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10 May 2022

Mental Health Series: Practical Ways to Care for Teenagers Who Are Struggling With…. Depression

By |2022-05-11T09:39:13-07:00May 10th, 2022|Mental Health, Training, Volunteers, Youth Ministry Resources|9 Comments

Our series continues as we tackle how to support students who might be struggling with depression.

Alongside of anxiety, depression is also one of the most diagnosed disorders in the United States. Depression involves severe symptoms that affect how a person feels, thinks, and handles daily activities like eating, sleeping, and/or working or school. In 2020, it was estimated that 4.1 million adolescents between 12-17 had at least one major depressive episode (NIMH, Major Depression, 2022).  So I think it’s fair to say that there are students in our ministries who are experiencing symptoms of depression.

How can we show up for them? Here are a few ways…

6 Practical Ways to Care for Students Who are Struggling With Depression 

1.Encourage Professional Help  

  • You don’t have to have all the answers, but having a trusted list of professionals to refer students and parents to is key!
  • Counseling, Medical Professional, and/or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are all things a student could benefit from.

2. Be Supportive 

  • Validate their emotions, not unhealthy behavior.

3. Be Compassionately Curious  

  • Ask questions gently and patiently 
  • Don’t try to solve the problem, simply be present

4. Notice the Positive Things  

  • Make sure to notice the small things, encourage them in that. 

5. Partner with Parents 

  • If the student hasn’t talked to their family, this is a MUST. You cannot keep depression a secret.  
  • Offer to talk to parents WITH the student, agree to a date that they will talk to their parents by, if they don’t by that date let them know you will share with their parents for them.
  • If the parent is already aware, check in with them about their student, but also check in on the parent. 

6. Check in with the student  

  • If they haven’t been showing up for a while, text them, call them, DM them on social media. 
  • Don’t make them feel bad for missing youth group, just acknowledge you are thinking about them.  
  • Offer to take them out somewhere, 1-on-1  
    • Ask for parent permission. 
    • Don’t be offended if they say no, the ask goes a long way.  

 

Resources: 

Anxiety and Depression Association of America 

Seen: Healing Despair And Anxiety In Kids And Teens Through The Power Of Connection 

To Write Love on Her Arms 

 

Want to start conversations about Mental Health in your youth group? Check out a brand new Mental Health series at Download Youth Ministry:

My Friend is Struggling With

This 4-week series addresses mental health from a physical, mental, and spiritual perspective. Mental illnesses are real and daunting, but even in the middle of it, there can be hope. The first week gives a mental health overview, the second week addresses depression, the third week addresses anxiety, and the fourth week addresses suicide.

For the month of May, 100% of the proceeds for this resource will go to a scholarship fund to help youth workers with a mental health challenge see a counselor. If you are interested in this scholarship, you can fill out the application here.

 

 

Michelle lives in Idaho with her husband where they love to spend time outdoors, go on new adventures, and find the best chicken wings and coffee places. She also possess the ability to kill any plant that comes into their home. She also is the Co-Host of the Middle School Ministry Podcast. Listen here!
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9 May 2022

Mental Health Series: Practical Ways to Care for Teenagers Who Are Struggling With…. Anxiety

By |2022-05-09T22:19:08-07:00May 9th, 2022|Mental Health, Training, Volunteers, Youth Ministry Resources|2 Comments

In 2021, the CDC officially declared a National Emergency in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. The rates of childhood mental health concerns have grown steadily since 2010, and by 2017 suicide was the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults aged 10-34. The Coronavirus pandemic has only increased and intensified the situation around mental health. Even more so than adults, adolescents and young adults are fighting for their lives behind hidden doors, unsure of where to go, or who to talk to. As the church, we get to be a safe space for students, and young adults, to feel accepted for where they are at, loved for who they are, and provide hope for the future.  

 Janet Haag (2019) brings painful statistics to the frontline that, “1 in 5 Americans have a diagnosable mental health condition. 50% of these conditions show up by age 14; 75% by age 24, so it should come as no surprise that 1 in 5 youth ages 13-18 lives with significant mental health challenges, depression and anxiety topping this list.”  

 

So, what does this mean for your ministry?  

 

Well, the reality is, that you have students in your ministry right now, who are dealing with mental health issues. If you don’t, you will. There are things that you can be doing right now to help your students feel that the church is a safe and belonging place for them. Below are the most common mental health disorders that adolescents are dealing with. Before we get to that though, there is something incredibly important we must understand.  

