7 Ways Not to Complain To Your Youth Worker – And A Few Tips How To

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As youth workers, we get things wrong. Lots wrong, in fact, and all the time. How can that be, you ask? Well, we balance a whole mess of varied personalities, quirky projects, disjointed goals and unrealistic expectations. We are often accountable to different people than those we actually serve, and we expertly straddle the line between the easy-to-offend and the easy-to-disengage. We don’t have the odds stacked in our favour.

It also doesn’t help that the UK church is still in its infancy when it comes to hiring youth workers. Actually managing youth workers properly is a fine art that few have really mastered.

It’s not always crystal clear, therefore, where the management lines are drawn. The result is that everybody – parents, teachers, kids, elders, PCC, wardens, safeguarding officers, curates, the post-man, the dog – thinks that ultimately they are your boss.

We get lots and lots of complaints! This is stressful for anybody, let alone hyper-emotionally-challenged and miss-managed, octopus-styled youth workers. When you write your complaint letter to your youth worker, take a minute to think about how to get it right.

I’m going to share a couple of stories with you; these are all actual complaints that I have received.

Disclaimer – looking back over this post after writing it, I realise that it could come across unnecessarily cathartic. This is not my intention. Like all the best training, I believe these examples show lived experience not just abstract theory. So hopefully useful!

1. The Letter from the Fashion Police.

To Tim Gough
7th March 2010

As a member of Christ Church of the older generation, I write to express my utter disgust at your mode of dress at the Morning Service today – tatty, torn trousers at the knees for everybody to see – is that the way to come into any church – (or any Cathedral?)? I cannot think of any other member of the congregation who would come into the church looking as dishevelled as you do.

I have been coming to Christ Church for well over 20 years now, and have never seen anybody coming in with torn trousers like your display today.

Would you go into Westminster Abbey or St. Paul’s Cathedral – or anywhere else for that matter – looking like you did this morning? I hope not. Wake up in future

A Parishioner (in disgust)

My casual exhibitionism and unfortunately sharp knees not withstanding there are a couple of things to points out.

The letter was not signed.
There is no hope here for dialogue, no conversation and no relationship. This is in no uncertain terms, anonymous trolling. A gentle chat with me afterwards would have had a much better response.

The letter was written angry.
Complaints, like all discipline, should come from a place of loving correction, rather than anger. This was in reference to ‘the service today’, so they went home and wrote it while they were still ticked. Flipping tenses around, making hugely generalised statements and telling me to ‘wake up’ with underlining didn’t endear themselves to me – it just made me feel hurt and attacked.

The letter was missing some perspective.
What does going into Westminster Abbey really have to do with a youth leader gathering teenagers for the youth club? A bit of reflection may have made this person consider the generational difference between themselves and the young people, and instead think, ‘wow, there are young people connecting with God in this church!’

2. The Glitter Covered Turd.

While working at a conference I heard a friend quote the classic missive ‘you can’t polish a turd.’ Immortal and well accepted wisdom. At that point, however, another friend responded ‘but you can roll it in glitter!’ Apt.

Rob Bell talks about ‘chocolate covered turds’ which I guess (in the etymologically sound world of turd-related metaphors) is roughly the same thing as rolling one in glitter. Bell talks about compliments that have sneakily lines thrown in like ‘I think your great, even though you believe this…’ or ‘I’m with you, even though everybody else hates you.’

I once received one monster of a glitter covered turd.

It was a well written, graceful and constructive complaint email highlighting a few areas that I needed to work on with some helpful specific examples. It read well, and even though it was a bit overlong, it was actually a good example. This was until I saw the carbon copy line of the email.

The email was copied into the Pastor, Associate Pastor, two Wardens and few other leaders they got on well with. At this point it was no longer approaching me as a brother, but it had skipped ahead to full on public rebuke (Matthew 18:15-16).

3. The Stealth Bomber Complaint (aka, Gossip).

About nine months into a job, the Church Wardens decided to be proactive in finding out how I was doing. They had received the glitter covered turd emails, had a few ‘backroom’ conversations and went off to do some fact finding. This didn’t include me.

