After you have selected a retreat center, you need to begin thinking about programming and the retreat theme. There are a few different options in developing a retreat theme. One method is to hire a speaker; this is probably the most expensive but is the least time consuming for you. Continue reading
Retreats can be a lot of fun but they can also be a lot of stress. One of the things you can do to reduce that stress is to properly evaluate a retreat center. I recommend visiting a retreat center before you deposit on the weekend. When you evaluate a retreat center don’t go alone; instead, bring a couple members of your youth team with you, it will make for a fun outing and they may notice something you may have missed. It is also not a bad idea to have a camera handy as well. Continue reading
Part of our calling as youth workers is to mentor students in our ministry. Youth workers often call this by all sorts of things such as student leadership, discipleship etc. One of the most important things to remember is you CANNOT mentor every student in your ministry. Some may hear this as freeing, others may still feel the twinge of guilt in the pit of their stomach. Either way as youth workers we need to be honest about what we can do with our limited resources. This means selecting those students whom you either connect with or you see leadership potential in. It is so important to have adult leaders involved in your ministry; just because you can’t mentor ever student doesn’t mean you can’t find a mentor for every student. It pays for the long term health of the church and the youth ministry. Many of these adult leaders will be there long after you leave. If these adult leaders have positive healthy relationships with students it can ease transitions in leadership and help to stabilize a wobbly ministry.
If we decide to try and mentor every student on our own, we are doing a disservice to our ministries, our students, and our family. Going it on our own might sound appealing at first because it is easier but it displays a lack of trust in our volunteers and eventually leads to burn out. So find the students you connect with and train your volunteers to pour their lives into the other students.
Mentoring a student looks different depending on your context but there are at least three marks to a healthy mentoring program. The first is that the program should be goal oriented. Students and leaders should work collaboratively to write age appropriate goals. These goals must be ownable, reachable, and measurable. Second, the mentoring program must have an articulated purpose. In the church we often create programs without an articulated purpose; we wrongfully assume everyone understands a shared purpose and is working towards the same goal. Lastly, leaders and students need to be held accountable for their mutually agreed upon goals and responsibilities. Leaders should fully understand what they are being asked to do and they should be held accountable for it.
Mentoring is the heart of youth ministry and I believe every youth ministry should work hard to help students engage with loving and caring adults who want to see the best for them. I would encourage you to see how you can incorporate mentoring into your youth ministry program.
Posted in leadership, Mentoring, Mentoring, Programming
Tagged Jesus, mentoring, Youth Ministry
Derek Zoolander said it best, “ who am I? I don’t know I guess I have a lot to ponder.” Many ministries really never stop to ask the hard question, “who are we?” Most times we plug in programs and activities into our Ipad’s or Iphones and soon wonder why we are not fulfilling our mission. I am a young youth worker, but I seem to think that we look far too much at what we are doing and not enough and why or how we are doing it. I think this is a church problem that impacts youth ministries. Years ago huge outreach events ruled the world, bring in a band, speaker and guaranteed hundreds of kids would show up. Soon more concerts, more outreaches, more events, more, more, more. Churches saw this model and said, “we want numbers, do what that guy does” and the event model was born. This is a quick fix answer that produces no long term results. Visioning is not about a quick fix, it is about a systematic strategy to reach your goals long-term.
Here is process that I ask myself when I set out to vision.
1) What do I want long term? (Set a time frame on long-term)
i. Growth model, excitement model, education model, family style
i. Adult Leaders
ii. Students
iii. Director/ Staff
2) Who is going to help me fulfill our long-term Goal?
i. Where do we find them?
ii. How do we reach them?
iii. What is our strategy and developing them?
3) What is our strategy once they are there?
4) What parts of our strategy am I the only one who is capable executing?
5) What is the natural outgrowth of this?
6) How do we keep it simple and sustainable?
My ministry model for just my high school
Here is process that I ask myself when I set out to vision.
