Tag Archives: student leadership

Engaging Your Students and Building Your Youth Meeting Using Crowdsourcing

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I hope every one had a fantastic Easter weekend. powerful Easter drama on Friday and Saturday, I participated in World Table Top Day, playing board games with my youngest son on Saturday, and then Easter dinner at the in-laws. It was a full weekend.

Amidst all the business I managed to watch a few Youtube videos and one of them was from a group called The Story Men. They talked about the Crowdsourced church. You might have been a part of crowdsourcing and did not even know it. Did you vote to decide the fate of the character on t.v.? Did you respond to the Lays Potato Chip contest to decide their new flavors? If you did, you added value to a company or a brand.

Crowdsourcing is asking a crowd to participate by adding content, ideas, and value to your company, brand, or event.

Crowdsourcing in youth ministry used to look like this “What do you guys want to do tonight?” This is a great way to get a lot of bad ideas. Here are some of them:

“Let’s go TP someone’s house!”

“Let’s go TP Pastor’s house”

“Let’s play dodgeball in the sanctuary!”

“Let’s have a lock-Iin”

This is not to say that good ideas do not make their way through, they do, but you have to sift through them to find them.

This is nothing new, here were two bad Bible crowdsourcing incidents:

Aaron asking the crowd to contribute jewelry to make an idol and Pilate asking the crowd, “What shall we do with this man?”. One did not work out the latter ultimately dd.

There are good ways and bad ways to ask our group to contribute to our youth programs and the direction of our ministry should go. Prayer and discernment plays a significant part in deciding the ideas you should listen to and the one’s you should pass on.

I’ll take a a few post to unpack how to get and implement the best ideas from your group, but I need your help. Tell me about how you engage students with participating in the programing of your youth ministry:

Do you poll your group?

Do break down in small groups and ask questions?

Do you use social media to get ideas for your meetings?

Share your thoughts below and I’ll be back tomorrow to talk about your ideas and a few of my own. See you tomorrow.

 

 

What Is Your Back Up Plan?

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What if you lose a key leader? Do you have a back up plan?

We recently lost a student leader who played a key role in our group from a skill level and a social level. It was due to some relational and family things beyond my control. We did everything to keep them and their family. I’ll miss them, but I always have a back up plan: Continuous Mentoring/Discipleship/Leadership Development.

I always have one eye on the present and one on the future; and for this reason we develop strategies that will prepare kids to accept their role/calling when it’s time. Leaders who leave, though not pleasant, is part of the cycle of developing leaders. Steve Jobs passes away, Tim Cook takes his place. A coach quits, an assistant takes his place. If no one leaves, no one can step up. I hate losing leaders, it’s not fun; but for the sake of the rest of the group I’ll hold on to our current leaders loosely and keep developing leaders to one day take their place.

If we are not developing leaders, adult and youth, we don’t have a back up plan. Scary huh?

 

 

5 Entry Level Ideas To Student-Led Leadership

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One of my friends/admins from the Endeavor Facebook page recently wrote:

Plugging youth into jobs in your youth program is not student-led ministry. Far from it. We’re hearing from God but falling short of understanding. Time to equip youth to lead ministries of their own, not ours.

Let me first say that I think the quote is true. Plugging kids into our youth program is not student-led ministry; but I think plugging in kids, to begin with, is an essential part of any ministry that wants to get to student-led ministry. We all can’t just release kids to go crazy with their ideas, especially kids who may not know Christ and/or kids with no experience with leadership. We must allow kids a slide show of leadership and allow them to jump in where God has gifted them and where God has led them in prayer.

I learned a simple phrase a while back about how to get people involved in ministry

I do it you watch

I do it you help

You do it I watch

You do it I go do something else.

It’s worked for me for a lot of years. It’s easy to read a statement like the one that was posted and suddenly that overwhelmed feeling sets in and we ask, “But how do I get there?”