My volunteer leaders started to report to me that they were being subtly interrogated by the wardens to find out what I was up to; how was I supporting them, was I towing the line. They felt a bit weird (obviously), and frankly a little violated.

It wasn’t until two years after this that they actually arranged a meeting with me in order to take over my line management which, in their words, wasn’t working. But this was after sowing discord among leaders, parents and young people, and without raising complaints directly with me. Whoops! The damage had already been done, and I was too inexperienced to know how to resolve the conflict from my end.

4. The Job-Destroying Accusations (aka, worse Gossip).

X’s Mum (also a Sunday School leader) speaking to 17 year old volunteer: “Tim doesn’t let my teenage daughter play in the band because he’s a sexist!”

Volunteer to me: “X’s Mum said you’re a sexist”

Me to X’s Mum: “The reason your daughter doesn’t play in the band is because, after asking her, she does want to play in the band.”

Same Mum to other parents and leaders: “Tim doesn’t let my teenage daughter play in the band because he’s a sexist!”

Me: “Sigh.”

This same parent caused me numerous issues that were always unnecessarily overblown and immensely complex to resolve. Had I known then what I do now I would have removed her from her leadership positions until she had sought some clinical help for her slightly sociopathic insecurities.

5. The Lobbing In The Grenade And Legging It Email Chain.

After an event had gone awry for a wide range of silly reasons, I received a damning email from it’s organiser spelling out what a horrible person I was for having such unrealistic expectations of him.

The email made its fair share of generalisations, sweeping statements, and emotional rhetoric – scoring a trifector on the ‘how not to complain scale.’ It was also copied into a fair few of his team and leaders, which conveniently covered his back from the actual reasons the event failed.

There’s the grenade.

This complaint obviously needed resolving properly, relationally; face-to-face. I responded to him personally, through email, phone and facebook. I reached out to his pastor, and got my line-manager to do the same. We arranged multiple times to meet and talk, and I gave up a lot of ground to make that happen – but he continually cancelled or didn’t show. After about nine months, I gave up.

There’s him legging it.

If you’re not willing to talk through your complaint relationally, then you probably need to take an emotional inventory on what you’re actually trying to accomplish by making it in the first place.

6. The Spousal Approach.

I’m not really sure why people think complaining through my wife will make me take them any more seriously, but it seems to happen all the time.

There are actually a fair few examples I can give here, so I’ll go with a relatively mundane one. After giving a talk in a church morning service, the Pastor went to talk to my wife giving her some points he thought weren’t quite up to par. He then ended by saying, ‘but don’t tell him.’ Really?

You’ve got to ask what he hoped to accomplish by putting my wife in such a crazy position, and whether perhaps he was trying to make sure I did hear the feedback while – in some odd way – keeping his fingerprints off it.

7. The Record Keeper.

Another such email that occupies a special place in my memory contained a list of compounded issues and faults the sender had found with me over two years of ministry. It was maybe three or four pages long and came totally out of left field.

Even through it was filled with mostly mundane annoyances, because they had been stewing on these things it came with the emotional intensity of something much more serious.

How To Actually Do It – A Masterclass In Complaining:

Here’s a random few bullet points to keep us on the straight, narrow and healthy for when you make a complaint:

Pray before you say!
Ask for God’s perspective and his heart before you even begin. Ask God (and yourself) how important an issue it really might be, and adopt a tone that fits that priority sense.

Start off in person.
Email, write or text if you really must – but consider that might be more for your own benefit. It may be better to write it out for you (maybe have a wise friend read it), then go and speak to your youth leader without it.

Go through the proper process and channels.
This might mean one-to-one first, or first approaching the line-manager (who will know more than you do). Be wise, and if unsure, build good relationships and find out.

Don’t ‘field test’ out your complaint by asking around what others think.
That’s called gossip – and it really doesn’t help.

Make sure you’ve thought about what to say.
Be clear and specific avoiding generalities and over-simplification. Make it about specific instances, rather than overgeneralised sweeping statements.

Search for the right heart.
Complaints can be made within the realms of righteous anger, but should be tempered with love, grace and particularly mercy.

Keep your perspective in check.
Remember the immense pressure any minister for the Gospel is under, and the particular stresses of a youth worker.

