We live in a world of comparisons where we gauge how well we’re doing by observing how well others are doing. It’s dangerous scale we often use in youth ministry too; it’s easy to look at what others are doing and rate ourselves by comparison to their success.

We all know that there’s not a “1 size fits all” when it comes to ministry but deep down we think that we would be more successful if we looked a little more like the youth ministry down the road.

Here are 3 truths to keep in mind next time you’re tempted to buy into that thinking:

** God measures success, not us. He does it by looking at the heart, not the numbers.

** Diversity is beautiful. God loves how weird your young people are.

** We need each other. It’s called the Body of Christ.

Categorised: Uncategorized

Here’s a bit of pop-culture worth digesting for youth ministry’s sake:

The Hunger Games
The teenage movie of the month (year?) is actually pretty decent. It’s a little violent at times and definitely has it’s fair share of downright quirky but would be a perfect springboard for a discussion around morality, inequality and self-sacrifice. Actually it’s worth watching just for the fully sick bow-hunting.

Mud, Sweat and Tears: Bear Grylls
The guy is something of a superstar but not without good reason. British SAS, Mt Everest and Man Vs Wild make for a pretty deadly CV and also make for some pretty awesome stories. Super easy to read, it’s the kind of book that even young guys could get into and get inspired by. Bear speaks pretty candidly about his faith as well, definitely could be a good convo starter.

What Makes You Beautiful
One of the pre-requisites for being a legit youth leader is that you get onto the bandwagon when your youth are getting off it. If you’re worried about your leadership credibility get this sucker at the top of your playlist and your official status as an old person will be firmly established.

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A few weeks ago I asked a kid if he’s been wagging school lately and he was like “you’re an idiot and I don’t know what you’re talking about”. I explained what wagging was and he looked at me like I was a born pre-1990 and was like “yeah it’s called jigging”. whatever.

Anyway, the point of the story is that heaps of young people in my community have a habit of not going to school. This is not good BUT the point of “jigging” is that instead of going to school you do something else that is also awesome, and maybe even more awesome and I think there is some merit in that for us.

As an integral part of your church it’s probable that you rarely leave. You never miss a Friday night at youth, or a Sunday morning at church or if you do it’s because you died or something. The loyalty and commitment you’re displaying is admirable but there’s a good chance you’ve got youth ministry blinkers on, that is, your whole experience of youth ministry is limited to what you grew up with and what you’re now doing.

If your perception of youth ministry is only as big as your church then you’re going to miss some of the best ideas, creativity, inspiration and motivation because that’s the stuff you can tap into when you jig.

Here’s the get up – a couple of times a year, book into your calendar a Friday night where you can go see how a different church’s youth ministry runs.

Here are some of the benefits:
– Fresh ideas: songs, games, sermons, cordial flavour
– Encouragement: you’ll see things that remind you of how well things work at your church
– Increased perameters: a bigger picture of what youth ministry could look like

I’ve been doing this for years and thoroughly endorse it, it’s helped keep me motivated and fresh for my own ministry.

Maybe leaders in your youth ministry are in seriously short supply meaning you can’t afford to jig, in which case just get everyone to jig…to a different church’s youth ministry :)

Categorised: Uncategorized

We learn through story, we always have. It’s how Jesus’ stories changed the course of history and why Hollywood stories makes billions of dollars every year.

A great story can form the basis of a powerful sermon but to be honest I’m a seriously average story teller…I always get the story out of order and then without fail I bomb the punchline. That’s why God made movie directors.

Movies give us a chance to preach from the streets, to help young people see the Kingdom of God at work in their culture today. I don’t understand why we have movie nights for youth group without capitilising on their capacity to help shape young people’s thinking. The most potent moment in any given movie is the 15 minutes following the last scene. The power is in the processing.

An unprocessed experience will almost certainly be forgotten.
An experience that is processed and applied becomes a catalyst for change.

All it takes is a few moments of smart conversation guidance; asking the right questions and helping people see the Kingdom values at play in any given story.

So have your movie nights but for crying out loud don’t miss a golden opportunity to preach your best sermons! Some movies are so powerful that you just need to get up and say ‘God loves you’ and then pray for the 35 prodigals with raised hands.

Obviously picking the right film can be a bit of a minefield but the best way to not go wrong is to watch it yourself first. If you’re after a seriously powerful movie to help connect with a bunch of young guys then I totally recommend Warrior (2011), a story about anger, family, and forgiveness disguised as a movie about tough guys beating the snot out of each other.

Got any other suggestions that have worked for you lately?

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So this time last week the world was in the middle of KONY fever. First we loved it, then we were sceptical, and now there seems to be a degree of balance in our attitude towards it.

This blog isn’t about agreeing or disagreeing with the campaign, it’s about how we as youth leaders can learn from how it was run. The fact that they’ve managed to get millions of teenagers voluntarily talking about social justice related stuff is reason enough for us to pay attention. After all, we’re always trying to get young people to care about this kind of stuff and whilst we’re not going to replicate that kind of buzz I think there’s value in deconstructing what happened.

Here are some of the principles that we can draw from KONY 2012:

Cool sells. If you want to sell anything to a young person; youth group, chocolate, social justice etc, then you’ve got to promote it well. Spend the extra money on good graphic design and you’re more likely to have your youth selling it to their friends.

Momentum motivates. They don’t call it the snowball effect for nothing. Whilst young people don’t tend to have the initiative to start something or to make something happen from nothing they do tend to ‘go with the flow’, which can be a really good thing. So get the influential people (which might be just you) to get the flow going and they’ll probably jump on board.

