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Have you ever been asked these questions? "What is your vision for our student ministry? What do you want to see happen? What do you want to do with our students?"

I have. In an interview. An interview! I wasn't even the hired yet. In fact, it was asked in the first face to face interview?

A vision? For your student ministry? I know very little to nothing about your church, much less your student ministry, and you want me to lay out a vision for you? Not happening.

What's wrong with the question, you ask? Nothing. And yet, everything.

Questions like these are fine when you have spent some time in a church as the youth worker, and have come through a season of vision planning and and prayer. But in the interview? How can I present a vision for your student ministry without first know what God is doing in your student ministry?

Mark tackles this issue in chapter 3 of his book, Sustainable Youth Ministry. He calls it the Superstar Search; the quest for the youth worker who will solve all the problems of the youth ministry and bring about fruit, growth, and a thriving ministry. 

When I started at my current ministry, I wanted to stay away from the Superstar label, so I came in with a couple guidelines. I set these guidelines because I sensed that there were some issues that needed to be overcome. Nothing bad, just some stuff that needed to be dealt with. The ministry had an already a well established program. I guy I was replacing had just completed 10 years with the church. The church was happy with what he had done. More important, the students like what he had done. But I sensed that there might be that desire by the church to see something more happen with the youth ministry. there was a new lead pastor, a new director of worship and music, and an unspoken feeling that change was in the air. So by setting a few guidelines for myself. Honestly, I was really protecting myself.

The Guidelines...
1. No Major Changes in the First Year.
I knew I had a lot to learn; the program, the culture, the students, the congregation, etc. This was a fruitful ministry that people respected. I was the new guy. My job that first year was to observe and learn. We kept everything the way it was. We did what the ministry always did. And we evaluated as we went.

2. No New Commitments.
This one was hard. By nature, I am a guy who likes to serve and get involved. But in the past I made the mistake of biting off a little too much too early. This time I wanted to easy in and really focus on the students; developing relationships and evaluating the ministry health and long-range possibilities. So I said "NO" to a lot of invitations to get involved with different aspects of the larger church and community. This proved to be a very good guideline.

3. Focus on People not Programs.
When hiring the Superstar, the church sees the youth worker as the program person. Good or bad, the youth worker will know what to do with the programs. And that might be true, especially if you are really gifted in the program department. But I wanted to make sure I focused on the people and not just the programs. I spent the year focusing attention on getting to know the students, parents, key leaders and influencers within the church. I need to know who was who and how things and people were related. So that's what I did.

4. Take It SLOW!
I am a dreamer, a builder. I am pretty creative and I like looking at a program to see how it can be improved. I like structure and organization. I like to work with a team, surrounding myself with gifted men and women with a shared desire to see students grow in their faith. I am big on discipleship and small groups. I like systems and strategic planning. I like to plan a year in advance. I like to brainstorm with creative thinkers. I like to ask the questions, "What's broken?" then work to resolve it as quickly as possible. All of these are great qualities and in many case can be powerful influences, but coming in I wanted to take things slow. To much change to soon can turn around and bite you in the face. I've been there. It hurts. By taking it slow, you have the time to see the bigger picture of ministry and what God is doing. 

Would I do all the same things next time? I don't know. I think that each church offers its own unique situations that require a unique approach. I think the bigger thing to consider is what the church is looking for in a youth worker and what they hope for in the youth ministry. If they are wanting the next hire to be the answer to all their problems, and you find yourself on their shortlist, it might be worth taking a minute to seriously consider the steps you take in the coming months. 

The big problem with the Superstar mentality is where everyone places there hopes. The quick fix solutions may bandaid a problem for a little while. But eventually the bandaid has to come off leaving the question, the bleeding has stopped, but is the cut really healed?

I think the long-term approach is the healthier direction. That involves hiring the guy who has the experience to carefully navigate the waters of the youth ministry with wisdom and patience, while the church sees the solutions coming as carefully implemented moments of growth. That's why I love the emphasis of the Sustainable Youth Ministry. No quick fixes. No bandaids. No Superstars.

Instead, strategic, prayerful, thoughtful adaptions of the ministry that lead to ongoing sustainability and growth. Hire the youth worker who sees the church and its leadership as partners in ministry. As a church support the youth ministry in allowing the youth worker to grow a team that desires long-term success. And foster on a program that focuses on discipleship, leading to students to live more and more like Jesus.

​- jay

To learn more about my year-long experiment, visit my The Sustainable Experiment page!
​Disclaimer: This is an independent study. I am in no way affiliated with the author or
​the organization the author represents.