Look for an amicable approach.
It’s good to start off in a healthy and grateful place, think of something you value about the youth worker, and point it out.

Drop it.
When it has been heard, resolved, received or (in some cases) properly rebuffed. Back off and don’t labour it. Unless there is a legal/safeguarding reason for it to be escalated, let your complaint percolate with good grace rather than holding a grudge.

Allow the youth worker and/or line manager decide on the right course of action.
It’s much more appropriate to bring a problem to be resolved, rather than a list of solutions that you would like implemented.

Don’t not complain.
Feedback and correction are important to us. We’re big boys and girls – and need to have loving discipline in our lives. So don’t let this put you off – just do it properly. Thank you!

POSTSCRIPT NOTE TO EMPLOYERS

Your grievance and disciplinary procedures are there for a reason. They are more than just legal requirement minutia, or a safety blanket for ‘worse case scenarios.’ These procedures give important piece of mind to people under your pastoral care.

One of the reasons parents and parishioners complain so unhelpfully is because they don’t necessarily have the confidence that issues will be dealt with in a proper and professional manner.

Use your policies properly, line-manage your youth worker well, and you will create a culture that has confidence. Parents will rightly complain when they have young people under their care – help them have piece of mind by just knowing how to work through issues properly and respectfully.

 

I asked 185 youth leaders what they call ‘young people’. Here’s what they said…

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What to call the participants of your youth ministry doesn’t seem like it should be a high priority. Realistically though, how you label people in the plural will have a dramatic impact on that group identity and sense of value, and it will instinctively give subversive impressions to those you’re speaking to.

I asked 185 American youth workers what they call their teenagers, with the option to add other names. Here’s the results:

Adolescents – 0

Children – 0

Young Church – 1

Kids – 2

Young Men and Women – 3

Young People – 5

Teenagers -6

Other – 9

Youth – 14

Students – 145

Interestingly, ‘students’ is not a name we would use in the UK, as it usually refers more specifically to someone studying, usually at university.

Some of the comments that came with the results defended calling young people ‘students’ is it sets a tone that they are there to learn about God, while still being more respectful sounding than ‘youth’ which often carries negative cultural contentions. I totally get this.

There are 2 issues through that I’d like to gently raise: First, it sets the teenagers in ministry apart from other ages in ministry for a reason that is not actually specific to them. We are all – or at least all should be – students of God! This could set the precedent that the adults know it all.

The second issue is perhaps a more Biblical one. The Bible uses the words ‘Youth’ (בְּחֻרִים), ‘young man’ (בחור) and ‘the young’/‘youths’ (ילדות) – as distinct from children or adults. They are a Biblical people group designated by their age, so should have this noted in the same ways ‘men’s’ or ‘senior’ ministry would be.

How NOT to Name Your Youth Group

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Many thanks to Youth Specialties for choosing this post to trend on their Website, August 2014!

Here beginneth the rant…

Lts xart wiv da obViouz…. we’re not five year old delinquents and the s and t keys are not missing from our keyboards.

Starting names randomly with ‘X’ and misspelling words does not make the brand cooler or more ‘uth’ friendly. It just makes us look stupid and out of touch. Xube, Xcite, Xcel, Xnite, Xplode, Xtreme… these sound like adult shops, not youth clubs!

Then there are the fire metaphors. Ignite, flame, nflame, blaze, purge… I know we want to raise passionate young people but do we really want to raise pyromaniacs? I’m sure ignite sounds cool (just like the other fifteen thousand youth clubs with that name) but what is it we are insinuating the youth club does exactly? I know there is an argument for the Holy Spirit coming down in fire… but the consuming fire that the Bible talks about might not be the fun passionate experience we’re thinking of when we came up with the name.

Then of course we have the onomatopoeic names, the louder and more zappy the better. Surge, blast, blaze, boom.. it sounds like we’re selling high speed internet.

There is also our habit of putting ‘club’ (or worse ‘squad’) after everything – just in case we didn’t get that’s what it was. Bible club, Jonah club, God Squad etc.

Finally – when all other ideas are exhausted we just mix them up:
“Hey mate, you coming to the Xblaze klub tonight?” “No man, I’m at the zappy, flamers Xcite nite.” Awkward much?

