Charting the Course

Something that I found very helpful was that in each section of the book, Marko (as he is known throughout the youth ministry world) builds a chart that lists and compares/contrasts various characteristics of the three different youth ministry eras (pages 49, 61, 78) including youth culture fixation, cultural influence on youth ministry, key themes, driver, and theme verse. By the time I got to the end of the book, I found myself wanting to add another characteristic to his chart, namely the ‘relationship of youth ministry to the church’.

Youth Ministry Outside the Local Church

Marko does talk about youth ministry’s relationship to the local church in Youth Ministry 1.0 and 2.0. On page 46, Marko says “So those early youth ministry pioneers who knew they had to be true to their calling found – in large measure – that they had to do youth ministry outside the context of the local church.” In other words, the primary context of youth ministry 1.0 was outside of local churches. Although this doesn’t appear in Marko’s chart, I think it’s an important enough observation that it could. As Marko points out, Youth Ministry 1.0 was the birth of groups like YFC, Young Life, FCA, etc. (parachurch youth ministries), but a shift happens in Youth Ministry 2.0.

Youth Ministry Inside the Local Church

On page 53, Marko says “Churches [in the late 70’s and 80’s] were finally waking up to the need for youth ministry and moving beyond offering only a ‘young persons’ Sunday School class. Youth groups sprang onto the church scene, and churches started hiring youth pastors left and right.” So the primary context of Youth Ministry 2.0 was inside local churches.

Youth Ministry Connecting Local Churches

When he gets to Youth Ministry 3.0, the context continues to be youth ministry inside local churches, but I found myself wondering – couldn’t the primary context of youth ministry (relationship to the local church) also be changing just as it had between YM 1.0 and 2.0? And Marko’s descriptions of Youth Ministry 3.0 actually hint at what I believe could be the next primary context of youth ministry – youth ministry connecting local churches.

On page 93, he says “But what might this look like, to have a youth ministry of the various youth subcultures in your church and community, acknowledging the uniqueness and value of each-including the styles and preferences of each-but moving toward a supra-cultural taste of the kingdom of God?” (emphasis mine).

Could we be heading into a time when youth ministry needs to break out from the four walls of the local church and spill over into the whole community including other local churches? To be more about the Kingdom of God than buildings, denominations or theological distinctives? I believe that this is the case, and I believe that Marko’s description of Youth Ministry 3.0’s characteristics support that.

1) To reach multiple cultures

For example, he says that in Youth Ministry 3.0, there should be multiple youth ministries to multiple subcultures – that could be done in a single church, but what if all the churches in a community recognized this need and different churches were strategically focusing on reaching those different subcultures. What if we had an attitude that we need other youth ministries in our community to reach the entire youth population of our community?

2) To be true to our context

Another characteristic is contextualized youth ministry – the context of the students in your community is important, but doesn’t that context include other churches and youth ministries? What affect do other churches have on each other and what effect should they have. Could some good come of acknowledging that ‘our church is not the only church in this town’?

3) To be free from being overwhelmed

Doing less and getting small is another characteristic of Youth Ministry 3.0 – imagine the freedom in realizing ‘Hey, I’m not the only person trying to reach teenagers in my community. There are others out there doing the same thing. I’m not alone.” I think that realization could take some of the pressure off of youth leaders and we could feel free to not feel bad about being small knowing that there are many groups out there doing the same thing. A whole lot of smalls make for something big!

4) To be communal and missional

The two key words that Marko gives for Youth Ministry 3.0 are communal and missional. I love that – what fresh ways of looking at what we do. But again, wouldn’t communal youth ministry also mean that the youth pastor needs a community of like-minded people? His community needs to be bigger than the students he/she ministers to – he or she needs a community of people who understand their passion, struggles, goals, etc. And nothing is quite as encouraging as knowing that the mission you are passionate about is shared by others.

