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5 Keys to Healthy Youth Ministry Networks

5 Keys to Healthy Youth Ministry Networks

There is a phrase that gets a bad wrap and that is being a Lone Ranger. We equate being a Lone Ranger with going it alone. But we forget that the Lone Ranger had Tonto and wasn’t really all that alone. But it does bring up a valid argument. You cannot do youth ministry alone. You can try, but eventually you will most likely burn out.

Recently, I embarked on a very interesting new journey. You see when I started at my church I started meeting with the youth ministry network that was part of the larger city that I live near. These guys were great and had been meeting together for some time and really had it together, but something was missing. I just didn’t feel like I fit in. It dawned on me one day, the difference between us is our contexts for ministry. They dealt with students who were more urban and suburban by nature. My kids, even the ones that live geographically in the suburbs, act more rural.

This set about a new journey. I contacted National Network of Youth Ministries and started working with my friends Randy Davis and Brent Lacy to get the basics of how to start a network, in our more rural area which was a little closer to home. I contacted the other youth ministers in our area and we got the ball rolling. I cannot tell you how encouraged and blessed I feel to be meeting with this awesome group of youth ministry rockstar men and women.

Flash forward to Youth Specialties’ National Youth Workers’ Conference (NYWC) in Louisville, KY. I am a member of the “In the Trenches Team” (IT3) for Group’s Simply Youth Ministry. We are a group of youth ministers who are the in-the-trenches voice for Group Magazine, Simply Youth Ministry Conference, and Simply Youth Ministry’s resources; but it is also so much more.

This group has formed a bond on social media that is unlike anything I have ever been a part of. We laugh. We cry. We pray. We share our deepest ministry hopes and hurts with each other. It just so happens at NYWC this year, there was a strong contingent of IT3ers there. As soon as I cleared the door to the convention center, I was met with a hug by two of my IT3 brothers. We had a blast hanging out and encouraging each other.

We are better together. We bear each other’s loads, care for each other, and pick each other up when the times get rough. So, what are some traits of a great healthy network, whether on social media or in your local context?

Prayer

Ahh. The number one Sunday School answer. But it is the truth! If you are ever part of a network that doesn’t pray together, you are missing out. There is something about going to God in prayer for other soldiers who are in the trenches of youth ministry with you. You know you have their backs, and they have yours.

Encouragement

Your network should be encouraging you. It shouldn’t be a competition, and you should never discuss numbers. You should be talking up your fellow youth workers. Even if you don’t agree theologically or you don’t like the way they run a certain program, you should always be encouraging and talk them up.

Shared Vision

You should all share a common vision. If you are doing events together, you want to make sure you are all on the same page. Our network shares a vision that our kids should never feel alone in their school system and they should all unite under the mission of proclaiming the Gospel. Your shared vision might be that together we can make more of an impact in our community by serving together. Or our kids will grow more spiritually mature by study together in like a DNow setting. Or our kids will get closer to God as we worship together. What ever your shared vision is, it will be the bond that unites your group.

Balanced

Every church represented in your network should have a voice. Whether big or small. Whether the youth worker is volunteer, part-time, or full time. Whether the youth worker is a rookie or a veteran. Whether your church bank rolls the network or not. Every member should have a voice and that voice should be respected. The workload for events should be split evenly over the churches. No one church should ever host all the events. In our network we have a policy that if your church hosts the event you cannot speak at the event. That way it keeps it from feeling like we are just going to youth group at so and so’s church. I recently had the privilege of speaking at our first network worship night. It was hosted by another church, other youth workers read scripture and prayed, the host churches praise band played and I was the speaker. It was an awesome night of balanced fellowship.

Jesus-Centered

This is a last, but certainly not least aspect of healthy youth ministry networks. I’ve really been getting into the Jesus-centered philosophy spearheaded by Rick Lawrence in his book, Jesus-Centered Youth Ministry. For your network to be a healthy representation of the students in your area and the local school system; you must have multiple denominations represented. Along with that, this means each church represented will be bringing in differing theologies and doctrines. THIS IS OK! Just keep the main thing, the main thing! One thing we agreed on in our network is you check your theological and doctrinal baggage at the door. It doesn’t matter in our network if you’re Methodist or Baptist, Calvinist or Non-Calvinist, or if you prefer Red’s Doughnuts (local brand) or Dunkin’ Donuts. We are a network who is Jesus-centered. We keep Christ who should be the focus and the centerpiece of our faith, the main focus of our meetings and events.

If you don’t have a youth ministry network in your area and are interested in finding one or starting one please contact National Network of Youth Ministries at youthworkers.net. They will be glad to assist you in getting connected. Until next time!

Kevin

5 thoughts on “5 Keys to Healthy Youth Ministry Networks

  1. Rev.Jeff Daniel

    The article is very true,as a Youth ministry we have been.working in.schools.But we have had no serious impact with what we do.That is the reason ,we have to belong to a network of like minded ministries.We hope that the network will help us to fullfil our God given mandate.That of replicating desciples for Christ.

    • Thanks for your input Jeff! I pray you can get a group of like minded ministries together. The impact that we can all have together is so much greater than individually! One thing that I love about our network is we have members from FCA in our group. They have been a tremendous asset in our campus impact! Once you guys get up and running contact NNYM. You can get your network listed on their site and make it easier for other ministers from your area to connect! Blessings!

  2. I have seen the benefit of being in a network as well. I don’t think the article was advocating throwing theology out the window. Perhaps the focus was more on “majoring on the majors.” But, at the same time, I think there can be appropriate ways to discuss how some of our beliefs may affect the details of how or why we would do certain events and ministries. And there might be appropriate ways to allow iron to sharpen iron concerning our beliefs. I think that discussing our beliefs sometimes may be a good way to help foster unity as Christians as we are able to discuss together what we believe and why from a biblical perspective (without contention and in a respectful way).

    • Thanks for your comment Christian! I certainly don’t advocate throwing theology out the window (theology and apologetics are my favorite subjects!). I just believe, like you pointed out, that within the context of the network that we should ‘major on the majors’. I love respectfully conversing with other ministers in our network over our theological differences. Our network for example, has Southern Baptist churches in it from different theological stances as far as predestination and Calvinism are concerned. I am from a church and personal belief in free will and I’m sure there are churches in our network that are Calvinist, and thats ok and cool! It’s awesome that we can still work together for the Gospel and differ on something like that. That in mind, we agreed that doing a DNow or an event that would take students deeper and into those waters was not in the networks best interest and would best be left for the individual church to do or a group of theologically similar churches in our network to do together. We highly encourage churches in our group that believe similarly to get together and do events like that. So I am certainly pro-theology, we should never throw out what makes us ‘us’ for lack of a better term but in the context of our network, we avoid something that might be a divisive point as long as the Gospel isn’t compromised.

  3. You rock Kevin! Thanks for taking so much wisdom and putting into just a few words. Would love to have one of you in every community across the country. Can you please clone yourself?

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5 Keys to Healthy Youth Ministry Netw...

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