| 1. Flashback Friday (May 17): This Week's Links From The Youth Ministry Blogosphere |
| From youthministry360 on Friday, May 17, 2013 @ 9:11 AM PST in the "Resources" Category. One of the things we are committed to at ym360 is Networking. Our vision for networking is connecting you to people and organizations doing awesome youth ministry.Flashback Friday is a feature where we give you the run down of some of the awesome posts from the past week across youth ministry blogs. Consider it our way of keeping you connected with what is going on. This week's posts from the ym360 BlogYouth Worker Sound Off: What Do You Do For Graduating Seniors? by Andy BlanksYouth Worker BOOST: Hello Neighbor by Richard ParkerThe ym360 Trends And Culture Update (Vol. 32) by Andy BlanksDoing Away With "Numbers" As A Way Of Measuring Effectiveness by Andy Blanks Posts From Other Awesome PeopleWe search the Internet to bring you relevant information to help you be a better youth worker. Here are some links from posts we thought were pretty great.Social Media Parent Resources by Austin McCannWhy You Should Quit Listening to Your Pastor by Ben ReedWhat's Your Recruitment Plan For Volunteers? by Christopher WesleyBadgify Nametags Made Easy by Chris DavisStudent Art Wall by Colton HarkerLeading Yourself by Doug Franklin Every Every Every Generation Has Been the Me Me Me Generation by Elspeth Reeveoverheard at my 7th grade guys small group by Mark OestreicherPROTECT YOURSELF by YouthMinistry.comTeens and Technology 2013 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project That's all the links for this week. As always, have an awesome weekend . . . And THANK YOU for the chance to serve you as part of the ym360 community. Read More... |
| 2. Doing Away With "Numbers" As A Way Of Measuring Effectiveness |
| From youthministry360 on Thursday, May 16, 2013 @ 7:52 AM PST in the "Resources" Category. Image courtesy of shutterstock.com / (c) marekuliasz This week I got to hang out with a group of youth workers for a day of training workshops. The group turned out to be a very experienced bunch who really knew their stuff. So, I took the opportunity to pick their brains about what they think is working in youth ministry, and about some of the challenges youth workers face. As we discussed challenges, someone brought up relationships with senior leadership. As we unpacked this some, a couple youth workers talked about disagreements that had arisen in their church over declining numbers on Sunday mornings. Of course we all know that this isn't a new issue. This tension has been around as long as there have been programs in youth ministries. The logic is of course, this: There is a baseline of X number of teenagers attending Sunday morning.If there is a number of students in attendance greater than X, the youth ministry is a success.If there is a number of students attending less than X, the youth ministry is a failure.Except this equation doesn't take into consideration any variables. Case in point: A youth worker in my workshop felt like his ministry was doing great, but that certain factors (such as children whose parents have joint custody with weekend visitation, and travel sports teams) had contributed to numbers being down on Sunday mornings. A focus on numbers as the sole means of judging the overall effectiveness of a ministry might result in the feeling that the ministry wasn't as effective as it could be.Again, this is an issue youth workers have been plagued with for a long time. And yet, I was really interested in this discussion because it parallels something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I shared my thoughts in our gathering and I'll share them here. Here's what I have been thinking . . . I think we've arrived at a place culturally where over-emphasizing attendance in our "main" programs is the wrong way to go about gauging effectiveness. In my mind it's always been a poor method of measurement. But I think we're at a point, culturally speaking, where measuring success by numbers might actually be harmful. I think it's past time that we change our metrics. What's the alternative? What set of metrics am I suggesting? I have two thoughts here: We need to judge ministry effectiveness by quantifying spiritual growth in individuals. This can only be done from a relational perspective.We need to take a "big picture" view, tracking overall ministry engagement opportunities rather than looking at attendance in one or two "main" programs (i.e., Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, etc.)Let me unpack this a little bit . . . Spiritual Growth vs. Butts In SeatsWe count butts in seats because it's easy. But we're not ticket agents. A sold out show is the least of our concerns, or it should be. We exist to see teenagers grow in Christ-likeness. This growth is what we should be looking at to determine the effectiveness of our ministries. The challenges of this model are real. First, it takes time. Spiritual growth is hard to measure week-to-week. And it's much harder to plot on a line graph in an excel spreadsheet. Second, it's grounded in relationship. You have to know a person to establish a baseline. And you have to do life with them to track growth. To begin measuring spiritual growth as a sign of ministry effectiveness, your church's leadership has to break free from an organizational, institutional mindset, and embrace a relational, organic mindset. If we're gauging ministry effectiveness based on spiritual growth, we'll have