Ethan Harrison
CHMN 360: Foundations of Ministry Programing
Summary Report: Youth Ministry Management Tools 2.0
Contents
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Major Theme and Summary........................................................................................................1
Strengths of the
Text......................................................................................................................2 Weakness of
the Text.....................................................................................................................3 Principles
for Application to Youth Ministry..............................................................................4
Quotes..........................................................................................................................................
...6
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................
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Major Theme and Summary
After reading “Youth Ministry Management Tools 2.0” by Mike Work I can say that my
understanding and passion for youth ministry has increased. The book was not only to adequately
prepare people who are looking towards the role of youth minister, but also show the reader an
overview of tasks and issues that a youth minister will go through in the span of their career. The
book starts out with planning and building out a foundation to the ministry that you will
potentially be called to for life. Understanding your philosophy of ministry and the people you
feel drawn to is crucial to get a grasp on to help you cultivate goals while following God’s plan
for you in ministry. That doesn’t mean that this philosophy of ministry will stick with you and
your ministry forever; on the contrary this philosophy of ministry will adapt with time and
experience as you grow in your ministry and new seasons arise. The book then dives into what
life could potentially look like for you as a minister, and how to manage your time while in a
time-consuming ministry. Then the book goes into how to organize yourself while in youth
ministry. Some of the topics that were brough up was how to organize the office and prevent the
chaos that can become of the workspace and the documents within it. The book also touched on
the financial practices that can be put into place in order for you to alleviate the stresses that
come along with finances; so, your focus can be places on how God can use you in your
ministry. Mr. Work goes on to talk about what planning and programming need to have for a
higher probability of success. The book touches on the importance of communication with
planning, and then gave some tools and methods that can improve communication. Another
important aspect that the book went over was the importance of going through risk management,
and how to properly plan to avoid situations, and then have procedures in place if the ministry
finds its in these issues. Finally, the book went over a small portion of the people aspect of that
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you as could face outside of the ministry. This section touched on how to work with others that
are on your team, and how to construct a healthy environment for the ministry staff to thrive.
Strengths of the Text
This book was extremely helpful to get an overview of considerable information for the
field of youth ministry. The outline of the book helps the reader build onto their goals and ideas
for their position in ministry. One of the strong suits of this text was the chapter on managing life
as a youth minister. This section went over the roadblocks that come into play when managing
time, like the interruptions that will be inevitable when working anywhere. Then also focusing
on managing the boundaries that need to be set up in ministry. The book provides practical
solutions to very needed areas of issue that will most likely arise. The book also does a great job
of being upfront about the issues that youth ministry may encounter. They are blunt with reality,
and the scenarios and circumstances that come with it. That is beneficial for the reader to
consider a lot of possibilities that could arise when coming into ministry. The text does a good
job of allowing the reader to apply the lessons and tools that are provided through an array of
applicable guidance. One area that showed this strength was in the chapter about general office
procedures. The section office atmosphere gives a variety of tools and tips to help create a
healthy office environment. Mr. Work shows this when he stated, “Consider a student brag board
upon which photos of kids their accomplishments can be displayed.”1 The book best sets up the
reader to better themselves not only within the career of youth ministry but outside of their
career. The book’s tools on finances help the reader think of areas of life that most likely have
not hit them yet, and best prepares and steward healthy habits for the reader even if they do not
go into a field of youth ministry. The biggest strength of this book was the fact that it is a manual
1 Mike Work and Ginny Olson, Youth Ministry Management Tools 2.0: Everything You Need to
Successfully Manage Your Ministry (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2014), 97.
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for the reader and the book lays out practical solutions set-up to allow youth ministry to have less
roadblocks that are unneeded.
