Disclaimer:  This post has been sitting in my queue for the past 7 months.  I kept rethinking, updating, deleting and adding content, which made this post a little long.  So I am sorry for the lengthiness.  

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Starting or sustaining a youth ministry is very unrewarding.  Basically you build and don’t see the fruit and results for a while.

I found myself spending a lot of time working ON my youth ministry and not so much IN my youth ministry.  I would prefer to think about youth ministry systems and strategy rather than think about my youth group sermon.  In the last 5 years it has been my obsessive quest to figure out how to develop a healthy, sustainable youth group.  So I thought it would be rad to share my finding.

This post is ideal for:

-  the new youth pastor who just arrived at a new church

-  the 1st year youth pastor trying to keep his/her head above water

-  a youth worker leading a youth group of 0-35 students

-  a college student who is majoring in youth ministry

-  a youth pastor who loves to think about systems and sustainability

-  a team of lay leaders who are wanting to start a youth group at their church

-  a part time paid youth worker

-  an individual who wants to become a youth pastor

-  a youth worker who is feeling “distracted” and unfocused

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Here is a simple formula that helped me think through how to build a youth group from scratch:

(C + S + S)$ = Healthy Youth Group  

***  p.s. CSS is a web language that brings structure, sequence and style to a webpage just like how CSS will bring structure, sequence and style to your youth ministry.  

C=  Core Values

S= Strategy

S= Staff

$= Fundraising

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Core Values:  Before you start a youth group, you have to know the values that will guide your youth group.  There are three statements that need to be crafted:

(1)  Theological-  What will be your theological focus in your youth ministry?  What scriptures will guide the way you do youth ministry?

(2)  Mission-  What do you want the aim to be for your youth ministry?  The mission statement will define who you are and what you do as a youth ministry

(3)  Values-  what are the essentials of your youth ministry?  What are the non-negotiables?  What 3-5 things define the unique of your youth group?

Remember your strategy and systems will have a greater impact on your youth group culture than mission statements.  So don’t spend too much time on these statements.

Strategy:  You have to decide on a youth ministry strategy.  It took me a LONG time to realized that having a consistent strategy will determine the longevity and effectiveness of your youth ministry.  I had to realize that adopting a “C+” ministry strategy was way better than not having a youth ministry strategy.  Coming from the academy not only was I introduced to many of the major youth ministry strategies, but I learned how to quickly deconstructed them.  I had to get over the fact that there is no perfect strategy and every youth pastor needs to pick a strategy and just stick with it.  Too many youth pastors think it is okay not to have a comprehensive plan or strategy for orchestrating their youth group.

I will never forget listening to a “Systems” talk by Andy Stanley that finally brought my to my knees admitting I needed a consistent strategy for my youth ministry. You can get the talk here or review the notes of the talk here.

Here are 6 reasons why your youth group needs a strategy:

1.  Strategy will give you structure and focus

2.  Strategy requires tested research to be applied

3.  Strategy saves you time

4.  Strategy requires you get other people to assist

5.  Strategy gets your ideas and process in a document format

6.  Strategy automatically gives you a solid network and community of like minded youth pastors

This is why I selected Orange to be my strategy of choice.  Orange fit with my theological convictions and provided spectacular resources and tools that allowed me to execute a family ministry strategy.  A strategy instructs youth pastors on what to do with your parents/families, service, communication, leadership structure, program, volunteers, teaching, and small groups.

Staff-  The book Good To Great talks about getting the right people on the bus so you can conquer the world.  Feel free to read my Good to Great book review here.  The key is finding the right people and get them in the right place.  Make sure to write out what you want your staff to look like.  Draw up an organizational chart, clearly define attributes that you want your staff to exhibit, write out how you will find staff/leaders and the hiring protocol, and how you will train your leaders/staff.  I would highly suggest giving staff/volunteers personality profiles (i.e. Rightpath and strength finders) so you are able to accurately place them in positions they will be passionate about.   In Steve Job’s book he reiterates why organizational leaders need to be great at recruiting and keeping talent. Be persistent at getting great people to be apart of your youth group.  Healthy youth groups attract healthy people.  The goal is to be good at cherry picking people in your church and community and convince them why caring and loving students is an incredible gift.

Money-  Your start up wont be possible if you don’t have the funds.  You need the strategy to get the funds, and you will need funds to fund the strategy.  My annual youth ministry budget was $2500 for 65 6th-12th grade students.  After scholarships, doing 4 events, buying curriculum and bibles and renting vans my budget was gone.  I hated asking for money.  But I had to learn how to do it in a very tactful and compelling way.  This is way I am a huge advocate youth pastors getting some business education so they know the process on how to raise capital to fund the mission of their youth ministry.

