| YS Roundtable Episode 6: Chad Meister |
From Youth Specialties on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 @ 1:29 PM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
In this episode, Terry Linhart is joined by Chad Meister, professor at Bethel College, to discuss helping students during times crisis.
Here are some more resources to help teens in times of crisis and help your volunteers be ready:
The YS Roundtable is hosted by Terry Linhart, director of the Youth Specialties Academic Support Network (YSASN) and Professor of Youth Ministry & Adolescent Studies at Bethel College in Indiana.
YS Roundtable is produced by our friends at RemedyLive. |
| Shepherding Teenagers (And Parents) Through "Let Down" Moments |
From youthministry360 on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 @ 8:46 AM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
Image courtesy of shutterstock.com / (c) newphotoservice
The phone rang at 1 AM. It was a mom desperate for advice after receiving a phone call that rocked her world. Her child had made a really poor decision and there was some serious fall-out from it.This student loves Jesus. This student had shared Christ with friends and served at every chance possible. This student had sought out a mentor and met with their mentor regularly. I can personally vouch for this student's faith, love for life, and desire to be used by the LORD in dynamic ways. But this one night, this student made a choice that didn't reflect any of these truths.The question for us as youth pastors is "How do we handle these moments?" How do we handle the parent who is desperate to answer the, "Why did he or she do this?" question. How do we handle it when the student, who is facing the immediate guilt of his or her actions, looks at you as their mentor and says, "I'm sorry I've disappointed you."It's in these "let down" moments, we have the opportunity to reflect truth and grace to everyone involved, even ourselves. Here's what this looks like:TruthWe are sinners. Regardless of how mature we are in our relationship with Christ, the reality is that we live in a broken world with a sin nature that gives in to temptation. Sometimes this truth is a hard reminder to parents and students. We tend to think that action = character. James 2 says that faith without action is dead, and rightfully so. We love seeing students live out their faith I ways that are visible. We can see how much they love the Lord. But when we forget what James says about temptation in chapter 1, there's the shellshock of watching students who are strong in their faith make sinful choices. TruthJesus isn't done with us yet. These reality check moments remind us of the need for Jesus. Even in our broken world, the Holy Spirit desires to transform our hearts and minds. These moments allow us to remember that the Gospel isn't just about our salvation when we die, but about our salvation while we're alive. These moments, especially with students and parents that desire to follow Jesus, allow us to teach a deep scriptural truth in a practical and tangible way. GraceOur words and actions immediately following these types of circumstances can be Jesus-breathed or guilt-driven. Paul in 2 Corinthians 7 talks about guilt that leads to repentance. When we know we've messed up, we need to head toward repentance and allow God's grace to lead us a new direction. When this student looked at me and said, "I'm sorry I've disappointed you" my reply was "No you haven't." I shared I thought the action was immature and foolish, but that more than anything I felt for them because of the guilt, pain, and regret they were already feeling. I told this student that I wasn't disappointed. The light that lit up in this student's eyes was a great moment for us. I reminded the student that when we seek forgiveness from Jesus, it was already granted. But repentance is a crucial element in this moment. It also gave me a chance to help the parents be able to see how God's grace will carry everyone through.After 12+ years of student ministry, I'm still not surprised by these moments. The truth is that we all can confess we personally still have them. Sharing from our own mistakes and how we've pursued repentance and transformation, can allow the students we pastor a visual example that it can be done. But we better not be faking it! Jesus doesn't need us blurring the picture of authentic submission to Him. (The world does that enough.) We need to be able to stand with students and continue to call them with the transformation Gospel that allows the Kingdom of Heaven to be lived out on this earth now in a real and life altering way. |
| The Problem With Perfectionism In Your Youth Ministry |
From youthministry360 on Monday, May 20, 2013 @ 9:26 AM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
Image courtesy of shutterstock.com / (c) Andrii Muzyka