Weakness of the Text
The text only has a few weaknesses that I noticed while reading, and despite the
weaknesses the book still has a strong core of fact and application. one area that I believe that is
missing is an in-depth tool to help the emotional side of being in youth ministry. The book is
very applicable to the practical issues that will pop up in your ministry, but it didn’t go into depth
about how to create ways for you as a youth ministry to be emotionally there for the students that
will be in your ministry. The book went over the areas of knowing your people and their needs,
setting boundaries, and risk management, but it lacked a process to set yourself up for success
when helping the students with their emotional needs. The book is a guide to help you as the
youth minister, but I believe it lacks in how doing these things can help youth ministry help the
students in their ministry. Another weakness of the book was the lack of biblical reference. It is
understood that the book is for practical issues that could pop up, but I believe there could have
been areas where they could link these areas to what scripture says. There were areas where the
book used scripture to back up some tools, for example philosophy of ministry and finances, but
I think there could have been more initiative to relate these worldly issues to application of
biblical knowledge. Overall, this book had little weakness, the book was very knowledgeable in
how to build yourself up for a successful ministry, and there are areas that I would apply to my
personal ministry.
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Principles for Application to Youth Ministry
A few areas that I would apply the knowledge of this book to my personal ministry would
have to be organization, finances, and communication. The organization of the workspace and
the documents that will be in your ministry. Just because you are not working for a corporation
does not mean you shouldn’t apply for the organization of a cooperation to your office. There is
no need to live in a mess if you can help it. I can find myself being unorganized with my
personal work, and I would not like to let that messiness into my ministry. Creating a clean and
healthy atmosphere in the office of the ministry is very helpful with the atmosphere of the other
areas of the ministry. With finances, it is essential to understand what is expected of you within
the ministry and outside in your own personal life. Being on top of the financial aspect of the
ministry will help the team around you support the ministry along with clearing the unneeded
weight financial issues can create for the ministry. Allowing yourself to steward finances in the
ministry and in personal finance allows God to honor and work freely of your burdens that will
put a damper on your vision and focus on the ministry. Applying what the text had to say about
communication is very helpful for a youth ministry. I know one of my weaknesses is
communication and when going into a team atmosphere there will always be an extra need for
expert communication. In faulty communication the result of planning and programming will
have a harder time of coming into fruition because the team will not be able to piece each piece
that they are working on together to create the finish product. Without a sense of good
communication tools and habits the ministry will never be as cohesive as it could be, and that
inability to be cohesive creates holes in the ministry that could impact the ministry detrimentally.
Mr. Work at the end of the book explains that the core is to stay organized in your ministry and it
is crucial because with youth ministry you are dealing with unorganized kids, but Jesus didn’t
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call us to organize these kids he called us to love on them.2 The essential part of organization is
to be able to have a ministry that is organized enough to show the these students 100 percent of
Jesus love.
2 Mike Work and Ginny Olson, Youth Ministry Management Tools 2.0 : Everything You Need to
Successfully Manage Your Ministry (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2014), 283.
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Quotes
“One of the very first things we learn about God is God is both creative and administrative.”
“There is no formula for a philosophy of youth ministry. Your philosophy will change and evolve
as both you and the ministry learn and grow.”
“If you can do anything else in life besides youth ministry, do it. Youth ministry requires a strong
sense of calling from God, powerful passion, and a good dose of vision.”
“The dream has kept you awake at nights. As you’ve talked with friends, you’ve caught yourself
pounding the table about the importance of working with adolescents.”
“Be aware of the things that use up your time, seemingly without your permission. You are
guaranteed trouble if you come to your office without a plan for the day.”
“ALWAYS AVAILABLE, ALWAYS ON CALL, ALWAYS WILLING TO LISTEN… Motto or
not, this mindset is unhealthy if not impossible and leads to the broken lives and broken
families .”
“For those of you who live by the motto, “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” managing finances can
seem like a menial chore.”
“The way you leave a ministry is just as important as the way you come into it. In just about
every ministry, there comes a time to move on.”
“If you truly sense God is leading you on, you can say that. But don’t put it all on God if that’s
not the case.”
“Youth ministry, by its nature, cycles all year through the stages of event management. You’re
always planning an event, in the middle of one, completing it, or evaluating it.
“Organizing a ministry is an ongoing process.”
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“Jesus didn’t call us to go into the world and ORGANIZE students. He called us to love on them,
invest in them, and help them know and love him.”
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Bibliography
Work, Mike, and Ginny Olson. Youth Ministry Management Tools 2.0: Everything You Need to
Successfully Manage Your Ministry. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2014.