 

Our job is not to diagnose someone (or yourself). Our job is to observe changes in behavior, be a listening ear, and help students and families take next steps as needed.  

 

So, what does this look like in a ministry context? Throughout this week, we are going to be talking about the most common mental health disorders in students, and share some super practical things that you can do to care for hurting students right away. This list is not exhaustive or definitive, it’s simply made up of a few suggestions of things we can do to support our students.  

Let’s start with the most common mental illness diagnosed in the United States. If you have a student that deals with anxiety, here are a few things you can do to make your student feel more comfortable, and help them find ways to cope during youth group, an event, camp, or any ministry setting.

 

5 Practical Ways to Care for Students Who are Struggling With Anxiety

 

1.Help the student slow their breathing

    • Slow, deep breaths are key. 
    • Practice breathing WITH them.
    • Check out apps like Calm or Headspace. 

2. Walk and Talk

    • Sometimes students just need to step away from everything and take a break.  
    • Go on a walk around the building with them, to a park, etc. 

3. Talk openly about anxiety 

    • The goal isn’t to get rid of their anxiety, but manage it. 
    • Find other people who are further along on their anxiety journey that can be an encouragement to the student.

4. Talk with the student’s family/parents 

    • The role of the church should be to partner with families. 
    • If the student hasn’t talked to their family, this is a MUST. You cannot keep mental health challenges a secret.
      TIP: Offer to talk to parents WITH the student, agree to a date that they will talk to their parents by, if they don’t by that date let them know you will share with their parents for them.

5. Partner with professionals  

    • Have a list of trusted professionals on hand that you can refer out to (get this referral list approved by your church leadership).
    • This list can include, but is not limited to: counselors, outpatient clinics, health care facilities, etc. 

Additional Resources: 

 

Check out this brand new Mental Health series at Download Youth Ministry:

My Friend is Struggling With

This 4-week series addresses mental health from a physical, mental, and spiritual perspective. Mental illnesses are real and daunting, but even in the middle of it, there can be hope. The first week gives a mental health overview, the second week addresses depression, the third week addresses anxiety, and the fourth week addresses suicide.

For the month of May, 100% of the proceeds for this resource will go to a scholarship fund to help youth workers with a mental health challenge see a counselor. If you are interested in this scholarship, you can fill out the application here.

 

 

Michelle lives in Idaho with her husband where they love to spend time outdoors, go on new adventures, and find the best chicken wings and coffee places. She also possess the ability to kill any plant that comes into their home. She also is the Co-Host of the Middle School Ministry Podcast. Listen here!
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25 Oct 2021

7 Part Strategy To Recruit the Leaders You Need

By |2021-10-25T09:03:57-07:00October 25th, 2021|Leadership, Volunteers|3 Comments

I don’t think I have ever heard of any leader say, “You know what, I think I have enough volunteers in my ministry.” If you have ever said that, you should write a blog instead of me. Ministry is only as effective as the leaders you have and we are in a season of needing to being intentional about recruiting them. This is something I have shared with our teams in practical things to think through in recruiting volunteers for ministry.

  • Pray – Sounds simple but it’s so important. Lot’s of times it’s when we are are desperate is when we go to prayer. The truth is God cares more about your ministry than you do and we need to go to Him to provide the people He wants to move the ministry forward. I have found when we need people without prayer we get warm bodies instead of called bodies.
  • Build a pipeline – How deep is your bench? In our ministry we have 4 volunteer positions. 1) Ministry lead 2) Coaches 3) Service Lead and 4) Team Member. Our teams should have each one based on how many spots they need to make ministry happen. We need to make sure we have it written out and filled up and start building a bench of leaders to call on and to call up.
  • How can we make it easy to join? – We need to try and make it as easy as possible for people to jump on the team. How can you remove any obstacle people might have to jump on the team. How are you making it easy for people to jump into your team on the weekend? How is your ministry noticeable? How do they know that there is a need? How is your on-boarding process? Not really answers but questions you need to work through yourself.
  • Cast compelling vision – We are inviting them into something bigger than just serving. Give them the bigger picture. We should have a few back pocket stories that are ready to share of life change in your ministry that you can share instantly. People love stories. People want to hear about how they can make a difference and hear stories of others doing so.
  • Don’t say “no” for them – How many people are not serving in your ministry because they never physically told you “no” but because you said “no” for them assuming they could not.Just ask, even if you assume they will say no, still ask because they could say “yes”.
  • Leaders recruiting leaders – One of the the best ways is to challenge existing leaders to recruit leaders. When I come, people duck out of the way because they know what I am going to ask them. But when leaders are excited about what they are doing, challenge each one to recruit one by a date you set.
  • What are you inviting them into? – What’s your strategy? What are you doing? How are your doing it? How are you planning to recruit? Nothing great just happens. There needs to be a strategy in order to carry it out. What would it look like if you spent some time working through this next few months?

