Youth Ministry needs to Push Back

I am anticipating that this blog post may get some negative reaction. Still I think it is important. This morning I watched some commentary on the "Jon & Kate Plus 8" television show. I have never watched the show and I am not sure what the actual circumstances are in that home. My purpose is not to actually talk about the family, but to commentate on the commentary. As I watched, thoughts I have been having about family and youth ministry for years rushed through my brain as a significant mistake was being made in front of my eyes. I wish it was a mistake exclusive to the media, but i fear it has found its way into our homes and our churches.

According to this commentary the couple has been having some marital difficulties. Of course the primary concern was the children and the impact this is having on them. Might I suggest that focusing on the children is mistake number one? Yes, I know we look at children and think they are fragile (in many ways they are) and they need our help to navigate difficult waters (they do). Perhaps what we should be worried about instead is the marriage of Jon and Kate. Wouldn't it be best for the children if the marriage was saved? Why do we write the marriage off as if it is no big deal? Still that is not the primary mistake that was made.

Mistake number two is significant because of the impact it has on our culture overall. Multiple times it was stated or insinuated that the difficulty the couple is having combined with the TV cameras is not really having an impact on the students (the one exception was the aunt and uncle). The way we know it is not having on impact on the kids is by simply asking them. That is mistake number two. I can't help but wonder how often we as a culture make decisions based on what kids tell us. My guess is we do this often. For our purposes in the church as youth workers, parents, pastors, and so on, how often do we make decisions based on what our students or kids want? Certainly there are appropriate times to do this, but I think we may be doing this in important areas. What curriculum we chose is based on what they will find interesting instead of what will give them a better foundation in their faith. Elements in a program are based solely on whether they are fun instead of what kind of impact they will have on the students. What is best for our students?

So, where is the push back? It is here. In my opinion Scriptrue provides significant support for the existence and practice of youth ministry. Scripture also lays at the feet of parents the responsibility of discipling their own kids. This means Youth Ministries should not be asking students and even parents (at times) what they would like, but instead they should be asking what is best! How can we best support parents in discipling their kids? How can we best equip parents to disciple their kids? Dueteronomy 6 makes clear important role parents are to play in their kids life.

The High School programing at our church is changing significantly this year. There are many reasons for the change. One of those reasons is our desire to push back a little. In many ways we have an attractional model of ministry, but there comes a time when attraction is just attraction and not ministry. Our desire is to encourage parents to take a more significant role in their student's life. A common worship experience is part of that. We also believe that this will help High School students learn how to go to church. Over the past several years there has been a buzz in youth ministry about the number of students leaving church when they graduate. Might I suggest that one of the reasons they leave is because we have made our programming and curriculum decisions based on what they like and not on what they need? We have specialized our programming in every aspect, because of that students have never learned how to go to church and they don't like the church they are face with when they leave the High School or college ministry. Our goal is to teach students how to attend "big church". You might say the church needs to be more relevant to a younger generation rather than teaching students to participate in something that isn't good. There may be some cases where that is true, but I can't think of a better way to do that than to get the students involved in the first place. We have several additional reasons for chaning our programming, but this was certainly in the mix.

The challenge for those of us in youth ministry is to ask different questions. These are some questions I ask regarding our ministry at The Rock:

• How can I creat the best environments for God to work in students lives?
• How can I equip parents to better disciple their own students?
• What tools can I provide to both students and parents that will help them follow Jesus as a family?
• How can we, through our programming, help students who do not have parents that will disciple them?

Ask these questions of yourself of some of your parents, your staff, and Senior pastor. See what you come up with and consider changing the programming to support the entire family.

Understanding Your Context

A lot is made of understanding our cultural context. There are magazines like Relevant and people like Walt Mueller who help us in that area. There are web sites about how to use movies, music, Facebook and other cultural phenomenons to further God's kingdom. To all of them I am thankful, and I have learned a lot from many of those sources. There is another kind of context we must consider before we close the door on understanding out context. It is our church context.

In every church there is a culture that church has developed whether they have done so intentionally or not. There are values which have been lifted up above other values, commitments to programs or strategies, and a host of other cultural commitments. A lack of understanding in this area may be one reason that youth pastors sometimes have short stints at a given church. There are all kinds of ministry philosophies and strategies. For instance the church I am currently serving in talks about being "attractional" and "a real church for real people". These two things work themselves out in a variety of ways in our context. It is essential for me to make sure what I am doing with the students is consistent with these two principals.

This is important for a few reasons. The first is that my Senior Pastor will have my back if I am being consistent with the philosophy and strategy that he is implementing in the overall church. Second, this creates a consistency that help students integrate into the rest of the church. Third, when it comes to making changes I have an understanding of what kind of changes would be acceptable in this context and which changes would not be. This gives me a pretty big head start in making programing and strategy type decisions.