I spent a whole summer working on small group curriculum for our middle school small groups. I invested hours of research and writing, trying to build the perfect set of questions and reflections that would enable teens to go deeper in their relationship with Christ. In the end this curriculum was never used. Why? It was too complicated. I had spent too much time making sure it was perfect that I ended up losing focus and creating something mostly unusable.There is nothing wrong with wanting your ministry to perform at a high level. In fact excellence is a great value to embrace; however, it can be confused with perfection. That happens because of the pressures you face in your ministry. Maybe you are pressured by the pastor to produce high numbers. Maybe you feel like you have to compete with the ministry down the road. Or maybe you could simply be a perfectionist at heart. While you should strive for excellence, you need to be careful it does not lead to perfectionism. Why? Because that could lead to:Micromanaging LeadersWhen you doubt your team's ability it's easy to micromanage them. If you want to raise up leaders, you need to be able to sacrifice in the short term to grow long term. Delegation means often allowing things to fail or suffer in quality in the short term. A perfectionist will struggle with this. Ignoring Paradigm Shifting IdeasChange brings messiness and that can be a nightmare for a perfectionist. Being perfect means sticking with a solid plan; unfortunately, that solid plan might lead to standing still. A ministry is a movement, which means it needs growth. That might mean learning how to fail forward. Workaholic CultureIt's easy to get stuck in the details on a certain project or initiative. If you aren't careful you can end up wasting hours on tasks and responsibilities that might not matter in the end. While it's good to be passionate about your craft, it is unwise to ignore your other responsibilities like relationships with God and family. Inauthentic MinistryIf you strive for perfection you might come off inauthentic in your ministry. People might see it as entertainment, or a show to trick people into believing in their following Christ. Perfection might also set an unfair standard where teenagers might not feel worthy to come to your ministry. An authentic ministry means admitting our imperfections and humanity.How do we avoid the negative side of perfectionism? Here's a though: To avoid perfectionism, yet strive for excellence, it's important to have vision and accountability in our relationships.There needs to be people and purpose that reminds you what you are called to do and who is calling you. Review and analyze your programs, ask people for insight and allow God to take control, so that you avoid the pitfalls of perfectionism.How have you overcome struggles with perfectionism? I'd love to hear your thoughts. |
| Flashback Friday (May 17): This Week's Links From The Youth Ministry Blogosphere |
From youthministry360 on Friday, May 17, 2013 @ 9:11 AM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
One of the things we are committed to at ym360 is Networking. Our vision for networking is connecting you to people and organizations doing awesome youth ministry.Flashback Friday is a feature where we give you the run down of some of the awesome posts from the past week across youth ministry blogs. Consider it our way of keeping you connected with what is going on. This week's posts from the ym360 BlogYouth Worker Sound Off: What Do You Do For Graduating Seniors? by Andy BlanksYouth Worker BOOST: Hello Neighbor by Richard ParkerThe ym360 Trends And Culture Update (Vol. 32) by Andy BlanksDoing Away With "Numbers" As A Way Of Measuring Effectiveness by Andy Blanks Posts From Other Awesome PeopleWe search the Internet to bring you relevant information to help you be a better youth worker. Here are some links from posts we thought were pretty great.Social Media Parent Resources by Austin McCannWhy You Should Quit Listening to Your Pastor by Ben ReedWhat's Your Recruitment Plan For Volunteers? by Christopher WesleyBadgify Nametags Made Easy by Chris DavisStudent Art Wall by Colton HarkerLeading Yourself by Doug Franklin Every Every Every Generation Has Been the Me Me Me Generation by Elspeth Reeveoverheard at my 7th grade guys small group by Mark OestreicherPROTECT YOURSELF by YouthMinistry.comTeens and Technology 2013 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project That's all the links for this week. As always, have an awesome weekend . . . And THANK YOU for the chance to serve you as part of the ym360 community. |
| Doing Away With "Numbers" As A Way Of Measuring Effectiveness |
From youthministry360 on Thursday, May 16, 2013 @ 7:52 AM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
Image courtesy of shutterstock.com / (c) marekuliasz
