How To Kill A Youth Ministry Event

Events and programs can either enhance your ministry or totally drag it down. Chances are you don’t need to start anything new in fact, you might be in the place where some of them need to be eliminated.

There are events that you want to do, need to do and have to do. Knowing which ones are best for your ministry is a challenge because of the:

DEMANDS ON NUMBERS. More people means more success, right? Numbers are important; however, if our focus only stays on the size of those numbers and not the health it can backfire.

MEANING BEHIND THE OPPORTUNITY. Our faith has a lot of traditions. Many of our members have an emotional attachment to them. They are filled with memories and meaning, which make them more than just another event.

EXPECTATIONS THAT THEY BRING WITH THEM. People will bring to you ideas that have been successful at other churches. There is validity to the idea but it might not always work in your paradigm.

To overcome the challenges you need to be able to build a CORE TEAM and an EVALUATION SYSTEM that will help you create a ministry that is effective in reaching teenagers for Christ. To get you moving in the right direction you need to ask questions like:

WHAT’S THE PURPOSE BEHIND THIS OPPORTUNITY?

Why are you running the event or experience? What’s it’s purpose and does it meet the vision that you have in place for your ministry? Knowing the purpose creates alignment in your ministry.

When you have alignment people will be on the same page which creates momentum. Whenever planning or executing the tasks get difficult people will persevere because they will remember why you do what you do matters.

WHAT’S THE RETURN ON YOUR INVESTMENT?

Your energy and consistency are essential to the health of your youth ministry. You should not be wearing yourself out on a program or event that yields little fruit. However, knowing the pure numbers isn’t always good enough.

To effectively measure the return on your investment you need to set tangible goals. Work with your team to see if you are actually accomplishing what you’ve set out to do.

IS THE PARTICULAR PROGRAM HOLDING YOU BACK FROM DOING SOMETHING BETTER?

What you are doing as a church might be good and at a time it might have been great. The problem is when we become too comfortable with good.

In order to constantly improve your ministry you need to consistently work on improving yourself. That means:

• Learning new ministry models.
• Attending conferences and trainings.
• Taking risks and doing something different.

You shouldn’t be afraid of failure if anything you should be afraid of growing stale.

Making sure you have the right components in your ministry can be hard because it requires humility and change. Don’t forget to seek God’s guidance and your team’s accountability. When you do what you’ve been called to do the joy you’ll feel is worth it.