Set up for success?
A version of this article first appeared in the February 2005 issue of Youthwork magazine
What does it look like when a church or organisation really supports youth work? How do we a create a platform on which our work with young people can thrive? DAVE WRIGHT explores these questions, and provides ideas and questions on the issue for youth workers and their employers to wrestle with.
Sam and Emma are a young couple who recently started worshipping at their local church. Their young age stood out in the congregation of mostly older people. As a result, the minister approached them and asked them to head up some youth work. With very little guidance as to what to do, and no real experience of working with young people, they set out to begin a youth club. Within a year, they reached a point of total frustration and pondered leaving the church.
This story is all too common. Some reach out to the neediest young people in the community only to hear church members ask 'Do we really want these kinds of young people coming to our church?' Others find issues of property damage or noise levels to be the common complaint. A lack of support and assistance from church members often frustrates leaders. Beyond that even, many who engage in youth work have no idea of how to build and sustain a ministry to youth. Consequently, they see very mixed results and have no idea how to interpret them.
John was hired as the churches first full time youth worker. He was young and enthusiastic. The vicar desperately wanted good youth work to be part of the ministry of the parish. He was given the task of running various youth clubs and going into schools. However, what John quickly discovered was that no one was there to help him. When he ran clubs, he was the only adult present. When he raised concerns about that, the leadership of the church explained that he was hired to do the youth work. John did not last long in that parish because their idea of having a ministry to young people was to hire someone to do it for them.
BUT...
When the way is paved for excellence in youth ministry, everything changes! Regardless of whether the youth work will be run by volunteers or paid staff, setting up the church for youth work is a necessary task that will empower the leadership and ministry to thrive. Only when we see examples of churches properly set up for success do we understand that there is a way to realise our potential.
Doug was hired as the first full-time youth minister at a parish church. Long before he arrived, the church had decided that it would make youth work a priority. A youth group had been in existence for many years with nominal results and little was being done to reach out to young people in the community. The minister casted a vision for hiring a youth minister and explained the idea to all in leadership in the church. He discussed the plan at prayer meetings, in worship services, and in newsletters. Funds were raised, a search committee was formed, prayer for the effort was everywhere, and the process began. The church was determined to hire someone with experience and raised the position and salary to a senior level. The search went on for a year before a candidate was found that the church was excited about. By the time the youth minister arrived, the whole congregation understood that this person was coming to develop and lead a ministry what would require the support of large numbers of church members. That first youth minister thought he had died and gone to heaven! In his first several years, Doug saw the youth ministry develop rapidly and with great support from church members and leaders.
Scott, the priest at a small rural church composed of almost exclusively old people, contacted the diocesan youth officer and invited him to a meeting of church leaders. At the meeting, he explained that the church had become aware that there were a significant number of young people in the community that were not being reached by local churches. The question on the table was how the church could raise the funds to hire a part time youth worker who could begin to reach youth in the community. Within a year, the church had raised the money and hired someone. A year later they began to raise more funds in order to renovate an old building for use in youth ministry.
Effective youth ministry requires a prepared church. In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13), Jesus compares the seeds that fell on good soil with those that fell on rocky or shallow soil. If we've learned anything from this parable, we should know that a church that is not prepared for youth work will not see a great harvest from its ministry. The question that we need to examine is this: how do we prepare the church for effective youth ministry? Ultimately the leadership of the church needs to address and engage with this task but we as youth workers can facilitate the process and ensure that everything possible is being done to bring about a fully effective youth ministry. If by no-one else, perhaps the words that follow must be read by ministers and church leaders. They can then open the doors for us to prepare the church or can take up the mantle and do the set up work.
Key ingredients to the setup...
First, it begins with profile. The average congregation is not thinking about youth, especially if there are not many in their midst. Our first task is to draw attention to the population of young people that are in the congregation (if any) and those that reside locally. People need to be thinking about the vast number of youth who have no contact with the church or any Christian witness at all. Raise the issue of youth ministry in your parish and in time it will be on the hearts of most of your congregation. The things that we talk about become our priorities in the future. Remember young people in prayers during services. Talk about what is taking place at schools. Use church newsletters and bulletins to mention youth related issues. Invite someone who does Christian youth work to come share about his or her work in a service or meeting. The point is to raise the profile of the needs of young people. Help the congregation see just how many teens attend schools locally and to become aware of how few are being reached with the gospel. In the field of advertising and marketing, this is known as creating a demand. What we are in effect seeking to do is to make people aware of both a need and potential that exist. In Doug's church the vicar detailed just how many teens were attending school in their village and spoke of the potential of reaching out through schools work. Scott had the diocesan youth officer speak to the vestry about the mission potential of reaching youth in the community. In both cases, the congregations began to buzz about the potential of doing youth work. This set the stage for the next step...
