Over the last couple of years our ministry has changed things up. We have changed nights of weeks for small groups, which night of the week we would run an attraction based event on. We even changed the frequency of how often we do these things (some more some less) But despite all the changes I have learned three valuable lessons.

1) Make Seasonal or Yearly Changes
If you want to make a change do so after Summer break, Christmas break or Spring break. By making changes then you do not hamper flow as often. Occasionally a change will be needed in the moment to your programming on certain rare occasions, but if you do it you better have an excellent reason because you will experience backlash.
2) Never Deviate from the Calendar
If you have something on a calendar you sent out you better stick with it. If you must cancel something due to a crisis situation let people know with as much leeway as possible. Better yet, have someone you can call on in these situations to bail you out and run something for you. (I know this is tough when you are doing ministry solo).
However, never cancel an event from your calendar due to a small turn out. By doing this you send the message home that those students aren’t as valuable.
3) Change is good
We often get stuck in a rut in ministry and it sucks. We run the same things year after year, we teach the same messages on a rotation and we don’t even realize we are doing it. By making some small incremental changes to even how an event flows we break ourselves of that rut and can be free to allow energy and creativity back into our ministries.
What types of changes have you implemented this fall for your ministry?
Kyle Corbin has been serving youth as a volunteer or pastor for over 10 years and blogs exclusively here on LoveGodLoveStudents.com. He is currently the youth pastor at the Bridge Church in North Vancouver B.C. Hit him up on Twitter @CorbinKyle