Big Dreams: Towards a New Approach to Youth Ministry - Part 2

More about the new model at youth group.

The leadership team has 5 roles. A team leader, a large group leader, a worship coordinator, an outreach director, and a small group coordinator. These four people oversee the whole of what goes on in the youth ministry. This means that the salaried youth pastor delagates a large part of his responsibilites to others who carry out their area of the week in and week out tasks of implimenting the vision.

The Team Leader is responsible for the leadership, coordination, and vision for the youth group and the leadership team.
The Large Group Leader is responsible for the time at the church including the speakers, coordinating with the worship leader, overseeing any set up or take down for the facilies, mixers, etc.
The Worship Leader is responsible for leading worship, leading and developing a worship team, coordinating with the large group leader, and overseeing the audio visual team.
The Fuse Group/Small Group Leader is responsible for overseeing adult volunteers to lead and host the fuse groups, and for connecting incoming and current students with a fuse group in their area.
The Outreach Leader is responsible for overseeing all outreach events, and for connecting new students with the minsitry as a whole.

That is the leadership structure. There are a few adjustments in our group due to size, opportunities, and staffing. Nathan is serving  in two roles as the Team Leader and as the Large Group Leader. We are also connected with our local Youth For Christ in Mundelein High School, so most of our outreach events are in conjunction with the Mundelein YFC.

As the Small Group/Fuse Group Leader is is my passion to see the lives of godly, founded, transparent adults affect the lives of adolescents as those adults follow Christ. That is it. I am passionate about the minsitry of being. It is who we are that affects others more than anything else and it is who we are that needs the most work, the most time and the most effort. Who we are as Christians is about the imperfect, messy journey of becomming more like Christ. Growing into our identity as it ought to have been and will be when perfected, that journey is the one that we ought to be sharing with the adolescents in our lives. With that said, it is my passion to encourage and listen to and help equip those adult volunteers however possible. I think the majority of that comes through listening, praying, and encouraing them both in their minsitry and in their spiritual lives. It is a ministry of being, and of walking alongside of those who are being minsiters to the students in our youth group.

FYI- Why you should sign up

Yes, you.

Fuller Youth Institute is not only a handy link on the side of my blog- they are a group of people passionate about changing the lives of young people in a culturally relevant manner. More than that- they are doing quality, well-done research AND sharing those results with you for FREE!!! Yes, Free! They have an e-journal to which you can subscribe delivering that information right to your email. DO IT.

Why, you ask? Well... let me tell you. Because they provide information on what contributes to lasting faith, information on doing short-term missions effectively, information on intergenerational ministry, and interviews with people in the trenches. Do you ever wonder "How much difference do parents actually make?" "How do I talk about homosexuality?" "Are short-term missions worth anything to the people we serve?" "What do I need to be doing that will help the faith of my students last into college and beyond?" That is just a sampling of what is on their home page.

If you ask me, "Sarah, even if I can get that answer, how do I know that it came from a reliable source?" Well, FYI is connected to Fuller Theological Seminary. FYI is doing it right. They are putting in the hard work of making sure their information is accruate, up to date, and relavant. They publish the tools used for their research and they make sure that they publish their sample sizes and research methods. They get it done. And then they provide information to serve you, the youth worker - volunteers, parents, those studying youth minsitry, those teaching youth ministry, and most especially the salaried youth pastor. That is right, there is free information from informed, cutlurally aware poeple who are passionate about helping you to reach adolescents with the life-changing truths of the gospel. And thier thoughts are delivered to your inbox, for free! Awesome. now... if you read this far and did not sign up, I am going to have to insist that you do so now. No spam. No fees. No excuses.

Sign up for the e-journal here.

Big Dreams: Towards a New Approach to Youth Ministry- Part 1

 I am so very excited about the future of youth ministry at Trinity Community Church, Lake County, and the country. Here at TCC we are in the process of changing the model and philosophy of the way we do youth minsitry. We have previously followed the model where all the students come to the church to for games, social time, a sermon, worship and small groups. I think this is the norm in youth ministry. We are moving towards geographically based small groups that meet in the homes of people in the church, moving to the church for a sermon and worship. The change itself is both bigger and smaller than I would have thought.

