Fuller Youth Institute translates research into resources for youth and family ministry. Honestly, Fuller Youth Institute is brilliant and does a wonderful job making youth ministry research fun and practical. Also if you are around next Tuesday, January 12 at 11:00 AM PST please join FYI for a live online interview with Kara Powell to discuss the new book Essential Leadership.
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Deep Leadership: Training Onramps for Your Youth Ministry Team.
The FYI (Fuller Youth Institute) self published a great resource for youth workers entitled: Essential Leadership.
Essential Leadership is authored by: Kara Powell
This is part 2 of my review:
Deep Assessment: A Map That Gets Our Ministry
In any youth ministry assessment is essential. Deep assessment entails: SWOT– is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses, and Threats. I believe a youth pastor needs assess every 6 months. The beauty about youth ministry is that everything changes. I make sure to note on all my calendars that everything is subject to change. Basically, conducting a “SWOT analysis is one tool that can help youth ministries better determine where they are, as well as what steps they need to move forward.”
Honestly, I strongly believe assessment is the key to youth ministry success. Aristotle said it the best: “The way to achieve success is 1st to have a definite, clear practical ideal—a goal, an objective. 2nd, have the necessary means to achieve your ends—wisdom, money, materials, and methods. 3rd adjust your means to that end.”
Deep Justice: Moving Beyond the News Crawl
The Deep Leadership team asked these questions:
> How can our service work be part of God’s kingdom justice?
> How do we move service beyond spiritual tourism?
> What are the vital theological threads that should weave their way through our service?
> How can we move beyond rhetoric to true partnership with those we’re serving?
Essentially the team suggests a model of 4 steps: (STEP 1 framing) (STEP 2 experience + reflection) (STEP 3 initial debrief) (STEP 4 ongoing transformation) (PLUS support & feedback)
Many youth pastors conduct service and mission trips but it is difficult to really have a productive initial debrief. I have found that students are so emotionally charged about what they did, that it is hard to maneuver through the high emotional intensity in order to get true and authentic responses that stick. Hopefully by adopting this model, youth pastors can be more intentional when debriefing about the service and mission trip.
Deep Intergenerational Ministry: From “Big Church” to “Our Church”
Today in our churches we see the youth ministry as a “secret society”. The Deep Leadership team wants it’s reader to realize there is a theological mandate both in the OT and NT that kids matter in the church body. There are a few ways to get kids involved in “our church”: 1. Mentors 2. Church Wide Service projects 3. Intergenerational worship
Deep Holistic Ministry: Whole Ministry for the Whole Kid
Shalom means whole. Therefore our youth ministries need to provide holistic care for all students on the levels of: relational, spiritual, emotional, and mental. Importing a holistic approach in our youth ministry will effect our youth ministry programmatic structure, philosophy, recruitment strategies, and curriculum development. Youth pastors need to think about the entire student’s being: heart, soul, and mind instead of worrying about behavior modification talks.
Deep Family Ministry: Partnering with Parents
Dr. Chap Clark at Fuller Seminary categorizes three family system categories:
1. The Counseling/Care Mode
2. The Nuclear Family Mode
3. The “Church-as-Family” Mode
The idea is that healthy family ministry comes in threes. “The goal is not to add more programs to your already-full calendar. What we do need are spaces and places for us to link arms with possibly the only people on the planet who care even more about the kids in our group than we do: their families.”
