Keys to a Growing Youth Church
Introduction
The youth group needs to grow or it will die. As the
older youth in the group graduate, more young people need to replace them. The
way to growth is not by focusing on growth itself; that only leads to gimmicks,
like free gold fish for bringing someone to Sunday School. The way to church
growth is through the people, specifically young people. Through getting them
involved in the ministry. In order to do that the a youth pastor must learn to
delegate, learn to whom he should delegate, and motivate those to whom he has
delegated. As these young people move into the their own standing in the main
church, they will be prepared for the reposibilities of memebership because they
have been accepting responsibility all along.
Delegation
The youth pastor can know the names and needs of
approximately 50 young people in the church. In order to grow past that number,
the pastor must delegate responsibility to others. This is a frightening thought
for most pastors and youth pastors. Many of them are not ready to give up the
ego satisfaction they get from being needed. Others are not ready for the work
that is involved in training someone to do the work. Still others are not sure
how to go about it. Delegation involves assignment of both responsibility and
authority to the one accepting the delegation. It is not merely the assignment
of tasks.
There are six steps to the delegation procedure:
- Decide what to delegate, work on what to eliminate while you are at it.
- Pick the right person.
- Trust those that you delegate to.
- Give clear instruction and information.
- Create a monitoring system - you don't get what you expect, you get what
you inspect.
- Give credit - every member must feel vital.
Mobilization
The word minister applies to anyone that is in the
body of Christ. The function of the body is to do the work of the head. Christ
is the head, the church is the body. The Church is to do the work of Christ here
on earth. I have heard it said that Christ is not coming down to earth for a
while, anything that gets done until He comes back is going to get done by his
body, the church.
The New Testament gives the laity a status that was not present in the Old
Testament. Every believer is called a living stone, the holy priesthood, a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people. These are
not just words. As a believer we are called to fulfill the duties of the offices
that we hold. We are to find our spiritual gifts that were given at salvation
and use them for the cause of Christ. There is not a gift of pew sitting. God
created gravity to hold the pews down. He created the church to do his work.
Each of us has a gift, and without each of us exercising our gift, the church is
incomplete.
Representation
In order to use a person's spiritual gifts we must
find out what the are. A survey is an effective tool, and there are many out
there to choose from, depending on the intended purpose. As a leader, your
desire should be to find a person's spiritual gifts, natural talents, and
passion in life. Only then can you plug them in.
The laity needs a chance and they need help and support when they fail. The
pastor needs to teach his people and acquire recruitment and inspirational
skills himself. He needs to look for leaders in his congregation and motivate
them to do the work of the ministry.
Conclusion
This short paper could only touch on some of the areas
that needed to be covered, but I trust that from it you have received a better
understanding of one of the better ways to to church and youth group growth.
When you motivate young people to serve the Lord by serving His people, you will
be forced to manage the growth that God will bring in. It will be your task to
teach those babies into maturity so that they too can go out and
serve.