to rely heavily on the small group leaders and the adult volunteers in your ministry. Engagement Opportunities vs. Program AttendanceFor a variety of cultural reasons, the idea that we can still measure ministry effectiveness based on Sunday morning or Wednesday night attendance is just silly. For example, how many Sunday mornings a year do your students miss because of travel sports? How many miss because of spending every other weekend at their mom or dad's house? How many miss because of family vacations? How many miss because as a culture, Sunday morning participation is simply not what it once was? And yet, there are some leaders who still measure ministry effectiveness based on Sunday morning attendance. There's a better way . . . I think our ministries need to embrace a strategy of multiple engagement opportunities, where A) multiple relational and ministry "engagement points" are a part of your weekly ministry strategy, and B) where these "engagement points" are used to measure our students' level of involvement. Here's an example of what I mean . . . I am an adult volunteer in our youth ministry. I lead a discipleship group of 9th grade guys. We went and saw Iron Man 3 last Saturday and hung out before and afterward. This is an example of an "engagement point." I know that two of the guys didn't attend Sunday mornings that week. Yet I would argue that they were engaged in the ministry efforts of our youth ministry because of the time we spent hanging out. Want some other examples of engagement points? • An adult volunteer leads a small group Bible study at a coffee shop or in someone's home.• A youth workers hangs out at a church-wide service project with three teenagers who showed up with their families. • A couple of adult volunteers play a Saturday afternoon game of touch football with a group of students.• A youth pastor attends a cheerleading competition for some of the girls in the youth ministry.When we begin to be aware of all the ways our ministry engages our students' lives outside of one or two sacred programmed events, we gain a truer measurement of our ministry's effectiveness. Is counting attendance at programmed ministry events easies than what I've put forth here? Most definitely. But numbers of attendees, especially in our current culture, is not really measuring ministry effectiveness at all. In most cases, it only serves as a point of stress between a youth pastor and his or her senior leaders.I'm interested in what you think? Is this a tension you feel? And what do you think the solution is? Read More... |
| 3. Youth Worker BOOST: Hello Neighbor |
| From youthministry360 on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 @ 6:14 AM PST in the "Resources" Category. ym360 knows youth workers. We know what an incredibly rewarding, yet incredibly challenging job youth ministry can be. There are days when your spirits are sky-high, and there are days when you could use a bit of a "pick me up" from God's Word . . .That's why we're happy to offer Youth Worker Boost, one of the many valuable resources on the ym360 Blog. Boost is a short, weekly piece of encouragement designed to, well, "boost" your spirits and encourage you as you minister to students. We consider it yet another great opportunity to serve you and your ministry.CLICK HERE to have the Youth Worker Boost delivered right to your inbox whenever we publish a new one! We call these the E-BOOST! "'Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?' The expert in the law replied, 'The one who had mercy on him.' Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.'"--Luke 10:36-37The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of Jesus' best known stories. A man walking the long, downhill road from Jerusalem to Jericho is attacked by bandits and left for dead. Both a priest and a Levite passed up the opportunity to help out the man.But have you ever asked why?Some Bible commentators suggest that Jesus may have wanted to point out hypocrisy in the situation. If the man had been dead and the religious leaders touched him they would be ceremonially unclean and restricted from going to the Temple to worship. Maybe Jesus was pointing out the hypocrisy of refusing to help someone in need in order to have the privilege of worshipping at the Temple. Jesus said the greatest commandment is, in short, to love God and love people. Worshipping God and ministering to the needs of people go hand in hand.Jesus wanted His followers to have a great relationship with God, but He wanted that to be played out in our day-to-day life by loving our "neighbors." And as youth workers, the most common neighbor we encounter is probably between the ages of 12 and 18!As you go about the practice of "doing ministry," don't ever forget that one of the primary means of ministering to students is dealing with their hurts and meeting their needs--emotional and spiritual.Our prayer for you: We pray that you would have the chance to meet the needs of your students, and when the chance arises, that you would have the compassion, the vision, and the strength to meet them. Look for a new Youth Worker Boost each Wednesday on the ym360 Blog.Last Week's BOOST: Rental FaithNext Week's BOOST: Inside Out Get more BOOST articles HERE! Read More... |
| 4. YS Idea Lab: Loving People Inefficiently (Bob Goff) |
| From Youth Specialties on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 11:04 PM PST in the "Resources" Category. Welcome to the YSidea Lab with Bob Goff The YS Idea Lab was filmed on location at the National Youth Workers Convention. Don't miss out on 2013, register now. Read More... |
