BEFORE READING THIS POST MAKE SURE TO FIRST READ THROUGH
PART I: The Hunch & Part II: The New Model


So obviously, I'm not the first person to ever think about youth leadership in church.

I thought it was important to cover some of the other models I've seen and think about why I didn't choose them.



SENIORITIS
One leadership model I've seen uses the natural age-reverence of high schoolers. Seniors were automatically enlisted as leaders in any youth program. When the minister needed the group to settle down, she'd just say "Seniors," and the seniors would get everyone to shut the hell up. Magic.

But this didn't work for me. For one, at that point in time, I didn't really have any seniors… or juniors… or sophomores consistently showing up every single time. But also, that sort of leaves off the chance for underclassmen to practice and earn their leadership.


VOTING
My home church growing up was more based on the student council model. At the beginning of each year we voted on 4-5 representatives for each grade to serve on the Youth Council. It was a solid model. It was a role you wanted to achieve because it was a vote of your peers. It gave us the chance to be leaders even as Freshmen. Our senior year we could put on our college resume that we were "President of the Youth Council." Although we conveniently left out the fact that we were one of four presidents. It also teaches kids the tried and true congregational tradition of voting. That's never failed us, right?

The major downfall of this project: what if you didn't get elected? Some of our Youth Group faithful disappeared their senior year because they were so hurt they weren't elected by their peers. It's the same foible of sports, theater, music, school, you name it… There's always hurt feelings when you're not picked. And too much damage has been done by churches for doing the same thing to people's soul. There's always hurt feelings when you're not picked. I wanted something a little more exclusive and a little less exclusionary.


So here's how I solved this problem: I designed my Youth Group's leadership model to be self-selecting.

That is how we were going to maintain the theology that everyone has the ability to serve and no one gets turned away, but still maintain the feeling of specialness and selectivity.
Anyone was welcome to opt in, but you had to earn it.


ELDERS
So my idea about church leadership being something you earn isn't actually a new idea. It's just not typical in my white mainline protestant congregation.

Sometimes more Evangelical and theologically conservative churches often employ the Elder or Deacon model. After many years in the church, and after years of training, you earn the title "Elder" or "Deacon," and sometimes it's a title that sticks for life. Your status in the church is almost equal to the minister.

What this leadership model lacks is term limits. I view term limits as a crucial component of sharing the work of the church and preventing abuse of power.

With high schoolers, there's a built-in term limit since they end up graduating. They also have to earn their "Intern" title every year. I'd be interested in thinking through what that would look like for adults, earned leadership with term limits?


FULL MEMBERSHIP
Some churches have pulled it off. Some churches have Youth representatives on every committee in the church. They fully live into the idea that once you are confirmed then you are a full adult member of the congregation.

One of the issues I've had with my intern program is Senior Year. Once you've applied to college, the incentive to fulfill the intern requirements sort of disappears. In theory, by this point, the interns will have performed all the intern duties for 2 years, so active involvement in the church will just be their habit. But the intern program is new. We haven't yet had a senior class that has run the full course yet. But my prediction is that it will still be an issue next year when we have our first fully formed senior class. So I'm considering altering the Senior Internship to mean serving on a church committee of your choosing. Right now we have youth reps on our Outreach Committee, but that's it. I would love to get some interns on the Christian Ed Committee, the Deacons, and the Council.



YOUR LEADERSHIP
There are numerous other leadership models. I've seen ordinations for Youth Ministers. I've seen Youth Deacons be the Chair of the Deacons Committee. I've seen groups with hundreds of kids and groups with 3 kids all find ways to give their kids a feeling of leadership. 

Please send me a note about your own leadership models. What works? What are you struggling with? What have your learned from it?

BEFORE READING THIS POST MAKE SURE TO FIRST READ THROUGH EARNED LEADERSHIP PART I

Did you read it? Well, hurry up already!
Did you read it now? Okay, here we go…

Below is a brochure I created the first year I enacted my new leadership model.

This is the program that worked for us. I formed it around the culture that already existed in the church while adding in pieces of the new culture I wanted to introduce. It really was just a rebranding of what we already did, and that rebranding changed everything. It went from a struggle to get kids involved to an energizing inclusion of Youth Interns in the life of our church.

