We just recorded a podcast for Youth Ministry Hacks (CLICK HERE to listen) about the importance of following up in youth ministry. Follow up is such an important aspect of ministry but something easily overlooked because it’s easy to miss to move on to bigger and better things. 

One of the things I get asked the most about in youth ministry is what is the exact system we have set up in order to make sure student don’t fall through the cracks? Below is what we have set up right now. Does it work? If I am honest, we don;t know yet. We only really started the whole process in all phases about 2 months ago. It seems to be doing it’s job. I do know we will be looking at it and adjusting  it as we go, but it seems to at least fill some holes we had noticed over the past two years of having lots of news students but not being at “sticky” as we have been wanting. 

We are in a season where we have the ability to track who is coming to our campuses and we want to make sure we are effectively following up with every student who walks through our doors throughout the year. 

We will run a weekly (new students), a monthly (this month vs last month) and a quarterly (CCB roster scrub) report. 

The following is how we need to be following up with each group of students that we can run reports on:

1st Time Student Follow Up:

When a new student comes to SCY for the first time they fill out a QR code with their info. The info gets put into a list where the youth network team will then create a new student profile and put it in a queue for the youth lead to follow up with.

Here is how the process is set up in CCB:

  • Thursday
    • “Glad you came” postcards get written up (cards have been provided) and addressed with a note and put in the mail. 
    • Follow up text from the lead. 
    • Follow up text from the group leader they were placed with the previous night. 
    • Parent email, introducing the lead and the ministry
  • Tuesday
    • Queue will prompt a follow up invite with a text from the youth lead to invite back to groups the following night. 
  • Thursday
    • Youth lead will check to see if that student came back to groups. 
      • If student did, connect with them and let them know they are so glad they got to come back and will help them get more connected in the ministry 
      • If the student did not, they will keep them in the queue and invite them back the following week for 3 weeks. 

Monthly CCB Report – Students who checked in last month but not this month

We have the ability now to run a monthly report of every student who checked into a group the previous month who has not come back the current month. This is a good way to follow up with kids we have not seen in a bit and a good way to see if any of the first time students have been plugged in. 

Follow up should look like the following:

  • All follow up should happen within two weeks of receiving the roster by campus. 
  • A “We miss you” postcard addressed with a note from the lead be sent in the mail. 
  • A call or text to the student
    • “Hey! We have noticed you have not been here in a few weeks. Just letting you know we miss seeing you! We hope you are good. Is there anything that we can be praying for you about or do for you and your family? We hope to see you soon!
    • Something along those lines. 
  • An email to the parent with a very similar text. 
  • If the CP knows the family, they can reach out to the parents. 

Quarterly CCB Report – Students who have checked in this year, but who have not come this quarter

We have the ability to run a report to see students who we have not checked in at youth for 3 months. This is a great opportunity to reach out to youth and parents to let them know we notice, to check in and invite back. 

Follow up should look like the following:

  • A “We miss you” postcard addressed with a note from the lead be sent in the mail. 
  • A call or text to the student
    • “Hey! We have noticed you have not been here in a few weeks. Just letting you know we miss seeing you! We hope you are good. Is there anything that we can be praying for you about or do for you and your family? We hope to see you soon!
    • Something along those lines. 
  • An email to the parent with a very similar text. 
  • If the CP knows the family, they can reach out to the parents. 
  • That student should be removed from any CCB group roster so we can have accurate information in regards to youth rosters as they are a leading indicator for the success of youth at Sandals. 

Whatever church management system you have, it really doesn’t matter, you can take this process and apply it. If your group is small or if it’s massive, the important part is being intentional with the process of follow up to make sure you are covering all bases and making connections with students. 

Hope this is helpful. 

@justinknowles3