My final-cautionary thoughts: It is really easy to do youth group start ups but it is really hard to keep momentum.  At first, things seem to be really focused but over time things will become fuzzy.  This is why every 3-5 months the youth pastor needs to revisit each piece of (CSS)$.  Remember the mission of your youth ministry will stay the same but the plans will always be changing.  Be flexible.

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Questions:

What other components do youth ministry start ups need?

I would love to hear any success/failure stories about trying to do youth group start ups.

What are three behaviors you wish your youth group would do well ? (i.e.teaching, communication, welcoming) And how is your strategy helping to achieve these youth ministry behaviors?

Three of the best youth ministry systems thinkers I know are:  Coach Shef, Jeff Brodie and Jason Chenoweth.

Seminary trains you to exegete Scripture but doesn’t train you to manage people.

This is a big problem.

Bible college and seminary graduates have mad Bible skills but don’t have mad business skills.

It took me a long time to realize that my business administration in youth ministry was horrible.  Thankfully, I had a lot friends who succeeded in entrepreneurship that helped me educate myself in business.

I wish I went to business school before I went to seminary.

I feel like mastering excel spreadsheets and learning how business, people and systems work are more applicable than my Hebrew exegesis classes.    Seminary is important, however it is up to the youth pastor to learn real life business skills that will greatly make his/her youth ministry position at the church way easier.  I am finding that youth pastors don’t have clue about business.

For example, youth pastors dont have a clue about how to:

-  have a productive and purposeful meeting

-  develop, manage and raise money

-  lead people through change  (navigating organizational behavior)

-  get stuff done fast and efficient (aka productivity)

-  adminstrate databases (by the way the best youth ministry database that will help youth ministry administration is ministrytracker.com)

-  write a 1,2,3 and 5 year ministry plans

-  market and message youth ministry events

-  set up and maintain sustainable systems

-  give an engaging presentation

-  recruit, manage and maintain leaders

-  negotiate

-  hire, train and fire staff

Here are ways  seminary trained youth pastors can become very business savvy:

Organize a business counsel for your youth ministry–  Find successful business people in your church and ask them to be apart of your business counsel.  This can be a really informal thing.  Basically if you need help with any business thing you can pick up the phone and give them a call to seek their wisdom.  Churches are organizations that deal with money and people so it is wise for you to surround yourself with smart business men and women who deal with money and people in the real world.  In my previous context, I hung out with really successful and smart entrepreneurs and picked their brains about how to start businesses from the ground up.  I formed a business counsel for my youth ministry which helped me navigate fundraising, budgeting and how go about making key decisions.  I always loved learning from business leaders in my community because they were realist, knew how to get things done and were very direct.

Read business books–  I have gleaned soooo much from reading business books.  The best business resource I have found is The Personal MBA book and program. Essentially Josh Kaufman designed a reading list of 99 books that is equivalent to getting a MBA education.  These 99 featured books are amazing business books which are based on thousands of hours of research.  Check out the reading list here and get reading!!!!!!

Buy the books The Minister’s MBA:  Essential Business Tools for Maximum Ministry Success and Youth Ministry Management Tools-  These are the best books out there that intersect ministry and business administration.

Listen to business school lectures via itunes-  Go to the Itunes U (in the itunes store) and listen to top professors at top business schools around the country.  I learned so much from listening to these lectures and the best part— it is free!!!

(chess pieces photo by philippe julien)

As I talk to youth pastors I am always curious about how their youth ministry facilitates growth.  Over the years I have looked with an inquisitive eye to see why some youth ministries have growth and others haven’t by analyzing developmental patterns and searching for a common threads in multiple youth ministry settings.  I am always curious about youth ministry growth phenomena.  I began to explore this idea in a previous post:  Theory of Critical Mass.

In order to begin to understand youth ministry growth, one must take a behind the scenes look at why some youth ministries have massive growth and gain huge momentum.

So how do I measure youth ministry growth?

Three words:  Function.Multiplication.Health.

Here is a list of 11 ridiculous things that keep youth groups from growing:

(1) Copying another successful youth ministry -  it is okay to learn from other youth leaders, but to copy them really hijacks your creativity to contextualize a youth ministry structure that aligns with your church culture and community.  It is imperative for youth pastors to program according to their OWN surroundings, culture, and circumstances.  It is fine to borrow ministry practices or ideas, but to completely copy a cool-hip youth ministry is not right.

