subpages
- BattleCry Resources for Leaders
- Post-Event Help: Using Momentum to Build Lasting Change
- Post-Event Help: How to Keep it Burning
- Teaming With Your Senior Pastor
- Strategizing for the Next Generation
- Ideafest
- Basics: Help...Where Do I Start?
- Basics: You Can Thrive in Your Wilderness (Overcoming Obstacles)
- Creating A Healthy Youth Culture
- Time Management Is A Lie
- Planning: Outthinking the Business World
- Planning: Gearing Up For The Coming School Year
- Planning: Tips On Building Your Blueprint
BattleCry Resources for Leaders
They say if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And this is so true. I need to admit that when I first started youth ministry I was under the impression that planning and youth ministry didn’t mix. That some how chaos needed to be the central theme and being only “led by the Spirit” and not by planning and thinking ahead.
Now of course I wouldn’t be writing an article on developing your blue print if I hadn’t come full circle on this kind of thinking. Over 7 years ago I had a key conversation with an associate pastor that sparked this reality in my life. He asked me a simple question, “does God need to wait until your youth service before he can speak his plan to you? Or can God speak to us in planning meetings?” The answer was obvious to me, of course God can speak to us in planning.
Now there is the reality that God can and does move into our services and messes up the flow to do what he wants to do and that is totally cool with me. As a matter of fact that happened about 2 weeks ago in our worship night, I had a break planned, we got to the break, and I realized that it would totally wreck the atmosphere so I pulled an audible(switch of plans) and we stayed right in the zone that God had for us that night.
So what I’ve learned is that the more Planned I am the more open to spontaneity I can be.
With that said I want to help give you some foundational blue prints for your youth ministry. Now all churches are different so each will need its own variation of this but it’s the foundation to start with.
Why the blue print?
Blue prints for a house is the target the builders are heading toward. Without those plans no one can move forward. It would be crazy to think you would show up on a job site and say to the contractor, I want to build a house… and he says, great, where are the plans… and you say, well, I don’t really have a plan, I just want to feel my way through it… the contractor would walk right off the job site and say, “I cant help you. “ And its no different in building a great, effective, and world changing youth ministry. If you’re going to build it, than you need the plans.
Start with the foundation
I may not be the brightest color in the crayon box but I think the foundation is the best place to begin. I’m going to build that foundation on a few things:
1. Mission statement
2. Mission emphasis
3. Mission strategy
#1 Mission Statement – The Target
This should set the direction of your ministry. And my advice to you is that your mission statement be the exact same mission statement as your church and lead pastor. My church (Champions Centre) has a basic mission statement:
“Equipping people to live successful Christian lives.”
So that is the same mission statement that we have in our youth ministry. But the only difference is that we are “equipping young people to live successful Christian lives.” Don’t try to create a new vision apart from your lead pastor. That’s called division and you don’t even want to go there.
So once you take a look at your mission statement then you only make ministry decisions based on that mission statement. If it doesn’t line up with that mission then don’t do it!!! It’s that simple, do what your church is called to do. And since the vision is the same as your pastor’s then you won’t have a problem building something he/she wouldn’t like.
Action: Put the mission statement somewhere you will see it often and make sure that all your leaders know it by heart!
#2 Mission emphasis – The Picture
Our youth leadership team sat down with our lead Pastor (Kevin Gerald) and began to ask him what he wants to see in our youth ministry and what he’d like us to be all about. And this is what we came up with by the end of our time with him.
“Creating a culture where youth & young adults can connect with God, enjoy healthy relationships, hear a relevant message, be challenged to change the world around them and their unsaved friends are inspired to commit their lives to God!”
This brief sentence really helps me keep our services focused and being what our pastor wants them to be. If you don’t have a picture of what it should look like then its quite possible it will start morphing into a red-headed stepchild you don’t want.
Action: Take time with your pastor to develop your “picture”. If that isn’t possible to meet with your pastor or lead executive then do your best to translate what is happening in the adults to a youth level.
#3 Mission Strategy
This is basically the “main elements” that you will use to make the mission statement happen. This is what ours looks like.
We plan to accomplish our mission to youth and young adults through:
Knowing what the main things that my youth ministry will and will not do is key. To often we get caught up doing so many different things that we become ineffective and worn out. So only do the things that will help accomplish your mission statement. There were different seasons where I stopped doing things like video announcements and other extra’s like that because I was doing it all myself and it was compromising the other key things on my strategy list.
Keep the main things the main things. Allow everything else to just be a bonus. And when you have the team for it then do it but not until then.
Action: Start where your at and identify 2-4 parts of your strategy and do them well. Like services and small groups. Or something like that. When you’ve master those (within reason) then add more to the mix.
So to wrap this thing up I want to bring our attention to Psalm 127:1:
“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.”
Even though we must plan and strategize, our human efforts fall short if it isn’t partnered with prayer & faith! Planning is the partner to prayer not the replacement. Like Solomon prayed for God to fill the temple so we must make our plans and ask God to show up, otherwise we just have an empty building!
God bless and any questions on this feel free to email me and hopefully I can offer some assistance.
(samueld@championscentre.com) & (www.twitter.com/samueldeuth)
