TRAINING UP LEADERS

CLYG 2008 Forum

Three things I learned from my own first experience in the Lutheran Church:

INVITE: anyone to church/youth group; they want to be ASKED and INCLUDED

ACCEPT: who they are no matter what or where they come from

AFFIRM: that they have gifts and show them how to use them

WHO YOU LEAD DETERMINES HOW YOU LEAD!

THE ONES ON THE WAY OUT:

Youth ministry can be best described as EXIT ministry- it’s the sacrament of graduation from the church’s confirmation program. “Graduation means we’re DONE!”

THE ONES WHO HAVE MANY CHOICES OF THE WORLD:

Many youth put together their religious beliefs like they would their salad at the salad bar- a little of this, a little of that.

Youth are looking for a soul-shaking, heart waking, world changing God to fall in love with; if they don’t find God in the Christian church, they will most likely settle for lesser gods elsewhere

THE ONES WHO OFTEN GET THE LEAST POSITIVE ATTENTION OR RESOURCES IN THE CHURCH:

Resources are scarce- time, money, qualified and interested servants

The expected levels of accountability are higher for youth leaders

THE ONES WHO ARE COLLECTING EXPERIENCES:

Youth today do not have a loyalty to a denomination as their parents and grandparents once had but they are searching for God in a less conventional way i.e. baby boomers collected materialism while youth today collect experiences.

WHAT ARE YOUTH LOOKING FOR IN LEADERSHIP?

Leaders who exhibit these qualities of leadership:

• A sense of purpose (gives meaning and direction to achieve goals and objectives

• Authentic relationships (trust, reliability, and consistency)

• Hardiness (a sense that things will work out; hope; optimism)

• Action/Risk/Curiosity/Courage (confidence and creativity)

• Relational skills in working with others, i.e. pastors/councils

• Positive self identity and role identity derived from a healthy self image

• Humility (less public recognition for self)

9 Essentials of BEING Youth Leaders

Be Christ-centred• Treat each other differently• Build community• Reflect on how God is present and

working through you• Be Hope-filled• Work cooperatively• Affirm everyone’s gifts

Love the youth

• Manage the attitude, not the behaviours

• Show respect first (model it)

• Listen to them; take seriously what they say

• Identify them as a person of worth

Build relationships

Get to know your youth as people

Have youth work on their relationships with others

Develop group building activities

Provide and model a vision of what life in the church CAN be when people are

given opportunities to grow and work together in partnerships

Be a Model to Youth

Let Youth own the ministry

• Provide opportunity for youth to invest in the programs

• Let youth do leadership

• Make the program youth driven- “Can a young person do this?”

Commitment is Crucial

• Let their ideas take shape

• Spectators or Participants?

• Communicate the purpose and vision for ministry

• Increase the visibility of young people in the church

• Keep a connection to the leadership. i.e. pastor, council, committees

Program- think Big

• More than just one night a week

• Geared to needs of youth and community

• More than just in a building

• Should be include all of the essentials

Promote, promote, promote

• Use a variety of media

• Communicate often

• Make personal contact occasionally

• INVITE

• Communicate to everyone in the church- gives visibility to youth ministry

Understand how congregational size (average worship attendance) makes a difference in program planning

SMALL

MIDSIZE

LARGE

Small (fewer than 100)

• Tasks: relationship building; caring manner; one on one care;

• Issues and concerns: how to do various tasks with limited finances, and methods for caring for people

Midsize (100-300)

• Task: meaningful programs in which people want to participate

• Issues and concerns: what’s available for programs, and conflict management techniques for groups and individuals

Large (more than 300)

• Tasks: meeting diverse needs in large crowds, and director of volunteers/cell groups

• Issues and concerns: setting appropriate vision for the program, and managing groups of volunteers

What is youth leadership?

• Leaders who serve-put the needs of others first

• Leaders who take stands for what they believe in

• Leaders who are learners, followers and visionaries

• Leaders who ACT

• Leaders who are communicators

• Leaders who are creative

• Leaders who know who they are; know their strengths and weaknesses

• Leaders who embrace the talents of others

• Leaders who are role models

How do you develop youth leaders?

• Spend time developing relationships• Share ideas and dream dreams• Share values and beliefs• Talk to each other about what is important• Talk about how they might respond to

what God is calling them to do as church• Challenge one another• Be engaged in a PARTNERSHIP

First Steps

• Assess the level of involvement of your adult leaders and your young people

• Assess your adult leaders ideas about youth ownership, i.e. describe their style of leadership

• Assess your situation in relation to developing young people as leaders,

i.e. do you have active leadership? Do you have the structures in place to do this kind of ministry?

• Assess the way you plan youth ministry, i.e. how will cooperative visioning and planning happen?

Program planning

Four emphases:

Worship (i.e. prayer)

Education (i.e. learning)

Fellowship (i.e. fun)

Outreach (i.e. service)

Leadership should be a supportive, creative, shared learning community that:

• Grabs their attention (ENGAGE)

• Gives them something (INVOLVE)

• Gets something out of them (APPLY)

• Helps them go make a difference (MARK)

DO PROGRAMMING WELL!

• Without service the world is not affected

• Without learning our good intentions might prove to be useless

• Without leadership our contributions would not be effective

• Without prayerful reflection/worship our actions are empty

• Without fun our relationships would be dull

Thanks to the youth leaders who attended this forum! It was great

conversation!!

Resources for this presentation were taken from:

Changing Lives by Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart; Pflaum Publishing, Dayton Ohio; 2004.

Teaming Up by Ginny Ward Holderness; Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky; 1997.