This week I got to hang out with a group of youth workers for a day of training workshops. The group turned out to be a very experienced bunch who really knew their stuff. So, I took the opportunity to pick their brains about what they think is working in youth ministry, and about some of the challenges youth workers face. As we discussed challenges, someone brought up relationships with senior leadership. As we unpacked this some, a couple youth workers talked about disagreements that had arisen in their church over declining numbers on Sunday mornings. Of course we all know that this isn't a new issue. This tension has been around as long as there have been programs in youth ministries. The logic is of course, this: There is a baseline of X number of teenagers attending Sunday morning.If there is a number of students in attendance greater than X, the youth ministry is a success.If there is a number of students attending less than X, the youth ministry is a failure.Except this equation doesn't take into consideration any variables. Case in point: A youth worker in my workshop felt like his ministry was doing great, but that certain factors (such as children whose parents have joint custody with weekend visitation, and travel sports teams) had contributed to numbers being down on Sunday mornings. A focus on numbers as the sole means of judging the overall effectiveness of a ministry might result in the feeling that the ministry wasn't as effective as it could be.Again, this is an issue youth workers have been plagued with for a long time. And yet, I was really interested in this discussion because it parallels something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I shared my thoughts in our gathering and I'll share them here. Here's what I have been thinking . . . I think we've arrived at a place culturally where over-emphasizing attendance in our "main" programs is the wrong way to go about gauging effectiveness. In my mind it's always been a poor method of measurement. But I think we're at a point, culturally speaking, where measuring success by numbers might actually be harmful. I think it's past time that we change our metrics. What's the alternative? What set of metrics am I suggesting? I have two thoughts here: We need to judge ministry effectiveness by quantifying spiritual growth in individuals. This can only be done from a relational perspective.We need to take a "big picture" view, tracking overall ministry engagement opportunities rather than looking at attendance in one or two "main" programs (i.e., Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, etc.)Let me unpack this a little bit . . . Spiritual Growth vs. Butts In SeatsWe count butts in seats because it's easy. But we're not ticket agents. A sold out show is the least of our concerns, or it should be. We exist to see teenagers grow in Christ-likeness. This growth is what we should be looking at to determine the effectiveness of our ministries. The challenges of this model are real. First, it takes time. Spiritual growth is hard to measure week-to-week. And it's much harder to plot on a line graph in an excel spreadsheet. Second, it's grounded in relationship. You have to know a person to establish a baseline. And you have to do life with them to track growth. To begin measuring spiritual growth as a sign of ministry effectiveness, your church's leadership has to break free from an organizational, institutional mindset, and embrace a relational, organic mindset. If we're gauging ministry effectiveness based on spiritual growth, we'll have to rely heavily on the small group leaders and the adult volunteers in your ministry. Engagement Opportunities vs. Program AttendanceFor a variety of cultural reasons, the idea that we can still measure ministry effectiveness based on Sunday morning or Wednesday night attendance is just silly. For example, how many Sunday mornings a year do your students miss because of travel sports? How many miss because of spending every other weekend at their mom or dad's house? How many miss because of family vacations? How many miss because as a culture, Sunday morning participation is simply not what it once was? And yet, there are some leaders who still measure ministry effectiveness based on Sunday morning attendance. There's a better way . . . I think our ministries need to embrace a strategy of multiple engagement opportunities, where A) multiple relational and ministry "engagement points" are a part of your weekly ministry strategy, and B) where these "engagement points" are used to measure our students' level of involvement. Here's an example of what I mean . . . I am an adult volunteer in our youth ministry. I lead a discipleship group of 9th grade guys. We went and saw Iron Man 3 last Saturday and hung out before and afterward. This is an example of an "engagement point." I know that two of the guys didn't attend Sunday mornings that week. Yet I would argue that they were engaged in the ministry efforts of our youth ministry because of the time we spent hanging out. Want some other examples of engagement points? • An adult volunteer leads a small group Bible study at a coffee shop or in someone's home.• A youth workers hangs out at a church-wide service project with three teenagers who showed up with their families. • A couple of adult volunteers play a Saturday afternoon game of touch football with a group of students.• A youth pastor attends a cheerleading competition for some of the girls in the youth ministry.When we begin to be aware of all the ways our ministry engages our students' lives outside of one or two sacred programmed events, we gain a truer measurement of our ministry's effectiveness. Is counting attendance at programmed ministry events easies than what I've put forth here? Most definitely. But numbers of attendees, especially in our current culture, is not really measuring ministry effectiveness at all. In most cases, it only serves as a point of stress between a youth pastor and his or her senior leaders.I'm interested in what you think? Is this a tension you feel? And what do you think the solution is? |