1) What do I want long term? (What we want determines why we do things!!!)
i. Growth in Jesus produces excitement, fellowship and eventually growth in numbers. i.e.- The book of Acts
i. Invest in students on a life to life level
ii. Students
i. This begs the question-Who am I going to specifically invest in?
2) Who is going to help me fulfill our long-term Goal?
i. Abby- Teach Sunday school, Wednesday small group
ii. Kendra- Help plan event and ministry promotion
iii. Manny- Teach once a month
iv. Betty- Teach once a month, help plan events
v. Janet- Lead games and fellowship time
vi. Beth- help teach confirmation
i. Contact time at games, plays, school and community activities
ii. Go out for food after
iii. Get them plugged into High School ministry and eventually a small group
3) What is our strategy once they are there?
4) What parts of our strategy am I the only one who is capable executing?
5) What is the natural outgrowth of this?
6) How do we keep it simple and sustainable?
The right questions make everything easier. The strategy for great vision is great help and adult leaders. Investing in your adult leaders opens the doors to more growth and flexibility in ministry. Take time to vision and you will soon find yourself focused less on events and more on changing lives.
A little about Colin Cannon
I am a youth director in Downingtown, PA. I was born in Ohio and grew up in Connecticut. I am an avid sports fan and love all Cleveland sports teams. I enjoy playing guitar, watching movies or TV and really anything that involves as little movement as possible. I am currently engaged to a beautiful woman, Kelsey and we are getting married next year. I love ministry and helping students understand God’s personal love for them and the impact that living for Jesus can have in one’s life.
Peer mentoring is one of the most effective tools in our youth ministry tool box. I have witnessed peer mentoring turn around struggling youth programs, give students a clear vision for leadership, and even make a place for the “leper” in teen culture. Peer mentoring is the process by which a youth ministry utilizes students within its existing programs to lead and mentor other students within the youth ministry.
Mentoring is a great way for students to learn boundaries, develop leadership skills and deepen their relationship with Christ. It can take on many different forms; for example in my home church our middle school students help with our children’s Church program, our high school students help with our middle school program, and college students work with our high school students.
Over the years, I have found there are at least three main components to a solid mentoring program. The first component is the mentor must be “responsible for and to something”. Mentors need to clearly understand their responsibilities; I believe that if you don’t have clear expectations for your mentor the mentor will not be successful. Before launching a mentoring program define responsibilities so you will be able to measure success.
The second component is a “stretching activity”. I know you probably are saying isn’t mentoring stretching enough? Yes, but if we don’t challenge our mentors they won’t grow. A stretching activity can be anything from sharing their faith story in a group, or leading an activity, or meeting with a small group of peers. Activities like these will be a catalyst to help our student mentors to grow. These student leaders will effectively challenge their peers to new depths of spiritual growth. Student leaders will soon change youth group cultures to become more accepting, loving environments.
The third component to a peer mentoring is a clear system of oversight. Mentoring is messy; any time we truly get involved in people’s lives roles can quickly become muddled. Students have an innate creditability with other students and without proper supervision can quickly get in over their head. It is important to be in contact with your peer mentors on a regular basis to guide them through difficult situations, help them to maintain appropriate boundaries, and intervene when necessary.
Peer mentoring is a messy endeavor for any youth ministry but it will return more dividends then you can imagine. So consider if your ministry is ready for peer mentoring, and what it might look like in your unique setting and context.