In the below brochure,
You'll see a defense of Youth Group's importance as well as its ability to help get you into college.
And you'll see that the program is 2-tiered, you can either be a Youth Leader or a Youth Intern.

The Youth Leader helps run the Youth Program.
The Youth Intern does all that plus helps with the wider church programming.


The two tiers create a sense of elitism, without an element of rejection
because each tier is self-selecting
in that it is 100% based on the amount of work you put into the program.
You have to earn the title by doing the work first.
And each grade has an increasing amount of responsibility
in order to create a sense of growth.
There is always another level to achieve, always something more to work towards.
But the reward (meaning the earned title Leader or Intern) should feel worth the amount of work involved.


Super important: the work required is all work that happens anyway.
Whether or not we get kids to sign up, our Deacons already recruit people to be Lay Readers.
This minimizes the extra amount of time I have to put into making this program happen.
It also takes out the desperation factor.
I am not desperate for Youth Interns because some adult in the church is going to do this work either way.
So whether we have one kid sign up or 25 kids, the program still works.
And most importantly, the leadership program invites these kids
-- who are technically adult members of our congregation via Confirmation --
it invites them into the life our church.
It not only teaches them leadership, specifically how to be leaders in a church context.
It's training them to understand what it takes to create a healthy Christian Community.


Also, incredibly important to the success of this program:
I sent the brochure to BOTH the kids AND the parents.

If the parents buy into the idea that this will teach their kids leadership AND will get them into college = Gold.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard this exact phrase now:
"At first, my parents made me come to Youth Group,
but now Youth Group is… like… part of who I am.
It's the best part of my week."


NOTE: this is obviously not a one-size-fits-all program. But I think the heart of it, the philosophy behind it, are applicable to any other similar community (meaning churches in towns that value higher education and Type-A work ethic).

Also Note: This is just a brochure, not a fully fleshed out account of the program. There are many details missing, and a number of changes have been made in the last 2 years as the program has evolved and I have made edits to improve its continued success (for example being flexible with the way kids earn their Intern "credits.")

Also Note: This is not the only programming we have for our high schoolers. This is on top of a very active Youth program. But this leadership program helped solidify a previously amorphous core group. Most of the kids were already sold on Youth Group, so they bought into this program pretty easily. Some kids, though, were on the periphery of Youth Group and this brought them more into the fold. Some kids, were on the periphery, and still are on the periphery.

Anyway, enough stalling. Here it is….

Some Stories of Success:

Of personal benefit to me - I used to be stuck for half an hour after every Youth Group Chill Night doing dishes by myself. Now, dishes are done in 5 minutes and I don't even have to touch a single dish (of course that depends on which Youth Leader is in charge of running Youth Group that night, sometimes I'm still scrubbing on my own). One mom picking up her kid remarked, "How on Earth did you get him to vacuum? I don't think he even knows where the vacuum is at our house."


VOTING - One of the additions I made was the ability to earn alternative Intern "Credits." For example, in January, I told the kids that anyone who attended the church's Annual Meeting could count it as a credit towards any Intern requirement. So, say a kid wasn't as excited to be a Lay Reader, or didn't like working with kids, they could count it as their reading or Sunday School requirement. It's funny. I could have offered kids money to come to Annual Meeting, and they wouldn't have even considered it. But offer them credit for a leadership program that helps get them into college, and they come running.

I had 6 high schoolers attending our run-of-the-mill, strictly-business-no-fluff-or-entertainment Annual Meeting. 6! Compared to the 0 who have ever attended an Annual Meeting in the history of the universe.

They kept checking with me, "Are you sure we're allowed to vote?" "YES! You were confirmed, weren't you? Get ready, here it comes!" It blew their minds that they were allowed to vote. They thought it was funny, almost like a joke they were pulling on the adults. But they were also kind of excited about it.

They spent the whole meeting on their phones of course. They seemed bored. I wasn't even sure they cared or noticed what was going on. But as soon as the meeting ended, all 6 of them assaulted me with sincere questions about the church budget. You heard me. Teenagers. Asking Questions. About the Church Budget. "Wait. So how much does the Youth Group get? What do we do with all that Outreach money? How much do people donate?"