(2) Trying to do it all –  Reggie Joiner in The Orange Leader Handbook shares that you might need to write a stop-doing list.  Construct a list of activities to cut out of your programming that will allow you to be more effective with your strategy.  For example, I know of a church who canceled their mid-week programming because their students wanted to serve locally during the week.  So they cut their midweek programming and are now running a homeless ministry.  Joiner also highlights the idea that your job as a leader is not to wrestle your ministry toward complexity, but rather  toward simplicity.  It is better to do a few things well instead of doing too many things with mediocrity.  Select 2-3 things your youth ministry does really well and only do those things.  Adding more things does not necessitate growth.

(3) Recruiting the wrong adults - assembling the right youth ministry team is paramount.  Make sure to recruit people that will energize you.  In the book Good To Great (which I wrote a book review about here), Collins wants organizations to first focus on the quality of the people on their teams before they worry about growth.  Collin states: Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats – then figure out where to drive it.

(4) Calendaring the same events recurrently - I have seen youth ministries do the same events for years.  One of the catalysts for stimulating growth is constant change of event scheduling.  You have to mix it up.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to change your ministry strategy all the time, but you might want to change the events that demonstrate the strategy.  Youth pastors have to continuously explore new opportunities that will help to connect students with Jesus.  Sure, going to camp every summer can be a great opportunity for students to deepen their relationships with Christ…but if that is followed by the same exact event happening every August, the same movie being shown every September, the ever popular bowling night each October, family fun nights every Friday in November each year…well, you get the idea.

(5) Dismiss parent feedback - Parents should have a voice in your youth ministry.  It is not wise to blow off parent feedback.  Ultimately, parents are entrusting the spiritual shepherding of their children to you, so pay close attention to what parents are saying about you and the ministry.  A few negative parents can kill the momentum of your youth ministry in a matter of months.  This doesn’t mean that you should do whatever parents want and tell you to do.  Your ministry should, however, reveal a partnership with parents if the students themselves are going to grow into a mature relationship with Christ.  You see students for a few hours each week.  The work you do with students and the changes in their lives will either be strengthened or crushed by what happens at home.

(6)  Forgetting about strategic and intentional evangelism – I think we have forgotten how to evangelize.  Look at the book of Acts – evangelism was the central focus.  When people get saved not only do the numbers increase, but so does the excitement for what God is doing.  Those involved in leading others to Christ are strengthened and empowered.  So let’s make sure that youth ministries are out there bringing the Kingdom of God.  Greg Stier argues, in chapter 10 of the GreenHouse Project, that youth ministries need to make evangelism their #1 priority.  He also argues that many need to revampt their methods for evangelizing.  You are not making evangelism a priority unless you are doing it relentlessly and consistently in your ministry.  Honestly strong evangelism efforts will definitely 1) get your students focused on how to love others outside of their youth group bubble and 2) growth your youth group.

(7)  Ignoring  fund raising - Money makes everything happen.  However fundraising is hard!!  A lot of youth pastors tell me that they just don’t have any (or nearly enough) money in their budgets.  With this being an unfortunate truth many face, it is up to each youth worker to fund the vision and mission of their youth ministry.  Do not shy away from or be ashamed of fund raising.  Get creative in how you fund raise.  One of the easiest ways to fundraise is to get the message out by telling people why you need $$$$.  The older generation loves to financially contribute to “making” this next generation a better generation.  You need to discern who are the right people who have money and want to financially invest in the lives of teens.  Make sure to be compelling by describing how their precious coin wiIl be used. Always doing something special for the individuals who contributed money to your youth ministry.  Throw them a party or a dinner, just do something!!! I really wish I learned the insane importance to fundraising early on.   I  wrote two posts: 1)  how to write a youth ministry Christmas wish list and 2)  youth ministry fund raising tips that might help get you started.  Be sure to share ideas that work with your friends and colleagues.

(8)  Failure to set goals - Goals give you the ability to create your youth ministry future in advance.  They can make your youth ministry grow, expand, develop, and possibly transform.  Compelling goals contain two key components: identifying your youth ministry goals and identifying your youth group mission.  What do you want in your youth ministry? Something magical happens when you take generalized impulses and start defining them more precisely. Why does your youth group need it?  What will it give your youth group? Reasons come first;  answers come second.  When you get a big enough reason to accomplish something, you can figure out how to do it. Plus we work for God and He can make anything possible!! Possible areas to set goals in:  Programming attendance, outreach events, retreats/camps, student spiritual maturity, mission trips, family ministry, service events/student involvement, and leadership development.

