How To Plan a Programming/Teaching Calendar

Planning is key to any successful Young People’s Ministry program. A lot of people think that you can just throw something together and that that’s good enough, however, what I have found that the old adage is true “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Here are a few suggestions to get you started on planning a programming/teaching calendar.

Consider Working in “Thirds” - break down your calendar into categories. One example might be: 1) Christian Education; 2) Life Skills; 3) Felt Need. By doing this you will balance your programming/teaching calendar so that you do not focus on any one category too much.

Consider Series/Themes - if you’re leading a program or teaching a Bible study or Small Group choose a series that you will follow for 3 to 6 weeks. A lot of research has been done that the ideal timeframe for a series is no greater than 6 weeks. There are a few exceptions (confirmation class, disciple Bible study, etc.) but for the most part determining theme/series for a season of time is helpful. If you get really good at it you can plan a whole year in advance.

The most important thing to remember about planning is not to get lost in the plan. It is okay to get off schedule. The planning just helps you kind of like a roadmap. It helps students, parents and other leaders know where you are going so that they can plan their lives accordingly.

What do you think is the most important thing when it comes to planning ?

Letting Go of Your Seniors

About this time of year, something difficult happens. The seniors in your ministry began to “migrate to warmer climates.” Slowly transitioning to what is next. This phenomenon may have already started but here are 3 things to keep in mind:

Be Glad It Is Difficult to Say Goodbye to Seniors-One of the things I like is when I hear the youth workers voice catch when they talk about how much they love their seniors. I’m so glad you care about your seniors and it pains you that some are slowly leaving before their time. You care! You love them! Your pastoring them! So while it sometimes sucks that seniors bail early, you are doing the work of Jesus and caring for his sheep.

Be Glad They’re Ready to Move On-It is hard to think of this as a celebration, but you should want them to want to leave. This is a good thing; they are ready for the next stage! If you’ve been at your church for a long time, this is the most painful. But this is part and parcel to doing the ministry to which God has called you. I am sure it was difficult for Jesus to leave his disciples as well.

Help Them to the Finish Line Either Way-So they’re not coming to youth group quite as often-don’t give up on them just yet. Is there a way you can creatively minister to them-maybe with texts, notes, or a one-on-one meeting? Maybe resource, let them know you care and are available if they want to connect. Just because someone isn’t attending youth group doesn’t mean they don’t have any commitment to Christ, so work hard on fanning the flame, no matter how small the flicker may be.

Evaluating Your Ministry

Half of the school-year is through and we are going into 2013 in a hurry. This is a great time to regroup and evaluate how things are going in your youth or young adult ministry.

Here are some things/questions that you can think through during this time:

Volunteer Leaders – How are you doing with keeping them informed of what is going on? What is your communication like with them? Do you volunteers feel equipped? Are they getting what they need from you in order to effectively do their job? Do your volunteers feel that they are appreciated?

Your Students – Are the activities you are doing with the  your students geared towards their age? Are they balanced? (discussion opportunities, fun activities, mission opportunities, etc.) Do your students feel loved and cared for and know that the environment is a safe place to be? Are they inviting their friends?

Events – How would you rate your events based through the eyes of your  students? It’s important to think through their eyes, because us adults, especially the older we get, do see things differently. Ask your students after each event to either rate it or give some feedback of good and bad.

Programming – Is your programming age-based? Does it have a good flow from outsider towards insider? Does the programming you have accomplish the purpose that you have set out to have in your youth ministry? Is there any programs that need to be added or killed off? Do you have adequate staffing that is needed to make the programming work?

Parents  (especially for youth ministry) – Do the parents feel good about the youth ministry? What types of communication is happening with the parents? Do they only hear about the youth ministry from their teen’s perspective or do you also make communication with them? Do the parents participate in the youth ministry in any way? What can be done to help parents become even more involved? Should their be parent meetings or not?

