By Curtis Booher and Phyllis Fox
It”s time to reimagine youth ministry in our churches. An increasing number of church leaders recognize the need to go beyond a youth ministry based on forming relationships with teens as the model of success. We propose a new movement using an old model of getting teens fully integrated into the life of the church.
One reason for this growing need for change is the large number of students who disconnect from the church after graduating from high school. In the best-case scenarios, many of these students found their church”s youth ministry to be a comfortable place that was difficult to leave. There was a strong sense of relationship to the youth minister, volunteer youth workers, and peers. Creative and energetic worship experiences were aimed at their preferences and helped them sense a connection to God. There were meaningful opportunities to use their gifts and serve. It was a comfortable place and they felt connected.
But then these comfortable and connected students tasted the bittersweet experience of graduation. They walked across the stage of their high school gym, were given some cake and ice cream, and then escorted (sometimes kicking and screaming) through the doors of the youth room and into the church sanctuary.
The faces are familiar and yet unknown. The worship experiences do not seem to have the kind of energy they prefer. There are no opportunities to use their gifts in meaningful service, and they are forced to fill the role of spectators. It is an uncomfortable place, and they feel disconnected.
How might youth ministry be reimagined to allow for the possibility of graduating students who feel connected to the larger church body?
During the summer of 2007, Youth in Ministry and Milligan College hosted a youth ministry forum at the North American Christian Convention. Participants were asked to consider how they might reimagine youth ministry. Some of their thoughts are reflected below to stimulate our own reimagination.
Reimagining Relational Ministry
Relational ministry has been the dominant youth ministry paradigm for the past two decades. Essentially, students are meant to see Jesus in and through a strong relationship with the adult youth leader. This relational approach to youth ministry was a positive shift from the entertainment and game-based approach that was once predominant.
It is not, however, an approach without limitations. Relational youth ministry, as it has evolved, almost entirely depends on the one-to-one relationship between student and adult. The limitations of such an approach include the disconnection experienced after that relationship ends because the student graduates or the youth leader changes jobs.
Perhaps we need to shift away from relational youth ministry and toward ecclesiological youth ministry. Relational ministry, as it is thought about in most youth ministries, is incomplete because it is based on one-on-one relationships. A community of believers of all age ranges better represents the model we see in the New Testament.
Scripture calls us to be “the body of Christ” (Romans 12; Ephesians 4) and teaches that our task is to build up the body. Reimagining relational youth ministry means we begin to focus on helping students build a relationship with an authentic community of faith and not simply with the youth worker. Youth workers must continue to build relationships with students. However, that”s just the beginning of our work. As church leaders, youth workers must strive to cultivate an authentic community of faith.
Leaders Are Reimagining
During the NACC youth ministry forum, Steve Poston, student minister with Lakota Christian Church, Cincinnati, said: “I am interested in seeing the church fully integrated again. I am interested in a church where every adult cares about the kids and demonstrates in a very real sense that these students are worth my time and my life and we do church together.”
A relational youth ministry that has been reimagined is really an old idea. It”s simply a call to be the church. The church is the alternative community that is the presence of Christ on earth. As we minister to teens, we must settle for nothing less than to help them build numerous relationships within that community.
During the forum, Rick Grover, senior minister with Journey Christian Church, New Orleans, said, “If we think of youth ministry as someone who was just hired to run a bunch of programs and to have big events, then generally that will lead either to burnout or to promoting another division of ministry. If we look at youth ministry as part of the body of Christ and discipleship, then it changes our focus. I crave to see youth ministry as being the church and not just running a program.”
The church isn”t the entertaining youth program that makes God fun. Nor is it the really cool adult with whom to have a relationship. It is a community of belonging. It is a place to belong and be changed into the likeness of God. It is crucial for church leaders to convince teens and adults they belong together.
