RETHINKING YOUTH MINISTRY

You are welcome Andy. And thanks to your site for ...

2012-02-09T16:10:46.736-06:00

You are welcome Andy. And thanks to your site for inspiring my brain to do some rethinking!

Benjer, I hear you saying that our motivation is i...

2012-02-09T16:06:32.009-06:00

Benjer, I hear you saying that our motivation is important. I think if we are doing attractional (aka "fun") knowing it has nothing to do with who we are but simply because it will draw in more teens, we might want to rethink that approach. It borders on manipulation. I agree that building community is important, though, and there is no reason it can't be fun. As Christians, we probably need to be doing a lot more celebrating the way we have found each other and formed community together as the body of Christ.

Personally, even when I was 23, I was never great ...

2012-02-09T14:01:41.198-06:00

Personally, even when I was 23, I was never great at organizing "purely fun" events, or at planning games that would be fun and build relationships.

"Attractional" to some people means "fake," "consumer/entertainment driven" or even "bait 'n switch." Attractional youth ministry can just mean "fun." And while fun isn't everything, I think (and I'm learning, because I'm a get-down-to-business-and-talk-about-Jesus-for-45-minutes-who-needs-games guy,) that fun is an important part of Jesus-centered community. Because people who love each other will often let down their guard and have fun together, whether it's a game of spoons in a six-student youth group or a fancy worship setup complete with lights, a polished humorous skit, and amazing sound.

Here's a huge question we need to ask: is the event/game/program/facility saying, "Look at me/us!" (our ministry, youth pastor, building, how great we are), or is it saying "Look at Jesus"?

Oh, and Brian, I hope I'm still in youth ministry when I'm 45, Lord willing.

Brian, What a thoughtful and thought provoking pos...

2012-02-09T12:21:00.647-06:00

Brian,
What a thoughtful and thought provoking post. I love your willingness to continually engage and evaluate your ministry mindset. It's part of what makes your site and words so valuable.

And, sincerely, thanks for the kind words on the article. Coming from you, it's high praise indeed!

Keep up the awesome work.

I love the study but I was unable to find the &quo...

2012-02-09T10:50:23.122-06:00

I love the study but I was unable to find the "40" slide resource.

Thanks Calvin. I think you are right that is more ...

2012-02-08T10:09:52.026-06:00

Thanks Calvin. I think you are right that is more related to the professionalization of youth ministry --that we have more theologically trained youth pastors who understand that ministry with youth can be more than entertainment and programs.
By the way, I'm 45 and I don't consider myself old (and members of my church who are in their 80's would laugh if I told them I was "old."). I think you can be in youth ministry at any age, still be able to access your inner "child" and also lead a ministry that is mature and grounded in the things that really matter.

Brian, I totally agree that we need a mix of ages ...

2012-02-08T08:54:00.969-06:00

Brian, I totally agree that we need a mix of ages among our volunteer teams (though I'd hesitate to call 30 old). In fact, it's something we're currently trying to build into our volunteer team at my church.

However, I don't buy that the push-back against attractional youth ministry is related to age. I'm an under-30 youth director, and--as you know--I don't buy into the whole attractional youth ministry thing. I had two summer interns last year who, as we discussed youth ministry philosophy over the summer, didn't really find much resonance with attractional youth ministry, even though it had been the way things were done in their youth groups growing up.

Sure, our desires change as we grow older. I would say the push-back against attractional youth ministry is actually an issue of youth workers being better trained now than they were 20 years ago. We now have practical theologians who focus on youth ministry. We have seminaries that have staff devoted to youth ministry. All of that means a much more theologically nuanced approach. So, in the end, I don't really think that the (possible) aging of youth ministry staff has much--if anything--to do with it, at least vis-a-vis age. Experience might play into it.

I love your points, but with point 3, I think watc...

2012-02-06T11:33:22.583-06:00

I love your points, but with point 3, I think watching the game can be a good community builder. If everyone is just sitting there watching, not talking, sure. But I think theres a reason Sports have been called "A Religious experience." (NOT that I am calling them that) I think great community can and does happen while watching sports.