Communication – What types of communication do you use? Be careful not to only just use one form of communication such as Facebook. Are you utilizing all the communication methods to cover all basis? Are your fellow co-workers informed of the stuff that is happening in your youth ministry? Does the senior pastor feel good about knowing what is happening? What are some ways to strengthen your communication to: parents, co-staff, volunteer staff, and students?

Spiritual Condition – What is your spiritual condition? Do you and your volunteers need to take a mini retreat somewhere? Are there leaders that you need to give a break to? How are your leaders doing spiritually? What needs to be done to become more spiritually in tune with Christ?

Physical Condition – Are you caring for yourself physically? Do you get enough exercise? Do you get enough sleep? Are you overly stressed? It is important to realize that you cannot care for others if you do not first care for yourself.  MAKE IT A PRIORITY!

If you have some other ideas and questions to think about – please leave a comment below and have some discussion about these things.

The Big Picture

Youth workers need to have a holistic view of ministry—stay too focused on today and it can be hard to remember where you were headed. But if you're always looking ahead, you risk not handling today well. Here are a few thoughts that may help you tackle today AND tomorrow effectively.

Right In Front Of You: This Week
What needs to be accomplished right away this week? Go practical instead of tactical; make a "to do list" or use an app to help guide your time and projects with due dates this week. The "This Week" stuff is the nitty-gritty tasks you simply must accomplish. Put your head down, and work through the list you made at the beginning of your week.

The Small Picture: The Next Season Ahead
This is where you move from the day-to-day tasks and make sure you're tracking on the big-picture details of what's next. This is making sure the discipleship retreat camp deposit is in the mail, but not necessarily programming the event itself. This is making sure you have a speaker lined up, but not necessarily knowing the menu that's planned.

The Big Picture: This Coming Year
Occasionally, throughout the year, find some time to make sure the big-picture vision is in place. Check the pulse of your leaders; look back on goals you set from the year before; work through your vision statements and learnings from a recent book or seminar. Determine what's broken and what's doing well, lay out strategies to address the weak points in your discipleship process. This is a mix of practical (calendar planning) and tactical (is what we have planned truly helping us to accomplish our vision?).

The Lifetime Achievement: Your Legacy
This is the biggest picture of all: what you will leave with your church when you leave, or the legacy you leave behind when God decides your time here is done. Don't text and drive or it may be sooner rather than later. Too many youth workers live in the day-to-day world and never take a step back every few years and really wrestle with your calling again and see what God may be up to.

Consider planning your week with an appropriate amount of time given to each of these categories. Focus on the tasks of the week, be familiar with the season ahead, make sure you know where you are headed and every once in a while, and wrestle with your legacy for good measure, too.

How to Start a Parent Ministry

Every good youth program needs to take into consideration how they will minister to the parents of their students. If you don't minister to the parent as well as your student, you are missing some great opportunities to reinforce the values you want to teach. Here are a few just on how to create a ministry to parents.

First…focus on the obvious. 
Before you accomplish some grand vision of partnership with parents, think about the obvious places parents are looking for help: The transition from elementary school to junior high, from junior high to high school, and from high school to college are all massive for parents.

What do they need? 
Talk to parents and see what they would like or need. The last thing you want is to create an event or program they feel they don't need. Trust us, we've done that several times and it's humiliating. Talk to some core parents, and some on the fringe, and ask them to give you a perspective of what would be beneficial to their family. 

Communicate 
You could probably start a text message list quickly and cheaply and take a huge leap forward. Maybe start a blog that shares what you taught at youth group last week—maybe with a few discussion questions for parents to follow-up with during the week. As you come across great resources for parents, consider posting a list in the church bulletin board (virtually or the one in the hallway). Start with a couple easy things to begin partnering with parents. 

When their child starts taking sports seriously, starts working for the first time, or has his/her first serious relationship. If a family is going through a divorce, death or other traumatic event, there are lots of obvious, and very natural, places for you to begin ministering to parents without the formalities of meetings and newsletters!

