What the COVID-19 spotlight on youth ministry revealed
As youth ministries return, use what you’ve learnt during lockdown to empower your effective ministry!
I’ve spent more time on the phone (and on Zoom) in the last four months than the rest of the last few years put together.
As a Youth Ministry Advisor during COVID-19, typical conversations early on were about what to do, which platform to use, safe ministry guidelines. Largely, people wanted to talk logistics. But once the initial shock had been absorbed, I had the privilege of having more conversations like this one:
“Al, coronavirus is horrendous, but it’s really forced me to see how important it is to… <insert lesson here>”
Many people were powerfully struck and deeply convicted about the things coronavirus was teaching them about youth ministry. Many lessons were things they already knew but had now been vividly highlighted.
Josh Wilson from Life Anglican Church in Quakers Hill said he was reminded that programs are not ultimate:
“I know I already would have said that months ago but I think God's shown me that I was only saying it with my mouth and now he's taught me to actually believe it a little bit more.”
COVID-19 was a spotlight. It shone a powerful light on what was most important in youth ministry.
But when the spotlight moves away or dims, it’s possible to forget what we saw so clearly.
Here were the three common realisations.
1) Discipleship must be front and centre
Back in March, we had to reinvent our programs from scratch. We couldn’t do everything and so we had to do the most important. This helped us to draw straight lines from our purpose to our programs. The sole guiding purpose of youth ministry is discipling young people to know love and follow Jesus Christ. Coronavirus gave us a rare opportunity to stop and ask, “How can the programs I run help young people to know, love and follow Jesus during this time”.
This looked like:
Producing daily devotions
Working hard on engaging discussion groups
Encouraging youth to be in the word regularly
Helping young people find new ways to care for one another
Increasing the amount of contact with youth outside programmed activities
The practice of reflecting on our programs need not be limited to pandemics. Perhaps you could make a regular habit of auditing your programs. Ask the question “how are these elements of our program connected to discipling young people?” If you’re not sure of the answer, it’s time to change, cull or replace that part of your program.
Why don’t you get together as a team and consider how each part of your program helps in discipling young people for term 3.
2) Relationships are key to youth ministry
We all know that relationships are important in ministry. But pre-coronavirus, we didn’t have to think so hard about them. We had at least one weekly moment where relationships would grow and develop. But when that moment disappeared, we had to reimagine how we would grow relationships for the sake of the gospel. We had to be intentional or relationships would wither. And so we made phone calls, we sent messages, we dropped off packages, we sent emails, we wrote letters, we went for walks, we kicked a footy at the park and we followed up youth like never before. This time has shone a light on what is possible. It has raised the bar for relationships.
What could you do to keep the relationship bar high as we return to face to face?
Related
How to strengthen parental partnership in youth ministry
As churches return to physical gatherings, ensure you are partnering with parents to foster the faith of your youth.
3) Youth ministry is a partnership with families
The ban on gatherings of more than two people in March showed us what we already knew. While youth leaders are important in discipling young people, the constant in a teenager’s life is their family.
Youth ministry has always been a partnership with families, but when we couldn’t run our normal programs or see youth face-to-face, the spotlight shone on the important role families play in the whole picture. I spoke to many who made a point of greater connection with parents both Christian and non-Christian (what better time than a global pandemic to call and check in with families of youth!).
Emails and messages were sent, phone calls made, updates written, connections made, all of which drew parents a little closer into the picture. An extra effort was made to connect because families were important.
And families are just as important now. What can you do in your ministry to strengthen the partnership with parents?
These things seemed so vivid when the COVID-19 spotlight was on them. But as the spotlight dims, it can be hard to remember how important we realised they were. How can we make sure we carry them forward into our youth ministry future?
Here are some thoughts:
Talk about them as a leadership team
Write a list
Address one thing at a time (focusing on one thing may mean focusing less on another).
Among some of what I’m expecting to hear on the other end of the phone line in the coming months:
“Al, it’s been so good to chat together as a team to debrief the last few months and write down the big reminders we’ve had and lessons we’ve learnt.”
“It’s still pretty crazy around here at the moment and there’s still lots of change, but we reckon we can try to hit one thing this term. So we’re planning to increase the amount of contact we have with youth outside of programs and trial some one-to-one mentoring for the seniors”
“Yeah, we’re keen to involve parents more, but we realised that our first step has got to be to clarify our program to make sure we’re really aiming for discipleship.”
While we might remember coronavirus for the hard things it’s brought, wouldn’t it be amazing if it also brought about even more effective youth ministry in our churches?