Church Programs and Community
I use to sneer at a youth ministry program that had over one hundred teens yet many seemed to stay on the fringe and the program seemed to have little effect on their spiritual growth.
As a teen, I attended a church that had no youth program and as a result, I was able to connect with the pastor and other spiritual leaders who had a huge impact on my life.
Now as a youth pastor at the same small church (which had no youth group) I am reluctant to create a complex program. My rationale:
1. Teens get lost in big programs, when they are one in a crowd of 100.
2. I do not have the time to make it happen. (train leaders, write messages, plan activities)
Our youth group has been rather informal and stayed around 10-20 teens. I have not been concerned about numerical growth because it has happened rather naturally (teens bring their friends from time to time) and I am focused on the spiritual growth of the teens. I am not getting bogged down with trying to come up with gross games but rather spend my time planning a message or playing basketball with them.
But I'm sensing a problem
We have had an extremely low visitor retention percentage. I have not bothered with keeping actual statistics but I can think of at least 5 teens that have come for a few weeks and then just stopped coming.
Why is this?
There may be a number of factors but I think one is that they feel uncomfortable being the one new person in a group that know each other real well. Could community actually prevent new people from entering. I' m trying to think what is worse: having a large group of people at your church who are unconnected (what happens at the 100 teen church) or have people just stop coming when they feel unconnected, which seems to be happening at our youth group?
Perhaps the 100 teen church could take more initiative in connecting the fringe teens
Perhaps our youth group needs to create space for people who are not yet connected. Would it be that bad to have 10 new people who are new. They might not share a connection with the teens that have been attending but they would at least share a connection with the others who are first-timers. This would require more effort on my part and the help of several other teammates. I think if I were to stay where I am at (I'm not because I'm getting married and moving) I would try to get more leaders involved and look at adding a little more structure (while still maintaining the informal gatherings) or program in order to reach out.
Thoughts?
As a teen, I attended a church that had no youth program and as a result, I was able to connect with the pastor and other spiritual leaders who had a huge impact on my life.
Now as a youth pastor at the same small church (which had no youth group) I am reluctant to create a complex program. My rationale:
1. Teens get lost in big programs, when they are one in a crowd of 100.
2. I do not have the time to make it happen. (train leaders, write messages, plan activities)
Our youth group has been rather informal and stayed around 10-20 teens. I have not been concerned about numerical growth because it has happened rather naturally (teens bring their friends from time to time) and I am focused on the spiritual growth of the teens. I am not getting bogged down with trying to come up with gross games but rather spend my time planning a message or playing basketball with them.
But I'm sensing a problem
We have had an extremely low visitor retention percentage. I have not bothered with keeping actual statistics but I can think of at least 5 teens that have come for a few weeks and then just stopped coming.
Why is this?
There may be a number of factors but I think one is that they feel uncomfortable being the one new person in a group that know each other real well. Could community actually prevent new people from entering. I' m trying to think what is worse: having a large group of people at your church who are unconnected (what happens at the 100 teen church) or have people just stop coming when they feel unconnected, which seems to be happening at our youth group?
Perhaps the 100 teen church could take more initiative in connecting the fringe teens
Perhaps our youth group needs to create space for people who are not yet connected. Would it be that bad to have 10 new people who are new. They might not share a connection with the teens that have been attending but they would at least share a connection with the others who are first-timers. This would require more effort on my part and the help of several other teammates. I think if I were to stay where I am at (I'm not because I'm getting married and moving) I would try to get more leaders involved and look at adding a little more structure (while still maintaining the informal gatherings) or program in order to reach out.
Thoughts?
posted by JHW | 2:33 PM
2 Comments:
hey. good questions. i think that it depends on the person leading...dynamics change and can be both good and bad. can't lead being someone you're not. sorry that's some crappy dialogue to a good question.
I don't think "community" is just a Christian catch word on par with other cliches or bumper stickers. It is a serious lack in our churches, in our society.
My view that "programs limit connectivity" is softening.
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