ROLE MODELS - This past weekend I took 12 Freshmen on a Confirmation Retreat. It was only our second one ever. Last year's was a disaster for a variety of reasons. We just failed miserably. This year, I brought along 4 of our Interns, on the promise of offering multiple credits towards their internship. Thanks to them this was the best retreat I've ever led. They really helped set the tone, when to be silly, when to be serious, how to talk about faith. We even got into some heavy theological conversations that I haven't been able to broach with the older kids before, and never would have gotten into with the younger kids had it not been for the Interns raising interesting points and thought-provoking questions in teenager language. It was a whole new world thanks to this Intern program. It was church as it should.

As proof about the difference between last year without interns and this year with interns,
Last year we had only 25% of the class sign up, and it was like pulling teeth getting them to come. On the trip, there was lots of awkward silence between kids, and very little group bonding.
This year, we had 80% of the class and would have 95% if it weren't for a nasty stomach bug. Most telling, we had one kid skip a dress rehearsal not because we forced her to, but because she, an avid musician, preferred being at a Confirmation Retreat over being at a dress rehearsal the day before the concert! On the retreat, it felt like a family. During down time, the interns on their own initiative would invite the freshmen to play card games together, tell jokes together, sing songs together. It was unreal the change one year makes. We went from defeatist stereotype of church to vibrant, growing community in just a year.

Some Growing Pains:

SENIORS - I haven't really nailed down the magic combination for the Seniors. We still struggle with the typical Senior year attrition. Plus, if the reward is that you can put this on your transcript, there is no incentive for the seniors who are already in the process of doing college applications. I'm thinking about next year making the Senior Interns' job to run the intern program for the younger kids. Or maybe having the Senior Intern requirement just be joining one of the church committees. We'll see what happens.

ADULTS VOLUNTEERS - As always, my struggle in a town where just about everyone is an over-scheduled parent or is already serving on 5 different committees, is finding someone to help me run it. But that's our next step to making this a sustainable model: finding someone besides me to run it. I think it would also be cool to get someone who can hold actual sessions on Leadership Skills.

PASSING IT ON - The nice thing about Youth Groups is there is a built in turn over, so you always have the ability to remake your group dynamic in a way that you can't with the church as a whole. The worst thing about Youth Groups is there is a built in turn over, so you even when you feel like you've finally become the group you want to be, you still have fight backsliding, and you still have to catch the younger kids up to where the older kids have gotten, and you still have to train the incoming class. There is no such thing as coasting in Youth Ministry.





So, now you've seen it. You probably have some criticisms, or questions, or concerns, or thoughts like "But I've seen other churches do it this way." So how does this compare to other church's leadership structures? Why do I think this is such a revolutionary idea? I'll tell you next time… =)

They have to try out for the soccer team.
They have to audition for the musical.
They have to study for the honor roll.
They have to apply for their summer camp job.

Everything they know,
Everything they love to do,
Everything they think is worth their time,
Our youth have to earn it.
They have to work for it.

There's always another level to reach.
There's always another leadership role to strive towards.
Everything in their world is based on the model of
you do the work then you achieve the honor.

Everything, that is,
                            except for church.

Church is the only place in their lives
                            where there is no formal progression of achievement.

And some might argue this is a good thing.
Some might argue this is what makes church a sanctuary.
Some might argue this lack of demand is what makes church a stress-free zone.
Some might argue that this lack of hierarchy makes church a more welcoming environment.

I beg to differ.


That's exactly what makes church feel so foreign to our youth.
That's exactly what makes church feel more like an obligation.



At most mainline churches we have an entire committee,
An entire committee devoted to begging people to be leaders.
We call it the Nominating Committee,
But it should really be called the,
"I Bet You're Sorry You Didn't Let This Go To Voicemail Because We're So Desperate For Help" Committee.


I don't know about you, but I'm sick of recruiting.
I'm sick of always begging people to help out.
I'm sick of always worrying whether or not an event will actually happen.


