Director of Student Ministries for Regular Baptist Press. He also is the co-founder and president of Vision For Youth, Inc., and the co-editor of Pushing the Limits: Unleashing the Potential of Student Ministry (Thomas Nelson, 2006).
However, smaller churches have a real advantage over bigger churches in the development of close relationships.
If you are a youth worker in a small church, you can have everyone over to your house for dinner or take the whole group out for milkshakes without robbing a bank. If you only have a handful of students in your group, you can get out to their high school football games or concerts. You can remember everybody’s birthdays, and you can pray for each one specifically each day. You can show them how to do their own personal Bible study and you can answer specific life-related questions. You can become their friend and not just another acquaintance from church.
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Emphasize Relationships, not RoomsA pastor friend of mine recently experienced a fire that destroyed virtually his entire church facility. During the process of reconstruction, he said, “I’d almost like to do without our building permanently. Our people were closer, the fellowship seemed to be more genuine, and church seemed to be real.” I’m convinced sometimes our buildings and facilities get in the way of real ministry.
In my early days in ministry, there were times when I taught teenagers in church buses; in basements where I couldn’t even stand up straight; even in closets under the stairs. I really don’t think Christ would have been overly concerned with data projectors, smart boards, or Bose sound systems. Sure He made use of visual aids. He wrote in the dirt on the ground and referenced objects in nature, but, mostly He concentrated on people. That seems like a good model for ministry with teenagers today.
Build Trust Instead of Technology
My college-age son recently said, “You’re the only dad who has cooler toys than his kids.” Yep, I love my laptop and my iPod, and I carry my smart phone religiously, but I am careful not to let my electronic gadgets isolate me from people.
I remember the days when Walkmans were the great evil in youth ministry. Youth workers feared that kids who listened to portable tape players would not have healthy conversations with other people. They made rules that wouldn’t let kids bring those devices on youth trips. Are you old enough to remember those days?
Now we are all hearing that modern technology actually helps kids connect with each other. One recent research organization reported that today’s teenagers would be willing to do without almost anything they owned, except for their cell phones.
I’m sure that technology can help us stay connected to our students, but let’s be careful not to send text messages, e-mails, or IM’s to kids when we should be spending time with them in person. You can do that very well in a smaller church.