| 5. YS Idea Lab: Loving People Inefficiently (Bob Goff) |
| From Youth Specialties on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 11:03 PM PST in the "Resources" Category. What does it look like to live whimsically and love inefficiently? Seth Bartlette interviews Bob Goff about how he chooses to. Learn more about Bob and his book, "Love Does" at bobgoff.com. We are so excited that Bob will be joining us again at NYWC this fall. We hope you join us too. Learn more at NYWC.com. The YS Idea Lab was filmed on location at the National Youth Workers Convention. Don't miss out on 2013, register now. Read More... |
| 6. YS Idea Lab: Loving People Inefficiently (Bob Goff) |
| From Youth Specialties on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 11:03 PM PST in the "Resources" Category. Welcome to the YSidea Lab with Bob Goff The YS Idea Lab was filmed on location at the National Youth Workers Convention. Don't miss out on 2013, register now. Read More... |
| 7. Trending: Abercrombie, Adolescent Bullies and future Criminal Behavior, Decision Making and more. |
| From Youth Specialties on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 5:08 PM PST in the "Resources" Category. This week's links include the Ambercrombie comments regarding youth image, the great cell phone debate, the infographic of the hyper-connected teen, a study linking adolescent bullies to criminal behavior, decisions and how long they last, and fixing the broken cycle of youth ministry. Links: Abercrombie... Where Ethics, Brains and Beauty Are Only Skin Deep - (Walt Mueller, Learning my Lines) Study Links Adolescent Bullies to Criminal Behavior Later - (The University of Texas at Dallas News Center) Make a Decision...it probably won't last - (Doug Fields) The Hyper-Connected Teenager [infographic] - (YouthMinistryMedia.ca) Should Youth Grips Allow Students to Use Their Phones? - (YouthMin.org) Fixing the Broken Cycle of Youth Ministry - (Doug Franklins, Online Youth Ministry Leader) Read More... |
| 8. Youth Worker Sound Off: What Do You Do For Graduating Seniors? |
| From youthministry360 on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 3:30 AM PST in the "Resources" Category. [NOTE: We originally ran this last year on the blog. But the responses were so good, we wanted to re-run it. Take a second and read what people wrote last year, then add your ideas to the list in the comment section below.]Last week we asked youth workers on the ym360 Facebook Page what special plans they had for celebrating their graduating seniors. There were some really good ideas. We wanted to share them with you in the hopes that maybe you find a fun new way to celebrate your graduates.Without further ado, here are some of the responses: "We have a Youth Sunday, in which the youth are in charge of the entire service. We will recognize graduating seniors with a gift in front of the church. Then I will preach an illustrated sermon using skits we have pre-recorded. They will also sing in our worship service. It's a lot of work, but I'm pumped about it!" — Steve A"We take a Sunday night service and honor our grads. They are presented gifts from the church and we pray for a blessing over them. It is so important they know that no matter what is ahead, God is always there . . . We set up a table in the fellowship hall to showcase their accomplishments. Then we have a party after the service." — Shane J."We have a special graduate Sunday. The grads wear their cap and gown, they process into the service, we recognize them on the screen and in the service, and present them a gift. After church we have a special lunch prepared for the grads and their families." — Karen P."We have a special service for them on a Wednesday night. Our Pastor gives them a "charge," and then the whole church meets in our gym for a viewing of tables the families set up in honor of the grads (with displays of pictures, trophies, etc.). Cake and punch are served . . . This gives the church members an opportunity to give the graduates cards, gifts, and money. What a blessing it is to honor our graduates!" — John D."We do a breakfast for them and their families, including a small gift. We also do a "how you impacted my life" wall for our underclassmen. We post poster-sized photos of our seniors and ask our other students to sign it with a farewell encouragement." — Darren S."As the youth pastor, I usually preach the sermon Sunday morning and have a insert in the bulletin of all the graduates for the year. Then that night we do a dessert social where the graduates get a kind word from me about each one of them." — Jeff H."We take a senior trip to Coronado Island in San Diego!" — Erik N."The younger students in our group usually put on a funny dessert awards ceremony for the grads at our church, telling the grads the impact they've had on them and the youth group. Then the leader that is most connected with them prays for them." — Steve S."I gave a questionnaire to their parents asking them things about their child and I asked for several pictures from birth throughout their school years. We are going to put together a PowerPoint of it all and play it for them. Then, we'll throw a party after the service." — Sandra R.Now, it's your turn to share your ideas with the ym360 Community. How do you celebrate your graduating seniors? Read More... |
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