What would it look like if you had to apply to be a church leader?
What would it look like if people did work for the church
- not out of a sense of tired obligation -
but out of a desire to be an important part of this community,
because they believe in the work of the community?
What would it look like if Church weren't such a foreign concept,
if Church looked like everything else our youth love,
-- elite, desirable, exciting, achievable --
but somehow maintained the open invitation of progressive theology?



That's what I've been working on with my Youth Group.
And it's been revolutionary to the success of my ministry.
If the only thing I did in my time at this church was build this new leadership model,
I could leave here knowing that I did something big and important.



My first year, I tried to implement a leadership program for what I called Youth Deacons. And it fell flat on its face. It never even launched because the sound of it made the kids' noses wrinkle. The problem: it operated on the traditional mainline church leadership model. We recruit you to do the work, rather than everything else these kids know and love, which operates on a model of you step up to do the work then you get the honor of being a leader.

The problem is really a matter of marketing.
It's a matter of what we inadvertently communicate in our structures.

The Nominating Committee model communicates: "We need you and we are desperate. So when you say yes, it will probably be at least in part due to a sense of obligation, which means you'll be committing to years of doing something you aren't actually that passionate about."

The Sports try-outs model communicates: "It is an honor to be part of our organization. Only an elite few are able to earn a spot on our team. And then only an even smaller elect elite are chosen to play. And then only an even smaller elect elite are chosen to start. And then an even smaller elect elite earn the captain's patch. We aren't desperate for you. You're desperate for us."


That's the power of sports. If you miss practice, you're fucked. At least that how the kids and the parents feel. It's as if missing practice means their entire path towards success will come crumbling down around this one decision to miss one practice. So if I'm the coach, I don't care if I schedule it during church or youth group or vacation, because if you miss it, you're benched.

In contrast, if you miss Sunday School, then what? Nothing, that's what. There is no immediate incentive. Well, I guess if we were old school Puritans, we'd say you're going to Hell, but that's not really our deal anymore, assuming you're a UCCer like me or from a similar denomination.

I'm not advocating that we go to a punishment-based model. Fire and Brimstone doesn't really look good on us. But that's one of the things I can't stand about the current sports culture. It is Fire and Brimstone religion without the religion. Kids aren't choosing sports because they like them better than church (well, not always at least, assuming you don't have a mega-boring church). Sometimes kids choose sports out of fear, which is just as heinous as going to church out of fear, and just as disheartening as going to church out of a sense of obligation rather than a sincere desire to be there.


But there is something to this Sports Culture in their marketing that says, we are worth your time. You want to earn this honor, so you want to be here.

Church needs a PR makeover. It's not always the product, sometimes it's the marketing. Although sometimes it is the product that's the problem, but that's for another post. For now, let's proceed under the assumption that we are doing this work because we believe in this work and that we are really good at our jobs…I'm sorry… calling… we are really good at our calling. *cough*wink*


So how can we turn church leadership into an elite honor you have to earn
rather than a desperate act of obligation or pity?

I don't want people to come to church because they feel guilty.
I want people to come to church because they want to come to church.
Because they believe something important is happening there.
Because they can feel God in our labor.
Because they feel some sense of pride in their measurable accomplishments.
Because they are looking forward to their next achievement.



So I introduce to you, my new Youth Intern leadership model…

...Next time…

I want to make sure this is clear.
I am not anti-sport.
Despite the title of this blog,
I don't see sports and church as mortal enemies.
I actually see them as complimentary endeavors.

But in their complimentary-ness, they both suffer from the same ills:
When either church or sports claims too much power over our lives,
it goes from being a meaningful source of communal growth
to being an emotionally scarring idol.

I'm not interested in denigrating sports programs that build our children's confidence.
I'm not interested in positioning the church against sports programs that teach our children
healthy community building, leadership skills, graceful sportsmanship, and problem solving.

