I recently was speaking to a new youth minister who asked me the question, “Where do I start when it comes to building a healthy ministry for teenagers?” It’s a loaded question, but I always have the same answer, “It depends where you want to take the next generation?”
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Doesn’t matter the shape, or size of your ministry the one essential ingredient to success is a well thought out and clear vision. Without vision the energy and resources you pour into your ministry will evaporate quickly.
[Tweet “Without a vision the people lose restraint; but happy is the one who follows instruction. – Proverbs 29:18”]Jesus never told his disciples, “Go and…
He told them to, “Go and make disciples!” The vision for your youth ministry has to center around the fact that we need to grow disciples and commission them to make new ones. To focus on the vision that Jesus has for the church you need to clarify that for your ministry.
If we are going to grow and commission disciples we have to know what one looks like. To help craft your vision start identifying the characteristics of a disciple.
You’ll probably create an endless list, so the challenge is to identify the few that will have the largest impact. In other words you need to know which habits will lead your teens to develop more. Once you’ve identified a disciple you’ll be able grow them
To start growing a disciple you need to know who you are working with. The teenagers in your community are unique in many different ways. How you reach them is going to be different to how someone across the country should. To understand your audience you need to know:
Start crafting a picture of your target audience. Get to know them and you’ll discover how you are supposed to reach them and bring them towards the vision God has given you.
Your church is going to have limits. Those limits can range from financial, to structural and even culturally. Knowing your limits means understanding your mission field.
Instead of complaining about the limits embrace them. Look at ways you can work with in them and trust that God has you right where He needs you.
As you begin to construct your vision it’s important that you share it Consistently and Creatively. Make sure you are sharing it at Different Levels of Your Ministry. The more people who know your vision the more efficient you will be at reaching it.
When you have a vision for your ministry you will be able to create programming that makes sense. You’ll never wonder, “Why am I doing this?” or “Is this worth it?” A vision gives you the answer to why ministry is important, you just need to discover the one God has given you.