This blog posts contains affiliate links to products mentioned in the post.
For more information click here.

As we continue working our way through chapter two of, Sustainable Youth Ministry, by Mark DeVries, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about volunteers in our youth ministries. Listed as number three of Mark's five NORMALS (read my comments on numbers one and two by clicking here) we read that the recommended ratio of volunteers is 5;1. That's one adult for every five students.

This isn't, nor should it, be a surprise. I think that most organization hold to a similar ratio of 5:1. Most youth ministries I am acquainted with stick to a 5 to 1 standard. When I worked as a summer camp director, our cabins slept 12; 10 students and 2 counselors. That's five students to every one counselor. Just recently, our Presbytery held it's annual winter retreat, we required participating groups hold to a 5:1 ratio and they did.

But I guess what strikes me with this NORM, is that there are still youth workers shouldering the weight and responsibility of their ministry by themselves, serving as lone rangers. Even more disappointing is that there are church's who still think that one paid staff position is sufficient for growing a healthy and dynamic youth ministry. This is both unhealthy and dangerous.

I know we will talk later with more detail about the need and benefits of volunteers serving in your ministry, so we'll safe that aspect of this discuss to then. However, i want to begin the conversation with the question, " Why do you think it's okay to carry the ministry on your own back?"

I don't remember when it first occurred to me to have volunteers working with students. I guess that always having volunteers helping in various ways implanted on me that volunteers were just a part of leading a student ministry. That being said, there have been seasons when having volunteers have been 1. absent, or 2. few and far between.

In 1999, as I started my very first full-time position, and quickly discovered that it was up to me to figure out our staffing solution. I had a great pool of parents who were willing to help, and help they did, in many wonderful ways. But when looking for help on a weekly basis, I often heard comments like, "That's my kid's space, I don't want to cramp his style." So, much of that first year the ministry leadership fell on me and my wife. Fortunately for me, my wife was an amazing volunteer and support, and an awesome youth worker!

That first year proved to be a challenge as we had to over come a number of issues that I count as "on-the-job-training." But one of the bigger things I learned was that if I had any hope for growth, I would need help. Thankfully, that first year our numbers were low enough that my wife and I were able to manage and care for the students who were participating on a weekly basis. But year two brought a different situation.

One of the bigger things I learned was that if
​I had any hope for growth, I would need help.

At one of my first youth worker conventions, it was impressed upon me that having volunteers was more than simply filling empty chairs with warm bodies. If I was going to have a team of volunteer leaders serving and caring for our students, they needed to be volunteers that understood the purpose, strategy, and significance of the youth ministry. It had to be a calling.

At that moment, my search for volunteer leaders began. But it was a search to fill empty slots. My search began on my knees, asking God to send me the leaders he wanted to serve and care for his students. And God be praised, he did. Those leaders changed everything. Like I said, we'll talk more about volunteers later.

For now, let's at least consider the need for volunteers. A 5:1 ratio provides reasonable care expectations, healthier manageability, and safer conditions for the group as a whole. Leaders can be a tremendous help with planning and executing of events and activities. Volunteers become cheerleaders for your ministry. Volunteers grow in their own faith and discipleship as they come alongside students. And volunteers make ministry fun.

If you are a youth worker, currently leading your group, or a church leader who is watch your youth director struggle along, please take some time to talk about how volunteers and how they might play and important part in growing your sustainable youth ministry.

- jay 

To learn more about my year-long experiment, visit my The Sustainable Experiment page!
​Disclaimer: This is an independent study. I am in no way affiliated with the author or
​the organization the author represents.

This blog posts contains affiliate links to products mentioned in the post.
For more information click here.

As we look at chapter two of our year long study of Mark DeVries book, Sustainable Youth Ministry, I have to confess that there was a time when I looked for what I thought was the easy button. Fortunately, it wasn't a very long season of misdirection. Instead, I learned early on that easy isn't always easier.

Chapter Two is all about the investment our churches make into our youth ministries. It's easy for us, the youth worker, to complain about insufficient budgets, unrealistic expectations, and exhausting hours. We want to blame our elders and leadership boards. We complain to each other. And we fail to consider the role that we play in teaching/showing our church leadership the importance of healthy ministry investment 

As I read through this chapter, I immediate felt myself wishing our elders and financial people could be reading this as well. I thought to myself, "If only they could see..."