I am concerned when parents tell me they can't say no to their coaches for fear of their wrath.
I am concerned when sports programs for middle schoolers, and even elementary schoolers,
are treated with a level of pressure and stress as if they were professional sports franchises.
I am concerned when sports are treated with the same unhealthy college pressure as an
honors math class, if you don't start every game when you're 10, you won't start when you're 13,
and then you won't make the team when you're 16, and then you'll never go to a good college,
and you'll never get a good job, and you'll never be happy, and, and, and

And. Fuck. That. Noise.


I don't view sports in its truest form to be antithetical to church in its truest form.
Churches even used to be the organizing body for the local sports program.
Sometimes they still are.

But as I look at the sports culture as it stands, I see the sports culture turning into an idol.
The modern day sports culture employs all of the tyrannical techniques that people claim
are the reasons they don't believe in organized religion.

The pomp and circumstance. The empty superstitious traditions.
The brainwashing that arbitrarily says we are better than you.
The use of guilt to manipulate you into participating.
The threat of exile if you don't tow the line.
The cultural dominance that automatically assumes everyone celebrates your holidays.


These are the things that can turn both church and sports into dangerous idols.
We need to exorcise these things from both of these institutions.

But there are things that sports programs do right.
Things from which we need to learn or we risk letting the idol win.
Cultural shifts to which we need to attend or we risk fading into obscurity.

So let's get started…

If there is one thing I can't stand it's ministerial fatalism.

I'm sick of going to Youth Ministry Workshops just to hear attendees bemoan their feeling of helplessness in the face of secular dominance.

It usually goes like this: "Sports are fun. Sports get you into college. Coaches can bench your kid. Coaches hold all the power over our kids and our parents. HOW COULD CHURCH EVER COMPETE WITH SPORTS?!?!?!"

First, I'll write in a later post about how I don't actually think church and sports are mortal enemies, but let's put that aside for a moment.

Because there is truth to this idea that church now faces competition in a new way. Church time is no longer protected time. Church no longer has a monopoly on community-building or meaning-making. The way we've operated as church needs to change. But that doesn't mean it's the end of church, and that doesn't mean church is helpless. Unless you ask the question: "How could church ever compete with sports?!" then your church is helpless. Asking that question is starting from the assumption that Church is powerless, and if you as a spiritual leader believe that Church is powerless then it's a simple matter of self-fulfilling prophesy.

It's the same pet peeve I have in committee meetings. I can't stand it when I propose an outside-the-box idea to the response, "It won't work for these reasons…" You're right. It won't work because you're starting from the assumption that it won't work. That kind of fatalism is the great virus infecting the church bloodstream.

It's not just a matter of personal pet peeve; it's actually about the heart of our Christian faith.
Over and over again, the Bible tells stories about people seeing death and God seeing life,
people seeing the impossible and God seeing opportunity.

Ezekiel sees dry bones, God sees building blocks for breathing human bodies.
Peter says, "I'm drowning;" Jesus says "Ye of little faith."
Moses says, "But I have a stutter;" God says, "I'll give you the words. Plus, here's Aaron and Miriam to help."
Sarai says, "HAHAHAHAHA! I'm too old to get pregnant;" the angels say, "SURPRISE!!! God can do anything!"

So I propose this shift in mentality:

Rather than responding with "It won't work for these reasons…"
Try this: "These are the challenges we'll face…"

This mentality shifts the focus from a question of "Will it work?" to the question "What will it take to make it work?"

"Will it work?" is a boring "yes or no" discussion that all too often tends toward the "no."
"What will it take to make it work?" turns our discussion into an exercise in imagination.
With this subtle shift we go from a church of Fatalism to a church of Possibility.


"How could church ever compete with sports?!" can only be met with the response, "We can't."
"What can we learn from the success of sports in our modern culture?" has endless options, limitless degrees of strategies to address the problem.

My quest to finally figure out the answer to that second question "How can we learn from the cultural dominance of sports?" has its origin in another one of those Youth Ministry Workshops.
In the Q&A session, a fellow Youth Ministry Director posed the lament,
"There's no competing with sports when you can put sports on your college resume, but you can't put church on your college resume."

AND MY GUT WANTED TO SCREAM!
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!?!?! OF COURSE YOU CAN!!!!!
Church was ALL over my college resume, which might say something about me always being destined to be a minister.
Or maybe it says less about my nerdy love of church and more about the strength of Youth Ministry Program that raised me.

