We all understand that reaching, discipling and teaching students God’s Word can be challenging. Adding anything into that challenge makes everything…more challenging. That difficulty causes us to stick with what we know. We choose the same formulas and programs, and we seek out the same students. We opt for reaching out to students who are most like ourselves or who look similar to the students in our youth group.
We brought four youth workers together to talk about this struggle. How does it look for youth ministries to reach outside their comfort zones? What challenges do we face as we attempt to make our youth ministries more holistic? Creating these environments isn’t easy, but if our ministries are going to reach the whole student—and reach into all sections of society—this conversation needs to happen (and needs to continue off these pages in our churches).
Chris Brooks is the founder of The Issachar Group, a consulting collaborative that focuses on biblical, economic justice. Additionally, Chris is a full-time faculty member at North Central University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He teaches youth development and urban studies at the Center for Youth and Leadership, as well as manages a small portfolio of strategic donor relationships.
Danny Kwon has been serving 24 years in ministry, 20 years leading the Youth and Family Ministry at Yuong Sang Church outside Philadephia, which places a strong emphasis on family ministry. He completed his Ph.D. in organizational leadership, with his dissertation focusing on innovation theory and the emerging paradigm of intergenerational ministry in the local church. He is a speaker/trainer/coach for the Youth Cartel and Fuller Youth Institute. Along with his love for sports, eating and making people laugh, he is married to Monica, a family and marriage counselor and professor, and has three sons, all of whom are part of his youth group.
Joel Mayward is a pastor, writer, husband and father, living in Langley, British Colombia. He’s been serving in youth ministry since 2003 and currently is the pastor of Youth and Young Adult Ministries at North Langley Community Church. A writer for numerous youth ministry publications and author of Leading Up: Finding Influence in the Church Beyond Role and Experience, Joel writes about youth ministry, film, theology and leadership at his blog JoelMayward.Blogspot.ca.
Amber Slate is immersed in the joyful, challenging, humbling and invigorating work of youth ministry as the middle school youth director at Sammamish Presbyterian Church. She has led efforts to build Project Hope, a collaborative community movement that seeks to transform the systems that impact youth in and outside the church.
YWJ: What biblical narrative or theological idea guides your pursuit of seeing students as whole and complete people?
Chris Brooks: My primary theological concept is Imago Dei. I do my best to interweave a wide variety of narratives, because no one story fits all. Some young women need to hear different (gender diverse) stories than the oft-repeated stories of Abraham, David, Jonah, etc. Additionally, some young men identify with archetypes of warriors, while others more closely identify with archetypes of poets and teachers.
Joel Mayward: The words of Jesus about the kingdom of God inform my views of holistic youth ministry. When Jesus calls us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, the invitation encompasses our whole beings—emotional, relational, intellectual, physical. When Jesus invites us to have abundant life to the full, this is a whole-person life, not just an abundant spiritual life compartmentalized to Bible studies or religious services. When Jesus proclaims the kingdom of heaven is at hand and calls us to repent and be citizens of this kingdom, this is whole-life renewal and birth, the movement from one reality to another. Being citizens of the kingdom of heaven is a whole-life endeavor as the kingdom infuses and spreads through our world as yeast does through dough.
Amber Slate: I would have to echo what Joel and Chris had to say. In addition to those theological ideas, one passage that has informed how our church seeks to be a community of believers is
Danny Kwon: I love the themes of Imago Dei and the kingdom of God as theological themes that guide students as whole and complete people of God. I also nurture the theme of Prophet, Priest and King as roles for each and every student. As prophets, students are called to witness to others; as priests, we have access and a personal relationship with God; and as kings, we have callings in our churches to promote relationships of accountability and leadership with one another.
YWJ: What individual needs do you think the church often misses with students?
Danny: My youth ministry paradigm was rocked by Chap Clark a few years ago when he proposed a 5 to 1 ratio. Not the kind we all think of as far as five students to one adult. Rather, he proposed that churches and youth ministries aim for a ratio of five significant adults for every one student. This was horrifying to hear, and it probably is for most of us in youth ministry. However, his rationale was based on having these significant relationships with five different adults to help connect students to the larger body of the church and especially as it relates to the long-term connection of students to their church after youth group.
Chris: The need that the church is missing are mostly those falling outside the traditional youth ministry model and have been mischaracterized as social-gospel issues: food security, education, racial justice, and the breakdown of the family are a few critical under-addressed needs.
