Connecting

Youth ministry is CONNECTING!!! If I was to tell a new Youth Pastor or leader what it the one thing you need to excel at it would be connecting with kids and love them as Christ loves us, connecting with other ministries and connecting with your community!

Connect with kids. You know—take them out for coffee, go to their baseball game, get ice cream with them after school. Spending time with them and letting Christ’s love embrace them through you.

Much of the youth ministry world have not been making “connecting” a priority. Youth ministries are getting good at programming, giving talks, big events and even Bible studies. But not much effort was given to connecting with kids one-on-one.

There is "relational ministry” void every time someone would ask me questions about “problems” in their youth ministry. They would ask me about a kid that wasn’t responding, or a student leader who had fallen into sin, or a certain type of kid that they just weren’t attracting to their ministry. In all these situations I asked one question in return, “Have you tried connecting with them one-on-one?”

Starting a mentoring program, get your leaders to connect with the youth and be a positive role model in their lives. It makes such a huge difference!

Connecting with your community and other ministries has been neglected too! It is time to realize that we are not the only ministry in town and that we cannot do this all on our own.

Start a ministry alliance, get together with other youth Pastors in your area to strategically reach your local schools and city.

Are you connecting… or are you just “running program?”