Bigger in that it is a lot of practical changes to ask of students and their families: change locations several times, trust people in your church to take care of your children, relate to people in your high school and neighborhood that might be outisde of your normal social circle. We are buiding georaphically focused support systems made up of students and adults. The small groups are based on high schools, location and age. All the students from one high school, like Mundelein High School, are in one group, and when that group gets large enough, it will be further divided into upperclassmen and underclassmen. The shift is smaller in that is it only a cosmetic change to the model. Essentially we are cutting out games and moving the small groups to homes. The change is more philosophical in nature.

The idea behind the small groups is two-fold. To connect students with peers who can support, encourage, and challenge one another in their spiritual walks. To connect students with adults who are transparently living out their faith and investing in the lives of the students. Thety hosts provide food (always a big draw) and a setting. The adult volunteers provide the modeling, maturity, and in-the-trenches shepherding. The student provide the stability, help determine the content, and utlimately make the time and setting their own. Hopefully this is a furnace for digging into the spiritual lives of young people and adults alike. Through the large group at the church we are providing a place for students to interact with people from other high schools and also to hear Biblical teaching. The furnace of change is in the peer to peer and adult to peer realtionships in the small groups. And that change is directly facilitated by the volunteers, not the salaried youth worker. The geographic model frees a salaried youth pastor to focus his or her efforts on training, encouraging, and recruiting adult volunteers, as well as on partnering with other local churches to reach the adolescents in their area. More on local partnerships in part 2.

I am pasionate about this change is because it is part of something bigger: a shift in the way youth minsitry is done. This is critical. Culture has shifted, and as of yet, youth ministry has not shifted to meet those needs. I think intentionally connecting students with adults who are transparently living out their faith is key. Adolescents will do as we do in life and in faith, therefore the job of an adult volunteer is to live transparently. The job of a salaried youth worker needs to shift to serve the adult congregation and teach them to do just that. I think. I am not sure. I am sort of sure, almost sure. I think that this is a start, a change and that SOMETHING needs to give- this is a great place to start!

End of the launch period

For those of you who are not aware, we are shifting the way we do youth minsitry at my church, and we just finished the 6 week launch period. Because of things like youth rallys and fundrasiers and Easter (you know, no big deal) we are taking a month off from regular youth group. This affords me a little room to breathe, to think, and to evaluate. Deep Breath. We did it! What did we do, exactly? It is the beginning of something, but I am not sure what. Just a new model here at my church? A new model in general? Paricipating in the large shift that is the changing form of youth ministry? I dearly hope it is the latter.

There is no real way of knowing at this point. That is frustrating. But, on the other hand, I think that my need to understand it comes more out of weakness than really wanting vision. The vision is clear: youth minsitry cannot continue the way it has been for the last 60 years. The model is no longer effective at meeting the spiritual needs of adolescents. We are in a time of cultural upheaval, and in that time people's needs shift, the delivery systems for taking in truth and love shift, and therefore those who seek to shepherd, nuture, and serve those around them must shift as well.

Things are changing so quickly I don't have a grasp on everything that is different, and I am far from understanding what it means. Social networking takes away much of the distinction between public and private lives. Communication and travel advances make mean that the world is available through media, knowledge and experience. This means that it is possible to evaluate our understanding of race, culture, ecnomics, morality, and spirituality in light of global considerations. What happens in the stock market in Japan affects a homeowner two blocks away from me in Libertyville, IL. Now, imagine that you are 15 and in a world that is changing this fast- and that it is just normal. This is just the way it is.

What would you grab onto to center yourself? Where would you look for answers about larger questions: Am I loved? What does it mean to be alive? Is there truth? If so, where? and how do you know? I can imagine that I could look just about anywhere-but where do I start? How do I know which information to trust? This world is so much different than the one that I knew even 15 years ago in high school. The world is changing and youth ministry must, too. We just launched a 6 week trial period of something that I hope is the beginning of entering into that change. God help us. Jesus it is for You. Spirit, we need You.