In the early chapter of Youth Ministry 3.0, Marko describe the tasks of adolescence as identity, autonomy, and affinity. I think that church history has played itself out in this way, especially since the protestant reformation (the church’s rebellious years?). At first, the church struggled with a sense of identity: What is the church? What are we supposed to be about? And then for several centuries, the church has been all about autonomy — How are we unique and different from other churches? I think it’s about time the church started moving more toward affinity – What do we have in common? How can we connect?

In Youth Ministry 3.0, We Need Each Other

Youth Ministry 1.0 took place outside of local churches because churches hadn’t caught on. In Youth Ministry 2.0, churches took hold that responsibility they should’ve had all along and made it core to what they do. In Youth Ministry 3.0, I think that they overwhelming forces of culture, economics, media, technology, globalization, and spiritual decline are going to force churches to see that we need each other to successfully reach future generations for Christ (see Jason Pauli’s recent blog post). In fact, as my friend Nick Arnold recently reminded me, youth workers from parachurch ministries started in the 1.0 era and church youth pastors from the 2.0 era also need each other to reach this generation of young people.

I’m excited about Youth Ministry 3.0 and I’m thankful to Mark Oestreicher for helping us see what this exciting new time can look like. My hope is that, more and more, we’ll make this new chapter of Youth Ministry something we do together.

Travis Deans has been 13 years with Teens For Christ, a former Youth Ministry 1.0 organization now networking church youth ministries in two counties in southwestern Pennsylvania, and lives in Uniontown, Pennsylvania with his wife Judy.

Brad Griffin serves as the Associate Director of the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) and volunteers in middle school ministry at his church. You can read more of his stuff at the FYI Blog and articles section.

I used to serve as a youth pastor in a small community where there were a number of other great youth pastors.  Our churches were different sizes and denominations, but largely we drew from the same pools of kids from the same schools and neighborhoods.  In fact, sometimes we drew the same kids to multiple youth groups.  If you’ve ever served in a smallish town, you’re probably nodding right now.

The students themselves sometimes drove this competition–again, a problem I’m sure you’ve never experienced.  Youth group comparison and competition often led to youth group hopping.  It was a topic that was kind of taboo in our youth pastor gatherings for a while.

Then Jay moved to town.  He was the new youth pastor at the church that was our church’s primary “competition.”  But I had already decided that I was tired of the competition.  So I called Jay his first week in the job and we got together for coffee.  That was probably the best move I ever made in my relationships with other youth workers in town.  I was just looking to tone down the rivalry, but to my surprise Jay became one of my close friends.  Over time that friendship became obvious to kids–and parents–in our ministries.  They would see us out together in town, or even at each other’s homes, and wonder what was going on.

What’s still intriguing to me about that story is how disarming our friendship was to students and adults in our ministries.  Especially to kids who were set on pitting our youth ministries against one another to be the hottest act in town.  Our friendship communicated something entirely different: we’re on the same team, with the same goal, and our unity only makes the team stronger.  Dispelling the myth of false competition made all the difference—and more than 10 years later, I’m thankful to still call Jay a friend.

So I’m wondering…who among the “competition” will you invite to coffee this week?

The pressures to grow youth group numbers come from several sources, but here are a few:

Myself: In an unhealthy way, I attributed the success of the student ministry to the number of kids that showed up. In an even more unhealthy way, I attributed my self-worth to the success (or perceived success) of the student ministry. So getting people to show up wasn’t about them, it was about me.

Other youth groups: I compared my youth group attendance to other youth groups in town. I would inflate my numbers by about 25% (I call it the rule of 25%, if a youth pastor says he has X amount of kids, he actually has 25% less than that). I would always justify it by saying I had X amount of kids “on the roster.” I would use the phrase, “on the roster,” because my average attendance was not as high.

Senior leadership: Some churches pressure their youth leaders to grow their group (fortunately, my pastor does not pressure me into doing this and defends me when other leaders in the church ask about youth group size). I know of a local youth worker whose job description is to increase the average attendance of his youth group by one person a month. While this might not seem like a lot, starting with a group of 6 kids can make the task seem daunting (expecting to have 18 kids in one year).