This list is not exhaustive but they are some things I have seen over time work on the intentional work in recruiting leaders. Hope it’s helpful.

@justinknowles3

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16 Sep 2021

Are You Proactive Or Reactive With Parents?

By |2021-09-15T20:11:04-07:00September 16th, 2021|Leadership, Parents, Small Groups, Volunteers, Youth Ministry Hacks|4 Comments

It really is interesting how many parents drop off their students and never meet the people they are dropping off their student to be with for two hours a week. It’s also really interesting for how many leaders have not reached out to know parents of their students.

We have an incredible opportunity to not only minister to our students, but their families as well.

We all have heard stories of students who first started coming to church, got saved and then their families started to attend as well. When we are intentional with our students families, we can really partner with parents/guardians because they are with their students the other 166 hours during the week compared to our 2-3 hours.

This is why in this season we have been really challenging those who lead small groups to be intentional about reaching out to, not just the student, but their families as well. We should be making the first move. We want to be proactive in making the first connection.

Here is the ask of our leaders: Make one connection per week with one family.

If you go on Yelp and look at reviews, most of the time you will see the negative ones. Why? Because when things are good, people don’t really write reviews because they don’t think about it. No one talks to the manager at a store when things are going well. People only tend to write reviews when they have a bad experience. People only ask to speak to a manger when something is wrong.

Same with parents. It could be all good and no one will say anything but far too often we are reactive with parents. When something happens, thats when we make the first connection with them. We are already starting in the negative.

When we are proactive, we can start to build relational equity, build up the positive and IF something goes down, we already know the parents/guardians. It will not only set your ministry up better but your volunteers to win with the families as well.

What could this look like?

  • For some families, they might come to church, so just physically meeting them and knowing their name and getting their cell phone number would be a win.
  • For some, just letting their parents know how awesome their kid is after group or through email throughout the week. Parents love to hear how awesome their kids are.
  • For some, you might be close to their family and be invited to dinners. Do it. Any time you can be with the family, it’s a good thing.
  • Take 30 seconds and send them a text asking how they are and how you can pray for them specifically. You will be amazed how simple and powerful that is.
  • Shoot an email updating them on what conversations and group has been like (obviously keeping the confidence of your students) but parents love to be in the know.
  • Connect with the parents/guardians via social media. Most of GenZ parents have it. It could be an easy way to share a story or make a connection with them.

As we have been pushing this with our small group leaders it’s been awesome to see the proactive relationships blossoming.

@justinknowles3

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16 Jan 2020

But First: Volunteers

By |2020-01-16T11:22:52-08:00January 16th, 2020|Leadership, Volunteers|0 Comments

Getting volunteers for youth ministry can be one of the most difficult things about the job.  Even harder is getting good, committed leaders!  We see those high-profile church workers who have WHOLE TEAMS of really cool volunteers and we get discouraged.  What do us normal folk and smaller churches do to create a great atmosphere for our students?

First, the old ways of recruiting volunteers must be abandoned.  We can no longer expect an announcement in the bulletin to reap committed volunteers.  The requests have to be thoughtful, personal, and prayerful.  

Second, we need a comprehensive strategy.  I have seen so many Facebook posts about this issue, and I try to share my thoughts, but it really is a long-haul issue that requires more than a tweet or clever idea.  

Here are some long-term strategies I’ve used to get great volunteers:

Change your language:  You don’t have a need, you have an opportunity.  Celebrate having openings to serve in your ministry.  Leaders will be blessed by saying yes!  I hate the language “We need your help.”  Who is we and why do we need help?  Your church hired you to help them serve and lead youth.  By hiring you, they are saying, we want youth!  Help us!  Take out all the guilt-tripping and desperation language.  Here are some examples of better recruitment language:

We have some opportunities to serve coming up and we know you’ll want to get in on the fun.  

Great news:  Our youth ministry is growing and we have openings for you to be a part of it!

