I thought I should clarify what I mean by "Lasting" Student Ministry.
I mean two things:
1. That the group of students you're gathering lives on beyond your time with them. That means that if/when you leave - whether 3 years from now or 15 years from now - that the group will keep existing!
2. That the student who come in your group will stay believers after they graduate and are on their own. This shows your ministry had a LASTING affect on their lives.
That's the whole purpose of my ebook I created to help youth pastors.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Preparing Your Leaders: Throw 'Em In The Deep End!
I probably didn't learn how to swim like a lot of people did.
I didn't have any little blow up rings to put around my arms. I didn't have a lifeguard to teach me or a swim coach to teach me the correct way to swim.
What DID I have?
At the MOST, all I had was my Dad holding me up in his arms for a few minutes and telling me how to dog paddle!
The first time I ever swam was when I was 9 years old.
I was standing out on this floating boat dock on a lake. I had already gotten in the water in the shallow end. I even got brave and went a little into the deep end while holding onto the dock the whole time.
At this point, I was standing on the dock and my Dad was trying to convince me to jump out into the deep end where my two 16 year old cousins were.
He told me that they wouldn't let me sink and that he'd be right there if I needed him.
I didn't believe him.
I didn't want to jump in.
So, my Dad decided to give me some incentive...
He said, "If you don't jump in, then I'm going to throw you in!"
In case I didn't believe him, he started to get out of the water and prove to me he was serious. That's all it took. I jumped in!
And I began swimming for the very FIRST TIME!
You've got to realize something important here:
Until I jumped in everything I knew about swimming was all just theory. Once I jumped in it became reality.
WRITE THIS DOWN SOMEWHERE...
*Truth doesn't have any effect in our lives until we take action. Truth doesn't become a reality in our lives until we act on it. Only action or application will bring results.
If you want your leaders to really know how to do something, you need to let them DO it! :)
Remember, in my last post that I told how Jesus had the disciples doing stuff from the very beginning? That needs to be our technique!
Think about it this way...
Imagine a man who decides to be farmer. He buys the best piece of land he can afford. He buys all the tractors and machines that he needs to plant and harvest. He reads everything he can on effective farming techniques. He goes to some seminars on farming. He even talks to other farmers about how to plant and harvest a good crop.
But there's one thing he doesn't do: he never plants any seed.
So, when spring comes he has NOTHING to show for all that he knows!
We'd think a farmer like that who expected a crop from what he KNEW instead of what he DID would be a little wacky. :)
But that's what we do a lot of the time!
We hear a truth.
We study it.
We even accept that it's a good idea.
But, we LEAVE OUT the missing ingredient... we never act on it. We never apply it!
Don't let your leaders do this. Make sure they do/live it.
If you want to have a lasting student ministry you need to have leaders who know how to lead whether you're there... or one day when you're not!
I didn't have any little blow up rings to put around my arms. I didn't have a lifeguard to teach me or a swim coach to teach me the correct way to swim.
What DID I have?
At the MOST, all I had was my Dad holding me up in his arms for a few minutes and telling me how to dog paddle!
The first time I ever swam was when I was 9 years old.
I was standing out on this floating boat dock on a lake. I had already gotten in the water in the shallow end. I even got brave and went a little into the deep end while holding onto the dock the whole time.
At this point, I was standing on the dock and my Dad was trying to convince me to jump out into the deep end where my two 16 year old cousins were.
He told me that they wouldn't let me sink and that he'd be right there if I needed him.
I didn't believe him.
I didn't want to jump in.
So, my Dad decided to give me some incentive...
He said, "If you don't jump in, then I'm going to throw you in!"
In case I didn't believe him, he started to get out of the water and prove to me he was serious. That's all it took. I jumped in!
And I began swimming for the very FIRST TIME!
You've got to realize something important here:
Until I jumped in everything I knew about swimming was all just theory. Once I jumped in it became reality.
WRITE THIS DOWN SOMEWHERE...
*Truth doesn't have any effect in our lives until we take action. Truth doesn't become a reality in our lives until we act on it. Only action or application will bring results.
If you want your leaders to really know how to do something, you need to let them DO it! :)
Remember, in my last post that I told how Jesus had the disciples doing stuff from the very beginning? That needs to be our technique!
Think about it this way...
Imagine a man who decides to be farmer. He buys the best piece of land he can afford. He buys all the tractors and machines that he needs to plant and harvest. He reads everything he can on effective farming techniques. He goes to some seminars on farming. He even talks to other farmers about how to plant and harvest a good crop.
But there's one thing he doesn't do: he never plants any seed.
So, when spring comes he has NOTHING to show for all that he knows!
We'd think a farmer like that who expected a crop from what he KNEW instead of what he DID would be a little wacky. :)
But that's what we do a lot of the time!
We hear a truth.
We study it.
We even accept that it's a good idea.
But, we LEAVE OUT the missing ingredient... we never act on it. We never apply it!
Don't let your leaders do this. Make sure they do/live it.
If you want to have a lasting student ministry you need to have leaders who know how to lead whether you're there... or one day when you're not!
Friday, February 23, 2007
Student Ministry - Everyday
Did you ever see Jesus freak out when one of his disciple missed out on an important lesson or miracle? (He was calm about Doubting Thomas missing his first post-resurrection appearance to the disciples.)
