YOUTH: What's your philosophy?

What's the philosophy of youth ministry at your church? We all want our teenagers to learn and grow in faith and I've seen it all. There are churches that have little activity and churches that have so many scheduled activities that being a part of the youth group becomes expensive and more of a country club experience than anything else. I've seen strong and well developed Bible study experiences and those who just sit down with kids to talk about whatever. So, my question is, what's the philosophy of youth ministry at your church?

Youth ministry is a balance. Teenagers, in high school, are all about being social but that doesn't mean they aren't searching for something deeper at church. They need the truth of the gospel and yearn for a deeper knowledge of their God. They do not want watered down theology and constant praise songs.

It's important to sit down and think about what your youth ministry program is all about. What do you, as a church, value enough to provide that for your youth? I suggest every congregation consider what I call the four pillars of youth ministry.

• Spiritual Growth - providing opportunities for quality Bible study.
• Leadership Training - by allowing students to be leaders.
• Service - both inside and outside the congregation.
• Fellowship - opportunities for students to have fellowship and grow together.

You can print off a copy of my philosophy of youth ministry here.

WORSHIP: Pre-Service Slideshow Announcements

I had to be at church early today and as I was waiting for the prelude to begin I noticed that they had a slide show going of announcements similar to those in a movie theater before the previews begin. What a good idea! They were simple announcements about times and places of things going on throughout the week and where regular Bible studies were held during the education hour. Here are some ideas of the kinds of slides that might be shown for your congregation:

• Where Sunday school children should meet for opening and adults should meet for different Bible studies.
• Bible studies that are held throughout the week.
• Important board of directors information.
• Ministry opportunities (women's, men's, youth).
• Special upcoming services.
• Upcoming sermon themes.
• Fundraising events.
• Service opportunities.

You don't need to put the entire bulletin in slides because that would be too many but highlight a few important announcements of things coming up. I suggest doing 6 to 10 slides that rotate so there aren't so many that people only see them once. It might turn out to be a very helpful way for visitors to know where Sunday school and Bible studies meet and that they're welcome to join.

LEADERSHIP: Running a plan or running blind?

The mission statements of churches are very similar.  They involve learning, living, and sharing the Word of God and the love of Christ.  So what do you do with that?  MAKE A MINISTRY PLAN!  No matter how big or small a church is, they need a plan.  If you don't have one this year, put it on the calendar for next year.  A ministry plan provides direction, gives people the satisfaction of feeling a part of something, and encourages participation.  If you're a smaller congregation and don't want to go through a huge strategic planning process just take a few hours on a Saturday and keep it simple.

Who's on the TEAM?  The strategic planning team should include church board members, the pastor(s) and other church professionals, and specifically chosen members. A team that is too large will take too long to make decisions.  Get input from the congregation at large by creating a survey so they feel they have a voice.  If you use a Google Doc it will automatically compile the responses into a spreadsheet.  Be sure to ask questions to get responses regarding the strengths and weaknesses of current ministries and if there is a way the church might be helpful in assisting them with their personal ministries.  You may be surprised at the great ideas they have but never had a chance to share.

Where do we START?  Questions should be intended to gather honest information such as: 

• What percentage of our people are involved in ministry?
• What are we doing well? How do we know?
• In which areas of ministry are we meeting the needs of the congregation?  The community?
• Are there only a few members who seem to do everything?
• Do people want to be more involved?  If so, how can we meet that need?  If not, are we doing something to send a negative message?
• Do we deny opportunities for ministry?  If so, why?  Should we?
• Do all of our ministries point to Jesus?
• Do we provide enough opportunities for Christian education?  Life and service?  Missional opportunities?
• What are our strengths as a congregation?  Weaknesses?
• What are our opportunities outside the congregation?  (partnership with community organizations, schools)
• What are our threats?  (internal conflict, societal beliefs, church or synod politics)

Don't let the discussion take over the meeting.  Be sure to have somebody who can keep things focused and if necessary, set a time limit.

Write the plan down and refer to it throughout the year.  Share the ministry plan with the congregation.  You may find you'd like to do more for the youth or the children, create a stronger relationship with your preschool, find and share more resources for parenting, create a stronger relationship with a nearby nursing home or retirement village, provide resources for single parents, etc.  There are SO many ways to meet the needs of the people and invite those in the community into the church to be cared for and about.

