How To Do An Overhaul On Religious Ed

You might not want to admit to it, but your religious ed isn’t doing what you want it to do.  You decide the only solution is to overhaul the entire program, but how?

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First, make sure you are not alone on this.  Ask your team, consult your pastor and make sure you just aren’t feeling stuck.  To overhaul your religious ed and create a real discipleship program you need to:

CHANGE THE ENVIRONMENTS

If you want your religious ed to look different you need to make it look different. What does the environment say?  Does it scream, “MORE SCHOOL!” or “WE DON’T CARE ABOUT CLEANLINESS!”

Your environments matter because when teens can see the change they feel the change.  Get rid of any clutter.  Create more of a relational feel by having people sit in a circle or on something causal like a couch.

FOCUS ON THE ESSENTIALS

Religious ed can focus on too many things.  They can all be important, it just might be too much.  You only have the students for a few hours a year.

What do you need them to know?  What can you tell them over and over again that will stick?  On top of that figure out what you can tell them that will motivate them to go deeper? Then repeat it.

WRITE OUT THE PLAN

Not everything will change at once.  Set goals, and build a timetable.  It will cultivate accountability to get the plan down on paper and it can serve as a reminder.  This is especially important when it comes to changing something like religious ed.

CREATE COMMITMENT FOR THE JOURNEY

Life change happens in relationships and your religious ed can be relational.  Try keeping the same group of teens together with the same leaders over a few years.

Over time trust will build.  With trust comes permission to peel back the layers.  With time comes the ability to go deeper and ask the tougher questions. With vulnerability comes the ability to embrace truth.

GET THE TEAM ON BOARD

No use trying to make change if you are going at it alone.  Whether you are the pastor or a youth minister you need support.  Not only do you need people cheering you on, you need ideas because you don’t have all the answers.

If you don’t have their support consider whether or not it’s wise to move forward or look at the level of trust in the relationship.  If there is a lack of trust focus on building it.  You need people with you.

LEAN INTO THE PUSHBACK 

The idea of an overhaul on religious ed is going to make many people uneasy.  Don’t ignore the pushback entirely.  Instead:

• Listen to it.

• Acknowledge that they’ve been heard.

• Thank them for sharing their voice.

• Bounce it off of trusted advisors.

• Move forward.

If you ignore people will pin you as someone who is self-centered.  If you lean in and embrace people might not agree but will be satisfied that they were heard.

EMBRACE PATIENCE

Changing a paradigm like religious ed takes time.  It takes set backs and failure.  As a leader you not only need to embrace patience but preach it too.  Your leaders will want fruit just as badly as you do.  Remind them that growth takes times.

COMMUNICATE THE VISION

Not only will people lose patience but they’ll ask, “Why are we doing this?”  Remind them of what matters by casting vision.  Share with them the progress.  Give them examples of what it looks like when you are succeeding.  Know the big picture.

Is it necessary to overhaul your youth ministry?  Only if you feel like disciples aren’t being formed.  In the end your youth ministry needs to be a movement and sometimes that requires big change.

[reminder] What holds you back from making any big changes? [/reminder]