And that's when I started thinking… let's leave the fatalism behind.
What can we learn from the success of the sports culture?

How can Church be a more kinetic experience?
How can Church be playful and fun?
How can Church instill the feeling of achievement?
How can Church offer our Youth sincere leadership opportunities?
How can Church be a space for people's passions and talents to shine?
How can Church feel worth waking up for?



These are all questions I will address at length throughout this blog.
For now, suffice it say, you can leave your Fatalism behind here.

As Jesus said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well!"

WHY SHOULD YOU BOTHER READING THIS BLOG?


My first year leading the High School Youth Group in Redding, CT was touch-and-go. By the end of my first programatic year, I had around 8 kids who came regularly. As a product of an unbelievably strong Youth Group myself, that was a tough number to swallow.

Spoiler Alert: By the end of my third year, I had over 50 kids, not just participating, not just attending, not just part of the youth group, but LEADING Sunday morning worship. On one single Sunday, I got 50 kids excited to create, organize, and lead a worship experience. We went from 8 kids to over 50! And I’m not too shy to brag that I’ve even had multiple kids choose church over sports practice, even choose church over games, even choose church over major parties! At first I thought it was a lucky fluke.


I still remember that first time one of our jock-iest kids skipped basketball practice for Youth Group. It was as if I had rediscovered some ancient species thought long extinct  It was like sighting an endangered snow leopard playing dominoes with an almost extinct black rhino at the end of a rainbow. But it happened again with another kid. And then another time. And then again. And now it's happened enough times on a consistent basis with enough kids that it has basically become a trend.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Back to that first year...


Knowing that the Youth Group had long existed in various forms, I assumed all I had to do was provide exciting programming and the rest would fall into place. What I found was that not only did I have to create exciting programming, but I had to explain to kids - - even convince the kids -- why that programming was worth doing at church.



Actual conversations I had multiple times that first year -

Me: Hey [high schooler who’s been part of this church since you were a baby]! You should come to do [awesome event I’ve put hours of planning into] with the Youth Group on Sunday.

Youth: Um... Maybe...

Me: You can even bring your friends!

Youth’s Mom: Yeah. You could invite [your bestie]!

Youth: Why would [my bestie] want to come to Youth Group?

[subtext: why would I want to come to Youth Group]

Me: uh..... [explain awesome event again]

Youth: Right... but why would I go to church to do that?

Me: um.............




I’d never had to articulate that question before, even in seminary. Well, maybe I did, but not in a way that a 16 year-old girl would care about.

Luckily, having faced difficulties in past youth group start ups, I was mentally prepared to face the unexpected.


Before we even get into what I’ve learned from facing down the sports cultural, I think it’s important to cover a few basics about my philosophy for working with youth in church:


1.) It’s all about the kids.

Find out what they’re interested in. Do that.

When I worked at Camps, our boss used to say “Camp is for the campers.” It seems like a no-brainer, but it’s surprisingly hard to put into practice. Just because I want to talk about Jesus, doesn’t mean that’s what we should be doing.

In seminary we’d express the same thing by saying, “Meet people where they’re at.”

I’ve learned time and time and time again that Youth Ministry (or church as a whole) doesn’t work when you try to impose your ideal program onto a group when it’s not what they want or need, and even if they do want/need it maybe aren’t ready for it. You have to start where they are, and play the long game to work towards where God is calling you to be.



2.) Get them invested in me. Then get them invested in each other.

I saw my first year as me building relationships with the kids. I saw the second year as getting them to build relationships with each other. I saw the third year as getting them to build relationships with the church.



3.) Make church THEIR place.

Too much of church is adult space for adults. It’s important to have kid space for kids. Then it’s important to give adults a taste of that too.

A major part of this is to give kids opportunities to bring their passions and talents into the church arena.



4.) Relationship with multiple adults in the church community is crucial.

This is an area where I still fail. I can’t for the life of me recruit consistent non-parent adult leaders. I have had some minor successes. However, I’ll cover their transient and temporary nature in a later post.

