How Our Youth Ministry Works

The phrase "youth ministry" means different things to different people.  To a few, it is an addition to scripture and therefore wrong.  To others it is a babysitting service.  To some it is a group that they know little about except that they go on trips occasionally.  Over the years, youth ministries have perhaps been all of those things at certain times and in certain places.  Books and articles abound about how youth ministry should be done, and many of them offer contradictory opinions.  However, there is a new trend emerging and we seem to be ahead of it in many ways.  Central's youth ministry is quite unique.  Since we have many new families in our congregation, I want to take this opportunity to explain how and why we do what we do.

During the "Ministering to Millennials" class , we talked about how many teenagers today (even those who grow up participating in church activities) have a very shallow faith. Somehow, they haven’t learned what it really means to be a follower of Jesus. We discovered that as churches try to figure out how to reach this age group, we need to keep in mind that we will never be more entertaining than our culture.  Churches  just can’t compete in that area. Traditionally, youth ministries have operated under the assumption that we can. The idea for many decades seems to have been that if we could just have enough fun events or play enough interesting games or go on enough cool trips that we would be able to keep teenagers around long enough for some sort of Biblical understanding to rub off on them. The world of youth ministry has been changing a lot in recent years. It would appear as though everyone is realizing that youth ministry needs to be much deeper than it has been.  People are understanding that if all we do is entertain our children we haven’t accomplished very much because they won’t have a lasting faith to take with them when they leave. It’s true that here at Central, we give the teens opportunities to go on trips and thereby have fun together. We do a several entertaining events. But the fun is in a much different context than it once was for many in the youth ministry world. When we get together to "have fun” it’s in the context of fellowship. It isn’t fun just for the sake of fun. The purpose is to foster the development of relationships so that those relationships can be used to make disciples.

That is our one and only goal in the youth ministry here: to make disciples who are capable of making other disciples. About 3 ½ years ago, we sat down and asked ourselves what it would look like if we had an intentional process for making disciples. We concluded that discipleship involved three primary things.  Therefore each week we try to give our teens opportunities to do each of them: get closer to God, get closer to each other, and do something to serve others. During the Millenials class, we talked about why youth ministries haven’t been more successful in passing on true faith to teenagers. Dr. Kenda Dean, author of Almost Christian says that it is because for many years we’ve assumed that youth ministers do most of the youth ministry [click here to watch my interview with her]. However, her research has found that parents and other mentors are far more effective at passing along real faith than youth ministers. Her thesis is that the best way to pass along genuine faith to our teenagers is to let them see it lived out every day in real world situations. In fact, she says that parents typically get what they are when it comes to the faith of their children. If you want to know what a child’s faith will look like, you just have to look at his or her parents. It may sound odd to hear a youth minister point to a study that indicates that he doesn’t do most of the youth ministry, however, my point is that many people tend to misunderstand the role that a youth minister should play.

If a person expects a youth minister to be an effective mentor to every single student in his ministry, that person will probably be disappointed. Youth ministers can serve as great teachers and mentors but we’re just talking about one person. It would be like expecting the head coach of a football team to have a really successful program without having any assistants. Imagine a head coach who was responsible for running every practice, working with every player, drawing up every play. That coach is going to work himself to death and not have a lot to show for it. So, schools allow the head coach to recruit other coaches to help. He gets a quarterback coach to work with the quarterbacks. He gets a defensive back coach to work with the defensive backs. He brings in people who can work in specific areas with specific players because he knows that he can’t be effective in coaching each player himself. In my mind, that is a picture of what a youth minister is.  Youth ministers are like the head coach of the youth ministry. They coordinate events and hold everything together, but they won’t be successful in coaching each student without a great group of dedicated assistants. More than anything a youth minister’s job is to put the right people in the right places so that everyone can learn and grow. The research shows that it is mainly through those mentoring relationships that lasting faith is instilled in young people.

I want to take this opportunity to encourage any of you who would like to help mentor Central's teens to email me and let me know. You may think that you’re not qualified, but actually there aren't many qualifications.  If you can be honest and real, then you’re qualified. Our teens would love to learn from your wisdom. In addition to being backed up by research (and more importantly) this idea is backed up by scripture.  Take a look at Ephesians 4:11-12.  God puts people in certain positions and gave them certain gifts so that they can equip the saints for ministry. That’s what I try to do every day with out teens. Continuing with the football analogy, at some point the coaches have done their jobs and it’s up to the players to go out on the field and play the game. The students in Central’s youth ministry are similarly expecting at some point to begin doing actual ministry. We adults are here to equip, to encourage, to teach, and to motivate, but they go out on the field and play the game.

Over four and a half years, I’ve been watching them do that. I’ve been watching them take on more and more responsibility for actual ministry. They absolutely amaze me as well as anyone else who is their to witness their dedication and talent. They’re playing the game well. Every day, I am more and more amazed with their maturity and their understanding of spiritual matters. We have a youth group that understands being a Christian is not just something you do a few times a week. They have made it a lifestyle. More than that, they are teaching their peers to do the same thing. We truly have a group of young disciples and they are very serious about making other disciples. They inspire me on a regular basis, and I believe they will inspire anyone who looks closely enough to see what they’re doing.

If you are a family who is new to Central or the parent(s) of a child who has just moved up into the youth ministry, we invite you to join us in making disciples.  We are here to partner with you.  Together, we want to enable these young people to use every talent that God has given them to grow in their own walk and then enable others in the same way.

On July 12, we will be having a dinner at the home of Greg and Sandra Chambers for all of our CYM parents.  We hope that you will join us and take part in the ongoing discussion of how we can best produce passionate, dedicated, and hard-working disciples.  In the mean time, please feel free to contact me via phone or email.  As always, you can go to www.cymathens.com for the most up-to-date information or text the word CYMATHENS to 84483 for weekly mobile updates.