| Youth Worker BOOST: Hello Neighbor |
From youthministry360 on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 @ 6:14 AM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
ym360 knows youth workers. We know what an incredibly rewarding, yet incredibly challenging job youth ministry can be. There are days when your spirits are sky-high, and there are days when you could use a bit of a "pick me up" from God's Word . . .That's why we're happy to offer Youth Worker Boost, one of the many valuable resources on the ym360 Blog. Boost is a short, weekly piece of encouragement designed to, well, "boost" your spirits and encourage you as you minister to students. We consider it yet another great opportunity to serve you and your ministry.CLICK HERE to have the Youth Worker Boost delivered right to your inbox whenever we publish a new one! We call these the E-BOOST! "'Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?' The expert in the law replied, 'The one who had mercy on him.' Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.'"--Luke 10:36-37The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of Jesus' best known stories. A man walking the long, downhill road from Jerusalem to Jericho is attacked by bandits and left for dead. Both a priest and a Levite passed up the opportunity to help out the man.But have you ever asked why?Some Bible commentators suggest that Jesus may have wanted to point out hypocrisy in the situation. If the man had been dead and the religious leaders touched him they would be ceremonially unclean and restricted from going to the Temple to worship. Maybe Jesus was pointing out the hypocrisy of refusing to help someone in need in order to have the privilege of worshipping at the Temple. Jesus said the greatest commandment is, in short, to love God and love people. Worshipping God and ministering to the needs of people go hand in hand.Jesus wanted His followers to have a great relationship with God, but He wanted that to be played out in our day-to-day life by loving our "neighbors." And as youth workers, the most common neighbor we encounter is probably between the ages of 12 and 18!As you go about the practice of "doing ministry," don't ever forget that one of the primary means of ministering to students is dealing with their hurts and meeting their needs--emotional and spiritual.Our prayer for you: We pray that you would have the chance to meet the needs of your students, and when the chance arises, that you would have the compassion, the vision, and the strength to meet them. Look for a new Youth Worker Boost each Wednesday on the ym360 Blog.Last Week's BOOST: Rental FaithNext Week's BOOST: Inside Out Get more BOOST articles HERE! |
| YS Idea Lab: Loving People Inefficiently (Bob Goff) |
From Youth Specialties on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 11:04 PM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
Welcome to the YSidea Lab with Bob Goff
The YS Idea Lab was filmed on location at the National Youth Workers Convention. Don't miss out on 2013, register now. |
| YS Idea Lab: Loving People Inefficiently (Bob Goff) |
From Youth Specialties on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 11:03 PM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
What does it look like to live whimsically and love inefficiently? Seth Bartlette interviews Bob Goff about how he chooses to. Learn more about Bob and his book, "Love Does" at bobgoff.com.
We are so excited that Bob will be joining us again at NYWC this fall. We hope you join us too. Learn more at NYWC.com.
The YS Idea Lab was filmed on location at the National Youth Workers Convention. Don't miss out on 2013, register now. |
| YS Idea Lab: Loving People Inefficiently (Bob Goff) |
From Youth Specialties on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 11:03 PM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
Welcome to the YSidea Lab with Bob Goff
The YS Idea Lab was filmed on location at the National Youth Workers Convention. Don't miss out on 2013, register now. |
| Trending: Abercrombie, Adolescent Bullies and future Criminal Behavior, Decision Making and more. |
From Youth Specialties on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 5:08 PM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
This week's links include the Ambercrombie comments regarding youth image, the great cell phone debate, the infographic of the hyper-connected teen, a study linking adolescent bullies to criminal behavior, decisions and how long they last, and fixing the broken cycle of youth ministry.
