Chris WesleyMore PostsWhy You Need To Be In Unison With “Big Church”

What I love about youth ministry is how you can get away with some things that you could never do in adult worship.  When you fail or mess up teens will be a little more forgiving especially if they see that you are trying.  While youth ministry has it’s uniqueness it has it’s dangers if it is totally isolated from the movement of the adult congregation.  If not connected to the flow and movement of adult ministry and worship it can be an obstacle to the entire church.  One of our responsibilities as youth ministers is to make sure that we are IN UNISON WITH “BIG CHURCH”.

The reason you need to build synergy between teens and adults is because it:

  • Encourages Conversation Between Parent’s and Kids
  • Enables Outside The Box Thinking
  • Equips a Vibrant Generation to Take Ownership

When the church is in unison it becomes a movement and it’s relevancy increases.  Unfortunately, there are road blocks that stand in the way that will cause friction.  To remove that friction and synergy between youth and adults you need to:

Make Your Relationship With Leadership A Priority: Not always the easiest thing to do; however, it has the biggest payoff.  When you can communicate to the pastor your needs and your situation he can serve as an advocate on your behalf.  If this is something that’s impossible you might need to reconsider where you are working. (Click here to learn more on leading up)

Preach On Similar Topics: If you can be ONE CHURCH ONE MESSAGE then you give families a common ground for their conversations.  While it’s not always appropriate to talk about the exact same topics as the adults you can pull from similar themes and readings.  If your church teaches in message series consider following along.  Fuel the conversation at home.

Encourage Teens To Serve Alongside Adults: Building intergenerational relationships are essential in building your capacity as a leader.  When you empower teens to serve alongside of adults you give them role models in faith.  It gives the teens an opportunity to be influenced and encouraged by an adult who sees the importance of serving the Lord.

While there is power and benefit to creating unique opportunities for teenagers, it’s important not to lose sight of how they are connected to the local church.  Work on the relationships you have with coworkers, invest yourself in what the adult ministry is doing and strive to be one church of many generations.

How do you work to be in unison with “Big Church”?

Chris Wesley (@chrisrwesley)

TagsComments 1 View Comments March 21, 2013

Chris WesleyMore PostsSimple Steps To Successful Recruiting

Email blasts, announcements from the pulpits, and flyers on car windshields are only a few of the methods we have tried when it comes to recruiting ministers.  It can be a painful process because the idea of hearing, “NO” breaks our heart and leaves us hopeless.

If you want to successfully recruit volunteers for your youth ministry you need to KEEP IT SIMPLE.  That means making the process less intimidating and frustrating.  To be successful at this you need to:

Give Them A Test Drive – Ministry can be intimidating, especially with teenagers.  Many reasons people will turn you down is because they think it’s all in or nothing.  Allow them to witness and shadow a night of your ministry.  Sit down with them afterwards and invite them back for another try if they are unsure.  A non committal test run, takes away the fear of signing their life away.

Eliminate Surprises - With the growing need for paperwork and background checks getting involved in ministry can be like taking out a mortgage on a house.  This can be shocking to someone who just wants to serve teens.  Make the process simple and clear by laying out the steps they will need to take ahead of time.  This way they won’t be caught off guard when you say, “Welcome to ministry, now let’s go to orientation and training.”  Clear expectations allow them to walk in confident in your leadership.

Share The Vision – Ideally you want your volunteers to serve once a week, every week for an entire year.  If possible you want them for more than just a year.  That’s a lot to chew; therefore, give them a vision of what happens when they invest in the ministry.  Share with them testimonies, give them a window into your passion and let them know that it’s more than just chaperoning.  Help them see WHY so they can see past the HOW.

Get Their Input – Once they commit and begin serving, follow up with them.  This way they’ll know you are happy to have them on board as a team player.  Not only will they feel included in your ministry’s mission, but you’ll gain insight you’ve never heard before.  Sitting down with them to hear their thoughts will affirm their decision to serve alongside of you.

You need ministers and it will always feel like you cannot get them fast enough.  Be patient and develop a system so that when the mass communication hits the air waves you are prepared to bring them along.  While you will still hear, “NO” from time to time, you won’t make the process as painful as going to the dentist.

What steps would you add?  How do you recruit volunteers into ministry?

Chris Wesley (@chrisrwesley)

TagsComments Add Comment March 7, 2013

Chris WesleyMore PostsIs Your Ministry In The Schools?

The other day I wrote a post, “Is Your Ministry A Movement”, which asked the question:

“How are you making your ministry move?”

One of the suggestions was to partner with the community. This enables you to not only influence teens inside your church; but, ones who would never even come close to a church. A reader asked specifically, “What would it look like to partner with some of the local schools in order to be a movement in the community?” Here are a few suggestions for you to try in your local schools:

  • Recruit Advocates: These might be teachers or coaches (who are members of the church) who act as eyes and ears for your ministry. Have them inform you when anything major happens. They know who the Christian and unchurched teens are and can use you as a resource when appropriate. They are where you cannot always be.
  • Outsource: Instead of competing with para church organizations like Young Life, look to partner up with them. Most of their missions are to reach the unchurch and connect them with a local church. Be that local church for them and support them to live out their mission. This takes trust, accountability and transparency.
  • Commission Your Small Group Leaders: Invest in small group leaders to invest in teens outside your regular gathering. That means encouraging them to go to plays, sporting events, volunteering at dances etc. It’ll make your presence known in subtle ways and show the teens support in their everyday lives.
  • Be A Resource: If you have private schools feeding into your ministry meet with the campus minister and build a relationship with him or her. Offer your services to help with school retreats, chapel, etc. With public schools call the principals and guidance counselors and let them know that you can be available.

