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

23Jul/100

GUEST POST: Beyond our Sandbox

This GUEST POST comes from Mark Seager.  Mark is the Associate Pastor at Cedar Run Community Church in Herndon, VA.  He is a very gifted communicator as his passion for the Lord and people to come to know him is evident in all he does.  Secretly, I've been trying to get him to blog & write more often, but no such luck yet :)

When the Israelites assembled on the bank of the Jordan River posed to enter the Promised Land they were exhorted to Dwell on God’s Word, trust God recklessly and remember their fellow countrymen.  Much ink and breath has been expended in expounding the first two points, but it was the third point that stood out to me in Joshua 1:12-15 (NLT):

12 Then Joshua called together the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He told them, 13 “Remember what Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you: ‘The Lord your God is giving you a place of rest. He has given you this land.’
14 Your wives, children, and livestock may remain here in the land Moses assigned to you on the east side of the Jordan River. But your strong warriors, fully armed, must lead the other tribes across the Jordan to help them conquer their territory. Stay with them 15until the Lord gives them rest, as he has given you rest, and until they, too, possess the land the Lord your God is giving them. Only then may you return and settle here on the east side of the Jordan River in the land that Moses, the servant of the Lord, assigned to you.”

The three tribes allocated land east of the Jordan were told that even though they may have settled in their territories, the job was not finished until their compatriots wer in their lands.  This is an important concept for any team to remember.  Most organizations are staffed with people operating with different job descriptions.  Each team member has (or should have!) their own set of duties, tasks, and responsibilities.  (Good organizations place  people where they’re competent.)   Job descriptions define our role on the team and remind me of sandboxes.  Have you ever seen 2-year olds play in sandboxes?  They’re usually territorial and don’t want to give up any of “their” turf to another.  Sadly in many teams don’t function as teams — everyone stays in their sandbox.  Jealously guarding budget dollars and our sense of self worth.  But the warriors of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (the Eastern dudes) were told not to be content with staying in their sandboxes.  Instead, they were to help the other players to get their territories.   Real teamwork means thinking beyond our own sandboxes and looking to the overarching mission of the larger team.  In this case it was not enough to conquer the territories east of the Jordan; the Eastern dudes had to help the rest of the team.   The job is not done once our job is done.

In churchworld, we must remember that we are part of a bigger effort to advance the Kingdom that spills beyond our sandbox.  Our “Promised Land”, our mission is develping mature Christians through evangelism and discipleship.  This mandate is huge so we try the divide-and-conquer approach; separating ministry by affinity group (e.g. children, singles, boomers, etc.) and style of ministry (e.g. small group, music, etc.).  While there’s some benefits to breaking our mission into bite size chunks, we lose out when we confine ourselves to our sandboxes.  Its important to see ourselves as Joshua addressed the tribes — parts of a bigger picture.

Having said that, it is annoying when others who are not experts on the matters of our sandboxes jump in with their opinions and suggestions.  So how do we play in eachother’s sandboxes without invading them?  After discussing this at our staff meeting, some things popped to mind:

  • Remember there’s more to our mission than just our sandbox
  • Humility in giving and receiving advice
  • Informed prayer:  This only flows from trusting relationships on the team.
  • Recognize that ministries ebb and flow — don’t develp a culture of comparison and competition within the team.
  • Ask other teammates how things are goin in their sandbox.  Anything you can do or pray for them?

Let’s learn from the example of Joshua 1 and think beyond our sandboxes.  God’s work is far bigger than each of our job description.  We must be willing and available to play in eachothers’ sandboxes (without being unwanted sandbox invaders) for the cause of our main mission; developing mature Christians for the glory of God!

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24Jun/100

The N.B.A. Finals and Ministry Teams Collide


I'm not a basketball fan, but I must admit, I'm was hooked on the NBA Finals this year.  I loved seeing 2 legendary rivals go head-to-head against each other, battling minute by minute in effort to gain the championship trophy.  The Lakers had Kobe trying, and eventually succeeding, to win his 5th NBA title while Boston had the Big 3 - Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce trying to win their 2nd title together.  Again, even though I am not a basketball fan, I really did watch a lot of that final series with great interest.