Your youth want to serve, learn and grow together and they want you to join their mission!

Do not wait for summer:  Start now recruiting for fall.  Summer is too late, and if you haven’t noticed, spring is also too busy for people to even think about the next school year.  The longer you wait, the more likely they will have committed to something else.  Recruiting now gives your candidates some opportunities to come to youth group times or leader meetings to check things out.  It also gives them the opportunity to chaperone a summer event and start fall knowing names and hearts in your group.  

Identify Leaders: I have four ways I like to identify potential leaders for my ministry.  

    1. Sit down with your lead pastor or pastor to adults and identify some people together.  It is that pastor’s job to know the gifting of the adults in your congregation.  Get together and brainstorm some names.  Once you’ve determined a list, have that pastor reach out the them individually and discuss the opportunity.  Make sure if that person is committed elsewhere, you discuss what duties your pastor is comfortable asking them to replace with youth work.  NOTE:  I think it is also important to make sure whatever timing on the calendar your church does “nominating” (or whatever they call putting people on committees) that they do so with youth workers in mind.  You need to find a way to sync up with that process so they aren’t poaching your leaders for other jobs, and so they perhaps consider who can work with youth when they are thinking of all the other needs of the church.  
    1. Ask everyone on your current team to identify one person to ask.  Have them all come to the next leader’s meeting with 1-2 people they think would be a great fit.  People like to serve with their friends, and no one knows what leading looks like better  than your current team.  Discuss it as a team and then decide who should do the asking.  
    2. Identify parents who will be a good fit.  Maybe you noticed that one parent who stays up late playing cards with students when chaperoning a retreat.  That parents who hangs around and helps you clean up after service.  The parents who knows lots of student’s names and gives lots of rides to help other parents.  These are people who should be doing more than driving and signing up for snacks.  Tell them you’ve noticed their heart and need more people like them on your team!
    3. Ask your students who they would like for you to ask.  Whenever I ask students, they always have ideas of who they want to lead them.  It is so great to be able to go up to a potential leader and say: “Our youth have personally asked for you as a potential leader.”  

Ask Personally:  Once you identify leaders, ask them personally to join you.  I like to start with an email that spells out exactly what the job will entail, ask them to pray, and follow up in person.  You might find a phone call is better (okay, Boomers).  This is the time to reassure them there will be training and support.  This is also when you share your vision for youth ministry and get them excited to serve.  Make sure you mention that others (pastor, leaders, youth) identified them as someone they want to see leading youth.  People want to feel like you believe in them and they will be important to the ministry, not guilted into helping.  

Offer Training:  I find people are more likely to serve when they know they will be equipped for the job.  Training can be tricky because that is even MORE time they will have to dedicate to serving.  That’s why I love DYM University.  You can even just start with the training videos included in your DYM membership!  I do think offering more than one opportunity can help people fit training into their schedule.  Here is a list of possibilities to for training for your team:

    1. DYMU:  DYM University allows leaders to train at home on their own time.  The best part is that you get to monitor progress know who is getting the training.  This is a fantastic way to allow busy leaders to serve. 
    1. NDYWT:  Sign up to host or sign up to attend a National Day of Youth Ministry Training event.  This event brings a national-level training directly into your church.  Get conference-live training in just one morning.  You can make the event really fun and network with other churches who have the same goal of reaching youth in your community.  Last year was incredible and most hosts and participants received overwhelmingly positive response from their teams.  
    1. NYWC:  Set a goal of brining a team…or even one volunteer with you to the National Youth Worker’s Convention in November.  Then you can split up and cover more sessions and bring twice the information back to your team.  My brother-in-law sent a small team of volunteers this year to NYWC instead of going himself, and that team he sent is leading all his leader meetings this spring with what they learned at the convention.  What a great idea to equip leaders to train each other!
    1. Church Training Day:  Many churches have a day when all their new positions (greeters,  finance officers, etc.),  are trained for the year.  Get in on this!  Some folks might even come to your session out of curiosity.  Use a video training or prepare a more customized presentation for your church.  It is easier for adults to prioritize attending one church-wide training day than a bunch of different days.  There may even be childcare and food provided that doesn’t come out of your budget.
    1. Local Denom Training:  In my denomination, they offer training for youth ministry several times a year in my local conference.  Usually this is free or for a very small fee.  Also, in my denom, conference staff (for instance our Director of Next Gen Ministries for our state) will come to your church free of charge to speak or lead training.  I have taken advantage of this many times!
    1. Local Seminaries:  Many times, your local seminaries will offer “Seminary for a Day” type training events.  Our local seminary is not a huge institution, but it offers this for free through a grant, and gets top names!  This can be an easy way to get top-notch training for your team.  

