Strategies for Getting Youth Involved with the Larger Church

Transcription

1 Strategies for Getting Youth Involved with the Larger Church or AHHHH That didn t work either! What this webinar will cover: Why do teenagers need to be involved with the larger church? What are some barriers that prevent teenagers from being fully involved? What does a church with a fully involved youth program look like? What are some programs/strategies that we have implemented? What this webinar will not cover: How to get more teenagers to come to your youth activities The magical formula that works everytime in every church (or the magical formula that makes something work everytime in the same church). 1

2 But first! Bill s Context Associate Pastor at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church in Macon, GA Mulberry Street UMC Downtown Macon, GA Around 350 in worship on a Sunday morning We pride ourselves on our history and tradition The Youth Ministry 5 years ago, we averaged about 11 on a Sunday night Now we average over 40 on a Sunday night Our students come from more than 12 different schools Why is it important that youth are involved with the larger church? 2

3 Why? Define the terms: Youth - Any person who is currently in the 6th-12th grade; I ll probably use the terms youth and teenager interchangeably in this webinar Larger church - Your local church (all of it) but many of the things that will be said could be applied to the conference level. Teenagers are not the future of the church. They are the present. Teenagers need the church. The church needs teenagers gap. Barriers Barriers... The rapidly changing teenage culture Hurt 2.0 by Chap Clark Systematic Abandonment Distrust of other generations Assumed differences on both sides The inaccurate assumption that programming can fix the problem 3

4 In order to start getting your youth fully involved with the larger church, you must overcome these barriers. The Golden Rule: It HAS to come from both sides! The church must believe in the youth, and the youth must feel like they can believe in the church. Your youth ministry must work towards being fully involved. Your church must work to make the youth fully involved. It HAS to come from both sides! What does a fully involved youth ministry look like? 4

5 What does it look like? Ask yourself these questions: Where are the youth on Sunday morning? Sitting as a group off to the side? Sitting with their parents? Are they ushers, readers, greeters, choir members, communion stewards or otherwise involved with the liturgy and worship? Where are your youth serving? Do they only serve on youth-ministry sponsored ministry teams? Are they encouraged and given opportunities to serve in different ministries? (ex. children s, home-bound visitation, extension ministries housed in your church) What does it look like? What committees are the youth serving on? On Youth Council? (paragraph 256a) On Church Council? (paragraph 244.3) On your Missions Committee? On your Worship Committee? Any Committee? What does it look like? Phrases to avoid: The youth would probably not enjoy being a part of this. A youth would have no idea what to do. Youth won t come to a meeting. 5

6 Strategies and Programs Strategies and Programs A few things to remember: Don t copy and paste. Shape them for your context. For everything listed, you should assume multiple other strategies and programs that did not work. Programs will not fix the problem. Relationships will. Strategies 1. Make sure that your weekly youth activities are not utterly different than your Sunday morning corporate worship. 2. If there is a church wide event, make sure the youth are there (and make sure they participate). 3. Invite all adults into your space. 4. Have the youth sponsor something for the entire church. (ex. a trivia night or a classic Valentines movie night) 5. Get rid of Youth Sunday. Make every Sunday Youth Sunday. 6

7 Programs We ve Adopted Generation-To-Generation (G2G) Every adult Sunday School class is required to sponsor a Sunday night worship Koinonia The youth provide 2 programs a year for our Wednesday Night Suppers Confirmation Mentors Letter Writers and Prayer Rocks A final thought... Final thought... If you go back through this presentation, you ll notice two things: There was never any mention of the need for technology or social media. If these are not your strong point, do not feel like you have to have them. Relationships and word-of-mouth continue to be the most effective modes of communication. Everything mentioned in this presentation (with the exception of the G2G mission trip) costs you $0. You already have every resource needed. Use them. 7

8 Questions? 8