Why Does Your Youth Ministry Exist?
The beginning of a new school year is a great time to do a quick youth ministry “check up” . A perfect question to ask is, “Why does our youth ministry exist?” If you can’t clearly define why your ministry exists, then you will likely be tossed about by the most recent trends, the coolest fads, and the loudest voices. Here’s one example:
For a little while there has been a little huff in Christian circles demanding that people choose a side – are you attractional or missional? Do you want to attract non-believers with a great program or do you want to attract non-believers with great service and ministry opportunities. While those types of conversations are healthy, they don’t need to de-rail your ministry!
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Inhale. Exhale.
Take time to BREATHE.
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Because we have a clear purpose, the answer is clear as well. Our student ministry exists both to draw in non-believing students (attractional) and send them out to do God’s work (missional). In between we want them to get connected to each other and attached to the vine in discipleship to Christ. How about you?
There are lots of healthy debates surrounding purpose, philosophy and how to do youth ministry. So knowing why you exist is crucial.
Knowing why your ministry exists …
… helps you say no to good ideas
There are no shortage of good ideas in your church – and week after week you get inundated with really neat things your ministry could be doing. What if we added an on-campus component to our ministry? What if we did serve projects every weekend? Why don’t we do overnighters anymore – they’re awesome! Knowing why you exist helps you say no to ideas that are great … but don’t fit with what God has called you to do.
… helps you stay focused on a clear goal
Making cuts and course corrections to your youth ministry is never easy – but when you have a clear purpose it allows you to zero in on what is most important. If it isn’t mission critical, it is gone.
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Inhale. Exhale.
Take time to BREATHE.
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… gives your volunteers clarity
A clear purpose also allows your volunteers to have specific direction on an ongoing basis. A clear purpose statement gives them something to refer to when they begin to question a decision or direction?
Youth ministry is tough. Why make it even tougher by not having a clear, God-given vision for where you believe it needs to go?
Conversation
I would like to push your
I would like to push your definition of attractional vs. missional a little further. To me it's more of two means to the same ends. Are you going to use the "If you build it they will come" mentality, vs the entering into peoples' lives on their terms approach. Alan Hirsch posits in "The Forgotten Ways" that about 20% of the population responds to attractional model whereas the rest of the population doesn't care or can't stand it. This being the case, like you say, there is a need for a two pronged approach.
My husband and I assumed
My husband and I assumed youth leader responsibility in November when our youth pastor suddenly resigned in the midst of church conflict. My husband had been an elder for about 15 years and had planned to step down at the end of the year, so said we would pick up the responsibility until another youth pastor was found. Well, there is no youth pastor on the horizon, and we're doing the best we can for being untrained and having more than 40-hour-per-week jobs (and we're both 56 years old with our own children scattered across the country).
So here's my question: how do we survive? We very much appreciate your resource and do have a clear goal. But we already had (and still have) other responsibilities at church and now have a nearly unbearable load. There is no day of rest. There is no evidence of spiritual growth within the youth. We'd be thrilled to simply see evidence of kids reading their Bibles!
Many times I read your encouraging youth pastors to keep the volunteers informed of what is going on. What happens when there is no youth pastor, when volunteers are the youth leaders?
Any guidelines or words of encouragement would be appreciated.
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