Who really is responsible to make the youth ministry grow?This might be surprising to you but I will say...it is your teens.
One of the reasons that we have always had growth is the fact that we have always pushed our teens to be missional. By missional I mean it is their responsibility as Christians to reach out to their generation. When you get right down to it, they are the ones that are right in the mission field with their friends on a daily basis. They are the ones that God has placed in that position of influence. They can go where no youth pastor can go.
I believe that God holds us all accountable to reach our generation. Truth is...it's a cop out for them to give any excuse as to why they are not reaching out to their friends.
I'll tell you though that as a leader I do make sure that I have my ducks in a row. I think that is my responsibility. Ultimately I would never blame them if I haven't done my part in equipping and motivating them to ministry. Personally, we have put many of the things in place in this series so that we could take away any excuses there might be.
Cast Vision
There isn't anyway around it. To get them involved it starts with painting them a picture of what could be and inspiring them to go get it.
Set Ministry Goals As A Group
Gather the core of your youth together at the beginning of this year and set some goals. Get them in on the process so they don't just feel like it is totally you pushing it. Make them feel the ownership.
Speak Their Language
Now that doesn't mean that you have to speak their slang or by just saying crap or suck you are being culturally relevant. What it does mean is that if you go around speaking Christianeze you could very well be the one that is keeping them from coming.
In my classroom I was over-hearing a conversation of three girls who were talking about a Christian lady who they thought was weird because of all the Christian talk. These were unchurched kids who were turned off to church by the weirdness of how some Christians talk.
Just be real and be relatable
Hold Them Accountable
It is imperative that you are holding them accountable. And that does go back again to casting vision. It is about holding them accountable to what God's Word does say on the matter. You have to plan time in your teaching to get this point across and not just once. You need to find ways to slip this in often. You could even plan a whole series around it.
How do you inspire the teens in your church?
2 comments:
I'm in the middle of trying to inspire our students right now to reach out to their schools. We developed a strategy called Nothing but...NET = 1. Notice those around you, 2. Extend an invitation, 3. Tell your story. We did a series on this before Thanksgivng, but I know that it is a continual process of always putting it before them. Thanks for all you've been sharing this week.
Hey Adam...thanks for posting. That is a great idea and I like the NET.
We used to do a thing called Monday Blitz. It was about using every method they could to blitz their schools.
How Does It Work? (1) Give Out Five Card-Invites, (2) Text Message All Your Friends, (3) Myspace every friend if you have it. (4) Email an invite to your friends.
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