Okay, well maybe not everyone agrees about these things, but it seems like we have come to a point in youth ministry that what once was cutting edge thinking is now pretty much standard fare. So, let’s stop trying to convince each other that:
- Youth ministry cannot be a completely separate ministry apart from rest of the congregation with its own logos, worship services, preachers, etc.
- It’s all about relationships, not programs.
- Inter-generational ministry produces mature faith, not locking kids in a room by themselves.
- Parents are not the enemy; they are the primary faith nurturers.
- You can’t do youth ministry alone; you need other adults and parents to help mentor kids in faith.
- Faith is caught more than it is taught.
- We need to move away from making teens consumers of faith to contributors in the faith.
- We can’t be afraid to talk about sex in the church.
- Youth ministers need rest and sabbath.
- Youth ministry as we’ve been doing it doesn’t really work very well.
- What else am I missing? I know there is more.
The above things seem to get rehashed quite a bit. The big question is: how are we going to put the above things into practice?
And, there are still things that we don’t agree on. Perhaps we should spend some more time thinking about those kinds of things. That sounds like another blog post.
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I think these observations are by and large true, and I’m like you. I’m waiting to see how our theories will become practice. The closest thing I’ve witnessed was a pilot project that took place last year when nine congregations from my denomination partnered with the Search Insititute to develop models of asset-based youth ministry based on Search’s 40 Developmental Assets. Each context was unique, but a lot of the things you mentioned above were emphasized as these churches began to care not just about the spiritual needs of the youth but also their physical, emotional, and social needs as well. Adults in the church were empowered to be youth ministers without having to teach a Bible study, attend a lock-in, or chaperone a mission trip. I think there are tons of possibilities and outcomes that could be derived from asset-based youth ministry, and I think it’s a positive new approach to how we practice youth ministry in our congregations.
Search Institute stuff is always interesting. Was there (or is there going to be) anything published as a result of this project? I’d be interested to find out more.
One of the problems is that our youth ministry structures are such sacred cows that we’ve talked ourselves blue about how youth ministry needs to be different and then try to fit all of that into our old structures. It doesn’t work.
I’m not sure what’s to come from the project. I know that the project manager is working on a “starter kit” of sorts to be used in helping churches understand the basics of the assets and how to apply them to their context. I think a presentation is also being put together to share at Search’s Big Tent Conference in November.
My sense is that it would be more difficult to implement these changes in larger youth groups because numbers bolster the assumption that what they’re doing is working. I think it would be much easier to implement changes in smaller youth groups or maybe even smaller segments of larger groups as opposed to a complete overhaul of a large, “successful” program. I work with a single-digit youth group, and I believe that our church would support most anything I did if it would help us reach more teens.
Well, if you hear of anything, I’d love to be kept in the loop! Sounds like a fun project to be a part of.
Thanks for making me dissatisfied again. Needed that…..
I think you need to say more about that.
I agree that most of what you’ve written as bullet points is pretty standard fare for most youth ministry leaders who have spent time thinking/talking/reading/learning about youth ministry. I’ve been hearing and saying these things for at least a decade in the congregations I’ve been part of.
However, no matter how much the paid leadership knows and believes these things, there are still many people in our congregations who aren’t there yet. It wasn’t six months ago that I was chastised by a parent (a faithful, regular participant in the life of our congregation) about adding more programming so that her child would be grounded in faith.
I think you’re right that the next question is how we put these things into practice ~ but we still have to keep saying these things, because as much as we’re on board, many in our congregations aren’t there yet.
[...] though youth ministry has come a long way and there is a lot of good stuff that is pretty much standard fare, I think there are still a lot of unsettled issues in youth ministry. Among [...]
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