Isn't this process backward?
Shouldn't youth ministry be cutting edge because it deals with students who are at the cusp of cultural relevancy? If we start with figuring out what works in reaching teenagers with gospel truth that methodology will become the norm for the way church is done in the future. Whether we want to admit it we live in a 'young thinking' world.
Throughout my years of experience in youth ministry I have become a firm proponent in the belief that an effective youth ministry should have a second campus to outreach and equip it's leaders.
I have been a part of two different youth ministries that had 'branch' campuses and how each is structured was different due to our youth ministry's vision and mission. My past youth ministry had a second campus and partnered with Campus Life to do outreach at our local middle-school's cafeteria. My current youth ministry just partnered with the Boys and Girls Club in Goshen to reach and equip students on Wednesdays.
Here is why every youth ministry should think about opening up a second campus to do ministry:
1. Your church or youth ministry cannot possibly reach everyone in your area. Your church is only going to attract a certain type of person. The saying is true, birds of a feather flock together. The same is even more true of popularity and territory driven teenagers. On top of that many teenagers can not logistically get to youth group on time if their parent is working or if they live to far away. Opening up a second campus to do ministry allows you to reach a broader spectrum of people. Each campus looks different and that's OK as long as the mission is the same. We are trying to reach a different spectrum of student at our Boys and Girls club outreach ministry, therefore, our programming must be different.
2. Youth ministry that focuses on programming in it's own building can get stale...and quickly. If the programming is for your churched teens they can quickly get to thinking that church and youth ministry is all about them! This is a false perspective that I try to drive out of my teenagers. We have a global mandate to reach all nations. It starts by reaching teenagers in your own town.
3. You get to equip your teenagers for ministry. The best person to lead a teenager to the Lord is (drum roll please) another teenager! Having a second campus gives me comfortability in giving budding teen leaders an opportunity to develop their gifts. Every week we will have a teen lead our game time, a different teen share their testimony, a different teen teach, and all of our teens will be intentional about ministering in a small group setting. If something does not go 'right' it's OK because many students that we are ministering to at the Boys and Girls Club have zero church background and simply are happy that we are there investing into their lives. It's a perfect opportunity to develop your own teenagers.
4. It brings enthusiasm back to your own youth ministry. For example, we will do programming at the Boys and Girls Club every Wednesday before youth group. This past week we took close to 30 students and ministered to 50+ elementary and middle-school students. When we had our Jr. High and Sr. High youth group I had every teen who went to our outreach ministry stand in a line in front of their peers and share the name of ONE student whom they had gotten to know and a little bit about each student. The effect of this exercise was more than positive as we had students sign up later that night to join us in our outreach ministry. It also gave me an opportunity to pound home yet again a missional value of our youth group in that we will do what it takes to reach lost students.
5. It's, dare I say, the new wave of youth ministry. Teenagers are looking to connect. Many enjoy connecting with a small to moderate group of like-minded individuals. A way to encourage growth in your youth ministry is to help lead these different groups, where each has their own flavor, but yet the mission, values, and culture is the same. It will be important for our youth ministry going forward to plug the students that we are ministering to into our home church and every couple of times have events that are combined events (retreats, conferences, etc) so that all of our students see that they are part of something that is BIGGER than themselves.
I'm proud of how well our students were in being intentional and caring for different students at the Boys and Girls Club. In fact, the manager of the Boys and Girls club came to me elated at the number and intentionality of our teenagers. We made an impression on him!
When you get a bunch of teenagers to focus, equip them, and give them a missional task - WATCH OUT!
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