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

23Aug/101

What type of Minister are you?

Growing up I loved playing with Legos.  Every time our parents got us new sets, my twin brother and I would eagerly put them together as quick as possible.  Even though the sets were great to play with, after a while, we would destroy the set and use the Lego pieces to build something completely new or different.  For instance, I remember one Christmas we got this great Fire Station set.  It was very cool as it had 2 levels and 2 different bays for fire engines.  However, after a short period of time, we got bored with it and felt that we could put those pieces (along with some other pieces from other sets) to better use to build a bigger and better set from scratch.  After it was done, being completely biased, I think we did build something truly spectacular.  That was a regular occurrence for my brother and I.  We loved to create and design new buildings from scratch.

That desire to create and build stayed with me all throughout my childhood and into my professional life.  In fact, I can remember the excitement I felt the day I started my first ministry job at Truro Church in September of 1997.  It was a warm, humid day, and my stomach was full of butterflies because I had a ton of excitement about what lay ahead.  Even though I was only a Junior High Intern, my boss had given me complete control of what would happen in the junior high ministry.  See, at the time I was hired, the junior high ministry at Truro was run completely by volunteers.  Although it was run very well, the volunteers did not have a lot of time to put forward a really good program.  They maintained it well, but they could not take the program to another level where the youth were really engaged in what was happening.  Therefore, I was hired to bring some focus and energy into the program.  As I was getting ready to start that first day brought me back to my days of Lego building where I could create something from scratch.

Young Life provided another great challenge for me to undertake after I finished up with Truro.  In fact, it was probably my biggest challenge.  When I started working with Young Life, they had just launched their new initative – WyldLife, their ministry to middle school students.

What I loved about being involved with WyldLife was the ability to start something completely new.  With WyldLife being new, fresh ideas were expected.  The national leadership at Young Life didn’t want WyldLife to look anything like Young Life.  So that caused me and all the other pioneers of WyldLife to think outside the box and try a lot of new things.  Not everything worked, but I can tell you that we did hit some pretty big home runs.  For example, we took two regular events, a Super Bowl party and a Lock-in and made them very unique and outreach focused.  We didn’t want to just watch the Super Bowl or just hang out in a Church for an overnight.  We added spice to them that made them more than just an event.  It was a very exciting time for me as when we started WyldLife as it looked and felt completely different from Young Life.  It was fun to dream and try new ideas.

Starting ministries from scratch or even rebuilding programs is something that I love to do.  After I finished my two-year internship with Truro, I went on to work with Young Life and two other churches to do similar types of start-ups or rebuilds.  Examining who I am and what I am both good and bad I, I have come to believe that you could be any one of the following:

  1. A Starter - someone who enjoys starting a new ministry from scratch or with limited resources.
  2. A Maintainer - someone who can take an existing ministry and keep the status quo going and bring stability to a very unstable situation.
  3. A Lifer - someone who can take a ministry to the next level and develop the ministry that will last

What type of Minister are you?  What makes you tick and get excited?  I do not believe that one type of minister is better than any other.  In fact, because each of us are different, that makes who we are necessary for the even flow of ministry.  Ministry Starters are necessary to get new work or struggling work going again.  However Ministry Maintainers are needed to keep the ship running smoothly and providing a steady hand, making wise decisions.  And, Ministry Lifers are just as important because sometimes a Starter or Maintainer gets burned out or cannot provide long-term vision and direction that is needed.  Lifers have to long term stamina and vision to carry a ministry through and provide the right direction for a long lasting ministry.

So again, who are you?  TAKE A MINUTE and examine who you are.  Don't get wrapped up in who you are not because like I said, I do not believe one type of minister is any better than another (if you disagree, feel free to comment on why).  But this is mainly an opportunity for you to identify what type of minister you are and to feel comfortable with that.  I am a Starter.  No matter how much I try to maintain or be a lifer, that is now how I am wired.  I'm ok with that as I know that is what I'm passionate about and am good at.

I hope and pray that this is helpful for you to be able to identify exactly what type of minister you are and that you excel at it in a God-glorifying way.

Thoughts, comments, questions?  Feel free to post them as it'd be great to get a good discussion going.