10 Ideas for Creating Cross-Generational Youth Ministry

Cross-generational or intergenerational ministry is more than just different age groups inhabiting the same space (as happens often in our worship experiences). Rather, its providing opportunities for Christians of all generations to engage each other in experiences that build relationships and a deeper sense of the Church as one body in Christ. Below are 10 ideas for engaging in cross-generational youth ministry.  Not all may work for your setting as each context is different. But perhaps these will inspire you to seek new opportunities to provide a deeper sense of oneness as a church.

Talk About It - Before initiating any grand scheme to develop cross-generational ministry, it can be helpful to find opportunities to speak with staff members, church leaders, and groups within your congregation about the rationale for moving away from segregated youth programming.

Ease into It - As the cross-generational approach may be a new idea for many, it might be best to resist the urge to jump in with both feet, tossing out your old approach entirely. Start with a fellowship event or perhaps a short-term joint study opportunity for mixed ages.  Let others experiences what this new approach can be and they will hopefully become advocates for the cause.

Adopt-a-grandparent - Call upon your youth to adopt an elder member of your congregation and invite them to show that person special care. This could include sitting with them in worship, inviting them to come to a youth gathering, or sending them a card on their birthday or when they are ill.

Adopt-a-youth - The reverse idea works as well. Invite adults in your congregation to adopt youth and be part of a ministry of nurture to your teens. I'd suggest that these persons not be the same adults who already serve in your youth ministry program.  The more adults who are connected in meaningful ways with your teens, the better.

Art Experiences - Like the guys I mentioned at the top of this post, engaging people of all ages in experiences of art-making is a great way to break down barriers.  Group art projects allow everyone to play a part while providing time for conversation and community-building.

Joint Mission Trips - I'm a big proponent for ending the "youth mission trips" that have been such a standard component of youth programming for a long time now and moving toward mission opportunities that invite all ages in the church to participate.  Nothing builds community faster between the ages than travelling together and working side-by-side to help those in need.

Cross Generational Camps/Retreats - In the St. Louis area, the Disciples of Christ congregations are planning our second annual cross-generational church camp experience. Last summer we gathered at retreat center for a week of camp for all ages. We had everybody from babies to senior citizens. We ate together, played together, and worshipped together while still providing opportunities for children, teens, and adults to spend time in their separate age groupings. The evaluation of the event was unanimously positive from all ages and for this summer we are developing even more opportunities to help make the event truly cross-generational.

Youth Leadership - One of the best ways for older teens to begin to learn what the real work of the Church is all about is to invite them to be part of your church leadership teams and ministries.  Rather than having them sit on the sidelines waiting to same day take part in work of the church, invite youth right now to lend their ideas and voices to your outreach ministry, your worship planning, your church board.  In our congregation, one of our oldest senior high youth is co-chair of the Christian education ministry team.

Music Experiences - A great way to cross the generational divide is through music. Create opportunities, perhaps even an old-fashioned hymn sing, in which older generations can share hymns of the past and younger generations can introduce adults to more contemporary Christian songs.  In fact, if teens share music they learned at church camp they may be surprised to find that many adults learned those very same songs at camp, too!

Small Groups - Many of our congregations have small groups meeting on and off the church site all the time. Why not create a few groups which are intentionally cross-generational and purposefully recruit both adolescent and adult group participants? Provide opportunities for them to study the Bible, work on a mission project or read together a book that will challenge all ages while inviting lots of conversation and meaningful fellowship.

What are your ideas?


(this is a reprint of an article that I read from rethinkingyouthministry.com)

The Importance of Summer Young People's Ministry

Summer can be one of the most influential seasons in ministry—here’s why I love it and why your summer activities matter so much.

Plan things to be ultra-relational.
Summer activities are an excuse to hang out with students. Take advantage of that opportunity. Dial down the program and work hard to create space for conversations and real life to be exposed. You might be surprised how the barriers come down when it isn’t over-programmed. Keep a journal and at the end of summer it will be exciting to see how God worked.

Make sure you make some “me” time.
This is really important! If you’re not careful, you could plan out every waking minute of the summer and end up burned out by August. You have to set a priority and limit for yourself. You need any kind of ministry, there is always one more person to help, one more event to plan, or one more phone call to make. Don’t make this mistake; usually youth workers make it once and learn from it.

