, we can lose sight of important relationships. For instance, nothing drives my wife crazier when I get home at night than when I answer text messages, phone calls or emails. She feels that even thought I am physically home, in all reality, I am not because I am checking these things. As good as technology is for us to be connected to others, take time to rest, re-energize and focus on those closest to you. Do not become a slave to technology.

TAKE A MINUTE and…

  1. Take an inventory of your digital, mobile needs. What do you currently have and what do you need?
  2. Start researching what Mobile devices you need to get. What are their functions and prices.
  3. Get connected!

Like this, hate this or have thoughts on this, post a comment.

Sources:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9991979-93.html?tag=nefd.top

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30Mar/096

Assessing Where Your Students Are At

How many times have you heard this from a member or your congregation, “When I was in youth group, we did (fill in the blank). You should try to do that.” When that person said that to you, did you slap them in the face and say, “Wake up”?  I’m just kidding about the slap in the face, but not kidding about the “wake up” comment. I couldn’t tell you how many times people have come up to me and tried to tell me that I should model our current youth ministry program after their youth group 20-30 years ago. I am sure you have had similar experiences.

What I feel that people fail to realize is that the tactics youth ministers used 20-30 years ago are not as effective in reaching today’s youth. A perfect example for this is the newspaper industry. Just recently the Denver Rocky Mountain Post and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had to close business while the Philadelphia Inquirer just declared bankruptcy. How could this happen? These are big newspapers in big markets! What could have caused these newspapers to struggle this much?

What happened was that times changed and more and more people were getting their [the newspapers] information for free off of their website. Why would anyone buy a newspaper when they can get the exact same information for free!?! We have become a digital world and less people are buying papers. Because less people are buying papers, ad agencies are spending less to promote in newspapers. Ad revenue is the money flow that all newspapers need. These newspapers (and probably more to come) have failed to adapt to the change in the world thinking and have paid the price for it.

The Washington Times, however, has taken a radical approach to this change. For starters, they stopped producing a Saturday newspaper in order to save money. Then, on March 24th, 2009, they hired Thomas Culligan to serve a new position called “Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer”. In a statement, the Washington Times said, “Mr. Culligan will lead the Times’ advertising and marking departments as the company carries out an ‘aggressive transformation’ from a printed product to a multimedia company serving customers in the local, national and global markets.”  The Washington Times was proactive in responding to the change in how people are receiving information. With this hire and change in approach, did the Washington Times sacrifice their core values and mission? NO! They simply changed their approach at reaching their audience.

How does this relate to assessing where your students are at?

It relates because just like newspapers, youth ministry needs to be think of adaption. The way we adapt is through evaluation. We live in a post-modern world. If we are still doing ministry the same way our youth ministers and pastors did when we were young, we have failed! Now, don’t get me wrong. You can still have the same goals such as community building and outreach. Those are good goals that can stand the test of time. But, if you approach community building and outreach the same youth ministers did in the 70s or 80s, we are missing our potential. Most importantly, students are missing out because we are failing to reach the teens of today.

That is why it is important to know your students. What is the make up of your students? Are they churched or unchurched? Are they public, private or home schooled? Where are they at with Christ? Do they have a relationship with Christ? If not, how are you going to reach them for Christ? Do you have any leader students? What are their interests? These are just a few questions you can be asking yourself about your students. By answering them, you are beginning to understand who they are and what makes them tick. Once you understand your students better, you can start reaching them for Christ in a more effective way.

Understanding your students will help be more effective in organizing your gatherings. For example, if you decide to start doing expository teaching, but your youth are not spiritually mature to handle that depth, then you will not be as effective in reaching them. A topical teaching approach would be better. In the same way, this applies to how you organize your meetings. If you decide, without knowing where you youth are at first, that you want to be outreach focused in which you organize your meeting times with all fun and games, then conclude with a brief message, yet fail to have anything for strong believers to go deeper, you may might not be adequately addressing the needs of your youth to take that next step in Christ. Whatever your situation is, in order to move forward and producing real fruit, it is always best if you know where your students are at first!

Once you have identified who they are, you can begin to set up a strategy for reaching them. A few years ago, I took a hard look at my ministry. Out of that time of assessment and evaluation, I discovered that I was not reaching my students where they were and taking them to that next level. In some ways it was very difficult to realize that we were not being as effective as we could be. But, out of that time came a new strategy for the program (we will talk about developing a strategic plan in my next post). Out of your time of student assessment, may come a time of re-strategizing. Or, it may just confirm what you are doing is reaching your students for Christ.

As you begin to look at understanding your students and possibly re-strategize how you reach them, I want to encourage you to talk to your Senior Pastor (or Senior Director) about what you are processing and learning about your students. I have found that, when you are thinking about taking a shift in where your program is headed, it is best to make sure your Supervisor knows what is going on and why are thinking about this. Then, they know what is going on and can help you process further. Also, this helps because if someone complains about things, your Supervisor will already know what is going on and can be supportive, rather than caught off guard.

I want to be clear here. This is not an evaluation where you are looking at your mission statement and focus on being purposeful (we will talk about that in our next post). This is an assessment of the progress you are making at reaching students in this post-modern world. You can have the best purposes out there, but if you do not understand your students or the students you are trying to reach, your purposes will fail. Whether you are new to your ministry position or have been there for a few years, it is always good to take an honest, regular assessment of where you are at in reaching students for Christ.

The key to this assessment is deciding how you judge success. For each ministry it will be different. It could be having the most students go to summer camp so they can hear about Christ and be changed. For others it could be having a solid and growing small group ministry. It does not matter what you are striving to be – that is between you and God. It only matters how you judge your success. Once you are able to determine how you will judge your success, you can begin the process of knowing just how effective you are in reaching students for Christ.

By understanding your audience and setting realistic goals to encourage them in their relationship with Christ, you have a way to adequately judge your success and be more effective at taking them to the next level in Christ. Let’s not have our program die off, like some of the newspapers out there, because we fail to adapt our program to these post-modern teens. We can be more effective. It begins with taking an assessment of who they are.

TAKE A MINUTE and…

1. Begin to assess your students. Print out (or write out) every student in your program. Then, begin to write down notes about who they are. Where are they with Christ? What are their life interests? How is their home life? You may not know all the details about each student, so ask your volunteer leaders to help you (make it a leaders meeting time in which you are critically looking at these students).

2. After you assess who they are, start looking at how you are doing ministry. Is your ministry effectively reaching these students for Christ? If not, how can you begin to change and adapt?

Source: “The Washington Times”, March 24, 2009, A8/Business

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