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28Apr/102

Every Kid (A Universe of Humanity)

I read a devotional from Our Daily Bread recently and I was struck by how the author started up his devotional.  He wrote,

"During the 1920s and 30s, photographer August Sander set out to portray a cross-section of German society. Through his lens he saw factory workers and financiers, actresses and housewives, Nazis and Jews. Even though his published collection contains only people in and around his hometown of Cologne, he captured what David Propson, writing in The Wall Street Journal, called “a universe of humanity in his restricted sphere.'”

August Sander wanted to portray a cross-section of German society and he found it in his hometown.  Even though it was his "restricted sphere", it resembled many different types of people - financiers, housewives, factory workers, etc.  This is a wide range of backgrounds.  I believe the Church as a whole does a pretty good job of attracting a wide range of backgrounds to the Church.  But, as I thought about my youth program, I was not so sure that I was attracting an accurate universe of humanity in my restricted sphere.

This reminded me of a motto Young Life has.  Young Life has a motto that says, "Every Kid."  When they say that, they mean that their goal is to reach every student for Christ in every school in every region in every state in the nation.

What "Every Kid" doesn't mean is:

  • They want only the cool kids
  • They want only the rich kids
  • They want only the kids that look and act most like them
  • They want only the white kids
  • They want only the athletic kids

Simply and wonderfully put, Young Life is out to reach EVERY KID for Christ!  Every. Single. One.

So, as I look around my youth program, I realize that we do not have a good representation of every kind of student.  Sure, I have both jocks and band students, I have introverts and extroverts, and I have big and tall students.  But overall I don't have a great mix of humanity in my restricted sphere.  I have a glimpse of certain people.  Generally speaking, they are mostly thin, attractive, white students.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but that is not an accurate description of the universe of humanity in the Washington, DC area.  That is not "every kid."

Now, I realize that at a non mega-church, my drawing power is more limited as I may not have the ability or resources to draw every student, but I shouldn't let excuses dictate who comes to Cedar Run and who does not.  I need to keep on challenging myself to look beyond so that "every kid" can hear about Christ and be drawn into a relationship with Him.  So, as I strive to reach every student and have a more accurate reflection of the universe of humanity in my area, I want to do 2 things:

  • Reach out and recruit a more diverse team of youth leaders.
  • Get out to the schools more so I can be meeting up with my students and seeing their friends

What about you?  How can you reach every kid so that you have a more accurate universe of humanity represented in your youth program?

TAKE A MINUTE and...

  1. Examine your youth program's demographic. What is the break down of students?  Does it accurately reflect your area or are you attracting just a certain type of student?
  2. What can you do this week (short term goal) and beyond this week (long term goal) to make sure you are reaching every kid?

Source:

"A Universe of Humanity", David C. McCasland, April 26, 2010, http://odb.org


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6Jul/092

Summer Camping

Over the years I have been doing youth ministry I have heard of and experienced many different kinds of summer camping.  The more popular ones seem to be:

  1. Going on a week-long summer camp.  The purpose of this camp is mainly discipleship (although students are encouraged to bring their friends) and fellowship.
  2. Going on a mission trip.  The purpose of this trip is to serve others and build community amongst the students going.
  3. Going on an outreach trip.  Young Life does this so well with their summer camps.  The purpose here is to bring non-christian students to camp so that they can hear and hopefully respond to the gospel by accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior

Of these 3, I have done the mission and outreach trips.  I have never led or participated in a summer camp before.  I have not done an outreach summer camp since I left Young Life in 2003 (although I have done weekend outreach trips since then).  My primary trip over the summer since I have been at Cedar Run has been to do a mission trip.  The reasons why I like doing a mission trip over the summer are because:

  • I like challenging students to step out of their comfort zone and pushed in their faith.
  • As I mentioned above, Young Life does such a great job at outreach camps that I would rather just send them to Young Life camp than try to duplicate what they do.
  • With all the summer camps that students can do over the summer, I like to keep camp trips light.  I am a firm believer in mission trips so I do not schedule a regular summer camp mainly out of default.  I do not have a strong belief in or against it.

What about you?  What is the camping you do and why do you do it?  Post some comments so we can be encouraged and challenged.

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