week-7-youth-ministery-paper

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY

Youth Ministry Interview Project

Submitted to Dr. Wes Sirles, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of

YOUT 510

Developing a Philosophy for Youth Ministry

by

Hunter Dennison

October 15th, 2017

2

Intro

The biggest question all graduates have leaving seminary relates to how the theoretical concepts they have learned will play out in the everyday practice of ministry. This is true especially within the realm of student ministry. Leading academic books suggest ideas like a synergy relationship between the minister and parents, a simple discipleship process to govern all programming and a set of high expectations for student’s potential. The following interviews aimed to uncover if these ideas reflected what parents, former students and unsaved students felt. Their answers will reveal the balance between theoretical approaches to student ministry and the practical ways it will flow out into student ministry.

Parents of Students

The first set of interviews were of parents of current teenagers that were currently active within a student ministry. The first two questions dealt with expectations of both the student ministry and the student minister. It was clear that the number one thing parents expected from a student ministry was year-round engagement of their students. However, parents had different things in mind when they meant year-round engagement. For one parent, this meant offering lots of activities, while the other two expected complimentary discipleship to what was offered in the home. While opinion differed there, one place they found unanimous agreement were the expectations of the youth minister. From a personal standpoint the resounding answer was a mature, godly and Christlike role model who demonstrated a personal relationship with Christ. From a corporate standpoint it was someone who took interest in students through weekly encouragement and discipleship.

The next two questions revolved around evaluating youth ministry locally and universally. All parents indicated that they loved their local youth ministry solely because their students loved going to it. One mom stated, “if your student leaves and says, ‘I love it’ the youth ministry is doing something right.” The perceived weaknesses in the local ministry varied from lack of parental engagement, lack of personal relationships with students and communication. The parents differed in why students fall through the cracks from youth to college. One parent blamed poor transition, the second blamed the lack of challenge and the third blamed parents fostering faith within their students.

Each parent then indicated one thing they would say to all youth ministers without fear of rebuttal. The first declared, “don’t be so stuck in your ways that you aren’t flexible.” The second declared, “don’t show preferential treatment.” The last said, “don’t manipulate students into every activity that you offer.” He felt that sometimes students were coerced into doing all the leadership activities with fear of being removed of the inner circle if they did not.

Former Students

The next set of interviews were of high school students or college students who previously attended a youth group but then dropped out. Three of the questions pertained to involvement: why they got involved, why they dropped out and whether or not their parents were involved. Involvement in the youth group for the first two students started because they grew up in church while the third started coming because a friend invited him. Each of these students dropped out for the same reason: competing activities in their schedule. One student claimed it was a new job, another claimed soccer practice while the last claimed band practice. These competing activities were placed at a higher importance than youth group involvement. After further digging, the 21-year-old college junior admitted that the biggest reason he quit coming was the change of his friend group. He claims he still practices faith today, but he does so in an experimental way with other religions. The other two are still active in the church they attend but only on Sunday mornings and through mission opportunities. Two of these student’s parents were heavily involved in church while the third said his never attended.

The second half of the interview revolved around the things that needed to be changed in ministry to retain students like themselves. The 19-year-old freshmen wished her youth ministry would have provided extraneous discipleship opportunities for those who were invested in sports. In her opinion, sports will always conflict with Wednesday night involvement thus putting the responsibility of the student minister to find other ways to involve them. The 17-year-old band member felt that it was more than a schedule conflict. He felt neglected for years since his natural characteristics did not align with the youth pastor’s. The statements they would say to youth pastors everywhere include: “don’t be so narrow minded” and, “don’t be so judgmental” and, “pay attention to the quiet ones.”

Unsaved Students

The final interviews included one unsaved middle school student and two unsaved high school students. All three of these students grew up intermittently attending church. One high school student related that he did not have a choice since his parents made him go. While each of these students believed in God their answers for what he is like varied greatly. The middle school student claimed, “he’s someone who can do amazing stuff.” While the others painted a picture of someone who was big, powerful and controlled the world. These answers reflected a general belief in God while lacking a personal relationship with him.

The most revealing answers were to the question, ‘What do you think it takes to be straightened out with God?’ The middle school student exclaimed, “is it possible not to be right with God?” While a high school student chimed in answers like church attendance or good works. According to them Jesus Christ is someone who is a good teacher or someone they should try to be like.

When asked what they expected from a youth group their answers were on the same page. They said they wanted fun events, to meet other people, take fun trips and if possible, learn about God. According to two of them the problem with most youth ministries were limited budgets or resources. The one high school student felt that all they do is try to enforce God’s rules. He felt a tremendous pressure to live or act in a certain way.