Why do we make such quantitative measurements rather than qualitative evaluations of our ministries? I’d rather have six solid kids that are growing up mature in their faith who can invest in six more kids each (42 kids total) rather than having 42 kids showing up to my youth group who are not transforming but are there for the “show.” Forty-two looks good on paper, but it’s hollow.

Numbers Matter

Perhaps in our frantic attempt to get away from an unhealthy view of numbers, we’ve thrown the proverbial baby out with the bathwater and forgotten the value that Scripture places on numerical growth:

• When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” (Genesis 17:1-2, three more similar references in Genesis, one in Leviticus, three in Deuteronomy)
• The entire book of Numbers.
• “The LORD your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as many as the stars in the sky. May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!” (Deuteronomy 1:10-11)
• “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever.” (Ezekiel 37:26)
• “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” (Acts 2:41)
• “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47b)
• “[The priests] were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.” (Acts 4:4)
• “The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” (Acts 5:12-14)
• “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:7)
• “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.” (Acts 9:31)
• “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” (Acts 11:19-21)
• “News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.” (Acts 11:22-24)
• “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.” (Acts 16:5)
• “Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.” (Revelation 7:4)

When I began working with other youth leaders in the area, I began to have a new understanding of numbers. We asked ourselves, are our numbers fluctuating because kids are migrating from one group to another? Is the total amount of kids coming to youth group across all youth groups in the area growing, shrinking, or staying the same?

Then something clicked: numbers matter. Numbers matter because God cares about everyone. The sad and destructive thing is when we, as youth leaders, have an unhealthy view of numbers.

Caring About Numbers Together

Here are some ways that youth groups can care about numbers in a healthy way with other youth groups. I’m speaking more as one who is learning rather than one who has a lot of experience. I am growing at this.

1. Rejoice over new kids who show up at other youth groups.
2. Pray for kids who are non-believers to connect with Jesus, no matter which church he or she ends up going to.
3. Share stories from group to group.
4. Celebrate new believers together as a network.
5. Work together with other youth leaders when kids begin “church hopping.”
6. Value incarnational witness and relational ministry over trying to attract new kids to show up. Relational ministry cares about them, attraction-based ministry cares about us.

What About You?

What is your view on numbers? Is my assessment fair?

Last year, Nick and I became connected with Young Life.  In brief, they are a campus outreach ministry designed to share the gospel in a fun and relevant way.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with YL or you want more information you can check out their website.

Unfortunately, Young Life does not have meetings at our local high school.  The area director, to which our school is assigned, currently holds meetings at two other campuses.( If you know YL, than you know that ministry on one campus is huge undertaking.  There is contact work to be done besides meetings.)  This left us with a dilemma.   How could we partner with Young Life to impact our high school?

Nick decided he would try to bring YL to our campus by leading it and was doing a great job.  He invited me and a few of my leaders as well as another youth pastor in our area to jump on board and help out.  Despite the support and efforts, Nick was overly committed and extra time involved organizing YL was taking its toll on him.  He finally had to step down.

Enter Youth With A Mission.  I have been connected with YWAM through a strange set of circumstances for the past few years.  A few of the people that attend our church are part of the Los Angeles YWAM base (our close proximity has made this possible).  Through passing discussions on their base about our youth ministry program, I was connected with the Freedom Project LA team.

Since then, there has been a  mutual inclusion, allowing us to be part of their activities as well as sending interns to be exposed to our particular ministry setting.

I received a visit from my friends in YWAM after a hiatus of communication for approximately 9 months.  It seems they are really interested in re-developing our past relationship and taking it further.  They are interested in community impact but also impacting the local campuses (God’s timing is seriously ridiculous).

What does each group bring to the table?

• YWAM has a history of quality skits, dance teams, and outreach techniques

• Nick and I have relationships with students and campus staff

• YWAM has personnel and trained leaders equipped to evangelize

• Nick and I have hearts and skills to disciple students

How is this mutually beneficial?