I bring this up now for a specific reason, though. I want to be honest about my own limits. I don’t want to present this blog as an expert treatise on the perfected science of youth ministry. It’s more of a reflection on some experiments that seem to be working. In that regard, please e-mail me about your own experiments in Youth Ministry that have failed or succeeded. My successes may not work in your church and vice versa, but, as with God, in the sharing of our unique experiences, we might just find some kernel of truth.






Following these guiding principles, and adapting them in light of everything I have learned in my quest to face the culture of sports head on, our church’s Youth Group has steadily fortified with each new season.


On a regular “Chill Night” (as I call them), I typically expect anywhere from 15 to 25 high schoolers. Kids regularly invite their non-church friends, even brag to their friends about the awesomeness of our Youth Group. Our special events can run upwards of 30.


Now, it’s important to remember that numbers aren’t everything. In fact, they’re a terrible way to measure the success of a program. Sometimes, large numbers can even be the death of a great program.


So I return to this snapshot in time, one of my proudest moments. In June 2014, on Pentecost Sunday, we held our annual Youth Sunday. While the world complains about how hard it is to even get young people to church, we had 50 teens in church, leading worship. 50 kids for a mission trip is one thing. 50 kids going on a ski retreat is one thing. 50 kids at laser tag is one thing. But 50 kids, coming to church, on a Sunday morning, standing up in front of the church, excited to LEAD worship for the entire church is a whole other thing. That’s not measuring success by a number alone, that’s measuring success the quality and spirituality of the experience. We had 3 high schoolers preaching. We had 10 kids acting out scripture. We had 15 playing in the band, and not “cool” praise music. They played everything from traditional hymns to gospel to silly kids’ songs. We had people praying by spiking beach balls in the air. There was laughter. There were shouted prayers from 5-year-olds and 90-year-olds. Church was fun. Church was meaningful. Church was full: full of the Holy Spirit, full of people.



I’m not here to pretend I have the best Youth Group in the world, although we’re pretty damn close. =) I’m not here to tell you how you should run your youth group either. I’m just here to share the joy of success, to spread the good news, to proclaim the gospel that the church is alive and well in the world. And I'm looking to hear your stories of success as well in the hopes that we'll be able to draw strength and inspiration from one another. And then maybe, just maybe we'll be able to figure this thing out.


So here's what you can expect to find here...


I focus my writing on the sports culture: what the church can learn from it’s successes, how the church can overcome the idolatry of sports, and how the church can compliment the good works of sports. When people lament the waning of the church, they often point to the waxing of the sports culture. My first post will tell you how I decided to face this invincible giant. Each post after that will illuminate successes, failures, and lessons learned along the way. I hope something in there somewhere speaks to you and your own struggles.

Blessings!

Rev. Jack

WHY SHOULD YOU BOTHER READING THIS BLOG?


My first year leading the High School Youth Group in Redding, CT was touch-and-go. By the end of my first programatic year, I had around 8 kids who came regularly. As a product of an unbelievably strong Youth Group myself, that was a tough number to swallow.




Spoiler Alert: By the end of my third year, I had over 50 kids, not just participating, not just attending, not just part of the youth group, but LEADING Sunday morning worship. On one single Sunday, I got 50 kids excited to create, organize, and lead a worship experience. We went from 8 kids to over 50!




But I’m getting ahead of myself. Back to that first year...




Knowing that the Youth Group had long existed in various forms, I assumed all I had to do was provide exciting programming and the rest would fall into place. What I found was that not only did I have to create exciting programming, but I had to explain to kids - - even convince the kids -- why that programming was worth doing at church.




Actual conversations I had multiple times that first year -

Me: Hey [high schooler who’s been part of this church since you were a baby]! You should come to do [awesome event I’ve put hours of planning into] with the Youth Group on Sunday.

Youth: Um... Maybe...

Me: You can even bring your friends!

Youth’s Mom: Yeah. You could invite [your bestie]!

Youth: Why would [my bestie] want to come to Youth Group?

[subtext: why would I want to come to Youth Group]

Me: uh..... [explain awesome event again]

Youth: Right... but why would I go to church to do that?

Me: um.............