Joel: I’ve noticed that many churches often miss the connection between theological truth/reality and the everyday experience and life of a student. Without building this bridge between theological reflection and personal existence, students can relegate theology and seeking the kingdom to a compartment of their lives. This requires rethinking our spiritual formation and educational models, teaching students how to think rather than what to think by equipping them with critical-thinking tools meant to help bridge between theology and praxis.
Amber: Another need the church often misses is leadership development. One of the most powerful ways to engage students in their faith is through servant leadership. The church often underestimates the leadership potential of youth.
Joel: Danny and Amber, in my own church context, we’re experimenting with connecting young people in loving adult relationships, as well as offering them significant opportunities to lead in whole-church arenas. It’s required ending our Sunday morning high school ministry program and inviting high school students to be involved in the planning and leading of our Sunday services. We don’t have it all figured out, as it takes more than ending a program to shift an entire culture, but we’re willing to take the sacrificial steps to see progress happen.
YWJ: When you think of the process of becoming a whole human being, what can a youth ministry offer a student?
Chris: Youth ministry is uniquely positioned to offer a theological perspective on human development, because God’s creative initiative and sustaining power are assumed. This core assumption provides answers that a godless compilation of facts and experiences cannot. Without a theological engine, youth ministry is powerless.
Joel: Beyond just a theological perspective on human growth, youth ministry offers the relational environment of belonging for whole-person growth to occur. Relationships are essential. Through pacing- and leading-relationships and authentic community with fellow kingdom seekers within the context of the body of Christ, young people can experience spiritual growth and health.
Danny: We constantly are trying to connect students to Christians who are loving and serving the Lord in different vocations and careers and how they do this within their workplaces, as well as serving outside their workplaces. We recently had a few folks who run an after-school tutoring program. In their work, they not only help students with their school work and grades, but also as Christians help students assess and nurture their callings. Likewise, these folks use their work and resources to run a nonprofit program that serves inner-city schools with tutoring programs.
Amber: I absolutely agree with you guys. Christian formation is a whole-person endeavor. Knowing that, I’d say one thing youth ministries can do is be deeply rooted in our purpose and role in that formation. For example, it’s easy for church time to compete with family time. However, I want to be strategic about how we design our programs so they focus more on building whole disciples than on successful programs. When I start putting a lot of my own value on the short-term success of the ministry, I know it’s time to step back and refocus on the true purpose of what we do. I’m really grateful for God’s grace and truth in those moments.
YWJ: Do youth workers have a responsibility to seek wholeness in the context larger than their youth ministry such as their churches or cities? If so, how might they work toward that?
Chris: In the words of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, the world is flat. This means words such as urban, city and neighborhood are in the process of being redefined. Because of this significant shift, the new normal will become metropolitan ecosystems: interconnected communities sharing resources, talent and other important assets. The traditional lines of geography slowly are disappearing.
Joel: If the citizens of the kingdom are called to be salt and light, to love our neighbors as ourselves, then we must bring that love outside the church context to the places where God is active and present—the whole world. To seek the good of a neighborhood or a city through partnership with local community leaders is a movement of the kingdom of God. The early church spread like crazy not because they had such a compelling message to tell or fantastic worship services; the gospel spread through sacrificial, compassionate action toward those in need such as the sick, marginalized and uneducated.
Amber: I once had a professor who said you cannot care about students without caring about the systems that impact them. This has shaped my understanding of youth ministry ever since. This became especially true after several youth took their own lives in a short amount of time in our community. It became abundantly clear that loving youth in an authentic way meant that we had to address the need for transformation in our community that was leaving our youth hopeless.
This tragedy also made us aware that one aspect of wholeness that we often don’t think enough about is ecumenical unity within the larger body of Christ. We noticed we had different denominations and different youth ministries in our community all trying to accomplish the same thing. Yet we weren’t working together. As we started to practice real and practical unity in Jesus Christ for the sake of our youth, we experienced more open doors and more credibility with our community than ever before. It was so empowering to see the youth ministries leading the way to wholeness and watching the rest of the church become excited to follow suit.
Danny: Intergenerational ministry is becoming a buzz word these days in youth ministry. What it’s all about is connecting students to the larger body of the church in various ways. One specific reason for this is to try to promote connections for students to the church so they won’t readily leave the church after graduation. Making sure students stay connected and thrive in their faith life after youth group is a daunting task. Furthermore, promoting an intergenerational ministry paradigm from more traditional youth ministry paradigms is a large task. However, at the heart of it again is to connect students to their faith life and churches long past youth group. I am not saying intergenerational ministry is the only way to do this, but I do see at least the great importance of connecting the youth group to the larger church body for this reason.
