From time to time we’re going to take a pause from the normal format and answer a few questions from you: the youth ministry nation. Here are two we received recently: What are the differences between a typical Jr. High program and a High School program?…
The beginning of a new school year is a great time to do a quick youth ministry “check up” . A perfect question to ask is, “Why does our youth ministry exist?” If you can’t clearly define why your ministry exists, then you will likely be tossed about by the most recent trends, the coolest fads, and the loudest voices. …
When crisis hits your youth group … think of it as an incredible opportunity to serve your students and their families. Time to jump into action! In future articles we’ll cover some specific things to say or to avoid – this is more of a take from 50,000 ft.…
Last week we talked about debriefing your summer calendar, and we got a great response from it (largely asking the question, “how?”) and thought it might be good to devote a whole article on the topic. So today we’re going to list 20 questions to help you begin to evaluate your summer youth ministry calendar: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Equip your adult volunteers & students to grow as leaders in your ministry.…
Summer. A time full of camps, retreats, pool parties, bbq’s. In most places, we scale back. Me? I scale back a lot. I take the summer to scale back, plan for the coming school year, and focus. This week’s SYM Today helped me reflect over the last 5 summers… My first one, I filled up my calendar “to keep the kids busy.”…
The fall is one of our favorite times in our youth ministry. Summer is over and everyone gets ready to go back to school. And in our ministry – it also means “back to church” (we have church during the summer but attendance is much, much lower)!…
We’ve all heard the jokes and stereotypes about the problem kids in church—their parents are pastors and elders—so whenever I meet a pastor’s kid I actually want to be around, I ask their perspective on growing up in the church. Last year was the first time I became my daughter’s youth pastor.…
Serendipity is defined as the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. Reading this article and finding out all who complete it receive $1,000 would be serendipitous. That won’t happen, but it sure would be great.…
I attended a workshop led by Craig McNair Wilson several years ago. Conference attendees and I were greeted by a sign at the door that instructed us to put away our pens or pencils and pick up a crayon for taking notes.…
Recently, while I was talking with a new youth worker, he asked me what advice I had on how to evaluate a ministry. Beyond being thankful that this youth worker, in his first year of full-time ministry, saw the importance of evaluation, this question forced me to think through what I believe are some essentials to effective ministry evaluation.…
