After 1 Year As A Youth Pastor This Is What I Know

Part 1: I MUST BE A SHEPHERD THAT LIVES AMONG THE FLOCK

I recently went to a youth training seminar held by Barefoot Ministries at which Chris Folmsbee spoke on the roles that we play in the lives of students as youth leaders. He created a diagram of three circles that all intersected in the middle, which he called the sweet spot or a good balance between all the roles coming together. The three main roles in which we have are Advisor, Advocate, and Guide, but you can substitute another synonym for any words if you happen to like them better.

My point in all this is that those three main roles, I believe fall under the title of Shepherd. I as youth pastor must be a Shepherd to the youth in my ministry. I must give advice to the flock, I must advocate for the flock, and I must guide the flock. But to do this effectively I as a Shepherd must live among the flock.

Of course I am not saying that I need to be with students 24/7 because that would be unhealthy for both of us. But the relationship must transcend and be more than hanging out for 4 hours a week during Sunday School and Youth Group. I must be more than just being an acquaintance who teaches from the Bible twice a week. I must be in authentic relationships with students, by which we share our lives together, that can be defined as a healthy fellowship community.

Jesus is the great shepherd the best example of what it means to be one; he spoke in John 10:14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-" There is no way that I can know my students for who they truly are and have them know me, unless there is a deep meaningful relationship taking place. This can only be done if I am living among the flock under my care.

If I am not living among the flock, I will never know who is lost or who has wandered off the path. I will never be able to bandage those who are injured, or give strength to those that are weak. I won't be able to have compassion for those that are being harassed or might be helpless. I will not understand the idols that are deceiving my sheep and making them go astray. I won't be able to give food and drink to the ones in my flock that are hungry or thirsty. But most of all I will not be able to lead my sheep to Christ, who is the ultimate provider of all these things.

I still must remember that I am a sheep in the flock of Jesus, which is sharing a journey towards knowing and serving God with other sheep in His great flock, including my students. Not only am I a Shepherd for my students, but a sheep standing right next to them grazing in the Lord's plentiful pastures and receiving His awesome grace.

I am not going to sit here and explain different ways that I as a Shepherd live among my flock. For one I believe that every "Shepherd" posses skills and gifts that allow him to do this differently than the shepherd down the street. And secondly every "flock" or group is different and has special needs or ways that one can live among them. Instead pray and ask God to reveal how you can be or do this with the students in your ministry.

However I am saying that there is a major difference between a youth pastor that lives among his sheep as opposed to one who does not. I very much believe the one who lives among his flock, will have the more effective ministry. Be a sheep and a shepherd that listens to the voice of Christ, that knows him, and follow him.

Sub Group Communities

The world of a teenager in today's culture offers many different subcultures to be a part of or belong to. No longer are schools plagued with the "popular crowd" like cheerleaders and jocks and then everyone else that happens to attend the school. I graduated in 2002 and this model was already beginning to fade, although I did not have as many groups to choose from at least there was a choice.

The fact is that all students just like us are discipled, experience God, and worship differently, therefore a once a week meeting of 1-2 hours that offers a little bit of everything simply just not cut it anymore for transforming lives of teens. They need to be a part of a healthy community that goes along with how they grow and learn to be the person Christ needs them to be.

Through prayer and discernment of my situation and some frustrations of how youth ministry has been taught to me and done in the past. I have decided to offer my students a choice if you will to take part in different communities within our youth group, that I call "Sub Groups." My vision for this is that it turns our youth ministry into our own version of the verses found in Acts 2:42-47.

"42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

44All the believers were together and had everything in common.

45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. "

I hope I am not sounding like a consumerist in this approach because I don't want students to feel forced to attend because it is on some calendar that I send out, or make it seem that I am running a bunch of small youth ministry programs. But am merely trying to offer something that speaks to how teenagers function today and receive a sense of belonging within a authentic healthy community. There is no real agenda to these Sub Groups except for the fact of why they exist and what they offer.

To start we have an all girls and guys sub group that is similar to the idea of what a small group setting might look like. These groups touch on the more spiritual side of prayer, scripture, and accountability. Soon we are going to offer two other groups that alternate weeks throughout the month one being a Jam Session for the more musically inclined students. And the other one being simply opening the church doors and allowing the students to come hangout and play games. Obviously these two groups focus more on the building relationships and fellowship aspect.