Links:
Abercrombie... Where Ethics, Brains and Beauty Are Only Skin Deep - (Walt Mueller, Learning my Lines)
Study Links Adolescent Bullies to Criminal Behavior Later - (The University of Texas at Dallas News Center)
Make a Decision...it probably won't last - (Doug Fields)
The Hyper-Connected Teenager [infographic] - (YouthMinistryMedia.ca)
Should Youth Grips Allow Students to Use Their Phones? - (YouthMin.org)
Fixing the Broken Cycle of Youth Ministry - (Doug Franklins, Online Youth Ministry Leader)
|
| Youth Worker Sound Off: What Do You Do For Graduating Seniors? |
From youthministry360 on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 3:30 AM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
[NOTE: We originally ran this last year on the blog. But the responses were so good, we wanted to re-run it. Take a second and read what people wrote last year, then add your ideas to the list in the comment section below.]Last week we asked youth workers on the ym360 Facebook Page what special plans they had for celebrating their graduating seniors. There were some really good ideas. We wanted to share them with you in the hopes that maybe you find a fun new way to celebrate your graduates.Without further ado, here are some of the responses: "We have a Youth Sunday, in which the youth are in charge of the entire service. We will recognize graduating seniors with a gift in front of the church. Then I will preach an illustrated sermon using skits we have pre-recorded. They will also sing in our worship service. It's a lot of work, but I'm pumped about it!" — Steve A"We take a Sunday night service and honor our grads. They are presented gifts from the church and we pray for a blessing over them. It is so important they know that no matter what is ahead, God is always there . . . We set up a table in the fellowship hall to showcase their accomplishments. Then we have a party after the service." — Shane J."We have a special graduate Sunday. The grads wear their cap and gown, they process into the service, we recognize them on the screen and in the service, and present them a gift. After church we have a special lunch prepared for the grads and their families." — Karen P."We have a special service for them on a Wednesday night. Our Pastor gives them a "charge," and then the whole church meets in our gym for a viewing of tables the families set up in honor of the grads (with displays of pictures, trophies, etc.). Cake and punch are served . . . This gives the church members an opportunity to give the graduates cards, gifts, and money. What a blessing it is to honor our graduates!" — John D."We do a breakfast for them and their families, including a small gift. We also do a "how you impacted my life" wall for our underclassmen. We post poster-sized photos of our seniors and ask our other students to sign it with a farewell encouragement." — Darren S."As the youth pastor, I usually preach the sermon Sunday morning and have a insert in the bulletin of all the graduates for the year. Then that night we do a dessert social where the graduates get a kind word from me about each one of them." — Jeff H."We take a senior trip to Coronado Island in San Diego!" — Erik N."The younger students in our group usually put on a funny dessert awards ceremony for the grads at our church, telling the grads the impact they've had on them and the youth group. Then the leader that is most connected with them prays for them." — Steve S."I gave a questionnaire to their parents asking them things about their child and I asked for several pictures from birth throughout their school years. We are going to put together a PowerPoint of it all and play it for them. Then, we'll throw a party after the service." — Sandra R.Now, it's your turn to share your ideas with the ym360 Community. How do you celebrate your graduating seniors? |
| The ym360 Trends And Culture Update (Vol. 32) |
From youthministry360 on Monday, May 13, 2013 @ 8:21 AM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
You've asked us for it, and we listened. Back by popular demand, it's the ym360 Trends & Culture Update, a twice monthly look at studies and articles designed to keep youth ministers, adult volunteers, and parents in the loop on what's happening in youth culture. (Read why we think it's important here.) We Want To Equip You And Those You ServeConsider using this article to equip your community in the following ways:Use the PRINT and/or EMAIL buttons at the top and bottom of the page to share this content with your ministry team and especially your students' parents. (For a real-life example of what this looks like, check out this post from ym360 Contributor Aaron Kirkpatrick.) Repost it on your blog or church websiteSHARE IT with your youth ministry networks. This is a great way to help your peeps!Without further ado, here are some relevant links we think you should know about. Social Media & TechnologyStudy: Texting while driving now leading cause of death for teen driversPush To End Teens' Distracted Driving Targets Parents, Peers.Pew Internet Report on Teens and Technology 2013Facebook Home Hits 'About 1 Million' Downloads, Looks to the Future Culture & EntertainmentInteresting article on millennials and they're oftentimes quirky interview habits.California law begins condom delivery service for teensThe average US family spends over $1,000 on