A New Take on Contact Ministry
For 20 years youth ministry has focused on going to where kids are and making "contact" with them in their world. So Youth pastors and youth workers have gone to footballs games, concerts, skate parks, malls and plays to hang with kids in their world. This should not change. But I'd like to add something I think. My experience is that youth pastors, especially youth pastors with out children of their own, spend most of their time in the world of kids to the neglect of their own relationships and community. Also, when a youth pastor does have kids they find it unhealthy to always be in the world of teens (or they should) and they find themselves more at home with their families. (which is good.)
I've been proposing for 4 or five years that a far more powerful tool available to the youth pastor is to develop healthy friendships and community with peers (read: other adults) and then invite students into their world. This will never replace contact ministry as we have known it, but brings new ministry to power to what most youth pastors talk about. How better for a teen to learn about Biblical community than to experience it first hand, through an adult relationship.
I've been proposing for 4 or five years that a far more powerful tool available to the youth pastor is to develop healthy friendships and community with peers (read: other adults) and then invite students into their world. This will never replace contact ministry as we have known it, but brings new ministry to power to what most youth pastors talk about. How better for a teen to learn about Biblical community than to experience it first hand, through an adult relationship.
Labels: youth ministry
posted by mark at
5:54 PM
2 Comments:
I've thought for a long time that I was way more effective as a husband/father than I was as a single college aged youth worker, even though I had an incredible amount of free time comparatively.
Interesting points and worthy of discussion.
If a YP or YW are neglecting their own relationship with community or their peers than it is the fault of the church leader or the organizational body that the leader is working with and answerable to. More people in ministry need to be accountable on how their time is spent. This does not always mean having your time card scrutinized for length of time but a balance of time.
Is it best if a Pastor or worker is spending 60 and 70 hours a week doing their job? Is it best of they are on the other end of the scale and they are only spending 20 hours a week as YP? Too often the YP or YW are left on their own and that is when the overwork or lack of ambition takes root and harms the peripheral relationships.
It all comes down to accountability not only holding our YPs and YWs accountable but also they holding those they answer to accountable.
As for bringing youth into "our" world, that is fine in a minor percentage of situations. If you are dealing with church kids, this is quite easy and very healthy to do. Doing so when you have a majority of non-church kids is to set yourself up for failure. Going to the ball games, the rink, youth centric activities is where you not only initially contact the unchurched but also where you build up the credibility and the face time to be a known entity. Even with teens, it's all relational and there is no reason for a teen to be brought into the "our" sphere of influence with our peers until we have credibility with them and their parents in their world. This changed in the 80's and 90's when so many supposed Christian leaders were caught in scandal, scout leaders arrested for unsavory acts, etc.
I think it is a balance of the YP being involved in their world as well as being accountable to do so without sacrificing healthy peer relationships.
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