Growing The Church

What do you do with kids who are coming to your ministry programs, but do not go to church anywhere on Sunday?

This can be a difficult question. In the past I had been happy with the fact that they were attending one of my programs. I thought that was my job. Over the past few years I have become less satisfied with that. There are several reasons:

• Students that do not become involved in the church on a deeper level usually are the ones who leave the church completely once they leave high school.
• Students who have parents that are committed to Christ are more likely to continue there own commitment.
• One student may give us an opportunity to minister to an entire family.
• God is a jealous God, and we should be jealous as well. God wants all to be saved not just students.

Getting this done may require creativity and more work, but it seems irresponsible to ignore this opportunity. Working with other staff or having different kinds of events that include the whole family are a couple of ideas to accomplish this.

Grow the kingdom and your own church at the same time.

Authority and Youth Ministry

Have you ever been told to do something you didn't want to do? How about something you didn't believe would work? I sat down with a friend recently who has been asked not only to do something they didn't want to, but something they had significant doubts about. In youth ministry this happens often. How should we respond to this kind of request?

There is not one right response or one set of rules that will help you determine how to work your way through this kind of situation. The advice I gave my friend was specific to that situation and would likely not help you. Instead of offering some kind of broad advice I would like to ask some questions that might help you when you face this kind of a situation yourself. I hope these questions will help you work through the difficulty you face.

• If you were to do what you are being asked would you have a clear conscience? Is it morally acceptable to God? I would hope the answer to this question would always be yes, but perhaps it is too much to assume.
• Has the program or action been thought through well?
• Does this fit with the mission and values of the church?
• Is this something you knew you would have to do when you signed on?
• Is there a way to change the program or action so that it would work better for all involved?
• Most importantly have you been honest and respectful in communicating your opposition?
• Is it worth losing your job over?

Missions is Here and Now

I guess I can understand how we ended up in a place where missions is understood as something you do when you go to another country. Missions is perhaps the most important thing a church participates in, but it is too often misunderstood. Fortunately things are changing.

Now we talk about being missional. Of course being missional is simply being a missionary wherever you are. It is about time we begin to change how we talk about the mission of the church. It is unfortunate there has ever been a time when missions was considered something you do in other countries.

We must continue to work on changing not only the perception of missions, the language we use to talk about mission, but most importantly the attitude people have about missions. Being missional has a prerequisite of understanding that the mission is every one's mission! It is the responsibility of the church to do missions every day wherever they are. This attitude change must start with two and three year olds and it must be hammered home in the teenage years. God's mission is every Christ follower's mission.

I wonder what kind of perception we create about the mission of the church? What do the words we use communicate? What to our ministry events communicate about missions and being missional?

Marketing Jesus?

It just sounds wrong doesn't it? Marketing Jesus seems almost sacrilegious. I must admit this is contrary to my nature. Jesus doesn't really need me or any one else to market him, to "sell" him. There is a real sense in which we do need to market Jesus.

When Jesus is mentioned people begin to have a certain perceptions about who he is and what he stands for. Mention the word church and people may have a whole new set of perceptions. Let's be clear, we need to market the Bible, the church, and even Jesus because we need to change peoples perceptions.

Marketing isn't just brochures, TV commercials, and print ads. It is everything from the logo we use to how we preach the word of God. It is how we worship, how we speak, and even how we dress.

In reality every ministry must market Jesus because we need to help people understand what is true and remove false perceptions. It isn't necessarily about crowds or numbers as much as it is about truth.

Helping Students Think Well

Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'N Roll seem to be the things a lot of youth ministries spend their time on. Certainly there is good reason to be concerned about the kind of decisions students will make regarding these real life issues. The question is not whether we talk about these issues, but in what context.

Too much of the time ministries focus on telling students what the right decisions are. We use verses and passages to back up our points about why sex outside of marriage is wrong and we speak of God's intentions in creating sex. All of those things are fine, but there is something more we must consider. What will these students do when they no longer have their youth group or their parents to help them make decisions?

We must help students think well about life and about scripture. The way we do this is not by telling them what to do, but helping them understand how and why these are the best conclusions based on both God's word and general reason and logic.

I might suggest that teaching through books of the Bible will help them do this very thing. If they can understand God's word and how to think clearly then they will be able to make good decisions long after you are out of the picture.