Second, it must be followed by a vision. Bill Hybels, in his book Courageous Leadership, defines vision as 'a picture of the future that produces passion'. A vision is more than just a good idea. It has the potential to captivate the attention of a congregation in a way that stirs people to action. A vision for youth ministry is more than just stating that we want more youth in the church. More compelling is the idea that we want to reach and impact a generation of young people for Christ! It needs to be seen as vital and urgent. In order for people to get excited, they need to see both the need and potential.
Ten years ago, Holy Cross was a small congregation of mostly older people. At that time, the minister explained to the congregation that they needed to hire a youth minister. The response was overwhelmingly negative based on the obvious fact that there were no young people in the church. The minister was convinced that was exactly why they needed a youth minister. Today Holy Cross has two full time youth ministers working exclusively with teenagers and has one of the largest ministries to teens in its community. It is the task of church leadership to declare that youth work will be a priority and to share a picture of what that will look like.
The vision for youth ministry in the church must be driven by a mission mindset rather than a desire for maintenance. We know statistically that the majority of the population of youth left the church in recent decades and most teens today have never darkened the doors of the church. Therefore, we need to look at the task from a great commission standpoint determined to make disciples of young people. If we approach the task like we would the mission field, we will seek to understand youth culture, find appropriate ways to proclaim the gospel and nurture new faith.
Third, it requires a strategy. How will we get to where we want to be? Developing strategy takes much prayer and time. Good youth ministry does not appear overnight and hiring a youth minister is not the immediate solution. A church must think through the steps to take in order to begin or develop the work that is needed. The steps need to be realistic and measurable in order that progress is seen clearly. Avoid the trap of getting so caught up in the excitement of the vision that a quantum leap forward is expected. I have seen far too many churches that decided to engage in youth work set up a large event only to see a nominal response and give up. A realistic timetable will consider the challenge and count the cost. We develop strategy when we can divide the big picture into manageably-sized smaller pictures and then determine what it will take to get to that point. At some time we also have to ask the question 'what will we do when we get there?'
The strategy must be relational and not simply programme or event oriented. Teens will respond to relationships far more than programmes. Will the youth leaders get into schools? How often? Will they invite young people to their homes for meals or activities? When David first started working for a church that had virtually no youth work, he explained to the minister that he would not start any programmes for his first three months. Rather, he chose to go to schools, have youth over to his house, and generally meet young people where they are at in order to build the relationships needed for ministry. When he did start meetings, the young people knew and trusted him enough to come and participate. The strategy must also include the rest of the congregation. Not only do we need to think about how we are going to establish youth work but how we are going to involve the congregation. In early days, youth workers need to hold meetings with parents and potential leaders in the ministry. These should offer an explanation of the vision and strategy and determine how people will be involved. The strategy must also be communicated to the whole congregation. Look for natural avenues in the church such as notices, boards, and newsletters to share with everyone all that is coming up. What is amazing is to see how people respond to various needs when they know and are excited about what is going on.
Finally, it is followed by support. Youth workers need to know that the key leaders in the church are behind them. I can tell you that there is nothing more empowering than being greeted after church by elderly members of the congregation who take me by the hand, look straight into my eyes and tell me that they are praying every day for me and for the youth. I can also tell you that many youth workers feel like second tier staff and would leave youth ministry if it were not for the call they received from God. Even the little decisions a minister makes can have a positive or negative impact on youth leaders. When youth ministry is a priority, the best resources available should be dedicated to the work. Young people should not be relegated to the worst rooms available in the church hall. We speak volumes to young people when we treat them with dignity in the church.
Part of the task of support is for youth workers to have a high profile in the church. Some of the youth ministers I work with pray, read scripture, serve communion, and occasionally preach in their churches. Such opportunities allow the congregation to get to know the heart of the youth worker. Those who work with young people need to be seen as vital members of the church's leadership. Young people themselves must be seen to be part of the life of the congregation. Youth Sunday and one off youth services need to be a thing of the past. Rather, we should involve young people in all aspects of church life. The church needs to see and hear from those whose lives are being changed by the gospel.
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