Why didn't he worry about it like we do?
Because he did ministry diffferently. Think about it...
His primary way to reach and teach others wasn't just through a large gathering where he gave a teaching.
He definitely had those times, but that wasn't his ONLY/MAJOR way to reach and teach others.
He knew that if someone wasn't there to hear or see the lesson that he'd have other chances and ways to communicate the same lesson!
What methods did he use? Here are 3 methods:
That way you don't have to trip about who's there on your "big night" or not!
Why didn't he worry about it like we do?
Because he did ministry diffferently. Think about it...
His primary way to reach and teach others wasn't just through a large gathering where he gave a teaching.
He definitely had those times, but that wasn't his ONLY/MAJOR way to reach and teach others.
He knew that if someone wasn't there to hear or see the lesson that he'd have other chances and ways to communicate the same lesson!
What methods did he use? Here are 3 methods:
- He spent time with them regularly. They saw and heard lessons from him every day!
- He taught them one-on-one and in small groups. The disciples seemed to hardly get the "big gathering" lessons. Jesus almost always had to take them aside later and explain the lessons to them.
- He taught them by giving them ministry to do. Do you realize Jesus had the disciples baptizing people when they didn't even know he was going to die and resurrect yet! He could've said, "Hey, let me do it and you guys watch, so you know how to do it when I'm gone," but he didn't! He had them in the water dunking people! He almost always let his followers be a part (DO a part) in his ministry. How about you?
That way you don't have to trip about who's there on your "big night" or not!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo!
Who have you picked to pour your time/life into?
What students have you chosen to help lead this group with you?
Some of the ones you pick might be the natural leaders who the students already follow, but some might be the ones that are still "diamonds in the rough".
What adults have you chosen to help lead this group with you?
You need other adults to help expand your realm of influence. There are a lot of students who will relate to you and really connect with you, but there are some who won't.
When you choose other adults to help you lead, you've just extended your ability to reach another type of student.
How do you pick the right leaders?
You pray! Jesus said in Matthew 9:37-38...
"He said to his disciples, 'The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.'" (NLT)
This is advice isn't just talk from Jesus. It's what Jesus DID before he picked the 12 disciples in Luke 6:12-13...
"One day soon afterward Jesus went to a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles."
To have a lasting student ministry you have to have other leaders to share the ministry with you. You have to have leaders to pass the ministry on to.
Start today.
Pray and seek God's advice.
Choose some others (or choose some more) to help you lead.
What students have you chosen to help lead this group with you?
Some of the ones you pick might be the natural leaders who the students already follow, but some might be the ones that are still "diamonds in the rough".
What adults have you chosen to help lead this group with you?
You need other adults to help expand your realm of influence. There are a lot of students who will relate to you and really connect with you, but there are some who won't.
When you choose other adults to help you lead, you've just extended your ability to reach another type of student.
How do you pick the right leaders?
You pray! Jesus said in Matthew 9:37-38...
"He said to his disciples, 'The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.'" (NLT)
This is advice isn't just talk from Jesus. It's what Jesus DID before he picked the 12 disciples in Luke 6:12-13...
"One day soon afterward Jesus went to a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles."
To have a lasting student ministry you have to have other leaders to share the ministry with you. You have to have leaders to pass the ministry on to.
Start today.
Pray and seek God's advice.
Choose some others (or choose some more) to help you lead.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
What You Need To Succeed In Student Ministry Pt. 2
The only way to gain experiential knowledge is through action.
You can read all the books on youth ministry you want, but if you don't apply what you know, you'll never see any results!
You can memorize the Bible and preach amazing sermons, but without action your sermons will never change your own life!
Edwin Markham said this, "We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life."
You can read all the books on youth ministry you want, but if you don't apply what you know, you'll never see any results!
You can memorize the Bible and preach amazing sermons, but without action your sermons will never change your own life!
- Will God judge us on how good we spoke or what we knew?
- Or, will he judge us on how well we lived out what we knew?
Edwin Markham said this, "We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life."
What You Need To Succeed in Student Ministry Pt. 1
The first thing you need to succeed in student ministry is knowledge.
You need 3 kinds of knowledge:
1. Head knowledge
You need to know what to do. What not to do.
2. Experiential Knowledge
You need to know from experience. It doesn't help if you just know" something in your head. You've got to know it in your life and your experience. This is where you learn HOW to do what you know. Without this kind of knowledge you won't see many results! (More on this in part 2.)
3. Relational Knowledge
You need to know God. You need to know the students God gives you. This is the most important of the 3 kinds of knowledge. Without this kind of knowledge, you're ministry will be lifeless and powerless
You need 3 kinds of knowledge:
1. Head knowledge
You need to know what to do. What not to do.
2. Experiential Knowledge
You need to know from experience. It doesn't help if you just know" something in your head. You've got to know it in your life and your experience. This is where you learn HOW to do what you know. Without this kind of knowledge you won't see many results! (More on this in part 2.)
3. Relational Knowledge
You need to know God. You need to know the students God gives you. This is the most important of the 3 kinds of knowledge. Without this kind of knowledge, you're ministry will be lifeless and powerless
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