Looking at how these 2 teams were assembled and function made me think of Ministry Leadership Teams.  Here is what I mean by that.

The Boston Celtic's "Big 3" consist of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.  While Kobe is still in his prime and could single handedly carry his team to victory, the Big 3 are on the later ends of their careers.  While they are still effective, they are not the solo stars that they once were.  They could no longer be the center pieces alone by themselves.  They needed each other equally to achieve their goal of a championship.  Although they failed this year, they proved they can win together by winning the championship in 2008 and returning to the finals again this year.

The Lakers are built rather differently.  They are centered around Kobe Bryant, arguably the best player in the N.B.A. right now (and maybe ever, but that is a debate for another day).  To me, the Lakers formed their team similar to how many churches look to form a youth ministry team - they look for the superstar and try to build around the superstar.  Kobe represents the Superstar Youth Minister (or Superstar College/Young Adult Minister).  As I posted a week ago here, I do not believe centering your ministry around a superstar youth ministers is a good ministry model to have.  If Kobe had a bad night or 2, that could have potentially cost the Lakers a chance at winning the championship.  Fortunately for them it they still won, but too much depends on him alone.  There is too much focus on that 1 person.

In the same way, Youth and Young Adult Ministry Teams need to be exactly that - TEAMS.  They can not be dependent on just 1 person.  Sure, every ministry team needs a Head Leader, but to expect that person to single-handedly produce superstar results week in and week out is unrealistic.  That is where a well-equipped and trained team comes into play.  The Celtics, even though they failed to win the championship this year, have a great model in place.  They formed a team that complimented each other and added different strengths to the TEAM.  So together, as a unit, they were great.  They didn't rely solely on 1 player to pull them through.  That means that unlike the Lakers, if one of the "Big 3" players had an off night or got injured (as Kevin Garnett did earlier in the year, it would not have as big of an impact.

So, when you are looking at forming your Youth or Young Adult TEAM, here are some things to keep in mind:

  1. Find people who are teachable.  Youth and Young Adult are an ever changing demographic.  As they change, our strategy to reach them must change (Please note, I said strategy, not philosophy).  We must adapt as they adapt.  That means, we need people who are willing to learn and adapt with them.  Ministry team members who get stuck into a certain "way" or pattern of doing things, who believes they know the 100% right way to do ministry is not someone who is going to be helpful to your ministry goals.  You need people who are willing to learn and try new things for the sake of the kingdom.  Just because it worked in the '90s doesn't mean it can work today.
  2. Find people who are flexible and can roll with the punches.  There is nothing normal about Youth and Young Adult ministry.  You may have early morning breakfasts with students, lunch or even late night movies. You may dress up 1 night for a luau and the next night give an in-depth Bible study.  You may also have something planned to minister to 40 students, but only a few people show up.  What do you do then?  You have to be flexible and roll with the punches.  If something does not go as planned, that does not mean that God will not and cannot use it for His glory.  He can do anything, we just have to be flexible, go with it and see where the Lord leads and what He chooses to do with it.
  3. Don't just target 1 type of leader.  The key word is diversity!  Do not just look for all young adults to lead your team.  Look for everyone - parents, singles, young/old married couples, college students.  It doesn't matter. For example, even though Celtic Big 3 worked together great, they had additional help.  In particular, they had this young, very talented player named Rondo.  Rondo is a young gun who energized and inspired the rest of the team with his play.  In the same way, you need a diverse team to reach all students.  That means you need to look for diversity in ethnic background as well.  Again, to reach all students, that means you need to have all types of leaders to reach them.  Do not limit what God can do with all sorts of people who have all sorts of backgrounds.

So, as you are looking at forming or adding to your ministry team, take into consideration the above 3 suggestions.  They are not the only 3 suggestions you should consider, but they are 3 that I have learned over the years that do make a big difference.

TAKE A MINUTE right now and look at the above 3 suggestions and see how your team stacks up against them.  Do you have people who are teachable, flexible and diverse?  If not, what do you need to do to find team members like that?  Also, how can you help train your team to be like that?  Finally, pray to God that he can provide you additional team members to reach the students He has blessed you with.

If you have a thought or comment, please post one so that we can all benefit from your experience.

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