Mike Baker, senior minister with Eastview Christian Church, Normal, Illinois, put it this way: “There is a difference between programmatic changes and attitudinal change. . . . As Larry Richards suggested in his book from the late 1970s, Youth Ministry, it is true personhood in the body of Christ that we have not given to teenagers. And so we have separated them programmatically, but worse than that, attitudinally. . . . I”m not ready to throw away all the programs we do specifically for teenagers. . . . but we need to teach people that these teens belong in the church.”
Belonging to the community of the church is not something that ends with graduation. “Maybe one reason students are checking out when they get to be 18 is because they had it tailored to them,” said David Robinson, lead minister at Community Christian Church in White Marsh, Maryland. “They are unable to say, “˜I am a part of something that is much bigger than my way, my style, and my preferences. I”m part of the church, and the church can have a sixth-grader, a 6-year-old, and a 60-year-old together.” This needs to be more than just tolerance or appreciation. It is a partnership.”
Reimagining Youth in Ministry
Our discussions with college students show that those who feel most connected to the church following graduation are the students who participated in some type of ministry in their church during their teen years. Such students are much more likely to seek those same types of ownership connections as they get older.
Many at the youth ministry forum voiced similar observations:
“Kids are impressed out,” said Jeff Walling, senior minister with Providence Road Church of Christ, Charlotte, North Carolina. “Nothing we do in the youth room impresses them as much as their video games. We need hands-on involvement in missions and service. Students see that as real.”
“I will not apologize for challenging students,” added Robin Sigars, senior minister with Carterville (Missouri) Christian Church. “I want speakers to make students mad, because it”s not a game anymore and they are tired of being entertained. . . . We need hands-on things. I think churches must give students something they can hold on to . . . something they can go out and do. While they are doing that service, you can teach them about Jesus Christ. Challenge them to help somebody.”
Sherri McCready, creative performing arts director with Highland Christian Church, Asheville, North Carolina, said, “We need to embrace fully the idea that Jesus takes students very seriously. In America, we don”t let people become adults until they are 30. Jewish culture calls them out when they are 12, and they become men. They were expected to behave in that way and they were given responsibilities.
“We live in a culture where we babysit the kids too long. Jesus would have us call the students to be disciples. Students are ready for something to die for. Youth have time, passion, and energy that we don”t have when we grow older. We need to give youth authority at a younger age. We need to work our way out of the job much sooner.”
If church leaders are going to help an increasing number of students remain connected to a local church following graduation, it is necessary that we continue to reimagine our ministry to youth. We suggest that a reimagined youth ministry will include intentional efforts to help teens discover more relational connections to a broader range of people within the church and more opportunities for significant ministry within the church.
Curtis Booher is assistant professor of Bible and Christian ministries with Milligan College in Tennessee. Phyllis Fox is director of Youth in Ministry, a partnership of Milligan College and Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee.
I agree there are some definite things that can be addressed in the Youth Ministry. I think that there are churches that are challenging students Biblically and in their relationship with God. I also think that there are churches that lack in this effort. I feel that Youth Ministry is always the one that needs or is being asked to reinvent itself or make itself better, and like I said there is a need for this.
Is connection and relationships with students and sponsors really that bad? I think not, I think that if these things can connect a student to the ministry and they will keep coming back because of it, then we are doing something right. When that same student graduates and moves to the “big church” and does not feel this connection or valued in the adult ministry, then maybe we need to reinvent the adult ministry. Maybe the adult worship service needs to have more connection and more places to use their talents and more opportunities to be mentored by those who have experienced life. Maybe the adult worship service, in some areas, need to reinvent themselves and become more like the youth ministry.
Think about it this way. Youth minsters are required/encouraged or simple just want to go to lunches at the school, games after school and FCA before school. When was the last time your Senior Minister showed up at you work place and sat with you at lunch or prayed with you before work? Students have a connection to Youth ministers and their sponsors because they put themselves out there for the students. How can we implement this in our adult services? Maybe then those students that drop out after High School will feel connected and will become engaged in the adult ministry side.