Three Thoughts about Task Lists

One of the great challenges of youth ministry is the juggling act that one has to perform to maintain the ministry. I mentioned in a previous post that because there are so many focuses, it’s important to know “what’s in the air” or what are all the different things that you’re having to handle.

I’m simply not smart enough to keep it all together in my head. In fact, I sometimes try to, only to find myself in a dizzying chaos of thoughts and unmet expectations, let alone those nagging feelings of, “what did I forget?” And so I’ve settled to have a constant list available to me that lets me record things that need to get done, or refer back to find out what to do next.
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Small Group Leadership Quick Tip: Go with the Flow

The following is a guest post by Michele McGraw. Michele is part of the youth ministry staff at Grace Covenant Church. Her post is part of the on the go training that we give adult leaders in our youth ministry. The principles should be transferrable to other youth ministries with small group programs.

Road Trip

Growing up, when my family went on vacation, we would drive. There are six of us and this option was a lot cheaper than all of us hopping on a plane.

My sister’s and I weren’t always the most easy going and spent most of the time asking an absurd amount of questions: “When are we leaving? How long will it take to get there? When can we stop? When can we eat?” It drove my parents insane. My Mom would always answer saying, “just go with the flow!”
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Three Thoughts about Juggling

When I was in college, one of the many skills I obtained was the ability to juggle- poorly. I could juggle three tennis balls for about ten seconds before it was a mess of neon green bounciness. To be honest, I never did become proficient in juggling. One of my dorm mates juggled bowling pins, torches and small children as a profession. But alas, I left college with a degree in computer programming and as a complete failure as a circus carny.

As life has moved on, I’ve discovered that I never really left juggling behind. I may never brandish three finely sharpened axes while riding a unicycle, but I do juggle nonetheless. Especially when it comes to youth ministry, juggling is the name of the game. The job is a continual process of keeping various responsibilities and roles in the air- preacher, pastor, developer, leader, servant. And the goal is to be successful in all and keep any one role from splitting my metaphorical brain-case.

I’m coming to accept the fact that I’ll always be a juggler.

  1. When juggling, know what is in the air. Part of the challenge of doing youth ministry is the ever-present surge of important things. You have to prepare a message. You need to reach out to a teen. You need to meet with an adult leader. It’s important to have a list somewhere that tells you all the roles you need to juggle.
  2. When juggling, know when to share the ax-load. I’m only good at a very small list of things. And let’s be honest, I’m not too good at those things either. So whenever I have an ax I can hand off, I do. Because I don’t need to be only one in our ministry executing, so long as the job gets done well. And if someone else has a strength in an area that I don’t, great.
  3. When juggling, remember your audience. With so many roles, it’s easy to fall into “people-pleasing” mode. You want to please those whom you serve. But “people-pleasing” becomes a problem when it dictates your priorities. So it’s always helpful to remember that you’re working to honor God. You’re a juggler for Jesus. Serve others faithfully but remember that your identity and value are tied to Christ, and not what you do.

A Short Book Review: Sustainable Youth Ministry

Recently, I finished reading Sustainable Youth Ministry by Mark DeVries. It’s a book that I received from a friend in ministry who swears by it as a handbook for youth ministry health. I had put off reading it, but upon his persistent urging, I picked it back up and read it.

I’m thankful that I did because it’s a short, but extremely helpful read.

The Right X

The premise of Sustainable Youth Ministry is that succeeding in youth ministry is not dependent on the “right guy” or the “right facility” or even the “right program” but is the result of consistently working a systematic process. The remainder of the book describes how one builds such a systematic process of discipleship that is sustainable, apart from a dependence on “the right X.”

Instead of focusing on that one thing that would change the ministry forever, DeVries suggests that a systematic approach is foundational to creating a sustainable youth ministry. This means clarifying and articulating things like vision and mission, values, measurable goals, yearly events, job descriptions, etc. DeVries also discusses the process of shifting culture from the negative to one that is positive and conducive to building momentum.

In thirteen chapters DeVries raised a number of questions and considerations with which I had never dealt. It is an intimidating thing, because merely reading the book revealed how little of a plan I had before reading it. But that is part of the strength of the book. Because in shedding light on “what I don’t know I don’t know,” I at least now feel more equipped with questions that I need to answer in order to provide a clearer path for our youth ministry.

Overall

Overall, Sustainable Youth Ministry is like a trip to the dentist. No one likes the dentist, except the dentist and his banker. But going to the dentist is a lot better than a mouth full of cavities. In the same way, DeVries challenges his readers to evaluate how ministry is done at a foundational level. Instead of avoiding the problems that cause so many youth ministries to fail (such as unmet expectations, conflicting definitions of success, political turmoil, etc.) DeVries challenges us to define success, clarify expectations, engage in strategically supportive relationships within the church, and to work a strategic process consistently instead of reactively doing ministry like Olympic ping pong match.

This is an important read because doing youth ministry well over an extended period of time is important. We don’t just want growth and success here and now. We want success that is sustainable.

Small Group Leadership Quick Tip: Don’t Be Afraid of the Silence

The following is part of the on the go training that I’ve begun to give our adult leaders in our youth ministry. The principles should be transferrable to other youth ministries with small group programs.

Awkward…

Have you ever been at a party and made a comment, immediately after which the whole room goes silent? Sometimes silence is the loudest noise that we can hear. In the five seconds of silence that pass your mind begins to do some sort of Matrix-esque time-deceleration as you begin to soak in the atmosphere of awkward.

Sometimes when we facilitate discussion in small groups, silence creeps in. You ask a question, and it appears to fall flat before teenagers who either are deaf or don’t speak English as their first language. You have been stonewalled.
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