Context is not just about what students experience when they are not at church, it is also about the kind of experiences they need when they are at church. Here are some questions that will help you determine the culture at your church:

• What phrases are repeated conistantly by the staff and expecially the Senior Pastor at your church?
• What values or strategies consistently show up in other programs throughout the church?
• How does my Senior Pastor run the ministries he has his hands on?
• Has the church put printed values anywhere? What are they?
• Are there values that I have that are inconsistant with the culture of the church?

Learning to Use Ministry Models

My Freshman year at Oak Hills Bible College in Bemidji (otherwise known as Buuurrrmidji), MN I began my paid youth ministry career. I was hired (along with the woman who is now my wife) to do youth ministry in a small town. At the age of 17 I began a quest to change the world for Jesus. I had huge dreams and a lot of energy, but I had no idea what I was doing. There were "kids" in the youth group that were older than I was. My model of youth ministry was to do whatever my uncle told me to do (he was a pastor in the area) and have a Bible study with the "students". Looking back that was probably a pretty good youth ministry model for that time and place. Ya, I said model.

You might be thinking, "that's not a model." It wasn't an intentional model, but it was a model. I didn't put a lot of thought into it. I didn't sit down and try to figure out what our mission statement was, what our ministry philosophy was, or what values we were trying to incorporate into the ministry. That was way beyond me! Still that model isn't that much different than what I have done for most of my ministry experience (except the part where I do what my uncle tells me to). Over the years I have become more strategic in how I approach ministry which has caused me to tweak and mess with various models of ministry in order to best accomplish the great commandments and the great commission in my context.

For the first five years of my ministry experience I really didn't know what I was doing. I was simply making it up as I went. The first time I received training that really helped me begin to think strategically was at a Sonlife Strategies Seminar (no longer offered). Many people don't look at what Sonlife taught as a model, but models were presented as a way to carry out the strategy which was being proposed. Later I would be exposed to the Willow Creek model, the Purpose Driven model, the Student Led Cell Group model, and others.

Recently "ministry models" as a whole have come under attack. This attack shows a lack of understanding when it comes to the value of models themselves. There is no perfect model which can transcend every cultural context. Chap Clark makes this very point in chapter six of Starting Right, "No one model should ever be revered as the model. In reality they all have weaknesses and strengths."

So what do we do with all of these ministry models? Can any of them be helpful? The simple answer is yes. Models are wonderful for the following reasons:

• They provide focus.
• They provide a way of thinking about ministry.
• Good models are based on good theology and strategic thinking in relation to the context in which they were developed.
  
• They provide a starting point for developing a model specific to your context.

A good youth pastor learns how to exegete his context for ministry and develop a strategy or model that will help him be successful in that context. This is not a new concept, but it seems that it is often forgotten. The incarnation of God the Son is based on this very concept. God had a specific mission in mind (Redeeming mankind) and a specific context in which it must take place. God then decided on a model (the incarnation) through which to accomplish His purpose.

"Every model, whether involving sweeping changes or prescribing minor adjustments, began with someone asking important systemic, structural, programmatic, or strategic questions in the light of a given need or setting." (Chap Clark, Starting Right, p. 110) Ministry should always be relational, but there will always be programs. Ministry should always be contextualized, but there will always be models.

The question is not whether we follow a particular model of ministry but whether or not we have rightly understood our own context and made the appropriate modifications to make a particular model work for us, making that model our own.

In my own experience understanding how others have approached youth ministry in their context has equipped me to think more strategically about how to approach ministry in my context. I have used bits and pieces from a variety of models over the years and it is my familiarity with these models that has allowed me to better use the tools available.

Use the following questions to help you begin to think through what your model of ministry will be in your particular context:

• What is the model of ministry my church has subscribed to? (This is essential there should be continuity throughout all the ministries of your church)
• What is the strategy behind that model? Will that strategy work with the youth?
• What are the core theological and philosophical principals upon which you are building your model?
  
• What needs to be tweaked in order to make that strategy work? (Don't confuse strategy with programming. There should be continuity in programming as well, but that does not mean the programs will not be executed differently i.e. music, drama, location, atmosphere, etc...)
• What programs will make the overall strategy work? (small groups, large group, leadership structure, etc...)

These questions will just get you started. Don't stop questioning what you are doing. Every year I examine what we have done the previous year and how well that worked. I usually do this in the spring so I have time to make the necessary changes before the fall arrives. There is no perfect model and you can always make changes that will help you be more effective.

