If you’re anything like me, planning isn’t just a thing you do, it’s part of who you are. One of the best days of my year is the day I get to hang a new wall calendar up and start planning the next year’s events. So you can imagine my disappointment and I’m sure many of you relate to the heartbreak I felt as recent global events rendered much of my planning moot.

DYM and other great ministry resources jumped into action as we all had a massive shift in plans and needed to change much of what we do on a dime. And while that’s amazing and it certainly helped me and my ministry – hello Zoom games (#goldmemeberperks); it didn’t change that much of my beloved plans had been canceled or changed so drastically they are practically a new event (online camp for example). So what’s a youth pastor to do when her amazing super planned color coded summer gets wiped out by things entirely out of her control? I’m glad you asked, because I made a plan:

1 – Grieve. That’s right, I said it. We’re allowed to be disappointed, bummed out and even mad that we don’t get to do ministry how we planned or wanted to. We didn’t expect it, and neither did our students. They’re upset, and disappointed – many didn’t get a graduation ceremony or party for that matter. Our group outings, camps, and conferences have been canceled, tweaked or turned digital. It sucks. It’s ok to be upset and to show students they’re allowed to be upset at life right now.

2 – Expect God to do something big. Scripture shows us time and time again that God can and does huge amazing things in light of what looks like tragedy or massive deviation from plans. I could be wrong, but I doubt Job planned to have his life turned upside down, or Paul was hoping he’d end up shipwrecked. But we serve a big God, who has a habit of doing big things through what we think are the worst of times. So pray, wait, hope, expect God to show up in big ways. Maybe for some of you, you’re already seeing that, how awesome!

3 – Embrace the change. Many of us are already doing this – rock on! Maybe this is the chance for you to up your social media game, maybe it changes how we do discipleship, maybe it gives you new avenues of ministry like snail-mailing cards to students and leaders. Whatever your new everyday ministry looks like, embrace it, God may do something big through it.

I’m typing to myself in writing this, as this has become my daily struggle and goal over the past few months. As someone who lives by a calendar this has been a trying season in my ministry but it has created some unique opportunities for growth and relationship. Grieve when appropriate, expect the amazing, embrace the changes as they come.

Alyx Greenwood

I’m the youth pastor at Marysville Christian Church in Marysville, OH and a graduate of Kentucky Christian University (Go Knights!). When I’m not hanging out with students I love to hike and hammock, pretty much anything outdoors! I think I may be the only youth pastor to hate pizza and I that middle schooler students could rule the world if they didn’t have an early bedtime.

Remember when you knew how to do youth ministry?

Like, you really could “blow it up,” so to speak.

Before “coronavirus,” youth ministry was this amazing balloon that we’d inflated, decorated, wrote on and bounced around. We went to conventions to discover materials we could use so our balloons last longer. Experts showed us how to take boring, skinny sacs and twist them into memorable shapes our kids would want to keep. We’d laugh in professional circles when someone let a little air out of our balloons and they made that crazy fart noise.

Man, that fart noise… classic youth ministry.

Then it all popped.

Loudly.

Globally.

Spiritually.

We pivoted, brainstorming ways to bounce air around in a new way. We scrambled to reconstruct our balloons digitally, but not as many students were interested in virtual mylar and rubber. And soon we realized the goal was never to bounce around air and hold a student’s attention with color and fart noises, but to offer oxygen for their soul, showing them how to inhale and help everyone in their lives do the same thing.

Still with me on the metaphor? I’d like to offer what might happen next.

• Option 1: We’ll go back to balloon making. You hear this when students, parents and leaders (maybe even yourself) ask, “When can we go back to how things were before?” Some of this may be healthy, like the unique community we experience being around other believers in person versus a Zoom chat. But my sense is the greater pull is toward what we’re used to versus what’s most beneficial. In my experience, teenagers are bigger traditionalists than even senior citizens.
• Option 2: We’ll do something new, but keep a whole lot of balloons in the background. We love the word “both,” don’t we? For example, should ministry be fun or meaningful? “Um… both.” I don’t necessarily disagree with this, but let’s not assume it’s the right answer. Sometimes we overwhelm with fun because we don’t want our content to dryly choke students when they consume it. But again, sometimes the balloons in the background can overtake the foreground. What if our first move back to youth ministry in person will get this wrong? What if we don’t have to assume the Bible has to be relatable, but will own that it already is, and find a way to communicate that, front and center?
• Option 3: We’re going to launch something in community. Those opinionated students, volunteers and parents in our ministries? I’m bringing mine together for a one-time brainstorming time, making sure to call it that and avoid words like “committee” or “steering team.” I simply want to hear what they’re thinking, like how some students don’t want to maintain physical distancing because they think it communicates a lack of warmth. But I’m also loading into those meetings some of our medical professionals who serve in our church so they can do the safety talk for me. Having these behind-the-scenes conversations first can haggle out the weird stuff.Because I believe in this next season a large portion of our student and adult leaders will struggle with leading. Fatigue is everywhere, and so we need to strengthen our inner core with values and steps that we’ll agree on. Maybe in doing so the next balloon won’t just a bouncy party kind, but a hot air balloon that can elevate us beyond anything we’ve ever done before.

How are you navigating these tensions?

I’d love to hear not just what you’re conclusion, but what you’re asking.

—-

Tony Myles is a real guy on a real journey following a very real God. A national speaker and author of more than a dozen books, his latest release “If… What If?” was co-written with his son to help students and parents journey through the Bible and life together.

Tony’s served as a senior pastor, staff pastor, ministry mentor and church consultant. He oversees and leads the multi-site student ministry of Riverside Church in Big Lake, Minnesota where he regularly invests into leaders, families, and teenagers.

Tony and his bride Katie have been honeymooning for more than 25 years and have three kids from elementary age to college. If it’s a really good day, you’ll find him sipping on a fruit smoothie while playing video games with his family.