• YWAM gets the opportunity to train their staff through a hands-on local program

• Nick and I get to work with talented individuals whose programs are hard to duplicate in the small church setting

• Students in our community are not only impacted but have the opportunity to become active in the local church

I would encourage you to seek outside of the church and look towards para-church organizations as well.  There are some great organizations out there that can compliment what you are doing and vice-versa.  Find a local Young Life Club and get onto the campus and maybe help their area director.  See if there is a YWAM base nearby and team up with them to help train their students and improve the quality of your own ministry.  Get connected with the campus Christian Club.  Is Campus Crusade for Christ active at your local schools? There are tons more!

Our vision for campus and community impact hasn’t been destroyed.  I like to think that God has refined that vision and brought it into focus.  Nick and I shared what I believe was a God given vision; it was only the execution that remained veiled.  A God given vision is always accomplished.  Tthe vehicle for that vision may change along the way.

Has there been a time in your ministry where you had envisioned something being accomplished in one fashion but that vehicle ended up being somewhat or vastly different?

When I was a kid, this was my response to my parents when they told me I would have to wait until Christmas before they would buy me a large Lego product I longed for. Since then, I have learned little about patience. I still had microwavable meals, the internet for downloading music, instant messaging to chat with my friends, sometimes up to six or seven conversations at once, and a host of other conveniences the Millennial generation was and continues to be blessed with.

But the fruits of relational ministry rarely ever occur in a short time frame. It can takes months, even years before you begin to see results.

I hate using the term results because it makes relational ministry seem more like a means to an end rather than an end in itself. I struggle with both perspectives: 1) the entire purpose of relationships is transformation and 2) the entire purpose of relationships is the relationship! I think somewhere in between lies the power of God’s unconditional love that accepts us as we are and compels us to be transformed into the likeness of His Son.

Deep Conversations versus Deep Transformations

This past weekend was one of the most fruitful times I’ve spent with the group of young men I have been mentoring. They are early adolescents, middle schoolers, and a bunch of crazy hormones and wild emotions all packed inside oddly proportioned bodies. I’ve been walking with them for several months now (and I’ve known them for about a year), and I’ve just now begun to see some signs of transformation.

I can have all the deep conversations I want with kids, but a deep conversation about life, family, girls, etc, means little if the young man doesn’t learn from the conversation and decide to change his life because of it. My job is to communicate to these guys biblical truth and share with them an unconditional loving relationship. The Holy Spirit’s job is to work in and on the hearts of these guys as they struggle to figure out who they are.

Lessons I’ve Learned So Far on Mentoring

Here are some things I am learning about mentoring these guys:

1. Fruit takes a long time to grow. Transformation is slow because it takes time to grow up. It’s taken me months of conversations before I they started to open up about their lives.
2. Sometimes the fruit is rotten. They will mess up and disappoint me. As much as it hurts to see these guys mess up, the biggest thing I can do for them is forgive them and keep loving them.
3. They long for encouragement from adults. I think one of the best ways for me to encourage him is when I see him do something that demonstrates biblical masculinity.
4. They long for guidance from adults. The guys often ask me about “guy stuff,” to be reassured that, “Yes, that’s normal,” and to find out what to do with their developing minds, bodies, and social lives. It amazes me how open they are when they realize how much I’m willing to listen.

I admit, I know very little about mentoring. All I know is that a lot of people need it, myself included. I recently asked an older youth leader I know to mentor me. I still need guidance as a young youth pastor trying to navigate the waters of ministry. I hope to share what I learn from both being mentored and being a mentor.

Free Mentoring Resources

• Mentoring.Org – Tons of free resources on starting a mentoring program in your city.
• WisdomWorks – A free mentoring program from Mark Matlock and crew.
• Authentic LA – A one-on-one mentoring ministry in Los Angeles with some free resources.

What Now?

Are you mentoring someone? Are you being mentored? What have you learned about mentoring?