Your strategy will certainly look different for your own ministry, but I hope these examples have inspired you to create a strategy that will work in your context.  And don’t leave out prayer!   Pray over each of these steps, and get ready to be blessed by God’s faithfulness your students!

Ansley Higginbotham is a great youth worker (our words, not hers) and we’re totally fans. Hoping for more posts from her in the future!

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6 Aug 2019

GUEST POST: Set Your Small Group Leaders Up to Win

By |2019-08-06T16:37:50-07:00August 6th, 2019|Volunteers|0 Comments

The biggest fear my small group leaders have is dead air. We’ve all been there, right? You spend time crafting the perfect set of small group questions only to hear the sound of crickets in your group. Or they give you one word answers and you’re done with all the material you have prepped in five minutes. That can be intimidating to a seasoned veteran and absolutely terrifying to a fresh volunteer.

To combat these problems, and to make my small group leaders feel more prepared, I created these baskets for each of my ministry’s small groups. These would work for both groups that meet in conjunction with their ministry’s weekly programming and also for groups that meet throughout the week in homes.

Creating something like this for your group is not a big financial expense (excluding printing and laminating, these cost me less than $5/each to make) and could be scaled for any size ministry.

What’s in my small group basket:

  • Prompts to help teach students to pray(popcorn and sandwich) — cost of printing/lamination —I’ve created some printable items that are like active prayer prompts to use with students. These work to teach them how to pray and also to try to get everyone in the group comfortable participating in prayer.
  • Back up silly and serious discussion questions(pink cards) — cost of printing/lamination — These are random questions and conversation starters that are there to eliminate dead air moments.
  • Thought Bubble pieces and a sharpie— Thought bubbles are 24/$1 in the Target Dollar spot and I split them up between groups, so $0.25 a basket — Small group leaders can have their group work together to decide on the key takeaway they learned that week, fill out a bubble, and stick it on our magnet board in the youth room.
  • Black book— 8 /$3 in the Target Dollar Spot — We use these are prayer journals. It’s important to flip back and see how God worked in the situations we’ve been praying over. It’s also a great way for small group leaders to remember and followup with things students are going through. Side note: These are fun to jazz up with metallic sharpies or ‘Hello My Name is’ stickers.
  • Game card and dice — Game is 30/$1 in the Target Dollar Spot and Foam Dice is 2/$1 at Dollar Tree — This is a simple icebreaker game. Find some simple group activity to include for small group leaders in case they have new students to welcome into the group.
  • Whiteboard Cube— $1 each at Dollar Tree — Use a wet erase marker on that to help on nights when students are reluctant to talk. Put a question on each side, throw the cube, and whoever catches it has to answer the question their thumb is on.
  • Basket— $1 each at Dollar Tree

Not pictured:

  • Pens
  • New student info card
  • Attendance sheet
  • Weekly discussion questions

The biggest thing this project took was the time to think through what I could provide to help my volunteers win. Whatever element in your ministry — whether it’s small groups, worship team, student leaders, etc. — stop and think what ways you could set them up to succeed and remove the obstacles out of their way.

Allison Williams in a youth pastor and author on Download Youth Ministry.

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18 Jan 2019

Why I’m Hosting The National Day of Volunteer Youth Ministry Training

By |2019-01-18T13:51:38-08:00January 18th, 2019|Leadership, Training, Uncategorized, Volunteers|2 Comments

On September 21, 2019, thousands of youth ministry volunteers will be better equipped to care for the students in ministries across North America—in a single morning—thanks to the over 175 churches who are opening their doors to host the National Day of Volunteer Youth Ministry! What a cool result of our DYM community working together.
We asked each of them why they chose to host this event… here are some of their responses:

I chose to be a host site because we are a small community, but many of our youth groups are very connected. We often have to go to the bigger cities around us to have access to these kinds of resources. I wanted to bring it into our town, so our kids that we can do things here, we don’t have to be big, to be used by God. I want to show the leaders that we care about them and value their time. I don’t want them to have to drive 30-40 minutes away to be poured into and empowered to be better. Before I committed to the cost of hosting, I did reach out to a few of the local youth pastors and asked them if I hosted would they be interested in joining us. Once they said yes, then I hit “submit”. Financially, I could have taken the cheaper route, but my leaders and our community are worth the investment. Looking forward to hosting and I hope we get to connect with other churches/leaders that we do not know yet. To increase our ability to network, connect, and encourage pastors/volunteers. United as one body, not a bunch of churches.  — Cory | Vancouver, WA