But I need to remind myself why I am doing this experiment. I want to learn what it takes from ME to consider and build a sustainable youth ministry. So while my knee-jerk reaction is to point blame to the leadership, I must first consider my role in the equation. How am I thinking about ministry investment? What are my goals and expectations? And how am I communicating the vision, growth, and health of my youth ministry?

I was burning out and I was only one year into my career.

Mark talks about the easy way out, or the "easy button." When churches see their ministries failing, their first reaction is to find the quick fix. They hit the easy button. Whether it's replacing the youth worker, building impressive buildings, or launch new, exciting programs, church too often jump to the, "if we build it, they will come" perspective. The problem is, these approaches are all to short lived.

Early in my career, each week we worked to host events that would impress and draw teenagers. The bigger the event, the more potential students. The problem was, it was exhausting. I was burning out and I was only one year into my career. But, flashy activities, quick fixes, and easy ministry don't make for healthy, sustainable youth ministries.

It's time, proper investment and hard work, all bathed in prayer, that lead to the kind of ministries we want to see.

The Normals. Mark presents what he calls the NORMALS. In his experience, as we try to understand how to manage the expectations of youth ministry, we must consider our ministry capacity. These NORMALS come from his experience working with various churches in different situations.

As I thought about these NORMALS, I want to consider my response, before pointing the finger at our leadership? So let me share my thoughts.

Sounds like a lot, right. But I crunched the numbers. Using Mark's parameters (my salary, my budget, and benefits, and our current student population) I was shocked to learn that we are not that far off the mark. With our current number of students averaging 50 (35 middle school, 15 high school), the churches financial investment is approximately $1,120. Not bad.

However, as I apply my growth goals, the numbers dramatically dip. I have set a school-year goal of 25 high schoolers and 40 middle schoolers. That means that by the end of this school year, we want to see 25 high schoolers and 40 middle schoolers participating in our weekly ministry gatherings. Using Mark's parameters, our per student investment falls to $862.

By the end of the year (2018) our ministry goal is to see 50 students in our high school ministry and 50 students in our middle school ministry. That's 100 students total. This number calculated using our current financial situation leaves us at $560 per student. Clearly, if we see the growth we are praying for, we will have to revisit the financial component of our youth minsitry.

Danger, Will Robinson! Here's a problem that I cannot fix on my own, thus I have to figure out how to best handle this one. Currently our weekly programs welcomes about 35 middle school students and between 12 to 15 high school students. Combined that leaves me with 50 students on a good week. If that was only the true number, I would concede to the argument that we are providing what is needed for our youth ministry.

However, if we were to look at the number of students in our database at frequent our ministry at random times, our total student ministry counts would jump significantly. For example, on our high school ministry rolls, there are 15 students that show up every once and a while. They participate just enough to say they come to our ministry, but not enough for anyone to develop a relationship, muchness disciple their heart. But if they were to begin attending on a regular basis, it would increase our high school numbers to 30 almost immediately!

The same would be true of our middle school ministry. We have an additional group of middle schoolers who only show up at random weeks throughout the year. But if we could capture them and work to involve them every week, our numbers would jump to 50 or more! Realizing this is why we set our goals the way we did! Looking realistically at our numbers suggests that we have space to grow.

The trouble in this is our capacity. If what Mark suggests is true, and a church that hopes to sustain the involvement of fifty youth on a weekly basis needs to hire the full-time equivalent of one staff person, then we need to serious consider how we want to invest in our youth ministry for the future! Sure, NOW we are okay, but what do we do when we hit a consistent weekly number of 50 in our middle school and 50 in our high school? After all, that is our goal for 2018!

The sad thing is, I have the perfect person in mind, but risk losing him every time another church comes calling. By being this person on board, we double our capacity for students and increase our potential of building a sustainable youth ministry.

If what Mark suggests is true, and a church that hopes to sustain the involvement of fifty youth on a weekly basis needs to hire the full-time equivalent of one staff person, then we need to serious consider how we want to invest in our youth ministry for the future!

Now, we're not done yet. Mark list's five NORMALS. This is only the first two. Let's come back to discuss the other three in our next posts. For now, let's just consider these two.

What are the NORMALS in your context? Have you looked at your dollar to student ratio for your group? Is it better or worse than you thought? What can you learn from looking at the financial numbers? Is your church investing well? Are you using your budget to the best of your abilities?

What about your staffing? What are your current numbers? Are you at a healthy capacity? If your group is smaller, and you still feel overworked, are you extending yourself too far? Perhaps you have time to spare? What can you do differently to use that time in healthy ways?

