Comments on: youth ministry 3.0, part 16

By: Brenda Seefeldt

Brenda Seefeldt — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:16:27 +0000

How about this for doing less? I’m in the metro Washington DC area. Very, very busy. 8 years ago we dropped our weekly youth meeting. None. We strengthened our weekly SS class (a lot) and strengthened once-a-month youth ministry events. I don’t miss the weekly grind of producing a program that will be forgotten by the next morning. None of the parents miss the hassle of driving through traffic weekly even though their presence is required at the monthly events. Their own responsibility of being the lead spiritual influencer on their own child as well as the other teens has increased greatly. No one complains. And the youth don’t miss a weekly meeting. Of course, these youth don’t remember anything else but I don’t hear them saying “Can we be like the church across town?” We are not a dying church or small mainline. Has anyone else in a healthy church made such a drastic move?

By: Ben Kraker

Ben Kraker — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:43:42 +0000

Sometimes having a smaller youth ministry makes me feel like I’m not doing enough. But then I look at the students that are a part of our church and youth ministry and see how integrated they are becoming. It is a cause for celebration. The fact that each student who comes to church/youth functions leaves feeling genuinely loved and cared for by those in our church gives me a great sense of accomplishment. The majority of our students has at least one person from our body who “knows” him or her.

By: brandon

brandon — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:42:19 +0000

I am in a church that never complains about numbers… that encourages me to “do less” where appropriate… that is open to new ideas… but as I pray about it and try to do “good” youth ministry in this context, it is the “old” stuff that is working…

I agree that authenticity and relationship trump programs… but for us I think it is more of a both and than an either or… Simply doing less and getting little is not enough… Especially for churches that have naturally big ministries, I think we have to learn to be “little” big churches.

By: RO Smith

RO Smith — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:49:34 +0000

Mark,

I was reading your blog about “Doing Less”, and I agree. One of the “problems” that arises with some ministries is that by doing less they “do nothing”. Maybe the “doing nothing” comes out of burned out youth pastors? Maybe they feel under staffed? I think that less programs is the way mid-adolescents are leaning, but I do not think they don’t want anything. In my opinion, in the process of “doing less”, we need to “think strategically”. I don’t think we can just throw stuff against the wall to see if it sticks. And I don’t think we can complete remove all programs. Many groups are run by volunteers who are just as busy as the students and families, and need help in building those relationships with kids. So, if done well, there can be benefits to “programming” small groups, mentoring, large group events, etc.

By: Ben Bacon

Ben Bacon — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:58:02 +0000

Mark,
I was blog surfing when I came across your site and the title caught my eye. I write about ministry as well and your particular emphasis on contextualization as doing less was intriguing.
Not only is doing less important, but also doing excellently that which we have planned to do. Contextualization is only good as long as the content is not compromised. Relationships for the sake of relationships is not God’s design. Simplification of Youth Ministry is for the purpose of 1) edifying the saints and 2) building relationships in order to share the gospel. Our methods should change but our message MUST remain the same.

By: Terrace Crawford

Terrace Crawford — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:10:11 +0000

There is a lot to be said about going small. Sure, Jesus had the mega-services… where he preached to the masses but his time with his core group of 3 should be underscored as most important. We are convinced more time, more energy and more resources should be invested in our weekend services or our programs while if we invested as much (or more) in our core group we, like Jesus’ core, could turn the world upside down.

By: kolby

kolby — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:16:47 +0000

It is hard to lead change in a church culture that has accepted programing youth ministry as the norm. This has been the challenge for me as a newer youth pastor coming in after the previous guy was a master of programming. There has to be more time to chill with teenagers in their setting. I am getting the feeling that youth are so busy already, that they are getting burned out with the bigger events, and would like community. they want to be known, and to share their struggles with people who actually care.

By: DanRead

DanRead — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:56:41 +0000

This is so funny because. I have been telling my church this all year. When I put on an event like “80′s bowling” or something BIG. I literally get half (if not less) then the amount of kids that I get on a typical youth night. And not that numbers are the most important, But the one thing I added this year was a whole lot more Texting, Myspacing, Coffee visits, School visits, small group visits. And I have nocticed a booming youth group this year. Kids feed off Authenticity.

By: Chris Nickels

Chris Nickels — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:35:22 +0000

I am convinced that “going small” is the way to go. For one reason, as Mark says, it let’s us focus more effectively on relationships and community. We are surrounded by opportunities for relationship, both personal (family, friends, youth groups) and technological (cell phones, facebook, etc). Yet we often struggle with “being community” (How often has your church talked about ways to be more hospitable?). This is not an easy change. Recently we changed our Sr. High ministry focus to home gatherings, where we share a meal, conversation, and hang out together. There has been a good response from the students-they are connecting and getting to know each other better. Growth is happening, even if the attendance is somewhat smaller. There are opportunities to be real with each other, and more willingness in this type of context to do so.

But in the church we are addicted to programs and numbers. The kind of questions I hear most often by church leaders/members: “Why aren’t the numbers higher?” and “We need more programs for the youth.”

By: Chris Cummings

Chris Cummings — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:51:18 +0000

sorry for my poor spelling, I forgot to check it I was so excited about this one. :-)