I’m hoping to make Sacramento a Hub for warm, healthy and vibrant youth ministry for years to come. — Benji | Sacramento, CA

I chose to be a host site because it’s just not feasible to bring my whole youth ministry team with me to an event like NYWC.  I hope this will be a great opportunity to get some practical training for my leaders as well as youth workers in our vicinity.  — Josh | Jackson, MI

I decided to become a host site because training volunteers is a passion of mine. I believe the better equipped our youth workers are the greater the impact we can make on our students and communities. The more we can help youth workers go from a mentality of chaperone to mentor or mini youth pastor the greater impact we will have on the depth of that student’s faith and the greater reach our ministry will have in the community.   I also wanted to host because I’m new to the area I serve and was hoping to use the National Day of Volunteer Youth Ministry Training to get to know some of the other churches in the area and hopefully develop a local youth network. — Adam | Allentown, PA

I’m hoping to have this day, not just train volunteers, but to help them realize how much they matter and how significant they are in the Kingdom of Jesus. We’re going to go out of our way to honor and affirm them for their commitment to love Jesus and love students. And as a bonus, we get a great day of training! We have so much confidence in the DYM team’s ability to help us train and build leaders. We’re grateful for the privilege to be a part of this. — Jim | El Dorado Springs, MO

It can cause major challenges to get our team trained and all on the same page. If we were to go somewhere, we would be fighting with conflicting schedules, travel plans, and not to mention cost. This day will give us a chance to have open conversations with our leaders and this will help us improve. We expect all of our leaders to be there (36 in all)! The opportunity is great, and if we have other churches join us, even better but even if we don’t we believe the hosting cost is worth pouring into our leadership team! — Zachery | Galesburg, IL

The students I serve have been entrusted to my care by God. If I’m going to entrust them to another adult, I’m going to take God’s trusting me with them seriously enough to make sure those adults are well trained and qualified, too. – Jeff | Kalamazoo, MI

 

See more about the National Day of Volunteer Youth Ministry Training, sign-up to host, and/or be notified when registration opens at https://trainmyvolunteers.com/ 

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19 Aug 2018

Help Me With… Small Groups

By |2018-08-20T11:37:45-07:00August 19th, 2018|Help Me With..., Small Groups, Training, Volunteers|0 Comments

There is no end to the list of the way God can use a small group leader in the life of a student. If you grew up in youth ministry and were to name a leader who impacted your life and your relationship with Jesus, chances are, that relationship was fostered in the context of a small group.

We’re given such a unique opportunity to walk alongside teenagers as they begin their faith journey, and we hope to steward that time and authority well.

Our DYM Team searched through thousands of resources, blog posts, and podcast episodes to bring you only the best to help you train and equip your small group leaders to succeed in this new school year.

Leader Training

Leader Tools

Kick-Off Curriculum 

Blog posts to help you with all things small groups…

We combed through our blog to find the posts that we thought would be most helpful.

Podcasts to help you with all things small groups…

We combed through the podcasts in our network to find the episodes that would be most helpful.

From Youth Ministry Hacks:

From The DYM Podcast:

Videos to Help Train Your Leaders…

The DYM Leader Training Library is full of 10-15 minute videos designed to help you train and equip your volunteers as they care for the students entrusted to them. Here are a few we think might help as you prepare your leaders for another year of small groups:

Students spend their days trying to fit into their group, class, culture or school… and in doing so they try to push down or stifle the uniqueness God has put in them. Imagine if we, as shepherds, we’re able to know and call out that uniqueness in each teenager. Heather Flies gives 4 easy-to-remember steps to help each of us identify and call out a student’s individual gifting so we might better help each student discover and embrace who God created them to be.

Doug Fields teaches leaders to consider 3 very important questions as they disciple, lead small groups and mentor teenagers. Do you care about me? Can I trust you? Do you know what you’re talking about? The answers to these questions are essential for all caring adults.

We all want to grow ministries and students that are rooted in God’s Word. In this short, 10-minute training video, author and professor Crystal Kirgiss, offers three levels at which students can engage with the Bible and easy steps leaders can take to help them dive deeper.