Conclusion

The interviews made it clear that theoretical discussions have value since they flow into everyday ministry. Many answers from parents, former students and unsaved students aligned with several of the lessons from the leading books. The first is the expectation from the student ministries. Every parent wanted year-round engagement of their students through activities that lead them to greater discipleship. One of the biggest ideas from Simple Student Ministry was a simple process of discipleship that produced proficient disciples. The authors stated, “All churches and all ministries should have a process for making disciples regardless of the format, style, location, or demographic.”[footnoteRef:1] They added, “The process should be crystal clear (clarity) and move students to greater levels of spiritual commitment.”[footnoteRef:2] The authors made it clear that this process, “creates space for relationships, engages students in ministry and mission, fosters less dependence on programs and operates with great intentionality.”[footnoteRef:3] Thus, in one fell swoop the simple process driven ministry meets the expectations of parents. It provides year-round engagement, fosters a love for the church and missions and creates space for a relationship between the minister and student. [1: Eric Geiger and Jeff Borton, Simple Student Ministry: A Clear Process for Strategic Youth Discipleship (Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Books, 2009), 18. ] [2: Ibid., 19. ] [3: Geiger and Borton, Simple Student Ministry, 20. ]

Second, the parents made it clear that they were on board with the partnering with the student minister. Two parents made it clear that they wanted the youth ministry to compliment the discipleship taking place at home. This is exactly what synergy seeks to accomplish. Aaron Gatson defined synergy as, “two combined influences that achieve results that couldn’t be achieved with the two influences by themselves.”[footnoteRef:4] Another good point the parents made was that current youth ministry suffers when it comes to communication. To overcome this fault, Jim Burns suggests informing, assisting, involving and encouraging parents. Informing involves sending out communication letters and emails. Assisting meets parents where they are and hosts seminars or support groups.[footnoteRef:5] [4: Aaron Gastin, “Creating Synergy in Student Ministry” (lecture, Richmond, VA,), accessed October 5, 2017,https://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_382749_1&content_id=_18987278_1 ] [5: Jim Burns, “What Is Family-Based Youth Ministry?”, accessed September 21, 2017, http://www.youthworker.com/articles/what-is-family-based-youth-ministry/ ]

The former students revealed the need for many entry points within student ministry.[footnoteRef:6] While he eventually fell away from church, one student harkened the door steps of a church simply because there was an intentional event to bring guests in. On the other hand, more entry points would have kept those who play sports more involved. The youth ministry should not rely on one major night per week to do all of its discipleship. Creating more entry points and having movement would have bypassed both of these problems. [6: Geiger and Borton, Simple Student Ministry, 69.]

Last, the responses of the unsaved students made it clear that the gospel needs to be preached at every meeting. Their answers clearly demonstrated that they did not have a personal relationship with God or any idea of who Jesus Christ is. This is why Greg Stier recommends, “whenever a crowd gathers and there is even the remotest possibility that people don’t know Christ are present, we should seize the opportunity to give the gospel. It may seem redundant. But revival is worth redundancy.”[footnoteRef:7] Another reason to commit to evangelism in this way is the studies that have shown that the largest rise of full time youth ministers has been accompanied by the biggest decline in youth evangelism effectiveness.[footnoteRef:8] No longer can youth ministries assume that students know the gospel. They must commit to talking about routinely and regularly. [7: Greg Stier, Outbreak: Creating a Contagious Youth Ministry through Viral Evangelism, annotated ed. (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2006), 122. ] [8: Alvin L. Reid, Raising the Bar: Ministry to Youth in the New Millennium (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic & Professional, 2004), 38.]

The interviews revealed that parents, former students and unsaved students truly feel the effect of the theoretical ideas discussed within seminary circles. Ideas like synergy, discipleship process, entry points, and evangelism are valuable and necessary within everyday ministry.

Bibliography

Burns, Jim. “What Is Family-Based Youth Ministry?” Youth Worker. Accessed October 10, 2017. http://www.youthworker.com/articles/what-is-family-based-youth-ministry/.

Gastin, Aaron. “Creating Synergy in Student Ministry.” Lecture, Richmond, VA, City. 2017, https://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_382749_1&content_id=_18987278_1

Geiger, Eric, and Jeff Borton. Simple Student Ministry: a Clear Process for Strategic Youth Discipleship. Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Books, 2009.

Reid, Alvin L. Raising the Bar: Ministry to Youth in the New Millennium. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic & Professional, 2004.

Stier, Greg. Outbreak: Creating a Contagious Youth Ministry through Viral Evangelism. annotated ed. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2006.