(9) Information overload - Just pick a ministry strategy and philosophy that works and stick with it.  Trust me, there are thousands upon thousands of theories that tell us how youth ministry “should” be done.  It is easy to read all the latest books, attend all the conferences, and feel overwhelmed.  You will find yourself stuck as you try to decide what strategy will best work in your youth ministry context.  Feel free to experiment with different youth ministry strategies, but do not feel like you have to implement all of what you come across.  Use what works for you, get rid of the rest.

(10) Forgetting about the children’s ministry – Youth and children’s ministries need to be in alignment.  Youth pastors forget that the kids in the children’s ministry will eventually play a vibrant role in their youth ministry one day.  This is why it is wise to support the children’s ministry.  It is an investment for the future.  If the youth pastor knows what the kids have been taught and that their parents have been taught that they are the primary spiritual leaders, the transition from children’s ministry to student ministry will be so much easier.  If a youth ministry can retain and transition all the kids coming from the children’s ministry to the youth ministry, then this will be instant growth.  I always had a difficult time retaining 5th graders as they transitioned into 6th and into the youth ministry.

(11) Not celebrating what God has already done - It is too easy to lose focus on what God is doing in our youth ministry because you and I are powering through programming— moving from event to event.  Failing to remember and celebrate what God has already done is a momentum killer.  Celebrating the victories helps generate a momentum where everyone is excited about what God is doing and realizes He is in fact moving!  Take time before you give your talk at youth group to invite students to share testimonies.  Ask students to share about what God is doing.  Share with the rest of the youth group what God did through a few students last weekend at the homeless shelter, etc.  The important thing to remember is to stop and give praise for what God is already doing. We are always needing reminders of what God has done for us, this is why He gave us communion, baptism, the resurrection, the birth of Jesus, the Bible, the Church, and His people.

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My two questions for youth pastors:

How do you define youth group growth?

What other ridiculous things have you learned that keep youth groups from growing?

Phenomenology studies “that which appears” from the first person point of view.

When I entered youth ministry, I promised myself that I would take a long and hard look (aka observation and assessment) on what phenomenas were transpiring in the youth ministry in which I was serving.  I would do this observation and assessment by simply asking:  What seems to be automatically showing up in my youth ministry without my intentional and programmatic effort?  I would greatly benefit from this reflection because it allowed me to better learn the landscape of my student ministry even if it meant I had to change major programmatic pieces.

A youth ministry phenomena is a particular way(s) God is/was appearing in and through your students, youth ministry, and church.  Self observation and ministry assessment help lead youth pastors to discern what is appearing in their youth ministry. If ministry assessment and self observation are not practiced, youth pastors will never know how and where God is organically moving.

Assessment exposes what is really happening, which encourages the youth pastor to either change the course or continue on the course. All throughout the Bible God is always “appearing” (John 20, 21, Matthew 1, Exodus 3, 1 John 3.2-3, Luke 24, Genesis 18, Mark 16, 1 Kings 19, Numbers 16, Exodus 24, and Joshua 5) in obscure places.  For example:  burning bush, top of a mountain, on side roads, Bethlehem, weddings, and Samaria.  So does this mean God is appearing in weird places in our youth ministry?

My assumption: God is appearing in our youth ministries.

My question: But where exactly is He appearing?

There is no specific scientific hypothesis to test if God is working or appearing in and through your youth ministry.  There is no set model that can promise God will appear and reveal himself to our students, which means youth pastors have to quarterly schedule a time to observe how and where God is moving in their youth ministry.  The beauty about the philosophical idea of phenomenology is that it highly encourages student pastors to take a honest first hand look on how God is appearing or showing up in their youth ministry.

My fear: Our youth ministries are so inherently busy and programmatic we are NOT observing where God is appearing in our youth ministries which only leaves God to work on the outskirts.

My theory: The more and more I thought about how God appeared and worked in my youth ministry context, the more and more I realized that God was predominantly working on the fringes of my youth ministry context.  God was showing up on the outside edges of my youth ministry. It is difficult to admit God is working on the perimeter because “apparently” the action is always suppose to happen in the center.  But in my experience God was not always front and center but rather revealing Himself on the borders of my youth group.

As I studied Jesus’ 3 years of high action packed ministry, I concluded Jesus FIRST went directly to the outskirts of Jerusalem to perform His most powerful redemptive miracles.  Then towards the later portion of His ministry, Jesus traveled into Jerusalem to make His final statement–that He is the Son of God.  So does this mean God may be highly working on the sidelines in our youth ministries?