I'd love to hear from you! As you read through chapter two, what initial responses are you having? Are you feeling like the expectations from the leadership are overwhelming? Or is Mark helping you to see that maybe you need to reconsider how you think and feel about your place of ministry.

Remember, our goal is to build sustainable ministries; healthy, fruitful, and thriving. I know we might want to jump to things like, how do we disciple better, or what program ideas offer faster results. But easy isn't always easier. We have to make sure our foundations are set so we can grow the kind of life-changing ministries that God has is calling us to! And that requires that we do the hardworking first.

Thanks for joining us today. Watch for my thoughts on the final 3 NORMALS coming later this week!

- jay

To learn more about my year-long experiment, visit my The Sustainable Experiment page!
​Disclaimer: This is an independent study. I am in no way affiliated with the author or
​the organization the author represents.

When I started student ministry as a kids still in high school, I was all about getting groups of students together for whatever event we were doing. Lock-ins, bowling parties, hayrides, summer camp, winter retreats; it didn't matter, the bigger the better. 

When I went into full-time ministry, I spent my first year striving for bigger numbers. Each week we sponsored a different event with the hopes that more students would come. It was exhausting.

​Then I was told, "Don't worry about the numbers, just focus on who God brings!" And that is partly true, you do focus on the students that God brings. But that thought led me then to focus only on the students who were actively participating in our program. While I still made the effort to invite as many students as possible, it was the students who came out that got my attention. 

As I read through Sustainable Youth Ministry, I am allowing myself to rethink student ministry. And some of that rethinking includes recognizing areas that I personally need improvement. Areas where I have become lazy or complacent. While I want a "big" youth group, I don't always work to build that "big" youth group. In other words, I don't always chase down the student that don't show up.

Mark writes, "...a church that fails to determine how many students it would like to have involved on a weekly basis sets itself up for the anemia that comes from terminally vague expectations."1 It was this statement that made me stop and consider how I think about numbers. Or should I say, rethink.

A church that fails to determine how many students it would like to have involved on a weekly basis sets itself up for the anemia that comes from terminally vague expectations.

I always thought, create a good program, take the time to pour into relationships, preach the life changing message of Jesus, and God will grow the group. And for years the formula has worked. The problem? Student would come and go. We grew, but without a clear goal of how many students we were striving for, we found ourselves rolling with the tide.

But no more. It's time to set a reasonable goal. But more than a goal, there needs to be a plan of how we plan to reach that goal. But that plan is a topic for a different blog post.

2. A Goal Helps to Evaluate Your Ministry.
Whether we like it or not, our success in ministry will be measured but many but the number of students involved in our programs. Elders, parents, the personnel team, even other students will look at your ministry and judge it by the numbers. Seeing the rise in numbers demonstrates a certain level of growth. As the youth worker, you should be regularly evaluating how your ministry is growing. Keeping track of the students participating in you ministry will help you see how you are doing reaching new students, while following up with visitors.

3. A Goal Raises the Energy Level of Your Ministry.
There's something about seeing my ministry grow that gets me excited. For instance, last year we took 23 students and 5 adults to our denominational winter retreat. This year we took 34 students and 7 adults. I was so excited to be taking 11 more students. Next year, I hope to take even more! When you see your numbers growing, it helps you, your students, parents, volunteers, and the church get excited about the youth ministry program. 

Keeping track of the students participating in you ministry will help you see how you are doing reaching new students, while following up with visitors.

Now while numerical growth is important, we can't forget the importance of spiritual growth. Going from 10 students attending your weekly to 40 student is great. But don't get caught up in the numbers game and forget that students need discipleship and spiritual growth opportunity. We'll talk more about spiritual growth later. I just don't want you reading this post thinking growth is simply about getting a lot of students to come to your program.

Since I am taking 2018 to restructure and grow my ministry, I am setting a goal that I think I can reach by December 2018. What's my goal? 50 students. Right now we average 10 to 15 at our weekly meetings. Unfortunately, out of the first 5 weeks in 2018, we've had to a couple unique weeks with football playoff games and cancelations which have delayed some of our plans by a month. Nonetheless, I think we have both the time and the energy to see our goal as something within reach. This month, we will begin our push to grow our program.

So, as you think about your ministry numbers, let me ask you a question. How big do you want your youth ministry to be? Seriously. How big? I see our ministry reaching over 100 students on a weekly basis. It may take a couple of years to reach that number, but I truly believe it's possible. What number goal do you think is reasonable for your group? Think about it, then share it. Let me know what your student ministry number goal is! Then watch for thoughts on how to grow your group in some upcoming posts.

​- jay