This might be unpopular, but bear with me. When you recognize that your church is missing youth, you should employ the 12, 12, 12 rule. If you long for a strong youth ministry, focus your energy twelve years behind youth and twelve years in ahead of the youth, and in twelve years, you could have a strong youth ministry.  In other words, you should be throwing your eggs (and resources) into the baskets of the young adult and children’s ministries. Why? Because young adults are the parents of the children…your future youth group.

Too often, churches decide to sacrifice a lot in order to hire a youth director, despite the lack of critical mass, like a hired person is going to “attract” youth to your church. Build it and they will come, right? Wrong. Choosing to invest in an almost non-existent youth ministry over a struggling children’s ministry simply isn’t wise. Sadly, however, that’s exactly what many churches are choosing to do. Instead, church leadership should ask the following questions and let the answers guide them forward:

• What in our church helps young adults engage their own discipleship and faith transformation?
• What systems do we have in place to support young parents of children to share their faith with their kids?
• In what ways are we inviting our young adults to influence the overall church-wide vision?
• How are we incorporating children into the general life of our church?
• What do we need to improve to ensure that families with children feel comfortable and fully incorporated in all facets of church life?
• What old models of ministry do we need to let go of in order to move forward in relevant and engaging ways?
• What stories are you telling? Do they include children and young adults?

Do the math, be patient, be strategic, and stay the course. Your church absolutely needs a strong youth ministry. It just doesn’t make sense for your church to build that without a care for how its doing ministry with children and their parents.

The post Do You Know the 12, 12, 12 Rule? appeared first on Ministry Architects.

What We’re Seeing

Many churches across the country, no matter the size, denomination, geographical area, etc., are experiencing a decline in attendance. I’m sure this is nothing new to you; the rise of the “nones” is something of which many are keenly aware. Ironically, some medium-sized churches are being celebrated for enjoying a surge in membership. Numbers are actually up in places—though not all for the right reasons.

Whether the medium-sized church is in decline or enjoying some growth, something many of these churches have in common is a high level of staff dependency. Sadly, it’s the staff-dependent church that will soon, if they haven’t already, begin to see a rapid decline in worship attendance and will begin to see the offering plate reap less and less. Stewardship will be down. Those capital campaigns that were successful just a few years back? They may not be nearly as successful this go-round.

Why This Matters

Consider the story of when Jesus cursed the fruitless fig tree in Mark 11:12-26. Jesus didn’t just have a temper tantrum because he was hungry and there wasn’t any fruit to eat. He probably cursed the tree because it was a waste of space and wasn’t serving its purpose. The variety of fig tree that Jesus approached produces two crops during a harvest cycle: the main crop in August and the breba crop in March/April. Which means, Jesus should’ve have expected to see fruit! Sometimes I wonder how many of our churches might look great on the outside, but aren’t necessarily reaping much fruit.

What I’m saying may be unpopular. If you’re reading this, you probably love your church deeply and may not want to admit that your church community isn’t as engaged in God’s mission as God would have it be. But I’m going to say it: in churches where I see an unhealthy level of staff dependency, the hands and feet of Christ are often bound.

Warning Signs

Do any of the following sound familiar? If so, it may be time for you to pray for the strength and the endurance to lead the charge to change, to find ways to live into your baptismal covenant and once again become the hands and feet of Christ:

• “We can’t do that before we get permission from the pastor.”

Okay my clergy buddies, this one might hurt a little, but the deal is this: Christ didn’t die to make you the boss. To my lay leader friends, we are the church, together. Your pastor is ordained, not to do ministry for you, but to preach and teach the Gospel. He or she was probably called to sacramental ministry, thus the reason he or she got ordained in the first place.

• “Our job is to help the pastor or the program staff do ministry.”

We are all called as ministers (1 Peter 2:5). Your pastor(s) and staff should have specific skills and expertise in empowering and equipping YOU, the Church, to help you serve in ways that make your heart sing. They can pave the way, but then they should get out of the way.