Click HERE to see more from the Help Me With series!

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26 Jul 2018

Adult leader’s training: The one thing you shouldn’t skimp on

By |2018-07-26T05:58:11-07:00July 26th, 2018|Leadership, Uncategorized, Volunteers|1 Comment

On the way home from a recent youth ministry trip, I sat next to my colleague, Joe, on the plane. We both knew that in many ways, this trip was the last significant thing I’d do as youth pastor in our congregation. I was transitioning out and Joe was transitioning into my role. We both, I think, felt the weight of that – me in what it would mean to leave these teens behind; Joe in what it would mean to disciple them.

As we landed, I asked Joe a couple of questions about the mission trip he’d soon lead, the first he’d be flying solo on. Among them, I questioned, “Did you schedule an adult leader meeting for Madison?”

He looked at me aghast and said something along the lines of, “When am I supposed to do that?”

I replied, “You’re going to be so overwhelmed in the days and weeks ahead that it’s going to be tempting to skimp on training your adult leaders. Don’t.”

Joe quickly responded, “What should I skimp on then?”

It’s a valid question for anyone in a youth ministry setting, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in youth ministry for years. Youth workers only have so much time during the course of a week. Most of us already work far more than we get paid for. So where do we draw the line? How do we prioritize things?

Many youth workers prioritize time with kids.

That’s not a bad thing and believe me, I get it.

But I’d argue that when your time is limited, time with teens is actually not the right thing to prioritize.

Now, don’t mishear me. Youth ministry is relational, very much so. You need time with teens. But you need to spend the right time with teens.

When you’re stretched too thin, skimp on attending student events, especially ones that involve only a small number of teens. Skimp on social events, especially since there are already a ton of other places teens can go to have their social needs met.

Instead, do the programs that give you an opportunity to form the faith of your teens. These are, after all, what makes the church different than any school, park district, or community program teens can be a part of.

Since you cannot effectively do ministry alone, focusing on faith formation requires you to focus on developing adult leaders in your ministry. When time is short, that’s who you pour into. Prioritize recruiting, equipping, and training them. For every hour you spend training adult leaders, you equip them to pour into five more teens. That means that when you prioritize your adult leaders, you multiply your effectiveness, something that enables you to minister to more teens, not fewer.

No matter how tempting it might be, when things get crazy, don’t skimp on your adult leaders… Especially since it’s then that you need them the most.

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2 Feb 2018

Favored Leaders

By |2018-02-02T07:08:11-08:00February 2nd, 2018|Leadership, Training, Volunteers|1 Comment

I love my youth ministry’s adult leaders. They’re the backbone of my youth ministry. They’re people I’ve recruited, equipped, and mentored. Some have served with me for almost a decade. I take caring for them seriously.

In my context, adult leaders commit to serving in one specific area of ministry – typically one of our two weekly programs. After that, they’re always welcome, but never obligated to attend our events. Thankfully, because adult leaders feel called to their ministry with students, most willingly commit to serve during extra events.

Because youth ministry is relational and my regular adult leaders already have relationships with our students, they’re the first people I ask to go on major events like our winter retreat and summer mission trip. It’s only when I can’t get enough of our regular adult leaders to serve during these events that we ask other congregational leaders or parents to go.

For some, this approach to leadership is controversial. It looks like favoritism. After all, they wonder, isn’t the goal of ministry to get as many people involved in it as possible?

Sure, I’d say. A congregation’s goal should be for every one of its parishioners to be involved in ministry. But not every one of your congregation’s parishioners are called to serve in youth ministry.

Having good leaders in your youth ministry doesn’t require you to have the largest number of volunteers in your church. It requires you to have the RIGHT leaders: People who love Jesus, adore teenagers, want to grow in their own faith, and are good at working with teens.

Getting the right people to serve in your ministry requires carefully recruiting leaders. It means making it hard for leaders to get in and easy for them to get out. It also means faithfully equipping them to serve in your ministry for the long-haul, not the short-term, so that they can build relationships with teens.

Ephesians 4:11-12 explains how the role of pastors and teachers is “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Equipping the saints for the work of ministry requires intentionality. It requires pouring into a select few who have committed to serve faithfully in your ministry.

So, sure, some may call that favoritism.

But I’m okay with that.

After all, what some call favoritism, Jesus calls discipleship.

 

 

 

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