So here’s some dos:

  • Spell properly!
  • Pick a name that represents who you are
  • Use words that reflect what the vibes and activities of your community look like
  • Be creative and think ‘outta-da-box… man’
  • Think longevity
  • Think easy to remember and brand adaptable
  • Think how it will translate to other generations
  • Think how it would look in other fonts
  • Get your youth group to help out (biggie!)
  • Try to aim slightly above the age group, not way below it
  • Look for something that can be spoken out loud without blushing or putting on an American accent
  • Think of something you can say without hand signals
  • Use words recognizable to people outside the Church
  • Think of community driven words and phrases…. rather than torture chamber driven words and phrases (strap in to da surge zone tonite!)

Get back to me (comment!) if you have any other ideas, or want to get some other horrible names off your chest!

Here endeth the rant.

Youth work is 10 years out of date!

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Much of our youth work is consistently at least 10 years out of date. Truthfully it’s more like 20.

When we design a project, we are influenced by a whole host of things, however three specifics tend to consistently stand out:

– Our own experiences of youth work from when we were a young person
– Successful youth work books we have read
– Training events and conferences where the speakers are veteran youth workers

These are great things! Genuinely. But there are some problems from a culture point of view.

Your Own Experiences

When we use what worked in our own youth work experience, that experience is usually at least a decade out of date. This is what was cool or what was relevant when we were growing up which might be drastically different to today. No matter what I do, for instance, I cannot get my guys interested in DC Talk or the World Wide Message Tribe!
“Although the truths we know and the relationship principles of humanity remain the same, the cultural context they sit in is constantly in flux – and we tend to be left behind.”

Unfortunately too many of us use our youth work platforms to either fulfill what was missing or relive moments that impacted us from our youth work past. Some of this might be useful, you should after all go with what you know! However, it is a pretty blinkered approach to creating contextually successful youth work.

Youth Work Books

I’ve read some amazing youth work books. However the best youth work books on the market today are 10-30 years old – and are often American.

The 2014 updated ‘Youth Work Reading List’ on infed.org, for instance, doesn’t include a single piece of writing after 2003.

When reading youth work books from America, it is easy to be taken in because they are so well written and represent a ‘thriving’ youth work culture. However culture in America is very different to in the UK.

The USA is still mostly in some form of Christendom. The popular culture however, is maybe a decade ahead of us. This means there is a polarisation of culture embedded into these youth work books that addresses a social church culture 30-50 years behind and a popular culture up to 10 years ahead. This simply does not speak to our context.
“We are – right now – working with a 22nd Century people.”

Conference Speakers

Veteran youth workers that speak at conferences – specifically those that keynote – are brilliant! However they usually became veterans over the last 10, 20, or 30 years and have often ‘graduated’ to other pastoral or training ministry.

If they are still involved in youth work they often manage teams or shepherd projects from more of a distance. They might develop new ideas and new forms of youth work to engage with culture but what had worked for them personally before isn’t necessarily what’s working in their projects today.

I’m partially revising this thought because many conferences that I attended this year had the opposite problem in that many of their speakers we’re still pretty green and very specifically contextual. Not that this solves the problem!

So what?

When we consider these things, our youth work could be at least a decade out of date. It’s aimed at what was cool, what did work, and what might of been successful a while back – and perhaps not in our culture at all.
“We need to be aiming at tomorrows culture, not todays and certainly not yesterdays!”

When you add to this the dramatic pace of popular culture, the sweeping and unstoppable technology market, spreading globalisation and the unpredictable directions of generation Z – we need to be aiming not at today’s culture but tomorrow’s. We are – right now – working with a 22nd Century people.

Although the truths we know and the relationship principles of humanity remain the same, the cultural context they sit in is constantly in flux – and we tend to be left behind.

Young people aren’t necessarily uninterested in our message – in fact this generation are incredibly spiritually curious – they just don’t want to be coaxed back into yesteryear to hear it.

Even some of the most modern and flash youth ministries at large thriving churches are employing principles from a decade ago. It looks great, it’s lots of fun, but it only engages with a small sliver of humanity in the young people themselves.