Essential Elements of the Gospel

Occasionally I try to put myself in the shoes of a non-believer who is "checking out" God and this whole "religion" thing. I wonder what goes through their mind as they drive into a parking lot full of cars at a place they at one time thought they would never go except for a wedding, funeral, or when their parents made them (Easter and sometimes Christmas). Maybe a friend invited them and they are looking around as the exit the car and walk into the building. The greeters welcome them and they aren't sure what to say back so they just smile and continue looking for their friend.

Eventually they find their friend. In a church that is paying attention they are introduced to 7 or 8 people who's names they will undoubtedly forget. So far things are good...as good as they could be anyway. The non-believer (let's call her Angie) is nervous, her heart is beating a little faster, her breathing is slightly elevated, and just a tinge of adrenaline is flowing through her veins. Angie really isn't shy, but a crowd like this is a little overwhelming so she is relieved to sit down so she doesn't have to meet anyone else. Of course she only gets to sit for a minute and then it's time to participate in a game (which the regulars love, but she is kind of scared) or the worship starts in which case the people around her are singing and she doesn't sing well. After the music comes the message. She is thinking, "here comes that wacked religion stuff". Instead she becomes engaged in the message and hears about the difficulties of following the negative messages of the culture we live in. The speaker quotes some lyrics from a popular song to make his point. He opens the Bible and reads a passage that actually makes some sense. Angie had thought the Bible was irrelevant, but apparently there is some good stuff in there.

The message is coming to a conclusion and the speaker at the end of a stirring message about making good decisions in the face of a negative culture simply adds this:

Bow your heads and close your eyes; if you would like to accept Jesus
tonight raise your hand and put it right back down. God bless you, you,
you, and you and you."

The evening is ended with a prayer and Angie goes home wondering why she raised her hand. As she goes to bed that night she recaps the evening. It was fun, after being so nervous she actually enjoyed herself and thought the speaker made some good points. Still she isn't even sure what she committed to. She wonders what the big deal is about church, she has heard the same kind of message (minus the Bible) from her school teachers and commercials on TV. She wonders who Jesus is and what it means to accept Him; further what does accepting him do for her? Oh well, she had fun so maybe she'll give it another try if her friend invites her back.

• Is this the kind of experience you would want a visitor to have if they visited your church or youth group? Why?
• What good things happened in this fictional story?
• What things didn't go the way they should?
• What is wrong with how the speaker ended the message?
• What are the essential parts of the gospel message? What does a person need to understand in order to make a decision to "accept Jesus"?
  

What is Theological Ministry?

"Youth ministers have been on a long and frustrating quest of their own over the past two decades or so. Believing that a message wrapped in pop-culture packaging was the way to attract teens to their flocks, pastors watered down the religious content and boosted the entertainment. But in recent years churches have begun offering their young people a style of religious instruction grounded in Bible study and teachings about the doctrines of their denomination." (Time Magazine)

Some things never change and some things shouldn't. Ministry isn't about being able to keep up with the latest fads in an attempt to be relevant or using the latest and greatest curriculum it is about fulfilling the mission God has given to the church. Theological ministry is about making God's mission our mission and it is about staying true to those things that never changes. Just as God does not change so the truths of God do not change. In Mt. 7 Jesus the story of the man who built his house on the Rock and the one who built his house on the sand. In order to have a long lasting ministry or to last long in ministry it is essential that we build a good foundation for our ministry.

The first question that must be answered when we think theologically about ministry is this, "What are the foundational truths upon which a disciple and ultimately a ministry is built?" That is a loaded questions that demands a well thought out response. Time magazine made some great observations. Ministry and ministers are definitely becoming more focused on the deeper foundational truths of the faith, but they also made a mistake. The foundational truths of the Christian faith never changed and healthy ministries have always realized the significance of doctrine in faith and in practice.

The first step in building a theological ministry is answering the question I asked in the last paragraph. In my last post I mentioned something called a DDP (Discription of a Discipled Person). This document is one way of answering the above question.

For a practical approach to this issue begin by answering these questions:

• What doctrines are non-negotiable? (This should not a be a long list, it is not a doctrinal statement)
• What does a fully devoted follower of Jesus need to know?
  
• What does a fully devoted follower need to be able to do?
• How can we help students know these things and develop these skills in our ministries?
  

Theology & Youth Ministry: A match made in heaven

Theology: the study of God.
Youth Ministry: the act of discipling Junior and Senior High students.

