One blog I peruse often is Scot
McKnights (www.jesuscreed.org). I have taken a blog post of his and put it here because it is an interesting thing to think on. It is written by a pastor but I think it is good food for thought for youth pastors as well. I do not buy it hook line and sinker but it is a good thought stimulator at the least. Enjoy.
“If I could begin all over again” is a hard sentence for me to apply to myself for I still think of myself as just beginning. I feel like I am learning things today I should have known twenty years ago. So, with that caveat, if I had to start all over again, I would focus more on intentional discipleship of leaders in my church community.
I have ministered in a large church, an intentional community in the city and a missional church plant in the suburbs. In each case, there has always been the temptation to lead as a CEO, as a top-down leader. There has been the instinct to be present and control every facet of the church’s life. This has led repeatedly to excessive busyness and the feeling that I never have relational time with people. Over the years, I have been convinced this is a disaster. I have seen this as counter-Biblical (1 Cor 12, Rom6, Eph 4) and as counter productive if one desires to lead an organic missional community that multiplies itself in the neighborhoods (as opposed to a corporate organization). And so I have been learning, even these past three months, that I must ever fight this temptation and make time to spend with the development of leaders relationally, speaking into the their lives, bringing them along with me on hospital visits, in board meetings (yes we still must have a board meeting or two), letting them in on the struggles of everyday pastoral life and seeing how I personally struggle with all the various character strains that are inevitable in ministerial vocation life.
In the past, I have too often done leadership development unintentionally: spending time with new leaders as the occasion arose, bringing them along with me wherever I would go. I would seek out people who had evident skills and heart and then put them in charge of something. It was often hit or miss. When I began to see the church as the missional embodiment of Christ, (since 1993) I have sought to minister among multiple pastors, decentralizing the leadership authority in the church. I have bought into Hirsch and Frost’s APEPT (Eph 4) model of leadership before it was in print in The Shaping of Things to Come. Yet I have never fully grasped until most recently just how powerful the one on one, or one on three mentoring of leaders can change the dynamic of one’s entire church community life. It is inefficient and time intensive. Yet its effects reverberate through the church and magnify beyond the church into missional enterprise. Even these past few weeks, as I wrestle with the implications of this, I am seeking to organize my time to spend it with more young leaders. Take some time, 2 or three hours a week with one or two leaders, 3 or 4 hours a week with a group of three to five, every week for a year at a time. Then ask them to do the same. In five years, the impact for the Kingdom will be simply incredible.
Labels: Leadership
Here is what we are doing this summer for youth ministry at Immanuel.
The Sr High is going through the book of Acts. The Jr High ministry is just starting out so we shall see what happens there. Have to feel that one out first. We are going to continue to meet weekly though throughout the summer.
We are doing a beginning of summer snorkel trip and beach party in a few weeks that is open for all youth.
We are taking our kids to Global Reach Camp in early July and to Soul in the City (our
AMiA missions camp) in late July. We are doing a bowl-a-
thon to raise money for that in 2 weeks.
Those are most of the big things. My focus is hopefully going to be on seeking God and meeting kids where they are at. I may try and
reinstitute a summer discipleship school type thing. I have done it in the past. Where I have kids spend the day with me and I take them through disciplines and we do daily business. It has been VERY powerful in the past.
Labels: Miscellaneous, Programs
"Lord God, creator and redeemer, claim my life and ministry for your high and holy purpose. Help me to remain faithful and steadfast all day long, and when evening comes grant a peaceful rest in your presence. In the name of Jesus. Amen."
-Taken from A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants
Labels: Prayer
Got this from one of our leaders...
"You can debate method, but don't debate motive."
This was both convicting to me and encouraging because it was put in a way that my small brain could grasp it. I really like it as a ground rule for ministry teams and one to live by.
Labels: Leadership, Miscellaneous
It is that time of year again!
Our team of
yamia youth ministers will be coming into
Destin, FL for the week. It is a great group who really love the Lord and love kids. We will encourage, plan and dream together in an effort to help
AMiA be known for exceptional youth ministry.