A lot of churches know what they want to do but don't write it down.  Write it down.  Revisit it periodically.  Change it if necessary.  What I know for sure is that if it isn't written down people will forget. Plan, just don't make it such a confining process that nobody wants to do it or follow it!

LEADERSHIP: Need to organize by address?

Want to map out a progressive dinner?  See where all your youth live?  Organize small groups by proximity?

I just came across a really cool resource that might help!  It's called MapAList and it works with Google spreadsheets.  You can upload any Excel spreadsheet into a Google spreadsheet but if there's a lot of excess information I recommend you pare it down to just the information you need:  Name (for label), Address (including city, state, zip).

A resource like this can be great for:

• organizing small groups
• looking at where your membership lives
• looking at where your youth live
• organizing pick up/drop off of kids
• organizing shut-in visits
• looking at all the churches in your town
• and many other things!

CHRISTMAS: What's your program?

Sometimes in smaller congregations it can be hard to come up with a Christmas program that fits your population.  In the past I've had some interesting programs because we had only early elementary and high school kids, less than 15 early elementary kids with the majority of them under 7, only about 12 kids total at varying ages, and small groups who weren't singers or instrumentalists. 

Most published programs seem to be musicals geared toward large churches with a large population of elementary kids.  They have a number of roles and a large chorus and they all have cute names like Christmas comes to Sonland Ranch or something similar.  That's cute but not exactly a retelling of the original.  My philosophy is that when it comes to the Christmas story, more creative is not necessarily better.  The big question is how can you have a meaningful program that celebrates the birth of Chirst with any age or size group? 

After many years of being frustrated, I finally had to write something myself that could easily be adjusted and was an honest retelling of the birth of Christ.  My goal was that it be authentic, bring in the prophecy, included realistic dialogue that might show the drama of the situation (I mean really, what happens when a girl has to tell her parents and finace that she's pregnant by God?), add music that I didn't have to write, and involve any number of people of any age.  WOW!!  It's a whole congregational approach!

There are a LOT of options for this retelling of the birth of Jesus: 

 

• People of many ages can be included.
• Scripture readings (blue text) and spoken dialogue (red text) can either be read in front of the church or off-stage. 
• Young children can be dressed as angels and can sing before and/or after the service.
• Small groups of children can recite parts of scripture.
• Teenagers or adults can read dialogue or play parts in costume.
• A full costume drama can be done.
• Suggested traditional carols or contemporary music is included.
• Choir anthems and/or special music can be added or swapped throughout.
• There are opportunities for solos or CD music can be played.
• Beautiful art can be included as slides.
• Candles can be used during the final song.

(If you'd like to see what I put together to adjust to your congregational needs, please feel free to look here.  This is not a sales pitch.  It's free!  There's a poster sample too.)

RALLY SUNDAY: What's your mission?

Sometimes in smaller churches we get so used to things being the way they are that we forget that planning is a good idea.  I'm a teacher and summer has a great purpose for us.  We rest, have time to think about things we want to change, and most importantly, we gear up for the fall so we can enter the classroom in the fall excited and ready to go.  I believe the same is good for a church.  After the summer, take a Saturday afternoon (or all day) to get the leadership together to get excited for the year and brainstorm and/or dream about all the great ministries in which people can be involved.  What a great thing God has given us in seasons.  Let's take the excitement that comes with autumn, loosen up, and open the doors wide to great possibilities.

What's your mission?

Some people really, really like slogans.  They think if they come up with a cool phrase that people can get behind that they'll get excited and jump on the bandwagon.  In organizations that's their mission statement but I'm not sure mission statements actually do what they're supposed to do.  Sometimes it's better to break that down and have the leadership focus on one thing (but not the only thing), for example, this year let's really focus intentionally on...

• getting people into the Bible more. 
• making sure all our leaders are trained and confident.
• building unity and community.
• educating people about worship. 
• making sure everybody can comfortably verbalize what they believe. 

Then you must ask, how can we do that for everybody across the board?  It might affect Bible study options, VBS themes, sermon series, group activity or retreat themes, etc.

If you want more details about how a Saturday might be used for planning look at the Planning post in July or contact me.