10 Cultural Observations For Today

Here are some cultural observations to consider in our youth work projects:

1. They Need Us To Engage Senses Rather Than Emotion

It’s easy to make young people miserable or joyful and call them to respond from that emotion. These responses tend to last as long as the emotions themselves, thus need constant poking and more boisterous maintenance. They should be responding from senses instead; a sense of clear identity, community belonging, conviction of sin, understanding of love, awareness of presence, etc.

2. They Want A God Cares About What They Care About

This generation needs to know that God shares their love for the world, not just for themselves. God is on their team – His heart breaks for what theirs does. This is more a save the world generation than any before.

3. They Need To Participate, Not Consume

Community participation is much more important to a young person than having a great consumer experience. For instance, in my context, when we run events we put guitar chords on the screen with the songs and invite the young people to bring instruments with them.
“Do you believe in the socks and sandals, meek and mild, blond hair blue eyes Jesus – or do you believe in the dangerous, revolutionary with fire in his eyes and a dagger on his tongue?”

4. They Keep Community Secrets

Young people in this generation guard knowledge, understanding and activities almost religiously in the circles they move in. We need to treat their friendships with some sanctity.

5. Parents are less helpful

I still believe that we need parents on board however parents are just as culturally detached for the same reasons youth workers are. They however, come with all the extra emotional baggage of family too. Youth programs need to give space away from family in very real ways.

6. They can be more choosy

I spent 7 years working and living in London – whatever you did in your youth program you can guarantee six other churches did it better around the corner. We cannot compete with secular culture, nor should we. What do you offer that’s authentic rather than flashy? Some of the cheapest things look the flashiest now, but young people are learning to spot the rat and know the real thing.

7. They’re looking for authenticy

Not a ‘Christian version of…’ Or a ‘look we can do it too.’ The Smashing Pumpkins’ front-man, Billy Corgan said to Christian bands, “stop copying U2 and stop making bad music” – he’s right! Young people are looking for something real and genuine. We need to offer something real, meaningful and substantive.

8. They Need Jesus To Work In Real Life

Make it about life holistically. So many youth materials say we should worship Jesus with our whole lives – but I’ve yet to read one that expands on that other than ‘pray when you brush your teeth,’ or ‘sing Christian songs in the car.’ How does Jesus and life intrinsically work together? If Jesus doesn’t work in real life, He doesn’t work – and they know it!
“Young people aren’t uninterested in our message, they just don’t want to be coaxed back into yesteryear to hear it.”

9. They hate trolls too

They’re genuinely looking for real conversation – not sixteen reasons why science hasn’t disproved God. Sitting down and talking is better than an epic three part talk any day.

10. They hate the same Jesus you do

Do you believe in the socks and sandals, meek and mild, blond hair blue eyes Jesus – or do you believe in the dangerous, revolutionary with fire in his eyes and a dagger on his tongue? Tell them what you don’t believe about Christianity, not just what you do – This culture won’t make the distinction if you don’t.
Bottom line

There’s obviously plenty more, but this is what I came up with in bed last night and sat on the loo this morning.

Let’s make our youth ministry about our young people in their young people’s world – not – about when we were young people in yesterday’s world.

For more like this follow @timgoughyfc on twitter.

Why kids aren’t afraid of Church anymore

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(N.b. – Before you read mine, I’ve found someone who say’s it better! Mark Grithiths, here.)

Not in the church!

‘You can’t run a youth event in the church building because the kids won’t come!’

Something you’ve heard before? I’ve heard it too! In PCC meetings, planning sessions, prayer meetings, training days, and from a whole bunch of different people; older generations who genuinely believe it, and younger generations who have heard it so many times that they just assume that it’s true.

Everywhere I go the prevailing belief is held that young people are afraid to come into a church building.

So begins the era of neutral venues: gymnasiums, school halls, coffee-shops etc. – which often cost more time, money, energy and drives the segregation wedge between ‘young people and church’ even deeper.

But where did this belief even come from, and does the same issue exist today? Are our kids really so anti-church?
Some Generational History

The Last Of The Baby-Boomers

Three generations ago during our grandparent’s childhood, (speaking from a twenty-something’s viewpoint) going to church was an expected Sunday activity. You went, because you were supposed to go. No questions asked.