What is really cool is that we all like each other. We have a really fun time whenever we get together. With that said, that is not the coolest part. The coolest part is that when we meet we do things a lot different than most groups. We actually "press in" to God together. In fact, the whole first day we do not do much business at all, instead we pray, worship and get into the Word together.
Please pray for our time together. That we would encourage one another and that God would show us the "next steps" to help
AMiA have exceptional youth ministry.
Labels: AMiA
This is a phrase I have stolen from Gahndi.
My prayer is that EVERY youth minister in AMiA owns this phrase. We become what we are calling our students to be...Let me burst the bubble here really quickly...We all struggle with the tendency to call our teens to things that we ourselves, if we are honest, are not modeling. We must close this gap with God's help. Whether they tell you or not, teens see right through it. Authenticity, which is the arm to reach teens in the Lord, demands it. You must practice what you preach. You must not walk to preach if your preaching is not in the walking. You must....be the change.
Be the Change->translation->be formed into the image of the Trinity...character formation...Christ likeness...
This relates in many, many ways to teens and youth ministry. Here are a few...
1) Your youth ministry is usually a reflection of your overall church ethos.
2) Are you at home in your youth ministry? Teens connect to a youth group because they feel at home more than if they like the games etc...
3) There is not a teen problem, there is a human problem. Be transformed. You can only take teens as deep as God is taking you.
Labels: Formation, Training
Our friends at Youth Specialties have recently had their Jr High Youth Pastors Summit. They had Professor Christian Smith come and speak at it (he is the sociology Professor at
Notre Dame and the director of
the national study of youth and religion. Chris is widely regarded as one of the leading sociologists in the US, particularly in the area chris co-authored, with Melinda Lundquist Denton, the important, research-based book
Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. ). Here are some notes from
Marko's Blog (www.ysmarko.com) that are profound:
Christian –
• Started studying teens in 2000, Have kept up with the teens and send cards because they want to be able to conduct more surveys as the same teens age. Last week finished up a third wave survey. Have a retention rate of 78%. In the Fall he is writing a book on the third wave. Not much has changed in the two years between wave one and two, they all were still on the same trajectory. Only two had lives who were significantly different, and they had both had children. They went from way out there to focusing on pulling their life together. Those who have fallen out seem to be those who live transient at risk lives.
• The Role of Parents in Youth Ministry – He went into his work believing that parents must survive their children’s teenage years. He came out of the project realizing how profoundly formed teenagers are by their parents, and other adult figures in their lives. Culture is set up to de-authorize parents from having to deal with their teenage kids. for instance, there are therapists, youth workers, coaches and other specialists who there to fix kids. Parents get the feeling that they are not capable of parenting their own kids, that they aren’t good enough or qualified enough. Many Parents are ok with this. Many Youth Ministers seem to have troubled relationships with the parents of their students. So many institutions are set up to separate teenagers from adult interaction, which is why parents are so crucial, they are the only consistent adult contact that teens have. Teenagers really benefit from just normal relationships with adults. Socialization, students are formed by the things that are around them, and because teens don’t have much control over their surroundings and are therefore shaped by them. Even though teens act as if they don’t hear what their parents are trying to say to them, they are soaking every word up. Teenagers are replicating their parents.
• How do we reach kids without parents who have faith? - The Church has a full time youth ministry, and the kid has friends (majority of friends) who draw them into that youth group. Other adults did not play into these teens faith. This simply stresses the importance of parents and their faith. These are not independent - you need both!
• The most important pastor a teenager will ever have is their parents.
• What really matters with teens are socially relevant relationships ( a sense of belonging)
• Parents need to be part of responsible communities with other adults who challenge them in parenting. Other adults also have a responsibility to try to affect teens and play a role in there lives.
• Styles of Parenting
• Good Parenting has 2 or 3 dimensions. 1st: strong and clear expectations with boundaries, demands and
accountablility. (Parents are proactive in educating their children of the
paremeters) 2
nd: Emotional Warmth and closeness (letting children know they are loved) Both of these must be used together in order to have a well rounded relationship with the kids. The 3rd dimension is Cognitive autonomy, the idea of having space to work things out and room for children to come to a position that is not exactly the same as the parent.
Labels: Formation, Parenting