Simple works. The guys running the campaign made it really clear, “here are the 3 things you can do” and then provided clear pathways to do it. It definitely helps when we can take the complexity out of any given situation that requires a young person to act and make it clear and simple.

Radical inspires. Young people have this anti-authoritarian streak that is drawn to dangerous, illegal, or risky behaviour. This can totally be a positive thing when channeled in the right direction and we need to tap into this better by challenging them out of ’safe’ and into ‘radical’…it might not take as much coercion as we think.

Young people want to be a part of something big, they want to do something radical, and they actually believe they can change the world. Let’s get better at embracing enthusiasm, encouraging education, and creating simple opportunities to act on it all in a God-honouring way.

Categorised: Events, Leadership, Strategy, Youth Culture

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants. (Isaac Newton)

You would think if anyone deserved full credit for their work it would be Isaac Newton. The guy stands as one of the most influential scientists of history and yet his success was firmly grounded in the hard work of those who had gone before him. In fact it was only beacaue of his deep appreciation for the great minds of Descartes and Galileo that he was empowered to explore new scientific boundaries. Newton shows us that the value of a backwards glance. It gives us a moment to appreciate those whose shoulders we are standing on.

Let’s pray for hearts that remain grounded and grateful for those who cleared the path that we now walk on. May the sight of every new horizon be accompanied by the humility of Jesus and may our eyes be opened to see the great spiritual foundation we have inherited from our parents, our pastors and the giants of Church, both past and present.

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Youth Ministry Conference is nothing short of awesome. It’s where all the cool people will be August this year but there’s no way it would be half as awesome without you there.

Check out the speaking line-up:

* Tim Hawkins: chances are he’s been doing youth ministry since before you were born (unless you were born pre-1977) so why learn the hard lessons when you can get the shortcuts from Tim.

* Claire Hill: after over a decade in the game Claire is still involved with youth ministry in her local church (Auburn Salvos). Combine that with a gift for communication and you’d be crazy to miss what she has to say.

* Andy Gourley: CEO of Red Frogs (world-wide chaplaincy network for Universities and School leavers). Need we say more? Oh yeah, he’s also a ninja.

* Buhle Dlamini: one of the most inspiring young leaders in the world today, Buhle brings years of youth ministry experience in South Africa and we’re stoked he’ll be joining us at YMC.

* Dave Reardon: Apart from being ridiculously genetically blessed Dave’s also a succesful long-time youth pastor and one of the pastors at Shirelive church in Sydney’s south. Dave’s going for his YMC hat-trick…he loves the Salvos!

Obviously it’s going to be a phenomonal weekend and you’re probably going to be there but why pay an extra $20 when you don’t need to?! The early bird price has been extended to Friday March 16th but after that you’ll have to fork out more hard-earned cash than you need to.

Don’t put it off, download the rego form here.

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It was almost audible. I could hear their unspoken response as it seeped into their facial reaction: “Not me! I’m not ready, I’ve never preached in my life.” I could see their anxiety level spike and their heart start beating faster. Taking a couple of moments to compose their thoughts they plucked up the courage required to reply with, “Ok, I’ll do it.”

For many on my team it was the first time they’ve shared their testimony or preached in a church service, let alone the fact that it was in a completely foreign culture and via translator. Sheesh, talk about guts!

But it shouldn’t surprise me, young people always have a higher capacity than what we expect of them.

We usually only ask people to do stuff that’s comfortable or within their regular skill set. Rarely do we ask something that is beyond them; something that genuinely requires faith. We think that the goal is to keep people happy and keep them turning up, and hope that one day they’ll mature in their faith.

As it turns out though, spiritual maturity has absolutely no link to the progression of time, which also means that it only develops when it gets developed.

So what are we saying? Maturity is fostered in the deep end. It’s usually accompanied by fear, self-doubt, and a little bit of pants-wetting but there is something immensely powerful about the moment that a young person stands on the blocks and then jumps off in faith.

Maybe you could stop right now and think of one young person who is in danger of stagnation. What’s one challenge you can place in front of them that will give them the opportunity to jump into the deep end?

Categorised: Discipleship, Leadership development, Personal Growth

Youth Alive are primo. For 25 years they’ve been finding awesome ways to support local youth leaders as we reach the youth in our community. They’re the guys that pull off Exo Day (the biggest youth outreach event in Australia) and spend the rest of the year supporting and encouraging youth pastors all around the country.

Feb 29th – March 1st they’re holding their annual Youth Pastors retreat at Bondi. It’s 24hrs of some seriously quality teaching plus the chance to network with other youth leaders who are right in the game with you.

I’ve been for a couple of years now and can tell you that if you’re somewhere near Sydney it’s totally worth getting there. Check out the website for more info! (Click here)

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There are some things in life where it’s really helpful for people to tell you stuff…

– if you’ve tucked your shirt into your underwear
– if you’re about to pay a small fortune to see a very, very, bad movie
– if you’re actually a good enough singer to try out for X Factor (let’s be honest, encouraging mums have a lot of broken hearts to answer for)

There are also things in life where it’s really helpful for people to NOT to tell you stuff…

– the ending to a good movie
– how to drive
– your nose is huge

In Kenya I was reminded how important it is to let people learn stuff for themselves. There were plenty of times that I could have pre-empted a character-building moment by letting everyone know what was about to happen and how they should respond but I’m really glad I didn’t. Letting the team go through the experience and letting God reveal the truths to them personally was so much for beneficial for everyone.

Here’s what I learned: a truth heard is not nearly as powerful as a truth experienced.

The challenge for us as leaders is to be continually guiding our young people into situations that will cause them to think / learn / process. From there we need to shut up and let God reveal his truth in his time.

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