My questions to youth pastors:

How are we overlooking God’s activity in our youth ministry?

Would you agree that God is more likely to work on the fringes than being in the “obvious and predictable” places?  Why or why not?

How do we honor God’s work in our youth group?

* Post inspired by the Holy Spirit, Lars Rood, and Nate Stratman

*  When I use the term youth parachurch organization, I am referring to organizations such as: Young Life, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Youth for Christ.

My argument: Youth parachurch organizations can be huge assets to youth ministries across the globe.

Problem: Many youth pastors don’t want anything to do with parachurch organizations because:

1)  They “steal” students from the church youth group.

2)  They don’t assimilate students back into the church body.

3)  They don’t concentrate on discipleship.

4)  Youth pastors have too many responsibilities within the church and wear too many hats as it is, and they don’t have the time to cultivate additional outside partnerships.

5) Parachurch communicators are not proclaiming the Gospel.  Read more here if you are curious about how and why Young Life got in trouble for not preaching the Gospel.

6) Youth pastors feel they need to focus on the students in their own church context before going beyond.

–>  I am going to show my cards…I love youth parachurch organizations.  One of my youth ministry mentors loves and worked in Young Life.  Also, I have had great success working with both FCA and Young Life.  In my experience, I love parachurch leaders because they are functioning like real world missionaries reaching lost kids. Here is my rationale for why parachurch leaders rock:

- Parachurch leaders know and pursue evangelism like it is going out of style.  Unfortunately church youth ministries have deeply failed to embrace and do evangelism effectively in a postmodern context.  Parachurch leaders have a firm focus on strategies in youth outreach, a solid theological understanding of incarnational outreach, how to appropriately talk about Jesus without looking like a cultural irrelevant freak, and do inside/out evangelism very effectively.

-  The parachurch leader knows how to fund raise and raise support.  The longevity a leader’s parachurch youth ministry efforts is determined by the success of fund raising efforts.  There is a huge urgency to raise financial support. Having to fund raise gives a ministry leader a new appreciation, focus, and mission for why they are doing what they are doing.  There is no messing around if you are having to provide the $ for your ministry – it is all business.  The parachurch leaders that I met with were always intense, focused, and on mission because they knew time and money was limited.  Therefore, they needed maximum results in a minimal amount of time.

Youth pastors can learn a lot from youth parachurch leaders and vice versa. What youth pastors need to remember when a parachurch organization comes into the community:

-  Youth parachurch organizations are the founding fathers of youth ministry.  Respect your youth ministry roots and history.  Learn more about the history of youth ministry by clicking here.

-  Do youth ministry with an urgency and with no complacency.  I have found that  major difference between a paid church youth pastor and a self funded parachurch ministry leader is that the youth pastor may be more prone to complacency.

-  Observe and assess on how parachurch organizations effectively reach the school campus for Jesus.  Last year, I was talking with a big wig for Youth for Christ and I told him I spend a lot of time on the school campus and he was surprised.  He said it is highly unlikely for a paid church youth pastor to spend x amount of hours on school campuses.  Why is that?  Every youth pastor should be a regular visible presence on the school campuses he/she serves (establish connections with school administrators and get permission, of course!).  You may be surprised to find (as I was), that school personnel will even call you directly when there are issues on campus, even if your students are not involved.

- I think paid church youth pastors can learn a thing about raising finances for a self-supported ministry.  Youth pastors cannot always rely on the church to fund the ministry vision, mission, and goals.

- Parachurch ministry leaders don’t know how to assimilate kids into your church because they don’t know that you or your church exists.  It is your job to connect with these organizations to ensure that students have a landing pad and are not left standing alone without a clue what to do with faith.  It is even better if the parachurch leader attends your church.

-  Your students may need a parachurch ministry that meets them where they are at.  Church youth group may not necessarily be the best fit for every student you come across.  Nate Stratman stated it best:  What is best for each student as far as long term spiritual formation is concerned, and how can the church and YL (parachurch) play formative roles in that process?

-  Youth pastors need to know students who attend their church are not prized possessions. They are special, important, and deserving of our time and energy, but they are not “ours.”  They belong to the Lord.  We have to learn to trust Him with them!

-  Students need more trusted adults in their life.  Research proves that students with healthy adult influences (beyond their parents) grow into healthier adults than their counterparts.

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What is your experience with parachurch organizations?

Do you have local parachurch ministries alive and thriving in your community?

What is your relationship with them?

How can we better love our parachurch friends, and partner with them to advance the Kingdom?