Stuff is NOT Enough

As I continue in my learning experience as a youth pastor, I have come across many of the usual stereotypes for youth pastors and youth ministries. The funny part about most of the youth pastor stereotypes is that they are usually true to some extent. Most youth pastors I know are a little crazy, extremely creative, and tend to struggle with organization and administration.

On the other hand, I usually hate most of the stereotypes of what youth ministries are, or at least what they are perceived to be. I want to rant a little about one of those stereotypes that irks me quite a bit. That stereotype is that as long as the youth ministry is doing "stuff" then students must be growing in their faith.

It truly pains me that the measure of a youth ministry to many is the amount of stuff that is put on the calendar. Don't get me wrong, we need to be having events, developing programs, and attempting to get students together; however, there needs to be more purpose behind everything than just to "hang out." For sixth graders, there are 7 years before they graduate and are off on their own. That's 364 weeks to disciple students to be lifelong followers of Jesus. We have a very limited amount of time to accomplish a monumental task.

Since there isn't any time to waste, we need to be strategic with what we do and how we use our time that we get together as a youth ministry. In the end, time spent hanging out can help to move students closer to Christ, but we need to be strategic in having our students invite friends. In the end, everything we do must have a purpose and a reason behind it that is Kingdom-driven.

So as you continue to work on programs and events for the Fall and beyond, ask yourself a few questions:

• Does everything on the calendar have a purpose behind it?
• How can I communicate the purpose to parents, church leaders, and my lead pastor for every event?
• Is there anything that needs to be changed in order for students to learn to follow Jesus better?