prom. Teen Sexual Activity vs. Teen Sexual Integrity. . . .Coca-Cola Vows to Reduce Advertising to KidsEvery Every Every Generation Has Been the Me Me Me Generation (A rebuttle to TIME's recent cover story on Millennials.) The Hyperconnected Teenager: An InfographicWhat movies are your students and/or their friends watching? Click here to check out which movies won the weekend. Stay in touch with what your students and/or their friends are listening to. The Billboard Hot 100 tracks songs across all mediums. By clicking here you can listen to and watch the videos for the most popular songs in the country right now. (NOTE: Use discernment when previewing this content as, sadly, much of it is objectionable.) A Glance At Recent ResearchStudy shows 72% of U.S. gamers now play online.CIA Operative to Coffee Barista: Millennial Dream CareersStudy: Violent Video Games Numb Teens To BrutalitySeventy-three percent of parents report mostly positive relationships with children ages 18 to 29.Most Suicidal Teens Sought Medical Advice Within A Year Of Death, Study Shows That's it for this edition of the ym360 Trends & Culture report. Look for another one the week of May 27. [**Note: By nature, some of the articles and subject matter we deal with in Trends & Culture often conflicts with our beliefs and ethics as Christ-followers. Our purpose in linking to this type of material is to simply give you the option of knowing the culture your students are surrounded by. Use discretion to determine which links to click on.] Want more ym360 Trends & Culture? Sign up for a ym360 User Account and receive Trends & Culture Updates in our bi-weekly ym30 Newsletter. |
| Flashback Friday (May 10): This Week's Links From The Youth Ministry Blogosphere |
From youthministry360 on Friday, May 10, 2013 @ 9:08 AM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
One of the things we are committed to at ym360 is Networking. Our vision for networking is connecting you to people and organizations doing awesome youth ministry.Flashback Friday is a feature where we give you the run down of some of the awesome posts from the past week across youth ministry blogs. Consider it our way of keeping you connected with what is going on. This week's posts from the ym360 BlogTeaching Your Teenagers The Basics Of Their Faith by Andy Blanks Building A Team Of Volunteers (Who Aren't Just Like You) by Benjer McVeighYouth Worker BOOST: Rental Faith by Richard ParkerThe Biggest Barrier To Students Living Out Their Faith? by Andy Blanks Posts From Other Awesome PeopleWe search the Internet to bring you relevant information to help you be a better youth worker. Here are some links from posts we thought were pretty great.Are you inviting burnout into your ministry right now? by Aaron HelmanOn Cultural Faith Shifts by Allen Jackson4 Things Student Pastors Must Learn To Do Well by Austin McCannThree ideas to help you call young people to do big things by Brad GriffinHealthy Habits For A Leader by Christopher WesleyWhy Leadership Goes Bad by Doug FranklinThe Hyperconnected Teenager [infographic] by Kolby MintonTrending by Youth Specialties That's all the links for this week. As always, have an awesome weekend . . . And THANK YOU for the chance to serve you as part of the ym360 community. |
| YM Essentials: Building A Team Of Volunteers (Who Aren't Just Like You) |
From youthministry360 on Thursday, May 9, 2013 @ 7:39 AM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
One afternoon, our youth ministry organized a service day for our teenagers at a local food bank. Mark, a sophomore in high school, was one of the students who had been assigned to ride with me. As we walked to the parking lot together, he asked if John, a youth leader on our team, was coming. When I told him John wasn't able to make it to that event, Mark replied, "That's too bad. He has a lot cooler music in his car than you do." While some in that situation might have been offended, I wasn't. I was grateful. Mark was a pretty unique teenager, and while I enjoyed hanging out with him, no one on our team could connect with him like John.You probably have a similar story in your youth ministry: There's a student you've never really been able to connect with, but who really has a great relationship with another leader. If you think your students, you'll likely notice that certain students tend to gravitate towards certain leaders because of their personality, background, or age. If students tend to connect with leaders they can identify with, what does that say about the kind of team of leaders we should be building? As you build and lead your team, do you put much thought into the fact that a more diverse team will be able to serve a more diverse group of teenagers? In case it's not something you've every considered before, here are three things to keep in mind as you build your team:Make an effort to recruit leaders who are unlike you.You probably already know that the best way to recruit leaders is to invite them personally. The problem is that our default mode is to invite leaders who tend to be like us. If we only recruit leaders to our team who are like us, then we're in danger of building teams who can connect only to teenagers who are like us. Get the picture? To serve a diverse team of teenagers, we need to invite people who are not like us to be on our team; people who might have