I’d never had to articulate that question before, even in seminary. Well, maybe I did, but not in a way that a 16 year-old girl would care about.




Luckily, having faced difficulties in past youth group start ups, I was mentally prepared to face the unexpected.




Before we get into what I’ve learned and how I’ve faced down sports, I think it’s important to cover a few basics about my philosophy for working with youth in church:




1.) It’s all about the kids.

Find out what they’re interested in. Do that.

When I worked at Camps, our boss used to say “Camp is for the campers.” It seems like a no-brainer, but it’s surprisingly hard to put into practice. Just because I want to talk about Jesus, doesn’t mean that’s what we should be doing.

In seminary we’d express the same thing by saying, “Meet people where they’re at.”

I’ve learned time and time and time again that Youth Ministry (or church as a whole) doesn’t work when you try to impose your ideal program onto a group when it’s not what they want or need, and even if they do want/need it maybe aren’t ready for it. You have to start where they are, and work towards 




2.) Get them invested in me. Then get them invested in each other.

I saw my first year as me building relationships with the kids. I saw the second year as getting them to build relationships with each other. I saw the third year as getting them to build relationships with the church.




3.) Make church THEIR place.

Too much of church is adult space for adults. It’s important to have kid space for kids. Then it’s important to give adults a taste of that too.

A major part of this is to give kids opportunities to bring their passions and talents into the church arena.




4.) Relationship with multiple adults in the church community is crucial.

This is an area where I still fail. I can’t for the life of me recruit consistent non-parent adult leaders. I have had some minor successes. However, I’ll cover their transient and temporary nature in a later post.

I bring this us now for a specific reason, though. I want to be honest about my own limits. I don’t want to present this blog as an expert treatise on the perfected science of youth ministry. It’s more of a reflection on some experiments that seem to be working. In that regard, please e-mail me about your own experiments in Youth Ministry that have failed or succeeded. My successes may not work in your church and vice versa, but, as with God, in the sharing of our unique experiences, we might just find some kernel of truth.







Following these guiding principles, and adapting them in light of everything I have learned in my quest to face the culture of sports head on, our church’s Youth Group has steadily fortified with each new season.




On a regular “Chill Night” (as I call them), I typically expect anywhere from 15 to 25 high schoolers. Kids regularly invite their non-church friends, even brag to their friends about the awesomeness of our Youth Group. Our special events can run upwards of 30.




Now, it’s important to remember that numbers aren’t everything. In fact, they’re a terrible way to measure the success of a program. Sometimes, large numbers can even be the death of a great program.




So I offer you this snapshot of one of my proudest moments. In June 2014, on Pentecost Sunday, we held our annual Youth Sunday. While the world complains about how hard it is to even get young people to church, we had 50 teens in church, leading worship. 50 kids for a mission trip is one thing. 50 kids going on a ski retreat is one thing. 50 kids at laser tag is one thing. But 50 kids, coming to church, on a Sunday morning, standing up in front of the church, excited to LEAD worship for the entire church is a whole other thing. That’s not measuring success by a number alone, that’s measuring success the quality and spirituality of the experience. We had 3 high schoolers preaching. We had 10 kids acting out scripture. We had 15 playing in the band, and not “cool” praise music. They played everything from traditional hymns to gospel 1 to silly kids’ songs. We had people praying by spiking beach balls in the air. There was laughter. There were shouted prayers from 5-year-olds and 90-year-olds. Church was fun. Church was meaningful. Church was full: full of the Holy Spirit, full of people.




I’m not here to pretend I have the best Youth Group in the world, although we’re pretty damn close. =) I’m not here to tell you how you should run your youth group either. I’m just here to share the joy of success, to spread the good news, to proclaim the gospel that the church is alive and well in the world. And then maybe we’ll be able to draw strength and inspiration from one another.







I focus my writing on the sports culture: what the church can learn from it’s successes, how the church can overcome it’s idolatry, how the church can compliment it’s good works. When people lament the waning of the church, they often point to the waxing of the sports culture. My first post will tell you how I decided to face this invincible giant. Each post after that will illuminate successes, failures, and lessons learned along the way.