Is every church supposed to network with other churches? Or are just smaller churches supposed to network? Can large megachurches successfully carry out the will of God for their church on their own?

Does networking work in all contexts? What about churches that are out in the middle of nowhere and really are the only church within 100 miles? Or missionaries who are far from any sort of support (assuming they have no internet access or cell phone service)?

This post is more about asking these questions than providing answers. Here are some of my opinions:

• Our reborn spirits have a propensity to work in accordance with the Holy Spirit, but our fleshly nature has a propensity to work for our own ends, which leads to division. (cf. 1 Cor 3:3-9, Eph 4:3)
• God’s will for individual Christians will coalesce with His will for other Christians. A collection of individuals following God’s will together is a church.
• God’s will for individual churches will coalesce with His will for other churches. The collection of churches following God’s will together is the Kingdom of God.
• When we realize the size and scope of God’s will, we will be much more willing to work together. But as long as our vision is small and shortsighted, we will continue to divide and compete.

At the end of the day, I can’t judge other churches who refuse to network, especially if they are faithfully communicating the Gospel and serving the community. Networking, as Calvin might put it, must but a non-essential belief (or in this case, practice).

What About You?

Is networking that big of a deal? In what contexts might networking be very important and in what contexts would networking not be important?

Ultimately, I would like to compile some stories together to give youth ministry networking a “face.” I would love any and every story out there!

Looking for a resource filled with creative ideas to build relationships with students? This is a free resource from Ministry Allies full of relational ministry ideas, including hanging out with students, working on projects together, going to cheer on other students together, and a ton of other great ideas.

The eBook also features additional comments made by some other youth ministry bloggers, including Tim Schmoyer, Adam McLane, Adam Lehman, Jeremy Zach, Chris Bowditch, and Mike Kupferer. Special thanks to these guys for making this happen!

You can:

• Use this list as a guide for ideas to hang out with students.
• Give to your volunteers to help them think of new ways to hang out with kids.

You can download the eBook or view it online.

Nick’s book is definitely not limited to only 43 ideas for connecting with teens. Although that may be the title, this valuable ebook contains many other tangible ways to practically build spiritually influential relationships with teenagers outside of church. Having tried almost all of his ideas in my own ministry over the past 10 years, this ebook brought back many fond memories and reminded me why I’m still in youth ministry today. Whether you’re a brand new youth worker or an old-school veteran, this ebook will help put you on the right track as you invest your life into students.

Tim Schmoyer
Pastor of Student Ministries at Alexandria Covenant Church in Alexandria, MN
Author of Life In Student Ministry at StudentMinistry.org

At our See You At The Pole event, I listened in on some of the prayers of some of the kids in attendance. Perhaps this was a bit like eavesdropping, but I felt more compelled to sit and listen rather than pray.

And what I heard made me realize some incredibly simple things:

1. Students like to pray. I heard some of the students talk about doing prayer at the pole on a regular basis. Ours was very simple, just praying out loud in a group together, sometimes one at a time and sometimes all at once, just us and God, not trying to impress anyone else. I wonder how I can equip students to continue to do this on their own, without adult leadership, because I think these older students are ready for it.
2. Students care about their friends. I know this sounds silly, like, of course they do, but to hear some of the kids pray fervently for their friends was a great experience. They see first hand the pain their friends go through, doing life with them much more than I do. One kid I saw had his hands clenched together up near his forehead and he was praying for courage to do the right thing in the face of temptation and to be a light to his friends.
3. Students can be leaders. Another “Duh!” moment for me, but I am guilty of underestimating the ability of students. They can seem fickle, irresponsible, and uncommitted, but they are if nothing else passionate. I forget that parents need to let go of infants in order for them to learn to walk. Perhaps I have been spoon-feeding my kids and keeping my expectations low. For whatever reason, I have not expected much from them.

Sometimes God uses our own kids to speak truth into our lives. “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise” (Ps. 8:2a, NIV).

What About You?

When has a student or group of students surpised you?