The dregs of this time can be seen on the brass plaques of Sunday School registers around the halls with old forgotten offices like ‘Sunday School Superintendent.’ The rooms were full, the youth work ‘thriving’ because of course, young people were supposed to be there.

Generation X

Enter then the generation of rebellion: generation X. This is the culture that gave us glam rock, the punk movement and incredibly dodgy haircuts. This believe it or not, is our parents generation. Go ahead, ask them to recall their ‘rebellion’ era, or to show you some snapshots of their ill-spent youth. Remember though, once you’ve heard the tails and seen the pictures you can’t just delete them out of your head, they’re going to haunt you forever! I still can’t believe the length of my dad’s hair, or the cheesiness of my mum’s flares. Gah.

‘Generation X’ were a ‘post‘ generation. They were post-war, and tired of the high profile political scandals that we’re surfacing as a result. They we’re post-baby boomer, and tired of the rigorous logic and cold analytical appetites of modernism. They were therefore the first post-moderns. They we’re also post-religion and stopped attending church once they we’re old enough to make that decision. They didn’t send their kids to church either. Sunday mornings became family time, football practice, or Big Breakfast telly-time.

Generation Y

Then of course came ‘generation Y,’ my generation of mainly twenty-and thirty-somethings. We are genX’s kids and, like it said above, we were mostly not sent to church. Part of genXs rebellion was bringing up kids free from perceived tyrannies like religion and church going.

GenY, however, were bought up with their parent’s stories of how awful church was, how irrelevant, boring, painful, false, and out-of-touch. GenY believed their parents stories (why wouldn’t they?), but had no experience of it themselves.

Generation Zzzzzzz

GenY’s kids, ‘generation Z’ aka gen Zzzzzzzzz came next; the young people that we work with today. They have no relationship to church. Their parents didn’t go and didn’t have stories to tell. GenZ have next to no experience, no context, no stories and no relationship at all with churches.

Gen Z is three generations behind the core of the problem.
Three Generations Behind

Our young people today do not have the same cultural phobia or institutional memory of earlier generations. They might see church to be relics of a bygone era, but no more so than the old post-office building or a town hall. They are three generations behind the root of the issue and have little or no personal stake in connection to churches.

I’m speaking in sweeping generalizations of course. Most of the young people in the UK that we work with today however, will still be three generations behind the personal problem of church phobia:

  • Baby-boomers (grandparents) were ‘you’re supposed to go to church.’
  • Generation X (parents) ‘went until they didn’t have to anymore.’
  • Generation Y (20/30-somethings) went to to church to be ‘baptized, married, an
    buried.’
  • Generation Z (today’s teens) have little or no ‘church relationship’
    So what?

There simply isn’t the same cultural problem with church-going today for many of the young people that we work with. Many youth workers and youth ministries however, borrow from history’s issues. Because we’re not aware of the dramatic cultural shifts with young people and church going we’re stretching out a non-existent issue from previous generations without even realizing it.

By boycotting Church buildings we’re possibly trying to fix a problem that doesn’t really exist – therefore creating a new one!!

I have definitely met young people who don’t want to go to church, but most of that is based on new misunderstanding rather than historical cultural experience. I’ve also met youth clubs who think there’s a problem simply because their youth leaders have tried so hard to fix one.

Just food for thought then. Are our teenagers scared of entering a church building really? If they’re made comfortable and welcome, is the church hall really a ‘no go.’ Think about your young people, are they really so shallow to have taken on a passionate, stubborn, life-phobia from their parents, parents, parents?

In a future post I will argue for the benefits of using Church buildings for groups and events on the basis that young people are looking for something ancient, spiritual, deep, and mystical to belong to.

I also hope to discuss some genuine reasons outside this generational misunderstood phobia that may lead us to boycott eh church building and contradict everything I’m saying here. Such is the liberty of a blogger!

But for now – lets all put the option back on the table! Thanks. 😀

3 Ways To Have A Successful, Yet Unhealthy Youth Ministry

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I’ve been an unhealthy, yet relatively ‘successful’ youth worker for a while now. My projects mostly work, events go well, and young people know Jesus – but stress, anxiety, headaches, insomnia, and blood-pressure problems have also accompanied those things.