Let me offer 5 Levels of Entry To Leadership we can use until a kid can walk on their own

1. Constantly introduce the idea that teenagers can lead.

I talk about it, post articles on my Facebook page, etc. I try to make it who I am, instead of just something I do.

2. Give opportunities in the ministry you already have.

This is part of testing kids ability to serve, their ability to be committed (with conviction), and their ability to finish a task. Don’t step over this principle if you have a group of kids that are new to the idea of student leadership.

3. Introduce Wild Cards

A wild card is scenario where unless a kids steps up something will not get done. I call it a creative crises. Other leaders, your pastor, and your parents have to be involved in this process. This may mean you training to do things in your absence and then being absent or it may mean not having the message that night to see who has been praying and steps up to share.

4. Offer In House Projects

Another step you can take is by offering projects. Instead of having a full blown meeting, we take some Wednesdays and use half the meeting as project nights. I give the students parameters and let them work on the outreach, youth service, service project, etc. along with an adult facilitator.

5. Mentoring towards the end goal.

My goal in this process is getting kids to pray and seek the Lord for themselves rather than follow my designed path. I am working with several students to see them step up even more. I do my best to speak into their lives

If you are looking for a starting point, check out Pray 21 to get your kids thinking in the right direction.

Where are you starting out in your student leadership journey? Have some thoughts on the subject? Leave them below.

 

 

 

3 Traits Of A True Student Led Ministry Believer

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I was at a campus bible club this morning and the speaker did not show up. One of the youth pastors, who is a decent speaker and a good guy, shared some thoughts from his message the night before. Nothing wrong with that, but how would True Believers have handled this differently?

We Don’t Always Come To Our Students Rescue

We have all done this, we feel like we have the have to save the moment or jump into the lead when things are not going well. If the ministry belonged to the kids this morning, the meeting would have looked like this

“Hey guys, our speaker is not here this morning, I need three students to share what they learned last night in their youth group or something that God has taught you recently.”

And then I would have waited in awkward silence until those who were supposed to do it came to the front.

We Build Student Led Ministry Into Every Ministry Opportunity

If the kids in that group knew it was their ministry they would have been prepared to share. It would have been a forgone conclusion. In fact, if they knew it was their ministry, they would not have waited until the youth pastor said it was time to start, they would have started it themselves. True Believers inject every kid with the Can Do Virus and then let it spread.

We Are Always Prepared To Give Away Our Ministry

I normally offer a time of prayer in our group where kids can come to the altar to share needs etc. Last night I gave that away. I told the kids that “tonight, you will pray for one another.” And they did. Where as, on a normal night, I amy have 1-3 come up for prayer, I think every one was prayed for that night, by another student believer.

“Is nothing sacred Paul?” No, nothing. If we truly believe that we are the best choice for every job in our youth ministry we are crazy. If we truly believe a student can do what we do, on a program we’ll give it away. I know it’s our nature to take the choice pieces for ourselves and let kids set up chairs or some other benign chore; but here are kids in our group who are called to preach and we should let them. Their are kids called to sing and we should let them. Their are kids called to lead and we should let them.

Are you a true believer?

What are some other traits of true student-led believers?

 

Is Your Youth Group Lame? It Depends.

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I had a great conversation with a parent yesterday because we were on the same page (I know, shocking!), but she shared how her daughter and another came to them after a recent service and said that youth group that night was lame.

A little back story. This youth group has had everything handed to it. They have not had a youth pastor last longer than a year in the past five years. I am launching into year two. The upside of of the conversations is that we both agree that both girls were not taking enough responsibility or ownership the group. Just because someone says your group is lame does not mean it is.  So what does the phrase, “This group is lame.” really mean? And how do you know if it is or isn’t? It depends.

Take The “Is My Group Lame?” Quiz

It depends, are doing all the planning? Yes? Then it’s lame.

It depends, are you tapping into kids gifts and letting them shine? No? Then it’s lame.

It depends, are you caving into the consumerism mentality of the spoiled few? Yes? Then it’s lame.

It depends, are you discipling (disciplining, correcting, guiding, etc) your kids? No? Then it’s lame.