different tastes in music, different personalities, different experiences, and so on.Think about the kinds of teenagers God might be calling you to reach.Chances are, your goal as a youth pastor is to reach teenagers. But have you ever stopped to think about what kind of teenagers God is asking you to reach? Maybe God is asking you to start focusing more on the teenagers in your church's neighborhood—and those teenagers might not think, act, and look just like you. How can you add members to your team that can connect with those teenagers and their families? It might be as simple as adding some leaders who can help you reach those kids who skateboard in your church parking lot after school. Or the changes to your team might be deeper (and more difficult), such as looking at the racial diversity of your neighborhood as compared with the racial diversity of your leadership team. It could be that God is asking you to reach teenagers near your church that you have ignored for far too long. Does the diversity of your team reflect your desire to reach those teenagers?Pray for (and invite) leaders who are better at youth ministry than you.This might be hard to hear, so I'll say it quickly and be grateful that I won't be in the same room as you read this: You aren't the best small group leader, or Bible study teacher in your church. In fact, depending on your church, you may not even be in the top five. I recently sat in on one of our high school small groups. One of the adult leaders masterfully led a thirty-minute discussion about "tough questions" for a group of mostly freshman boys who rarely sit still the other six days of the week. By the end, I had a realization: This guy is far better at this than I'll ever be. Thankfully, my church didn't hire me to be the best small group leader on our team. It's not in my job description, as far as I can remember. And it's probably not in yours, either. Our job as youth pastors is to create an environment where high school students can meet Jesus and grow in their relationship with Him. A big part of that is building a team of youth leaders who may actually be better at relational ministry, or leading a Bible study that we are. ?Certainly there are more factors that determine how you build a diverse team. Which factors do you focus on? |
| Youth Worker BOOST: Rental Faith |
From youthministry360 on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 @ 7:04 AM PST
in the "Resources" Category.
ym360 knows youth workers. We know what an incredibly rewarding, yet incredibly challenging job youth ministry can be. There are days when your spirits are sky-high, and there are days when you could use a bit of a "pick me up" from God's Word . . .That's why we're happy to offerYouth Worker Boost, one of the many valuable resources on the ym360 Blog. Boost is a short, weekly piece of encouragement designed to, well, "boost" your spirits and encourage you as you minister to students. We consider it yet another great opportunity to serve you and your ministry.CLICK HERE to have the Youth Worker Boost delivered right to your inbox whenever we publish a new one! We call these the E-BOOST! "Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, 'Who do the crowds say I am?' They replied, 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.' 'But what about you?' he asked. 'Who do you say I am?' Peter answered, 'The Christ of God.'"--Luke 9:18-20There was a newscast recently that shed light on a relatively new issue plaguing certain sectors of our country. In this economy, where foreclosures are at an all time high, people who rent their homes are frequently finding them trashed by the people renting them. Or when Banks come to take over a home whose owners are being evicted, they find the home in disrepair.There was a very significant point made in regards to why this was occurring so frequently: People don't value what they don't own.You may be ministering to some students who are living with a faith they borrowed from their parents. Len Woods, author of the book, "Unofficial Guide to Life After High School," says that "borrowed faith is when people talk about God and do things for God instead of spending time with God." This describes many of our students, doesn't it? And it might describe many of us. But it doesn't describe Peter. Peter knew Jesus intimately and had no problem confessing that He was the Messiah. Do your students have a real or a borrowed faith? Better yet, what about you? Do you spend more time "doing for God" or more time hanging out with Him? Has your time of seeking Him personally been replaced with office work and and logistics? If so, ask yourself: "Is this what God intended when He called me to this ministry?"Like He did with Peter, Jesus is asking us and our students if we know Him. This question may be the most important one we'll ever answer.Our prayer for you: We pray that you would be able to know where you stand in regards to your relationship with God. If it's time you turned back toward Him and reorganized your priorities, our prayer is that you have the strength to make that change. Look for a new Youth Worker Boost each Wednesday on the ym360 Blog.Last Week's BOOST:The Source Of Our StrengthNext Week's BOOST: Hello Neighbor Get more BOOST articles HERE! |
| News Archive:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Next
>>
|
|