Joel: Danny, I wonder about intergenerational being a Christian buzzword for the moment similar to how emerging church and missional came and went. Although the concepts and dynamics of those words had significant meaning, they’ve already become quite convoluted and lost. (How many people are writing about the emerging church anymore?) When intergenerational disappears in a few years—as it likely will—I still hope the students we’re hoping to integrate into our church bodies remain, regardless of the buzzwords of the day.
Danny: I agree, Joel. I don’t know a youth worker out there who doesn’t care about the long-term hope they have for their present students. I would be glad for the intergenerational buzz at the very least make this hope more of an intention to help youth groups and churches see it as a goal that continually needs to be part of their ministries.
YWJ: A hallmark of holistic ministry is seeking to reach students who come from difficult situations. How far should inclusivity go?
Chris: There are no limits to reaching adolescents. God is not willing that any should perish. That being said, we must be smart and strategic in our approach to inclusive models that are not theologically sound. Sin always must be addressed, and repentance always should be the proposed solution. The message does not need innovation; it needs repetition. What must change is the communication methods and models. Grace must abound.
Joel: Agree. The gospel of the kingdom is for everyone.
Amber: In the second edition of Hurt 2.0, there is a new chapter, “Kids at the Margins.” The basic idea is that students who live on the margins pay a cost. The margins include those youth who are underprivileged and those who are highly privileged. This certainly rang true for our highly resourced population in which we experience an increasing trend of loneliness, pressure and hopelessness that our youth were reporting. However, after our community tragedy, our town was well-equipped to respond. We brought in speakers and collaborated with those who have influence to give time, skill and energy to transforming the systems that impact our youth.
What struck me the most was when our group visited a highly underprivileged area on a mission trip. They had youth reporting the same loneliness and hopelessness, as well as experienced the same high rate of youth suicide. The difference was their community did not have the same economic and social capital to address the issue. I still am wrestling with what it means to serve and partner with a group from such a different but similar situation.
Danny: Chris has a great point with which we all resonate: “There are no limits to reaching adolescents.” My question is, what are youth ministries and churches doing about it? Are we really living out this conviction? That always is the point we wrestle with at our church—not the truth of these statements but: Are we being intentional and active about them?
YWJ: Regarding inclusivity, do we lose anything when we seek to reach students from all segments of society? How do we communicate acceptance without compromising the gospel?
Amber: Grace and truth always is a fine line to walk. It is one that really is hard to talk about practically because it is so situational. Navigating it takes root in Scripture and openness to the work of the Holy Spirit. If anyone knows how to do this well all the time, please let me know!
Chris: No, we gain the beauty and diversity of God’s multiethnic creativity.
Joel: Isn’t the gospel all about acceptance? Isn’t this a God who loves and accepts us through Christ’s atoning work? What could we possibly lose by being more accepting of others? I suppose we may lose our sense of entitlement or religiosity or personal comforts.
Danny: We have a wonderful ministry for physically and mentally disabled students in our church. In addition, while they have distinct activities on Sundays, students in those ministries join our youth group once a month, and we also join this ministry for students’ birthdays and other celebrations they have. A few weeks ago, our ninth grade boys joined the birthday picnic of one of our mentally disabled students, gave him cards and gifts, and played baseball with him. Normally, due to his disability, his mom explained that they wouldn’t have been able to celebrate his birthday with anyone, much less receive gifts and play baseball. His mother was in tears, thanking our ninth grade boys a week later. The irony is that it was the ninth grade class that gained the most understanding of how all people are created in the image of God, as well as how we can love others who are different.
Recommended Resources::
Books:
The New Urban Sociology, fourth edition, by Mark Gottdiener and Ray Hutchinson
Shaping the Spiritual Life of Students by Richard Dunn
Masterpiece: The Art of Discipling Youth by Paul Martin
The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley
The Price of Privilege by Madeline Levine
Hurt 2.0 by Chap Clark
The Missional Leader by Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk
Hemorrhaging Faith (akin to Sticky Faith, for Canadian youth workers)
Movies:
Waiting for Superman (DVD)
Bully (DVD)
Short Term 12, which is about youth workers serving in a foster care facility in California.
