The first episode of The Youth Ministry Mindset Podcast, a limited series with voices from Alpha and YDisciple. Joshua, Annie, and Jordan dive into what youth ministry in the church has been like during COVID and changes that need to be made. Join us as we start the conversation of what youth ministers can do moving into a post-COVID world. We'll look at past failures and look forward to ways to make a space for what our young people need and how to make our ministries more effective.
SHOWNOTES
- Introductions
- Culture matters more than content
- COVID took away the games we were clinging to
- What are the core values of a thriving ministry?
- Clinging to youth ministry models that are ineffective - Tsunami
- Reveals the bedrock/problems for miles before waves/grace come crashing in
- Gen Z seeking the truth and being that crashing wave - Transactional to transformational ministry
- Confirmation prep - viewed as a cause of stress & just checking the boxes
- Missing the grace - the point is to create room for the Holy Spirit
- People come with a transactional mindset
- Need to engage in meaningful relationships
- Opportunity to meet Jesus, have a relationship with Him, and know that they are accepted in the Church
- 4 lenses for looking at youth ministry:
- Real
+ Welcome real doubts, questions, statements
+ Meet the real person of Jesus
+ “Authentic” - Gen Z buzzword
+ Small group - with the objective of engaging in conversation and be heard
+ How can we invite and challenge people to be real with us? How can we make a space for that in the Church? How can we be real with them?
- Relational
+ Concept for a long time, but needs renewal
+ Youth need 5 adults to stay in the Church - so we need the whole Church
+ Youth asking if they belong in the Church
+ What would it look like to turnup the dial on the relational part of our ministry? What can we do to make that a reality? What impact would it have?
- Reliant
+ Relying on the Holy Spirit
+ Create space, do our job, but trust the Holy Spirit to do his part
- Reproducible
+ Work ourselves out of a job
+ Create space for young people to engage/participate in ministry
+ Need to reproduce youth ministers/more volunteers
+ Give opportunities to others - 2021 is the new era of youth ministry
- Many guests will join over this series
REFERENCES
1. “The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, ‘What? You too? I thought I was the only one.’" -C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
2. The most dangerous phrase in the language is ‘we’ve always done it this way.’ -Grace Hopper
3. “It’s not doubt that is toxic to faith, it’s silence’ -Kara Powell
4. “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” -1Corinthians 11:1
5. Parable of the Talents-Matthew 25:14-30
PULL QUOTES
10:30 “It wasn’t really working before, and we knew it, but the change was scary.”
20:10 “They don’t care that we know until they know that we care.”