Embrace the change of pace.
When things change, people pay more attention. When you shake things up over the summer you’ve got a chance to be creative in your teaching style, or give guest speakers a new voice to your students (and we don’t mean expensive guest speakers…we mean student leaders, the dad with a cool testimony, etc.). Don’t let the summer be the same old thing—time to experiment!

Summer activities build momentum for the kickoff of the school year.
A great summer makes for a great fall—work hard to invest in your people this summer and the returns will last until Christmas.

(I got some these ideas from a weekly e-mail that I get about youth and young adult ministry)

Some Thoughts on Youth Leadership

This week I am teaching the leadership camp and the topics that I then asked the: is "Attitude. " it got me thinking about other important aspect youth leadership. And here are just a couple of things to keep in mind:

Lead with Optimism

Teaching students to see a future of what could be, not necessarily the painful road of difficulty to get there. They need to accentuate the positive and minimize the negative. this will help them in problem solving said that when roadblocks occur (and they always will), they will be prepared to face them positively.

Build Fun Into Everything

I love to have fun! Everyone enjoys having a good time. Teaching students that leading can be fun and not boring, will energize them and attract more youth to enter leadership roles. don't forget, God created us to laugh, so let’s have some fun.

   

Conflict Leads to Peace

Difficult conversations need to happen – if they don’t , something small will inevitably grow into something significant and potentially rectifying.  I have done this well and I have also done this poorly. So by all means don't avoid conflict, you will not like the outcome.

By the way, if you're looking for a good leadership training curriculum for your youth. Check out Leadership Lab. Below is a you tube video that explains it in more detail.

I highly recommend this program and hope it will help you train the next generation of leaders for the church.

Planning A Great Summer Calendar

Here are a few great tips to have a great summer youth ministry program.

Plan Ahead - Here’s some good news right up front: If you’re thinking about summer now, you’re in good shape. Next year, start even earlier! If you plan in advance, even in broad strokes, it will greatly improve the chances of your summer’s big ideas becoming a reality. Resist the false belief that waiting until the pressure is on makes you better—it doesn’t; it just makes you more frantic.

Change Things Up - Get out of the school year rhythms and programs and shake things up. Always have youth group inside? What about taking it "under the stars." Always have small group? Change it up and go with midweek Bible study. Some are allowed to try some new things and experiment in the short term effectively. If it doesn't work out, you don't have to keep doing it. You might even stumble onto something that will make your youth ministry even better.

Free is Always Better - Summer events can get very expensive. Try to find as many free or low-cost activities and programs that you can. Your parents will love you for it.

Focus on Central Event - Summer is a great opportunity to do a big event and get excitement for the fall. Summer music festivals, a weeklong camp are great examples of this.

If it Worked, Use it Again - If you did something in previous summers that was a hit, then bring it back. When I was in the local church my students loved going to this one Christian music festival. So every year we kept it on the schedule.

Borrow from Everyone Else - Why reinvent the wheel? Scour the Internet for youth ministry blogs, game ideas, tips and anything else you can find and use it. Ask members of your congregation about their favorite memories of things they did during the summer as a student, you might be able to re-create it.

Don't Forget Your Family - We had youth and young adult ministry spend a good bit of time in the summer running from one activity to the next. Take care of yourself and make time for your family. There is always one more ministry thing you can do, however, if you don't set boundaries you'll burn out and hurt the one’s you love the most.

Start Planning Your Back-to-School Event - I know this is supposed to be about summer calendaring, but if you don't make a plan now for the fall kickoff, your summer and winter may just swallow it whole. You don't have to plan every little detail, but you need to start getting an idea of what you want to do and make the necessary preparation in advance.

Maximize Relationships - Your students are out of school. If you spend your entire summer running yourself ragged, you're gonna miss that sweet one-on-one time that you can only get during the summer. Find a safe way that you can hang out with your students. Go out for ice cream or invite them to help with your planning. Don't miss this opportunity to form relationships that will pay big dividends later on.