Not Everyone is the Same Kind of Christian

This is the third post in a series that attempts to think through some matters related to the church today, based on a series of posts by Ed Stetzer at Christianity Today. Click to go to part 1 or part 2. 


Not everyone is the same kind of Christian.

We all get this. There are Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Reformed, E-Free, Mennonites, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and so on. Even within these denominations there is much variety. Some might say division.

But, I'm not talking about these groups.

What's Your Plan for Youth Ministry?

Doing youth ministry well requires time and planning. A youth minister can hang out with kids a lot. But it takes time and planning to go somewhere with the relationship. And it takes time and planning to turn "youth ministry" into ministry to youth and ministry with youth in a way that turns youth into agents of the gospel in the world and generates vibrant involvement from other in the church. Doing this in a way that keeps youth ministry from being nothing more than the thing the young gal or guy on church staff does takes time, planning, and vision.

The summer months are a great time to start this sort of thing as you look ahead to what you want to accomplish in the coming year.

Over at Churchleaders.com, they have a helpful little article that gives some steps to develop a strategic plan for youth ministry. I recommend it to you--youth leaders or just those invested in ministering to youth.

Here are the main points briefly:

1. Assemble a team. The more investment from those in the congregation, the better. 
2. Develop a specific purpose/vision. You may have an overall church vision/mission. What you do should fit into this. If the church mission/vision is too vague or needs work, then this might need to be another conversation. But even beyond this, you will want a specific vision and mission for what exactly you want to accomplish in the coming year. You can even have a mission/vision for smaller increments of time (a semester, Advent season, etc.)
3. Look at the landscape. You must always reassess the landscape, because it changes. What you did last year may well not work because this next year is different. You need to get a pulse on the youth and their families and listen--what's going on? What are the needs? What questions are they asking? Your plan for the year should fit on the landscape.
4. Develop a plan. How exactly will you get from point A to point B? What steps will you and your team take?
5. Set a date for review. Don't wait until the end of the year to do this. Set review times throughout the year to get a pulse on how things are going and to maybe tweak things as you go.

Go to their website to read the whole thing.

Happy planning!

What are our ministries designed to achieve?

In their book, Right Here, Right Now: Everyday Mission for Everyday People, authors Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford make a very thoughtful statement:

"we are perfectly designed to achieve what we are currently achieving."

Interesting statement, isn't it? It begs us to look at what we are currently achieving in our ministries. Whether we're experiencing "success" in our ministries or not, taking this statement seriously might mean rethinking. It might mean "back to the drawing board." This is potentially a very tough question to face because of what it could tell us about our ministries and what we're not doing well.