It depends, are you trying to please everyone? Yes? Then it’s lame.

It depends, are you letting kids lead? No? Then it’s lame

It depends, are you willing to let kids fail? No? Then it’s lame.

It depends, Is Jesus the focus of your mission? No? Then it’s lame.

Did you flunk? Are you lame? The good news, your group is not incurably lame. You can change.

So, what is the opposite of lame? Do the opposite of the above things and find out.

 

 

Student Leadership: Not As Easy As It Sounds

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“Did you say harder? Well, I’m out then, I thought this was going to be easy. I thought I was just suppose to get out of the way and all these kids were supposed to step up.”-  Every youth worker who thought releasing students to do ministry would be easy.

What are the challenges you will really face when attempting to shift from adult/youth pastor driven ministry to student led ministry?

The first challenge to getting kids to lead is getting kids to believe that they matter, their voice counts, and they can make a difference now. We still live in a culture that believes that dreams can only come true after your 18. We have to foster an attitude and a presence of affirmation. We have to look and listen to kids and start the process of affirming their ideas and passions and giving them the road map to achieve them.

The second challenge of student led ministry are the culture of blank stares. I have been in Endeavor meetings where I have tried to goad an idea out of them and they looked at me like I was try to milk a elephant. Students sit in a classroom all day where they are undervalued. They are not mistreated but they are leading either. How do you lead in Algebra or contribute your skills and talents to Physical Science class? For six hours they are taught to listen and stay seated. They usually never hear the words, “What do you think?”. We have to create a culture of asking questions and letting them ask questions. We must let everything (our programs, etc.) be challenged and changed if necessary.

The last challenge we face is defining “getting out of the way”. Does this mean we do not show up to any meetings? Does this mean kids have total say so and we have none? Do we really let the crazies run the asylum to the point of ruin? Each leader has to define this for themselves. I prefer to think of this as helping kids ride bikes. You stay along side of them until they “got it” and “it” is defined by you. You must carefully craft the vision of what your kids will look like in a year or four years. What skills do they need to know? What theology must they understand. Each kid will be different, but when they are displaying “it”, get out of the way and train another to ride. When you have a bunch or riders, let them ride out their ministry and you can start another training wheels class.

These challenges never go away. They are always in cycle. Our role, as mentor, is to be vigilant and unswerving in our pursuit of making disciples of Jesus. If it sounds hard, it is, and that is exactly why we should be doing it.

For more info on starting student-led ministry check out www.endeavormovement.com

7 Tips For Launching Student Led Ministry

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“Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought [them] to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that [was] its name.

So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.”

Genesis 2:19,20

Have you been wondering how you can release more ministry to your students? God shows us, by example, how to release ministry. Here are a few points I take from these verses

  • God is not worried that Adam will some how screw up His creation.
  • God has no ego. He was not afraid that Adam would steal his thunder.
  • God trusts Adam even though he is new in town.
  • God did not go back and change the names He didn’t like (he didn’t say “Aardvark, that’s a stupid name.”)
  • God empowered Adam over the creation.
  • God gave Adam a task He believed he could handle.
  • God did not do for Adam what Adam could do for himself.

God shows us by example, how to trust students. Each of these steps are something we can do with our students

  • Let students altar, throw away, or tweak your perfect plan.
  • Put away your ego. It’s their ministry. Most of them will be there longer than you will.
  • Put kids on the path to lead. Show them the path and lead them.
  • Live with some of the decisions they make even if you don’t agree.
  • Give kids a vested interest in their community of faith called the Church.
  • Give tasks to students that set them up for success. (did you notice God did not expect Adam to name all the fish in the sea)
  • God could have named the animals and then told Adam what they were. Adam probably remembered the names more because he named them himself. Students will own the ministry more if they are naming it themselves (and I don’t mean just naming the youth group but putting their names on the whole ministry)

I have created an evaluation sheet. Sign up for the Get it First program and its yours.

For more information on student-led ministry check out Endeavor