For now I am announcing when these groups are taking place because it is rather new to the parents and students within my ministry context. But over time I hope that through consistency I will not have to let students know when these different groups are meeting. That they will just be part of the way they live life and how they connect with others and with our heavenly father. And that other students in our community will find out about them simply through the networking of my students that already attend. Mind you this is not a secret attempt to shove Jesus down throats of teenagers, but to allow students to be discipled and grow in the way God has created them and get to know them for who they are.

By really pushing an important sense of community through my recent lessons and through conversations with students. Other Sub Groups have surprisingly sprung up without any direction on my part but totally the idea of students. For example two of my Sr. High guys wanted to start meeting with me over chicken wings on a weekly basis. Girls now like to meet with my wife for shopping and talking over a meal about boys and other female issues.

The response so far has been far better than I anticipated and have had amazing results in transforming lives of not only students but leaders as well. I believe that as a group we beginning to understand why meeting in these communities is so crucial to our development, following Jesus and fulfilling our purposes on earth as Christians. Having a chance to have life on life experiences with my students throughout week has been an awesome opportunity, and could not imagine ever again only meeting with them once a week. I can only thank God for what he is doing within the ministry he has so graciously given to me to help out with.

Caution Construction In Progress

There is a lot of talk going around in the youth ministry community about changing what youth ministry looks like in today's culture. There are countless youth workers including myself that are frustrasted with they way we are currently tyring to minister to the teens in our local area. The fact is that teens are leaving the church at an alarming rate. Hence the programs/events we are using to reach students are not creating firm followers of Christ but only giving them one more thing to do in their already busy schedule. Leaving them with no spirtual habits or disciplines that they can take upon leaving the youth program.

Let's face it this mindset is only creating an atomosphere of hiding Jesus behind fun, snacks, games, and so called "relationship building times" that just scream I am only interested in you so that I can tell you about Jesus. I am not saying all these things are bad and that we should throw them out but they should not be the main medium for reaching out to teens. We need to stop waiting around for some mega-church to write a book that tells us all how to make youth ministry happen or grow in numbers. Their context of ministry is more than likely different than mine or yours therefore every church should mold a ministry that fits it's own environment.

Educational Reconstruction

As a fairly new full-time Youth Director I must confess it is easy to get sucked into believing that cool events and programs of high energy and fun are the way to go. When I came to my church the youth program was and still is called AMP Student Ministries. The only thing that I could think about was how can I make this program more "Amped Up?" How can I create a fun place that my students will not be afraid to bring their friends to. This model has been the youth ministry "norm" it is what I've been taught that you do and I just graduated last May with a degree in Youth Ministry.

Out of the two or so months that I have been working in full-time ministry this way of thinking is my greatest failure. What we need to "AMP Up" is offering a ministry where teenagers can connect, experience, and encounter God. Of course all students do this differently so having another program/event night that offers a little bit of everything to make sure I cover the whole group is not the answer.

Instead I need to live in God's presence so that I can discern how he is moving in the students lives around me but also for my own personal growth. As youth workers lets immerse ourselves into youth culture by walking down the stairs to their underground world, so authentic relationships can begin to take place.

It's time that we start teaching a new song of youth ministry that allows youth leaders to do ministry in their context. That allows unforced community to take place without a sign-up sheet for a particular event. That allows real relationships to be made without any hidden agendas. That allows the whole group to come together under the common goal of sharing God's story with others.

The Future

A few weeks ago I had my students write down anything they wanted to learn about life, Bible, theology, or any issue they could possible think of. The responses varied from each student and were typical things that teenagers want to know and or struggle with. But one answer in particualar caugt my eye of a Junior in my group. The only thing that he wrote down was and I quote "I want to learn anything that helps me make sense of the world we live in."

I think that response speaks volumes in several ways, but in the context of reconstructing youth ministry I think that it is the voice of youth culture craving for something different.

Are the programs and events that we are running offering any sense of the world we live in? Teenagers pretty much have all the fun and technology they want at their finger tips, why should the church try to compete with that? Let's offer them something that created this world, that transcends this world, that loves everyone in this world. Let's offer a journey of relational missional community that experiences the absolute truths of God, because they are craving for it whether they know it or not. That is what makes sense in this world!

In many ways I don't want to step outside the comfortablity of youth ministry as I know it, due to the fear of uncertainty of how to exactly reconstruct youth ministry within my context. Or the thought that maybe students, parents, or my church won't like it. But I don't have a choice if I want to fulfill my calling ministering to teenagers in the present time.

As a youth worker I am stepping out in faith to change youth ministry. I know it won't always be pretty and that more than likely I will make some mistakes. But I believe those periods of brokeness are necessary to remind you that God is in control of what is going within your context.