These definitions may not be perfect, but I think they communicate the basic premise of both theology and youth ministry. For some in the church these two things are mutually exclusive. Youth ministry for years was viewed as a stepping stone to becoming a "real" pastor. While this mentality still exists in some places, it has wained in recent years and youth ministry has begun to grow up. Today youth ministry is viewed as serious business. For this I am grateful. My purpose is to provide a theological basis for youth ministry. This has been done before by others, but my hope is that thinking theologically about youth ministry and leadership in a youth ministry context will not be something that takes place in the background, but rather it is brought to the forefront.

Theology is the study of God, but it has become a broader term that encompasses much more. God does not exist in a vacuum, instead we have a history of how he has interacted with mankind and with youth throughout all of history. This is part of thinking theologically. Modern youth ministry may be young, but youth ministry as a whole is not.

Genesis. ya, I know it's kind of canned to start with a book that literally means beginnings. But then again, there must be a reason it is called Genesis. I can't prove it but I have a theory about Adam and Eve. I think they were in essence adolescents when they were created. I think if we were there to see them walking down the street (clothed of course) a day after they were created they would look like teenagers. In essence, God created his own youth group by speaking them into existence (how about that for a growth strategy). I can't imagine why God would create them with older bodies, maybe they were the equivalent of a 17 or 18 year old. God in his wisdom certainly would have wanted to skip the diapers and having to do everything for them, but He certainly would have wanted to create them still in their physical prime.

Whatever your thoughts about the last paragraph, they were young in their appearance and they needed to be taught the ways of God. Thus God gave them freedom within boundaries. Wow, that might be profound. God also allowed them to endure the consequences of their choices. Of course the history of youth ministry goes on:

• Joseph was young when God began to work in him, giving him dreams.
• Samuel was very young when his mother dedicated him to the ministry and grew up around the temple learning the ways of God.
  
• David was called by God (Through his youth pastor Samuel) when he was young and was probably a teenager when he defeated Goliath.
• Josiah was 8 when he became king and Joash was 7 God used both of those boys as they became men.
• some of the disciples were likely teenagers (they certainly acted like it at times).
  
• Paul raised up Timothy who was a young church leader
  
• etc...

God has interacted with people who were young for all of history. Not only is this youth ministry, but it is theology. Youth ministry and theology are meant to be together. More could be said about the numerous passages in the Bible that in one way or another address the issue of youth ministry.

Youth Ministry is not simply a response to a consumerist culture; however, just like the church as a whole youth ministry has responded to culture in negative and positive ways. Thinking theologically about youth ministry will help to differentiate what is good and what is not. Youth Ministry is Biblical and good, it is not a question of whether we do youth ministry, but how we do youth ministry.

• As you think about scripture and the stories that likely involve teen agers what can we learn about how God interacted with young people?
  
• How has youth ministry appropriately and inappropriately responded to culture and fads?
• How have you responded appropriately or inappropriately to those things?
  
• If youth ministry and theology are a match made in heaven, how might that impact our teaching? How can we help students develop good theology?

Coming up in two weeks: "Learning to Use Ministry Models"

Using Social Networking for God's Glory

A few months ago i received a message on Facebook. It was a message from Susie (the name has been changed). She had recently broken up with her boyfriend and things were not that great. Susie was a former student of mine. She was out of High School by a few years. The message was very disturbing. She told me things were difficult and she was asking me some theological questions. These questions were good, but the word suicide was mentioned. This of course became a very different conversation as soon as that happened. I was now living a thousand miles away and I could not physically be there for her. I am pretty sure it would have been difficult for her to track down my phone #. Still there was Facebook, a social online networking community. A place for people to connect. I don't know how serious she was about suicide, but I do know that through Facebook I was able to get her connected with some people who could be there for her.

Let's be clear, Susie and I were never really close, but we had many, many conversations when I was her pastor. Still she knew that she could contact me and I would be there for her if at all possible. Like it or not Facebook, myspace, twitter, and possibly many other networks are impacting our culture in huge ways. As youth ministry workers it is imperative that we enter the culture and bring Jesus with us. These networks are not simply places to hang out online, they are places where significant ministry can and must be done.

I am not a young twenty something youth pastor who grew up with these things, I am a 35 years old and 15 year veteran of youth ministry. Why do I mention this? Because I don't want anyone who reads this to write it off because they are too old or because they don't think I am old enough. Jesus was incarnational entering the culture of mankind to save them from their sin. Should we not take that same approach to ministry? Shouldn't we enter culture and meet students where they are in an effort to reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ?

These technologies have infiltrated the culture very deeply. I use these technologies often and keep them up to date and still I do not have a full grasp on the power of the technologies nor have I fully figured out how to leverage that for the kingdom of God. What I do know is that I have been able to do significant ministry because of my activity on these networks. Don't stick your head in the sand, and don't wine because you don't like it. Learn to enjoy the benefits and leverage the power of these networks for God's glory.