Posted in Mentoring, Programming
Tagged mentoring, peer mentoring, Youth Ministry, youth programing
I was watching “the Middle” the other day. It is a funny little show about the Heck family who lives in the middle of America, very similar to “Malcolm in the Middle”. On Wednesday they showed a very funny Halloween episode where Sue Heck, the teen daughter, attends the annual Youth Group Halloween party. The party is predictably boring and silly, complete with a cheesy youth pastor and bad music. Despite the humor at the expense of stereotypical youth groups, I was glad to see that the Youth Pastor at least was not disparaging the holiday as something invented by the devil (although the Youth Pastor did get in a line about it really being All Saints Day). The episode ended with a youth group hayride and Sue even got her first kiss. While the episode was poking fun at youth ministry, I think it did point to something the church does well and does often. It has long been my opinion that the church and specifically youth ministries can be havens for students who don’t always fit in. The youth ministry I grew up in had students that did not fit into mainstream school culture; some students had parents who were addicted to drugs, did not have consistent place to call home, and or just didn’t fit in with their peers. But they had a place to go to when they needed help and a group of adults that cared about them. Youth ministries should do everything possible to include everyone. It is important the next time you are leading that game or a song or even giving that youth talk, to look around and see who isn’t in the room and look to see who is sitting on the sidelines.
Posted in Programming
This is the first Video in a series on Strategic Planning. Be sure to download the companion guide as well as the example. Enjoy!
PDF Version:
So I found a gray hair in my beard Sunday morning, I studied the hair for a while. I am still trying to convince myself that is was just a blond hair from being outside during the summer. But my wife and I were just blessed with our firstborn and in truth I haven’t really been outside in the last few weeks. Either way, I trimmed the offending hair and continued to get ready for church. It is yet another sign of getting slightly older along with the fact I have become painful aware my hair is beginning to thin. In a field where many Youth Workers last about twenty four months (based entirely on my own experience… not scientific in any way)
I have been in full time youth ministry for nearly a decade; in youth pastor years that is like a hundred thirty five years.
Moments like these always cause me to reflect upon life and ministry:
How long can someone really be in youth ministry?
Can you outgrow youth ministry?
Does getting older reduce the effectiveness or does it actually make one more effective?
I would argue that longer you are in this field, in the general the more effective you are for at least three reasons. First, parents trust you more; you are better able to see things from their perspective and if you are doing your job correctly can help parents better see their child’s perspective . Second, in your relationship with teens you should have a greater breath of experience to draw from and hopefully better able to take them to places of depth. Third, at its heart, youth ministry is really simple—it is all about taking the time to show students that you love and care for them. No matter your age I believe God can use you effectively in ministry.
Posted in Programming
If you are one of those adults who have been blessed with the opportunity to participate in a youth summer trip, I have created a top ten list to help this summer to be your best summer ever.
10. Don’t forget the “Duct Tape”. I always throw a roll in my bag as it is truly indispensable! It repairs shoes, hoses, and even tames unruly Junior High Students.
9. For the Men! Junior High guys kind of sound like girls… So you probably did not walk into the wrong restroom, sleeping area… etc… Unless sleep deprivation has already set in. ..
8. Don’t freak out!!! Remember where ever you are and no matter what the trip is like, it is clearly the best trip you have ever been on…The food is the best you have ever had….The speaker is the funniest person you have ever met…. Getting lost is part of the trip (it is called a detour)…. Finally your youth director always makes great decisions….
7. Don’t forget the five question rule. I know it can be difficult to meet new teenagers. I have found it is always important to ask a student five questions before you move on from the conversation.
6. Steer away from school talk. School talk can be divisive, especially if you have a group from several different schools.
5. If you see a problem, fix it! It doesn’t help to complain about it.
4. Check in privately with your students. Ask about how everyone is getting along and how the projects are going. It is important to remember to ask about the other leaders as well. While I am sure that your group brought well trained wonderful leaders who have had complete background checks, you have no idea who the other group brought and it is important to keep all your eyes open.
3. It will get quiet eventually… All teenagers eventually sleep, it just might not be on our schedule.
2. I can’t say this enough: don’t forget to pray. Pray before the trip, pray during the trip, pray after the trip….
1. Be a model. The best way to reinforce it is by modeling it. Remember you are there to serve others!
Posted in Programming
Directions in Youth Ministry is a consulting company operated by Joshua Gill. Josh has been in the youth ministry field for nearly a decade. He lives in Downingtown, PA with his beautiful wife Vicki and their son J.D. Take some time to check out the services Directions in Youth Ministry offers or to learn more about Josh.