While you might want to start your own programs within schools look to building relationships first. This way you aren’t competing against others or using up valuable resources. Partnering in the community is intimidating because it means having awkward conversations and allowing other people to critique your ministry. But, that’s not a bad thing, because it will hold you accountable and allow you to grow in the best way possible.

How are you partnering with schools in your community?

Chris Wesley (@chrisrwesley)

TagsComments 2 View Comments January 24, 2013

Josh GriffinMore PostsHSM’s Encourage Ministry: Sticky Notes Project

A few weeks ago some of our student leaders created a ministry called “Encourage” who’s goal was very simply … to encourage other students. One of their first projects was leaving thank you notes on the office door of people who worked at the church. It is always nice to get thanked for serving and it was a great start. Their next project was MUCH bigger – putting sticky notes with a message of encouragement on the lockers of everyone in their high school. Some of the messages:

  • You can do it!
  • Thanks for being you
  • You matter
  • You are awesome
  • Smile!
  • Have a great day!
  • Try your hardest
  • You put the kind in mankind

And while the challenge was huge, they did it! And it sent ripples through the school and even the administration noticed the project and loved it. Not sure where the encourage ministry goes from here, but sure do love them thinking creatively and helping others be encouraged.

JG

PS: How cool is this followup picture (edited to remove IDs) a couple of weeks later?

TagsComments 7 View Comments October 26, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts3 Things I Want to Be Remembered For

A little bit of blog love straight out of my Moleskin journal today. At the end of my life, I want to be remembered for a few things:

Great husband/dad
More than other goal in my life I want to be a great husband and father. I love this calling and privilege and fight for it to remain in this top spot. I love being a husband and a father, but I also love being a pastor and a youth worker. These goals are all competing yet complementary. I want my wife to have the best husband in the world, my kids to have the best dad in the world. I fail at this one most often, which is frustrating to me, I still have so far to go and know I’ll never arrive. But I will try.

Good pastor
Second on my journal list is to be a good pastor. To faithfully serve the students, families and adults in the church where I serve. That I want to be laser-focused on them first in my ministry, and to build God’s kingdom through the local church. So far that has been in 2 churches over 15 years, excited about where God has me now and how I can serve His church in the future. I’m a big believer in the church (warts and all, as my mom would say), and that is something I want to be remembered for. Pastor first, speaker guy second.

Helped other youth workers
Part of my heart’s longings is to help other youth workers. Sometimes when I reflect on my ministry experiences and journey I see how God was and is preparing me to serve other youth workers. I feel privileged to have worked in healthy and unhealthy contexts, seen incredible leaders and serve incredibly bad leaders. I want to take that experience and help others that will carry the youth ministry torch long after I’m gone. Creating resources, blogging, teaching, conversations over lunch, whenever there is an opportunity to help people alongside me in the trenches.

What do you want to be remembered for?

JG

TagsComments 4 View Comments April 13, 2012

Josh GriffinMore PostsThe Leap from Youth Group to Big Church

I thought that Kurt (my boss and Student Ministries Pastor here at Saddleback) may have posted his best blog post so far – this one not really about junior high ministry but about the idea to subtly shift youth ministry a little closer to the adult services so the leap isn’t impossible after graduation. Here’s a clip, definitely worth the click over for the rest:

- We are going to eliminate much of the “competing activities”. We currently do a whole lot of “youth versions” of things such as a youth version of our membership class, a youth version of missions trips, a youth version of deeper learning bible studies etc. We are going to take a close look at these and determine which ones we can eliminate and jump on board with the ones offered for adults.

- We are going to creatively look for ways to get our students to actually attend an adult service on a somewhat regular basis! The older the students, the more effort we will make. So we will work extremely hard to get our college kids in the adult services, work sorta hard to get high schoolers there, and work a little bit to get our junior highers there.

- We are going to create a few easy events that intentionally get our students to rub shoulders with the adults (the above strategies also do this…). For instance, I friend of mine just shared that his group invited the senior citizens in their church to a movie and popcorn night to watch the movie “UP”. He said it was one of the easiest, most effective things they have done in a long time.

JG

 

TagsComments 2 View Comments June 3, 2011

Josh GriffinMore PostsHSM Weekend in Review: Volume 115

Weekend Teaching Series: iServe Weekend (1-off)
Sermon in a Sentence: We were created to serve others – band together to overcome fears, look for opportunities to meet a need and use your S.H.A.P.E.
Service Length: 51 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend I used a classic outline that walked students through a basic understanding of servanthood as it relates to our faith. I wanted them to understand they were gifted and how God uses our Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experiences in making us to be His servants. The message was shorter than normal so students had time to visit the “join a ministry” fair we setup outside the youth room.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: There were a ton of students around this weekend – mainly because they were manning the ministry fair booths after the service. This created a high-energy atmosphere for sure. There was only a short program this week, that included a good video interviewing students about being involved in ministry and what it means to them. We also introduced Hope, a new 2-year intern. Yeah!

Music Playlist: Solution, The Earth is Yours, Our God, To the Ends of the Earth

Favorite Moment: This weekend my friends Robby (formerly on the HSM team) and Ryanne had a great idea – what if we challenged students to help start one of the new Saddleback campuses launching this Christmas. What if we asked a group of students to not just be a part of a church, but to help start one! Very excited about the students’ response to the challenge to come to HSM on Saturday night, and serve at a new campus Sunday morning. So cool!

Up Next: 2020 – the Future is Now (Saddleback’s 6-week church-wide campaign)

TagsComments Add Comment October 12, 2010
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