I'd also add, Im fully on board and wish Church took more of a priority rather than a stupid football game that doesn't matter. But at the same time, I could have been stubborn and still had Youth Group last night. I would have had some annoyed volunteers and zero kids show up. Im glad I got to open our house and have every square inch occupied by adults and teens cheering and yelling together.

Love the first and third comment. I disagree with ...

2012-02-03T23:36:02.792-06:00

Love the first and third comment. I disagree with the comment from Shawn and thing that we need to have a missional mindset, as you have said, in everything that we do. If we are just here for a good time, we are no different than non-religious clubs. Thanks for the great share!

JAK and Amy, Thanks for commenting. To my way of t...

2012-02-03T07:25:40.540-06:00

JAK and Amy, Thanks for commenting. To my way of thinking, you both articulate perfectly a missional approach to this issue. You both are thoughtful about the way that such an event fits into the overall focus of your ministry and connects with your wider mission. To me, that's what being missional is all about -- being intentional about how everything you do fits into the goals of your ministry in a thoughtful and faithful way. Thanks for sharing a different side of this discussion!

Shawn, don't hold back. Tell us what you reall...

2012-02-03T07:22:03.045-06:00

Shawn, don't hold back. Tell us what you really think! : )
I appreciate your passion and your sense that the word missional is being overused. In fact, the word doesn't even have one clear definition. I'm certainly using it differently than the way many of my evangelical colleagues do. Clearly, from my perspective, you are taking a thoughtful, intentional, missional approach to this issue even though we don't see eye-to-eye on all of this. But, of course, we are each the experts of our own ministries and ultimately do what we know is best for the youth in our care. Thanks for commenting!

JAK and Amy, Thanks for commenting. To my way of t...

2012-02-03T07:12:50.242-06:00

I find the word missional so ridiculously overused...

2012-02-02T20:54:07.756-06:00

I find the word missional so ridiculously overused. We do a super bowl party every year, and every year students bring friends who might not otherwise come to church. We do a Gospel message and teens come to Christ. The game offers a non-threathening atmosphere. We put out board games, have a pool table, ping pong etc. So no one is forced to watch. I've been doing student min for 18 years. Missional should be about reaching our culture in ways that they'll respond to. Not just create an anti-culture atmostphere. That's not missional. I don't buy the lame excuse of using precious time to watch competition. Please, stop over spiritualizing! I can be a great tool, if the leaders make it that way. I find it interesting that those claiming to be missional, and against this type of party, are also the ones making idiotic claims about finding Christ in Harry Potter, or claiming that Rob Bell isn't a heretic. If a super bowl party is just a party, shame on the youth pastor. He's the one with the wrong focus.

I understand the struggle to find or create missio...

2012-02-02T08:44:56.636-06:00

I understand the struggle to find or create missional events instead of "social" events for our youth, however, after 10 years of youth ministry, they have found a place in our program for one main reason: there are youth who don't have friends outside of youth group. (and heck, they struggle to keep the friends they have IN youth group)
I have had several youth go through my program that would never have attended a superbowl party, a pool party, or a baseball game with their peers if it wasn't part of our program.

We want to attend to our youth as spiritual beings who exist in community with others--we address mental, emotional and spiritual health. This has developed into a program where we focus on three things when planning--spiritual, service, and social. To be clear, we have a superbowl party this weekend--last weekend we had guest speakers from other Christian denominations, and next week we will be serving at a food bank. We are very intentional about maintaining a balance.

It is our goal to help the youth develop appropriate and healthy social skills--and that translates into all kinds of situations. An antagonistic youth learns to make and keep friends through every day stuff like bowling or mini golf, and then has the skills to to welcome and connect with others at outreach events, mission trips and service projects.
These events provide all kinds of opportunities for mentors and youth to get to know each other in a casual setting--to see more than just one side of each other, and build connections based on common interests. This has built a lot of trust and understanding between our youth and leader team. I've had youth reach out to me in times of need because of this connection--not because they connected with me over a bible study--but because I played lazer tag with them, and discussed super bowl commercials over pizza.

I agree with what was said about the competition f...

