discipleship | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts Your Youth Ministry is Driven By Something

I wrote an article this week taking a quick look at what foundation and philosophy many youth ministries are built on. Can you think of some more to add to the list? Read the full article on SYM or PDYM’s blog, here’s a preview:

Personality Driven Youth Ministry – the youth worker with the most charisma wins. Everything is about the person leading the ministry, as long as he or she doesn’t burn out. The church went out and found the sharpest, funniest, most outgoing youth worker they could. The youth ministry ends up being a mile wide and an inch deep.

Entertainment Driven Youth Ministry — bigger and better is the idea of the day here. Lights, camera, action! All flash with no substance. Entertainment, media and creativity certainly have their place in youth ministry, but without the proper balance this ministry puts on a good show that impresses but rarely sees life change.

Program Driven Youth Ministry — in this model, a youth group that has students out every night of the week is a successful one. The emphasis here is on attendance, where the busyness actually pleases church parents and keeps the elders off your back. People are always secondary to programs.
Babysitting Driven Youth Ministry — just keep everyone happy. Gather the students together in their holy fellowship huddle and teach them the Bible for discipleship. Parents love it because they have some adult time and you are teaching their students the Bible they aren’t getting at home. The discerning youth worker will eventually realize the shallowness of this approach.

JG

Add Comment October 10, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts Book Review: Simple Church

I think this book has a lot of value to it for church leaders. Why do we make church so complex?

Simple Church is about streamlining the pathway for discipleship, it is about cutting through the clutter we create that in the end dilutes our efforts. I think the book, interestingly enough, fits well with the Purpose Driven model (Pastor Rick is even mentioned a few times) and also fits well with principles from The Big Idea and Made to Stick.

The healthiest thing you could probably do for your ministry right now is to cut 60% of your programs and clearly identify/advertise your pathway for discipleship. I’m not sure I’m ready to jump fully into this model and cut everything except the main service, small groups and ministry opportunities – but I definitely see the value in doing less better and making the pathway plain. A good read, challenging what a church “has to offer.” B+

JG

5 View Comments October 10, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts 5 Trends in Growing Churches

Just saw this press release from Outreach Magazine about growing churches in the US. Here’s the 5 trends their recent study revealed – there’s plenty more insight and statistics after the click. It would be interesting to use this list as a tool to see if you’re following the current best practices:

Megatrend No. 2 –Multi-site technology: Churches today are increasingly creative in their use of time and space. U.S. churches are holding as many as six to seven or more weekend services with even large churches giving their services a smaller church “feel” while targeting niche audiences. Multi-site technology has allowed churches to expand across city, state and even national borders.

Megatrend No. 3 –Political action in new ways: While Christian churches have long been perceived as monolithically right wing, today, more of them are using their platform to tackle issues not historically connected with those of the Religious Right. Church leaders like Saddleback Church Senior Pastor Rick Warren and Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northand, A Church Distributed in suburban Orlando, are championing issues such as eliminating poverty and creation care. These leaders represent a new vision of holistic social justice, including abortion and traditional family issues, as well as the challenges of poverty and creation care.

Megatrend No. 4 — Ethnic diversity: The escalating ethnic diversity in the U.S. population is becoming increasingly reflected in American churches as the Hispanic and Asian populations continue to increase in the United States.

Megatrend No. 5 — Return to discipleship: Many megachurches today are recalibrating their core purpose–returning to the foundational ethic of multiplication through discipleship rather an emphasis on personal self-help and church growth methods.

JG

Add Comment October 2, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts Australian Slang

Hmmm … couple of funnies today, related to Australian slang:

1) The Aussies call an outhouse a “long drop.” You figure it out.

2) Simply Youth Ministry has a discipleship material called Rooted: New Testament, which they found intensely funny.

JG

discipleship

Add Comment September 22, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts Questions to Ask Your Next Church

Talking to Stephen about his church search and discovered some of the questions he is asking possible churches in the process. He’s interviewing them as much as they are interviewing him, which I respect very much. Here’s his list of questions, reprinted with his permission:

QUESTIONS TO ASK A POTENTIAL CHURCH

1. What is it that really makes your church distinctive?
2. What are the non-essentials that you look for in hiring staff?
3. How is the church as a whole governed? Elders? Deacons? Both? Are there committees?
4. What were three stand outs (in terms of success) that happened last year?
5. What are the things that YOU personally look for and value in the next Middle School Pastor?
6. Why is the Student Ministry an important part of the church? Why is Middle School so important?
7. What is your picture of success in the Student Ministry? In the Middle School Ministry?
8. Is there a process for staff ‘evaluations’ with the Student Ministry staff? How does that look?
9. What kind of resources will the Middle School Pastor have? Interns? Secretary/assistant? Budget for the ministry?
10. How much will be expected of the next Middle School Pastor administratively / organizationally?
11. As of now, how many students are involved in the Middle School Ministry?
12. Do you believe the church is more evangelistic or discipleship driven? How about Student Ministries? Or, is there a good balance?
13. When you look at the Student Ministry, what strengths do you clearly see? What weaknesses do you see? From that, what are your 3 greatest needs?
14. How do you get things approved at the church? Is there a long process for things or is it a flexible environment?
15. Who would I be accountable to as far as staff over my department?
16. What percentage of large group attendees are also in a small group? Are small groups a strong part/value in the Middle School ministry? In the Student Ministry as a whole?
17. How significant/big is the volunteer base for Middle School currently?
18. Is there currently any type of ministry within Middle School that reaches out to the Parents of the students?
19. Will there be other pastoral responsibilities on the Middle School Pastor such as ‘pastor on call’ or ‘hospital visitation?’
20. How does the leadership team work? How long has the Student Ministries had that asset?
21. Are there upcoming building plans for the church / student ministry?
22. Does the church value families going to church together? Do students go to church w/ their parents or are students in their weekend service the same time parents are in their service?
23. Will there be someone who is pouring into me as I pour myself into others?

If you can think of or have used any more, post them as a comment.

JG

7 View Comments March 27, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts Pastor Rick on Nightline Tonight

Pastor Rick is going to be on Nightline tonight, answering some hard questions about faith. Here’s a clip from their program that airs tonight.

“The history of this idea — ‘purpose driven’ — is not something I thought up in the first place,” Warren explains. “There have been hundreds of books throughout history that talked about worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism.”

But while these five purposes are biblically based, there is no denying that Warren has popularized these purposes around the world. He says he has trained 400,000 pastors worldwide to start purpose-driven churches. But it’s Warren’s untraditional use of the Christian language that may be the reason for his enormous following.

“I like to teach theology to people without telling them it’s theology and without using theological terms,” he said. “Simple does not mean simplistic. Simple does not mean superficial. Simple means it’s clear.”

JG

Add Comment March 7, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts There’s Not Enough Time in the Day

Joby has a great new article on less being more in the new year in youth ministry. Some great stuff, clearly written by a guy in the trenches with a great here. Here’s a clip:

I walked into my office today, after a week of traveling and visiting family, to a youth ministry reality that will never change. THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME TO GET EVERYTHING DONE THAT NEEDS TO GET DONE. I live in your world. There are phone calls to be made, students to visit, talks to write, events to plan, and the list goes on. Don’t fall into the trap that ’07 will be different if I just suck it up and do more.

Make your New Year’s resoltion to do less. What if this year instead of staying busy, because we all know how well its worked in the past, you became more focused. I know one of the biggest struggles of youth workers that are new to PDYM is a sense of being overwhelmed with information. A youth worker that has been accustomed to a couple of bible studies a week and some fun activities doesn’t see how to become purpose driven.

I mean there is evangelism, worship, discipleship, ministry, fellowship, small groups, crowd program, volunteers – and I still have to keep everything going. You are probably excited about the newyear with all the new opportunities and are ready to make ’07 be the year when you get all things accomplished. You plan on creating an evangelism team that is finally committed and passionate about spreading the gospel with every student in your community. You are going to create the coolest worship service in town. You are going to finally see your students show up with their Bibles and beg to be taught. You are going to recruit and train the greatest group of volunteers since the days of Peter, James, and John. And all this is going to be done before your next youth meeting. Right …

JG

Add Comment January 9, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts OC Register Talks Saddleback

The OC Register continues its weekly feature on Pastor Rick, including this Saddleback history lesson from 1980 – present. Here’s a clip:

Growth also forced discipline upon the church’s trademark informality. Warren developed classes to move members through levels of spiritual commitment. He adopted the small group “cell” model, a system in which hundreds of individual worship groups supply members with the intimacy lacking in the larger church.

Such “shepherding/discipleship” techniques were common at churches (and some religious interest groups) across the country in the 1980s. The result was the megachurch: a collection of constantly changing “cells” grouped around a fixed nucleus of church hierarchy.

Today, there are more than 3,000 Saddleback small groups, often organized around mutual interests, such as mountain biking or singing. Church guidance is passed down through worship guidebooks, CD-ROM and DVD trainings, and e-learning modules distributed each week. Members dissatisfied with their small groups can choose a new one rather than abandon the church altogether.

Such flexibility keeps sheep in the fold, as does the regular polling performed by church staff after weekend services.

At a recent staff meeting, Gerald Sharon, the church’s production supervisor, remarked how a time change for a certain venue has “definitively” proven that “people choose their service time first and their style second.”

This year, Sharon spearheaded Saddleback’s first satellite campus in the gymnasium of San Clemente High School. The venue, like the eight others on campus, receives a satellite feed of the sermon but maintains a separate staff.

JG