Let’s get real… about youth ministry in the 21st Century!

(This series of articles based on the principles found in Jim Collins book Good to Great seeks to call our churches to raise the bar and move good youth ministries into the realm of great ministries.)

The times have changed! One of the most frustrating aspects of being a youth minister has always been the conversation we have with people who led youth groups in prior decades.  I used to regularly bump into a vestry member at my church who would proceed to share with great enthusiasm about the hundreds of teens they used to attract to a “burger bash”.  Were I not grounded in the facts of the day, I would have felt despair from those conversations.  We all know clergy people who glow about the days when they worked with youth groups and we cringe when they tell us how we should reach teens in the same way.  Ten years ago in the Church of England, I regularly encountered the myth that simply holding a ‘youth service’, complete with guitars and tambourines, would attract large numbers of teens.  A number of social dynamics have changed and the reality of the 21^stcentury is that many of the old ways no longer work.  The age of the ‘burger bash’ is long gone and entertainment driven ministry is on its last legs.  Those are facts we must face.

Confronting the brutal facts

Continuing in the principles of Good to Great, we turn to the concept of confronting the brutal facts. The current trend in publishing on the subject of youth ministry, and many other areas of ministry for that matter, is somewhat confrontational.  We are seeing new books and articles continually quote statistics from various research sources telling us that we are not cutting it.  The titles of many new youth ministry books clearly indicate that we are on the verge of a revolution or reformation within youth ministry. The temptation here is to review all the stats on how youth ministry of recent decades have not produced the results we were seeking.  A glance into the book ‘Soul Searching’ by Dr. Christian Smith or looking at Barna research is enough to convince us of these realities.  Within these analyses, the Episcopal Church in particular has struggled in youth ministry compared to most denominations. (note: at the time this was first written, our diocese was within The Episcopal Church)

How do we confront the facts in a culture that would rather smile and say all is well?  Many in the church would rather not hear the news that a ministry is failing to reach its potential.  We know that confronting facts may lead to changing or even eliminating programs that have been dear to us.  Advocating change in the context of a church that values tradition can diminish our popularity with people.  In Jim Collins book “Good to Great” he suggests that in order to confront the brutal facts, we need to create a climate where the truth is heard.  That climate may best happen through four basic practices.

lead with questions not answers

First, we need to lead with questions not answers.  The temptation in the church is to lead others by providing answers from the past. The phrase “we have always done it that way” is simply not helpful.  Strategic open-ended questions can lead us to new discoveries and more effective ministry. For more than twenty years we ran a program in our diocese that was created in the late 1970’s.  By the 21^stcentury we struggled to keep it alive, especially given the success of our other programs, which were recreated fresh on a regular basis. We began asking how can we improve the weekend?  How can we draw greater participation?  We made a number of changes until we reached the point that we could not further alter the nationally trademarked program and continue to use the name. Ultimately, the question became “how can we keep this thing alive?”  There were some who wanted to stay the course and simply put more pressure on students to participate.  This leads us to the second practice in confronting the brutal facts.

engage in dialogue rather than coercion

We need to engage in dialogue rather than coercion.  The long-term program that we had to let die would only have survived by coercion. There are more subtle ways we use coercion in youth ministry though where dialogue might lead us to do otherwise. Youth ministers that draw large numbers tend to get very good at marketing programs.  That can led to excellent communications materials, unless we market the wrong thing.  Rather than sell ideas and programs on their spiritual value or eternal significance, we often work hard to attract teens on more basic levels.  I watched a promotional video a few years back for a powerful event for teens.  The video showed endless clips of fun and games with no mention of the incredible worship and teaching they would gain from participating.  I believe their marketing totally missed the point.  We all know that if we ask kids what they want, the first answer is fun.  If we scratch the surface and ask what might change their lives, the answers turn toward relational and spiritual matters.

21^stCentury students are longing for meaning, purpose, belonging, authenticity, and spirituality.  If only we would engage in the dialogue rather than impose what we think they want.  The truth is that we can attract more students with entertainment than substance, but those that only come for fun will not remain.  We have implied that we are ashamed of the gospel when we hide it behind a base level of fun and games. To attract students to programs for the wrong reason is a form of coercion.  Engaging in dialogue is the only way to get to the realities we need to see.  At the same time, we must be intentional about turning dialogue into strategy.  Talk is cheap if it does not lead to action.

conduct autopsies without blame

Third, Collins suggests that we need to conduct autopsies without blame.  When a program or ministry dies it needs to be examined to fully understand the cause rather than to simply assign blame.  We need to figure out where we went wrong and not worry as much about who is at fault.  The most common response when youth ministry in the church is not producing fruit is to fire the youth minister.  This is a difficult decision and there are times when it needs to be made, but too often it avoids a careful examination of the facts and circumstances. If we have a pied piper view of leadership (see the first article in this series), then it is only natural to declare all ministry failures as a leadership issue.  A great youth worker in an unhealthy church may not produce any better results than a mediocre youth worker in a vibrant church.  Churches are systems in which many variables affect one another.  Dead or dying programs and ministries need thorough evaluation and strategic action. This is where leading with questions rather than answers is most crucial.

create a climate where the truth is heard

The fourth practice for creating a climate where the truth is heard is to build mechanisms for information or feedback to be fully understood.  The key in this practice is setting it up so that vital information is immediate and cannot be ignored.  Collins refers to this as a red flag mechanism.  Now the challenge for doing this in the context of the church is that we need to have several components in place first.  Otherwise we are simply going to listen to the wrong feedback and pander to the loudest complaints.  There needs to be a clear vision pointing to the future, a strategy for realizing that vision, and agreed upon goals with some form of standards for measuring the results.  The typical measure of success in youth ministry is simply numbers.  How many youth come to our programs?  However, if we have a vision for making life long followers of Jesus and learn that our graduated students stop attending church, we have a red flag.  The vital reality is that we need to measure according to vision and strategy rather than merely counting heads in attendance.  The quality and consistency of our ministries is every bit as important as the quantity that we are reaching.

Great youth ministries are healthy and vibrant. They are in the strategic pursuit of a vision and seeing real lasting fruit.  Such groups are reaching new students as well as developing the spiritual lives of those who have been involved a while.  As we confront the brutal facts of youth ministry in the 21^stcentury, we need to constantly be engaged in practices that keep us fresh and moving forward.  The times have indeed changed and so must our methods, though our message remains the same.

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