Since the doctors started treating me, and my health has started to improve, I’ve wondered if whole youth ministries could look like that too: Successful on the outside, but bitterly unhealthy on the inside. Let’s just take 30 second to clarify the difference between those two.
Health & Success

A successful youth ministry, is measurably working. People are coming, moving through your strategy properly, and are even forming connections with Jesus. It looks great.

A healthy youth ministry is self-sustaining, stewards resources properly, creates non-dependent relationships, takes care of its leaders, works for the long haul and cultivates mature and independent believers. It is great!

Purely successful youth ministries often harbour deeper problems; ticking time-bombs that threaten to do real damage. At best, these ministries cannot outgrow or outlast their leaders.

Purely healthy youth ministries might not actually do any effective youth ministry at all! A little bit like the boy in the bubble, they can be too removed from the real world.

There are, as I’m sure you can imagine, plenty of ways of running both healthy, unsuccessful ministries (that’ll be another post!), and unhealthy successful ministries. We’ll take a look at jut three obvious examples today – with the hope of moving towards both heath and success!

This does go near the all too obvious examples of not respecting the Bible, not understanding the Holy Spirit, or not loving Jesus… but, y’know… think about them too!

1. Having a clear project strategy, but poorly executed projects

I’m a big believer in working through the big picture of what your youth ministry is there to do. It should be specific to your context, responsible to your resources and develop projects that flow our of your unique values and aims. (For how to create this, click here!)

If you’re like me, then developing a strategy is fun! It can include spreadsheets, brainstorms and coloured pens. At the end of the development time, you can have a glossy, bound strategy document that you’d be happy to present to anybody.

If you’re still like me, however, you’ll find actually applying that strategy to real life less fun. Motivating people to follow it and create a plan that works out in the life of your projects is much harder to do. It’s relatively easy to have a master plan, but then have no clue how to marshal the resources, grow the relationships or actually pull off the projects.

A ministry like this will look great on paper! It’ll help you get funding and will keep you slipping through the non-observant, eldership meeting net – but it won’t be healthy as there won’t really be anyone coming. Or, if they are, it will be a niche group that probably didn’t need your strategy anyway.

2. Having amazing projects, but a poor or non-existent strategy

This is usually more the norm of bigger and better funded churches. There are a couple of brilliant projects or events that look incredible. They attract lots of people, have a funky logo and – for all intents and purposes – are ‘working.’

But when you move past the honeymoon period – what are you doing with those young people? Why are they there – and how are you going to move them on with Jesus? What effect is this happening on the long term spiritual life of the whole church, or other churches in the area, or the local schools? How are you balancing discipleship, mission, worship, prayer, ministry, service, and church-connections?

Usually the ‘answer’ to these questions tends to found by looking for the next big, exciting thing to adapt the projects around. They travel sideways rather than forward.

Without a strategy behind it, all you’ll have is a short term bang made up of a lot of further short term or immature relationships. Usually you’ll have a burned out team and a string of broken leaders at the helm. These can also grow around purely student led projects without oversight or accountability.

If these ministries have been in play for more than three years (rare), then look for the fruit by seeing just how many people who passed through it are still walking with Jesus at Uni, in work or in the wider church.

3. Having amazing projects, a clear strategy but a poor team development plan

This is often the curse of the trained, or intermediately experienced youth worker. They understand the value of a clear strategy, and they can rock out quality projects. They don’t, however, have the life-experience of developing a long-term committed team.

These ministries are often understaffed, or they are filled with just one personality type (usually the same as the youth worker – or personalities that the youth worker can easily control).

These youth workers burn out quickly and become very frustrated because they are – technically – doing all the right things. Oftentimes, they end up in too many driver’s seats and as a result, are more likely to crash and burn.They simply don’t how how to develop the sense of ownership and support than comes from a team that can outgrow the leader.

Three tips for healthy AND successful youth ministries

So not so much tips as agonising, steep learning curves, but they are all things we should learn to do better.

1. Have a clear strategy

2. Learn to develop relevant, quality projects that flow out of that strategy.

3. Make sure team development is a key feature of both of those.