one of my coaching program participants is a sharp young woman leading a wonderfully tiny youth ministry. i think it’s something like 8 regular teenagers, or something like that. tons of awesome in that, from my thinking: opportunities to turn on a dime and try new things.

recently, she was rethinking her program structure, particularly in response to reading Youth Ministry 3.0. she was feeling that her ministry was just too program heavy for its size. too much complexity, particularly in a small group, made the teens feel like they had to be at everything; which just wasn’t sustainable.

ashley came up with the idea that she’d like to consider alternating foci/purposes for their weekly meeting, rather than multiple programs for multiple foci/purposes. listening to her description of what she was trying to accomplish–the values of her ministry–we came up with three purpose words: Mission, Community, and Word.

she set out to experiment alternating between those three. a Mission week would get the teenagers doing something for others. a Community week would focus on developing belonging in the group. a Word week would focus on teaching and talking about the Bible. the fourth week in a month would either take a second dose of one of those three (most often, Word), or would be a week off.

i loved this. clean, clear, intentional.