Monday, July 28, 2014

Fighting the Spiritual High - Taking Momentum Home in your Youth Group!

I have gone to the Momentum Youth Conference 13 times in my life!

It has always been a refreshing, revitalizing, and challenging week for me. I was asked to present a youth worker lab to youth pastors, youth workers, and staff who wanted to learn how they could use the Momentum Youth Conference to be a catalyst or provide momentum within their youth groups at home. It was a pleasure to speak with, pray with, and rub shoulders with the 30-40 youth workers that showed up.

Think about it: a church spends approximately $500 to get a teenager to Momentum. This is a significant investment. If you spent $500 on an item wouldn't you want to get something back for it?


Here's how to get the most out your investment after the Momentum Youth Conference is over!

 
 
1. Develop ways for students to connect and share about what God is doing/prayer requests toward the end of Momentum and immediately afterwards!

- Develop a Youth Group Facebook page/Twitter page
- Debrief about your Momentum experience (Make sure your students leave prepared for what they will face after the Conference!)

2. Have a big celebration/student ran service soon after Momentum! Get others to buy into your vision for the future.

- Use what you learned at Momentum to kick-off your Fall programming! Have baptisms, testimonies, and all of your students involved.

People only know what they SEE! If you want to get other students, prospective adult youth worker help, and financial help from members in your congregation they must see how your youth ministry and the Momentum Youth Conference is making a difference in student's lives!

3. Recruit adult help for the Fall!

- Your youth ministry is only as good as the adults that are helping with it.
- Adults are the glue to any youth ministry. You can NEVER have enough good adults!

Drop Out Rate of Students Raised in the Church after High-School

Number of Adults making a significant investment in a teen's life between the ages of 15-18 
Zero - 89%, One - 76%, Two - 68%, Three or Four - 59%, Five or Six - 57%, Seven or More - 50%

4. Come up with goals and a GAMEPLAN for the future!

- Use a phrase or a motto for the school year to convey your gameplan.
- Come up with 3 goals (get student input/buy in) about what you want to do in the Fall. Make sure one of them is a numerical goal.

Goals must be S.M.A.R.T
(S-Specific, M-Measurable, A-Achievable, R-Relevant, T-Time bound)

We as people have a gameplan for our career, retirement, and for where we want to go. Set-up a gameplan and structure for your youth group/small group/students that helps them get to where they need to go.
 
Every youth group needs a balance of DEPTH (growth) and BREADTH (outreach).

5. Dream BIG and DO equipping and serving tasks with your entire group!

- People UNDERESTIMATE what teenagers can UNDERSTAND and DO.
- Do not do youth ministry for teenagers do youth ministry with and by teenagers.
- We learn most about God and ministry outside the church walls.

6. Develop student leadership and give them tasks to DO!

- Some ideas in which you can help talented young people develop their ministry skills:
Develop an 'internship' program, student leadership team, delegate most of your responsibilities to your teens: sound, greeting, worship, creative arts (dance, parody vidoes), and teaching.

Does your youth group do well in these given areas?

The Five W's of an Effective Small Group/Youth Group
Welcome - Friendly/Greeting people (#1 reason people stay at a church)
Worship - Giving testimonies/Sharing what God has done
Witness - Needs to be sharing Christ with the lost
Word - Discussion always needs to focus on God's Word
Walk - Accountability with other believers
 

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