• “We should hire someone to do that,” or “That’s why we hired so-and-so…”

Consider your youth minister. Do you pay him or her to care about youth? Or did you hire someone because he or she is experienced and has the skills to train and equip others to build relationships with youth? Hopefully it’s the latter because the former would be like saying, “Oh, sorry, we have to pay someone to care about you because we can’t be bothered, and you’re just not that important to us.” Harsh? Think about it. All the latest research shows that adult volunteers have the second-highest influence on a youth’s faith, superseded only by parents.

Our purpose, as the body of Christ, isn’t to check our gifts and talents at the door when we go to church. We are to live incarnational lives, acting as Christ’s hands and feet in the world, living sacrificially, supporting one another in our faith journey, reflecting God’s light and love to everyone.

Discipleship

We are all ministers—some are laity, others are clergy. Laity need not wait for instruction from pastors on how to minister to others; Jesus already provided that.

Mobilizing laity who have been disengaged isn’t going to happen overnight. It will take initiative, strategy, and time, in addition to humble clergy and bold lay ministers. It can be done, and it must be done in order for our beloved communities to be more than fruitless fig trees, but churches filled with an abundance of disciples, committed to living out the Gospel.

Try This

Here are four steps to get you started on increasing opportunities for lay ministry in your congregation.

1. Evaluate where clergy are spending their time and consider ways laity may be able to serve instead.
2. Begin a ministry needs list for your congregation that includes every lay ministry position within your church.
3. Create a ministry (job) description for every position outlining the description and responsibilities, team composition, time commitment, special skills required, and what training is provided and required.
4. Need help? Try reading The 30-Day Change Project—Building Your Volunteer Team by Mark DeVries and Nate Stratman, ISBN: 9781483528236

The post Uh, oh! A Warning for Staff Dependent Churches appeared first on Ministry Architects.

As we were sitting across from one another, she said, “Gosh, I’m so excited about the Sustainable Youth Ministry Model; we’ve tried so many different ministry models, I’m certain this one is going to work!” She continued, “We have tried the small group model, the large group model, the Jesus-Centered model, the Purpose-Driven model, the Sticky Faith model…” She then proceeded to rattle off a handful of other book titles she had read and added the word “model” to the end of each one.

Though I had a smile on my face, I said very seriously, “Cindy, I’m sorry to disappoint, but Sustainable Youth Ministry isn’t a model. It’s a foundation. We are partnering with you so whatever model or models you choose, they will thrive and succeed. 

She clapped and shouted, “Yes!” Then we got to work.

As I made my way home, I reflected on our exchange. How many other people just chalk up Sustainable Youth Ministry as being just one of the many other popular youth ministry models out there? Not too long ago, I even heard somebody call Sustainable Youth Ministry outdated since it was written nearly ten years ago. That’s laughable (and ironic) if you think about it. Fortunately, I was there to interject my thoughts, and we ended up having a great conversation. 

Here’s the deal: Sustainable Youth Ministry (and Sustainable Children’s Ministry, coming out soon!) aren’t books based on a new concept that churches might want to try. Ministry books written about the latest new approach will be relevant until someone else writes another one that becomes the newest, greatest approach. But if those approaches to ministry aren’t undergirded with the systems and structure needed to support them, they’ll dwindle and become obsolete, dependent upon the magnetic leader(s) running them. When he or she leaves, the church will have to rely on hiring someone else who has read the latest and greatest youth ministry book with a cool title to bring his or her own idea of how things should be run. Wash. Fold. Repeat. 

Unless, of course, they hire someone who has read and employed the principles in Sustainable Youth Ministry. That person will understand the book will never be out of style. That book isn’t about wall paper; it’s all about the foundation. Since it’s one of the best-selling youth ministry books ever written, many people in the youth ministry world have a copy sitting on their shelf. I hope you’ve read this one. If you don’t have it, I promise, you’ll love it. But just in case you don’t, you still need it. 

How strong is the foundation in your own ministry? What healthy systems and structure will you be leaving behind when you move on (not if, but when)? What questions might you have about things you can do to shore up your own ministry? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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