Are there people in your church that don’t know about your youth ministry? Are there parents and teenagers that don’t know? I used to get annoyed when someone would act surprised that we had a youth ministry. I wanted to blame them but realized it wasn’t necessarily their fault. Our ministry had no buzz.
Every ministry in your church should create some type of positive conversation in your community. If people aren’t talking about it then no one (outside a small group of people) care if you succeed or fail. But, it isn’t about receiving affirmation because a buzz can:
- Create awareness and bring more teens and families to your church
- Increase volunteer recruitment because people want to be a part of a winning team
- Expand your ministry’s influence beyond youth night and begin to change how others approach faith
Getting your buzz on means people are talking about what you are doing, they are checking it out and they want to be a part of it. To get your ministry buzz going you need to:
Get transparent with the behind the scenes
One of the ways to build excitement about your ministry is to give people a sneak peek of behind the scenes. When you get transparent what you do is share with others your excitement which can be contagious. A few simple ways of doing this are:
- Revealing the new t-shirt for an upcoming camp
- Taking snapshots of the grunt work that goes into preparing for a night of ministry
- Asking teens, parents or volunteers to share their opinion on a decision you are trying to make
- Sharing some of the stories of what is happening in the lives of you are serving
For parents you can get totally transparent by sharing your resources with them via newsletter or website. If you speak at your programs share the audio (or video) the day after. Give out the questions and share the activities. Your transparency will help people trust you because you are bringing the communication up a notch.
Coach your leaders to be advocates
Some of your best advocates are the adult and teen leaders who are giving up their time to serve alongside of you. Not only are they some of your best advocates, they’re waiting for you to give them the green light. One of the reasons our student leaders or adult volunteers hold back from sharing is because they didn’t know they had the authority to do so.
At meetings, programs and through your regular communications encourage your leaders to share what they are doing on social media. Ask them to reach out to interested parents, teens and adults. Give them a script and coach them through different scenarios.
When you ask your team to advocate on your behalf they’ll have the ability to reach people you might overlook. They can connect with people who you cannot connect with and that’s okay because your ministry needs to grow. Get your team on board with building that buzz.
Focus on humility and authenticity
While people want something that is quality they also what it to be real. Youth ministry is not a show to wow and excite teens. It’s an opportunity to engage them into something real. If you want a powerful ministry it needs to be authentic and that all comes from quality leadership.
As a leader you need to embrace humility and constantly strive to grow deeper in your relationship with Christ. As a manager you need to make sure your team is following suit and remembering the WHY behind what you do. If you just try to SELL people on something that isn’t there they will find out and it will break down the trust.
Bottom line you want to make sure your ministry has an identity and that people are clear on what that is. If you need help discovering your ministry’s identity set up a free consultation with MYM by clicking HERE.
Know your identity, share it in as many ways as possible and build up that ministry buzz. You’ll find your recruiting and evangelization efforts become more effective. You’ll have confidence in knowing what you need to do.
What do you do to create awareness and authentic hype around your ministry?
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