[The following is from my address to our recent diocesan convention.]
Let’s turn the clock back for a moment to learn from the past. We all know there is much to be learned from church history. So, let’s engage our imaginations and step back in our minds eye.
Dial back to the early 1990’s… shortly before politicians danced the Macarena, when big hair was all the rage, I had a full head of hair and none of it was gray! We did not have cell phones or Internet access. We all agreed there were only two genders and we rented movies from a place called Blockbuster.
The early 1990’s was the beginning of Bishop Salmon’s time as the diocesan. Early on he set forth a very specific church growth strategy. It was simply this: our churches needed to hire youth ministers. These would be called and trained lay persons who could reach teenagers and grow youth groups.
The rationale behind this vision was simple. If we draw teens into the church their families would follow. This was his experience in St. Louis and would become a significant legacy of his episcopacy. When churches indicated they wanted another priest, he usually told them that their next hire needed to be a full time youth minister.
Most of our churches got onboard. I did the math a few years back and discovered that a full 68% – two-thirds of our congregations hired youth ministers during Bishop Salmon’s time. Our largest churches hired more than one youth minister.
This growth strategy proved to be immensely helpful for a good number of our congregations. However, some small rural churches would find the strategy to be unsustainable. Many discovered real growth by reaching youth and consequently their families. The harvest was plentiful. We only needed to bring in the workers.
A decade later we still saw that more than half our churches had full time youth ministers. I entered the picture at this point and enjoyed reaping the benefits of such a strong emphasis on youth ministry. We were and remain to this day the strongest diocese in North America in regards to youth ministry. Nearly half our congregations currently employ youth ministers. However, the landscape is continually changing.
Today, two realities exist that we need to take note of. One is that having a vibrant ministry to youth is important to families seeking a church. The second is that a youth program is no longer a guaranteed growth strategy. I wish I could tell you otherwise. In this generation most parents will not follow their teens to church. Bishop Lawrence and I concur on this. We see that the greatest opportunities lie elsewhere, even though the need for ministry to teens is crucial!!!
So where is the harvest most plentiful? What do young families want for their children? We live in an age of moral confusion and yet have a collective memory that the Bible teaches solid values. Many parents still desire for their kids to learn the values of the Bible. By kids I am referring to elementary school age. And, at least in the southeast, parents are interested in having their kids learn what the Bible teaches.
The harvest is plentiful in evangelistic children’s ministry. This is where we are going to grow our youth ministries… by first reaching them as children! This is where we are going to grow the church – by reaching children even if we don’t reach their parents. This is where we learn to be spiritual parents and grandparents of kids that are not biologically our own.
The harvest is plentiful in evangelism to children. In most cases this means thinking outside the traditional programs we offer to kids and their families. Sunday schools don’t typically reach unchurched children. We need to create ongoing structures to reach the children in our communities on a regular basis so that we can proclaim the gospel and teach the Bible.
Yet, the need to minister to teens has never been greater! Adolescence is an incredibly difficult time of life in our current culture. 90’s teens had it easy compared to today. To speak more to that I have asked one of our youth commission to share briefly with you.
Good morning, my name is Jolie and I worship at Church of the Holy Cross. I’ve been asked to share with you a little about my experience in the church and the challenges of my generation. Most of what I will share with you comes from personal experience, but some is from studies on my generation.
I am part of the first generation to never have known life without cell phones. I’ve grown up sitting in front of computers, accessing the Internet, and being shaped for better or worse by social media. We are the most connected, yet disconnected, generation alive.
Our virtual relationships are not satisfying our human need to know and be known. My peers and I face more loneliness, depression, and anxiety than any generation before. It’s even been described as an epidemic.
We’ve grown up in a fluid landscape — where our very morality is constantly changing.
My generation is the least religiously affiliated to date and the most prone to dropping out of church. Being a Christian teenager today is challenging because we stand at odds with the culture and our peers. Some might describe us as being “at-risk”.
So what we need in this landscape are relationships with people of other generations who will invest in us. We need to know what the gospel looks like at 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 years old. We need to interactwith people of all generations in our churches. We need people who will pour time into teaching us how to study the Bible and pray.
Now, I’m not asking for more programs or more fun. Trust me; we have plenty of entertainment in our lives. We need relationships with caring adults and people who will disciple us. And you don’t need to be perfect to disciple us. It’s as simple as getting to know us, reading the Bible with us, or teaching us how to pray.
I personally have been blessed by being part of a larger church with paid youth ministers who have poured time and energy into my life. They’ve shaped me into who I am today as a Christian.
But I do know that a good number of you are from small churches without a youth group. What I want to encourage you to do is reach out to the teens in your community and church, build a relationship with them and show them how to follow Jesus. Don’t worry about starting youth programs… because, like I said, that is not our biggest need. We need people who will show us how to follow Jesus like they follow Jesus.
I am excited for the Lord’s plan in each of your congregations. In showing us how to follow Jesus, I ask you to pray for Christian teens because it is so challenging to stand for Jesus in this fluid landscape. I also ask you to pray for those teens that don’t know Jesus, who don’t have the hope we find in the gospel. Pray that God uses our churches to reach them.
There is one other harvest that is plentiful but difficult. Sometimes where the need is great the obstacles are more significant. I am referring to the college campus. We have colleges in close proximity to a number of our churches. This creates the potential to have Anglican campus ministries that are rooted in the local church. An organization called the CCO can help us set up these ministries. Our own Hunter Jordan can help us with this. What if we made it our goal to have an Anglican campus ministry at every college in our portion of the state?
The department of student ministries is the new focus of what was formerly the department of youth ministries. The change in name represents the needs and opportunities we face. The most unreached people group in America is students. They are elementary, middle school, high school, and college students. The harvest is plentiful! We need to reach younger generations and draw them into the life of the church. It is time for us to be engaging every generation!
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