2012-02-02T00:24:30.393-06:00

I agree with what was said about the competition factor. I also am wary of bowing down to cultural golden calfs and idols. I also usually try to promote games that encourage team building rather than competition and to turn our worship to Christ BUT with that said, there are a few themes that can be built on around football. I'll point out some of the broad strokes and leave the rest up to everyone else.

These two teams are comprised of individuals. There can't be football without teams. Even the superstar MVP can't win games by himself - someone needs to pass him the ball and defend him. Someone needs to stop the other team. Every member has their job and if one member fails, it effects the whole team. (Body of Christ much?)

These men train every day to perform at their highest capacity. They sweat, they bleed, they live football. Shouldn't we do this for spreading the Good News of Christ. We too need to train, to practice, to scrimmage, as Christ followers. Everything we do should be Christ oriented. These men review footage, watch the competition, learn from their mistakes. What if we applied this mentality to faith sharing?

Also some great metaphors with the coach could be applied to the Christian life. Trust the coach. Obey the coach. Not your will be done but that of the coach's. Etc. Obedience.

These men persevere despite immense pressure, pain, fatigue, etc. They carry on. Ultimately these men put themselves in harms way. You could talk about motivation. Why do they do what they do. Then talk about Christ enduring pressure, pain, fatigue, etc. Why did he do what he did?

How could we use the millions and millions of dollars for commercials to last a lifetime rather than 30 seconds?

Just some great opportunities for analogies.

Adam, thanks for sharing. I'd suggest that the...

2012-02-01T18:25:03.538-06:00

Adam, thanks for sharing. I'd suggest that these ideas could apply to just about any youth event where you need to take a not-so-youth-ministry related activity and make it more connected to the mission of the Church.

At this point, I wish I'd thought of organizin...

2012-02-01T14:37:47.731-06:00

At this point, I wish I'd thought of organizing a Super Bowl party, and am afraid I won't have time to do anything. The fellowship alone would be worthwhile, and your suggestions were great.

Every time I think about youth and the Super Bowl, I remember when I was in my late teens and joined a Presbyterian church where the only other youth were the pastor's sons. Super Bowl came around and the associate pastor invited me to his house for a party, saying there would be other teens there. I took a friend, and the apartment was PACKED! I didn't recognize anyone apart from the pastor's kids. Apparently all the kids were grandkids of members and either were part of some other church or no church at all.

It was a great night, but I never saw those kids again.

You raise a good point, Samuel. Not sure how any k...

2012-01-31T15:06:53.491-06:00

You raise a good point, Samuel. Not sure how any kid could deal in a healthy way with that sort of fame at a such a young age. I was surprised to learn in the book at how emphasis Bieber puts on giving money to his charities and encouraging his teen fans to get involved in outreach. It does say something that at the same age some young stars are blowing their millions on cocaine, Justin is trying to help out those in need.

I'm honestly a bit skeptical. He seems so comm...

2012-01-31T14:57:15.618-06:00

I'm honestly a bit skeptical. He seems so commercial that I'm really hesitant to hold him up.... as anything - i feel like fame tends to ruin even the best of young people. It takes an exceptional kid not to give in.

In the early part of my teens I was drawn to Emine...

2012-01-30T18:42:50.382-06:00

In the early part of my teens I was drawn to Eminem - not for his drugs or swear, but his underlying determinism. Then I grew up, and found New Found Glory to be most influential.

Five Iron Frenzy was a HUGE influence on me. I am...

2012-01-30T14:30:15.262-06:00

Five Iron Frenzy was a HUGE influence on me. I am super excited for their return "from the grave."

My walk with Jesus Christ did not happen until way...

2012-01-30T13:35:08.206-06:00

My walk with Jesus Christ did not happen until way into my late 20's. My musical influence was Led Zepplin, Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Bread, Alice in Chains, Metallica and many others.

The widely divergent themes of the Violent Femmes ...

2012-01-30T10:36:38.644-06:00

The widely divergent themes of the Violent Femmes really made me stop and think.

I still remember how much I loved musicians called...

2012-01-30T05:31:39.117-06:00

I still remember how much I loved musicians called The Cure when I was a teenager. It felt that they are depressed to :D

An interesting response video about loving religio...

2012-01-29T19:56:25.637-06:00

An interesting response video about loving religion and Jesus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_tC4fv6FE