In part one we looked briefly at event/activity driven youth ministry.
Our approach at NHC youth is a bit different. Since we are a purpose driven youth ministry we focus on 5 areas of balance in our purpose (fellowship, discipleship, mission, ministry, worship). To do an activity without a purpose is simply filling time with an event and activity with no real idea or hope of what to accomplish in the lives of the students.
Example: We had a Laser Tag all night event. Was the purpose to play as many games of laser tag as possible? No. Two purposes were accomplished in this event. First was fellowship – students built relationships with each other as they competed in teams throughout the night. Second purpose was mission – we had a devotion time that was focused on reaching their friends with the love of Jesus Christ, using laser tag as an illustration. A third benefit is students got to build relationships with their adult leaders as they traveled to and from the event and spent an entire night playing games together, investing in student’s lives is primo.
Keeping this in mind here are some things I consider as I look at planning out our events and activities:
>What is the purpose?
>What do we hope to accomplish?
>How will the event add to our weekly youth ministry?
>How will this event impact the overall vision of the ministry?
What other considerations are there in planning? We will answer these questions in “What’s Your Plan?” Part 3
6 comments:
For you, is "mission" interchangeable with "evangelism"?
I group both together because our mission starts here and goes around the world. I believe that the way we talk about missions has done a little damage. We view the Christians from America in a foreign land as the "missionaries". We are all called to be on mission whether it is here or overseas.
Acts 1:8
I definitely agree that we are called to be missionaries not only abroad, but here in the US. Whether you're in Wal-Mart buying chicken or In Mozambique building a house, if you're a Christian, then you're a missionary there. My concern was that the word "evangelism" was not part of it, so I just wanted to know if by mission you meant what I would probably call evangelism.
10-4
As my husband and I are finally coming down to making a decision about our new church home, your latest blogs will really help us in determining how well the youth programs at the prospective churches are operating. I love the questions you consider before committing to an event.
I am wondering how mission focused you are with your youth. Do you have monthly organizations you volunteer for (ie; adopt-a-highway, serving at a homeless shelter, readers at nursing homes...) as well as yearly events focused on missions? The church we are leaving is HEAVILY focused on missions that involve youth participation, so any church we look at pales in comparison. BUT, we are more interested in substance by having a youth PASTOR, not a director. While our kids are very busy with youth activities, they aren't being pastored. Yes, they are being the hands and feet of Jesus by doing for others, but do they GET IT? Granted,there is much to be said for home enrichment and our kids see us living that example. What about the kids that aren't?
Your thoughts, Andy?
We did a mission camp each summer.
We are doing a local mission project this summer.
We do beach missions by handing out bottled water.
Last fall we took iced down watermelon and oranges to the football team, that was cool.
Other than that we don't do much more, not on a monthly basis. I would like to see some sort of mission project about 3 or 4 times a year.
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