Internalization Part 3

Internalization as Evidenced in Morality

My friend, co-laborer, and youth pastor at our church, Nathan Wagner, made several really great points about internalization on the last post. Nate makes the point that choosing God's way in any given situation out of trust and love for God is evidence of faith taking root. Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton put it this way in Soul Searching "Even though many teens said religion is important in their lives, it still seemed to us to be mostly part of the furniture in the background of their lives. ... Quite often, teens said they did not think their relgion affected their family relationships, they did not believe religion was relavant to the conduct of a dating relationship, they did not see that religion affected their life at school and so on." They go on to state that this was true of adoelscents who told the researchers that religion was very important in their lives. Clearly there is a gap in the undertanding and practice of Christianity, and this is evidenced in moral decisions.

Nate has a great point- that choosing an option that lines up with the teaching of Christ is fruit of internalization. I agree with him when he takes it further to say that this decision needs to founded and rooted in trust in God's character. It has to go beyond just actions, even though consistent patterns of action are fruit of what we actually believe. Some moral choices are moments when our true motives are laid bare, and being founded in the knowledge that God loves you and expects rightesouness is a poweful motive. Knowledge about God needs to lead to actions and thought patterns that demonstrate that His way is worth risking.

Is internalization the subtle ingesting of truth in a place where decisions are made?

Obsessive TV Watching

I have been watching many, many episodes of the West Wing. In fact, I think that I have given eight hours in the past two days to this endeavor. It is one of the few times that I can turn my mind off. This is a much-needed break. One of my favorite characters, Sam Seaborn, is a speechwriter for the President. What a job, huh? When someone asked him why he had not taken credit for ghostwriting for Governors, Congressmen, Presidents, and Kings he said "Because that is not what speech writers do."

My friend, Annie, who is generously feeding my addition, says that Sam is too good. And that may be true, his character always seems to do the right thing, even when he is angry. Sometimes especially when he is angry. And I think that this is what I like about him. I like that no matter what, when the chips are down, Sam will follow his conscience. Always. Idealised character traits are one of the great gifts of fiction. No one can behave like Sam, but it is encouraging to see it played out. It is inspiring to watch him encourage the downtrodden, fight for what he believes in, go toe to toe with the President, and to confront those that he believes to be wrong. Sam encourages me to do the right thing, even when I am tired.

We all need breaks. There is always the pressure in a blog entry to say something pithy, to make a point, or to generally write an entry with at least one message. I don't have that. But I wanted to put it out there in the world that sometimes I get postive, encouraging things out of obessively watching TV.

Internalization part 2

Internalization as part of identity development

In their article Riding the Highs and Lows of Teenage Faith Development Identity Formation and the Importance of Moratorium, Kara Powell and Meredith Miller explain James Marcia's theory of identity development that states that people go through various stages of rest, unrest, and integration in regards to

their faith. Here are the four stages as they list them:

Diffusion "Persons in diffusion have simply not thought about their identity. They are not sure what they believe about key issues such as religion, politics, gender roles, or occupation, nor are they concerned with them."

Foreclosure "This is a status in which adolescents have definite opinions about their identity, but those opinions have been inherited from external forces rather than cultivated from within themselves. They have stable commitments, but have not experienced exploration or crisis."

Moratorium "They question who they are and what they believe and are unable to land on clearly defined beliefs and standards. This is the stage in which individuals challenge what they have inherited. For this reason, they will often express doubts and uncertainties about what they believe."

Achievement "The goal of identity development is to reach the achieved status. It is the status wherein individuals have explored who they are and what they believe and hold stable commitments to a set of beliefs, values and standards. Their identity is defined, and they have thought through their perspectives."

Internalization might be best equated with the "achievement" stage. Powell and Miller challenge youth workers to engage moratorium with the understanding that it will help bring about a more solid, owned faith in an adolescent. Is internalization the achievement stage? The whole process? I am inclined to say that it is the last two phases of identity development- moratorium and achievement.

What do you think?