I remember that I was shocked, absolutely SHOCKED, when I first heard statistics about the long-term impact of local church youth ministries… or actually the lack of it. According to the leader of a seminar I took at the National Youth Workers’ Convention, in his denomination only 6% of youth ministry participants were later engaged…
What do you think of when you hear about setting goals? Many think of resolutions, especially this time of year, but goals are much more than that! Resolutions don’t stick, but goals do. We also think of goals as a personal thing. We think about setting goals as an individual, but not for our ministries. Setting ministry…
It is not easy engaging teens. Sometimes we feel like we have to have some kind of formal to be attractive and appealing. In my many years of working with teens, I have found that there are three realities that ring true when trying to engage teens. I like to call them the 3 R’s….
There are three words that every successful youth worker knows. They don’t just know them either, they live by them. These three words reframe a leader’s perspective and fill them with gratitude and energy. Every successful youth worker knows these three words because they are perquisites for youth ministry success. So what are the three…
One weekday noon I found myself eating lunch with about a dozen or so men who were on the sidelines as far as church involvement was concerned. At one time, all had been heavily involved in a leadership capacity in their church. Some belonged to my former church — others belonged to churches where I…
When it comes to church and youth ministry, numbers matter. They aren’t all that matters though. The question isn’t should we count; it’s what should we count? I don’t see this as a tension to resolve as much as it is a tension to manage. Churches that are anti numbers tend to be uninformed and…
What do growing youth ministries have in common? What makes them so healthy? What causes them to grow while others don’t? I’ve never met a youth worker who didn’t want their youth ministry to grow. That would be like finding a 5 year old that doesn’t like cookies! It would be weird. However, even though…
It is interesting how collective subconscious forms within organizations and people groups. Without people ever really talking about a subject in much detail they can often begin to collect around a given topic, adopt a common set of vocabulary and then ultimately become a substantive force to be reckoned with. It is very interesting that…
