From Sampler to Sower

I was talking with a friend of mine recently, about his challenges in getting a new youth ministry off the ground.  He knew what to do, it was just that there were obstacles at every turn.  It reminded me of how hard starting out can really be.  And it got me thinking about how we started out here.

When I first moved to Middletown, over six years ago now, I took things slow.  We moved in the first of October and I immediately started at the church.  However, we did not hold our first youth service until three months later, when school started back up in January after Christmas vacation.  And we didn’t launch our grand opening promoting the service to the general public until March.  During those first several months, I focused on building a core volunteer team and laying the ground work for the youth service we would eventually call Water’s Edge.  Our praise team met weekly to practice.  Our leadership council began planning and preparing.  But we didn’t have any youth services other than our weekly Sunday School classes on Sunday morning.  What I understood then was that for a youth ministry to succeed, it had to have a backbone.

What is a “backbone” program?

According to Todd Capin’s Youthworker Journal article from 1998, now available online from Youth Specialities website, a backbone meeting is “the ministry time around which all other youth group ministries and meetings revolve and function.”  He goes on to give this sound advice: “In fact, until a student ministry has established a backbone, all other facets to the group should be put on hold (or at least pared back) until a solid, regular, backbone meeting is established.” 

Quite honestly, I don’t know where I picked up the name “backbone program.”  I’ve been calling it that for longer than I can remember, but it very well may have come from Capin’s article.  But whether the name came from him or some another long forgotten source, the idea is a sound one, as is his advice.  Every youth group needs a core event around which to build it’s identity and through which it can reach out to others.  Granted, “every” might be hyperbole, especially in the age of postmodernism, but I cannot think of a youth ministry which would not benefit from the firm foundation of a backbone program.

However, backbone programs are neither easy to establish nor maintain.  A core program, if it is to have both quality and depth, requires careful and regular planning.  Gathering the team required to pull off such an event is likewise time consuming, and keeping them equipped and encouraged requires faithful attention.  That’s why Capin’s advice is so good.  If you wait until you have a surfeit of time and energy to launch such an endeavor, you will likely never begin.  However, if you prioritize the backbone you can ensure that you have a firm foundation on which to build additional programming.

What does it take to create a strong backbone program?

It takes vision. Hopefully you have a vision for the youth ministry God wants to grow through you.  There is a sense of vocation in your life, a path to which God is calling, a direction in which He wants you to lead His people.  If not, I’d suggest you start here, in prayer, seeking the will of God for your ministry.  I could violently rip a verse of scripture from it’s context and use it as a prooftext to prove that with out such a vision, your ministry has no hope of survival.  But I don’t think you need me to do that.  You already know it’s true.  The question is are you living out what you already know?

It takes an identity. As I noted in my post on Harnessing the Power of Friendship our goal in marketing Water’s Edge is to create a community awareness of what we do so that when one of our teens invites their friend to Water’s Edge, that friend will 1) Already have heard of us, 2) Already be curious about what happens here and 3) Be looking for an excuse to come check it out.  If we can create that kind of curiosity, inviting friends to Water’s Edge becomes one of the easiest things in the world to do.

However, they can’t have heard of you if you haven’t done what it takes to create an identity for your youth ministry.  Sit down with your leadership team.  Review the vision God has given you, and then begin to search out a way of communicating that vision through your identity.  For example, when we first began planning our backbone program, we knew we wanted a place that 1) was fun, 2) was for friends, 3) suggested the possibility of adventure, 4) was perhaps a little dangerous (there’s the potential you could get swept away) and 5) was just the beginning of something vastly greater.  Given that vision, the name Water’s Edge was a natural fit.  And we began designing our identity from the starting point of vision.

It takes consistency. Again, when it comes to what is keeping our teens from inviting their friends to church, the fear of the invitation being accepted is as big a hindrance as the fear of rejection.  At least that’s what my discussions with teens at the Fall retreat last weekend seemed to indicate.  Teens aren’t really anxious to invite their friends to something that may embarrass them as host.  Nor are they inspired to invite friends if they always have to first ask “Are we even having youth group this week?”  Consistent quality and consistent execution are essential if you are going to build up enough credibility with your teens for them to feel safe in bringing their friends.  If every other week your youth meetings are chaotic, disorganized and poorly run, or worse yet, if every other week your youth meeting gets canceled for some reason, you will never develop a strong backbone.

It takes momentum. No backbone is fully formed over night.  At some point you will have to decide you are ready and launch, but don’t feel like you have to hit a home run the first time you step up to the plate.  Instead, focus on building momentum.  Challenge your team to find a small way in which they can be creative and innovative.  Try something new and exciting.  Pull it off.  Then plan something slightly bigger.  Get the ball rolling with something you can achieve and then build the momentum to pull off the innovations that right now seem impossible.  This is especially important if you are in a church that has a history of talking big but never delivering.  Momentum, along with consistency, will give you the credibility you need to inspire your students and volunteers to attempt the incredible.

It takes hospitality. I recently wrote an entire post on this issue, so I won’t belabor the point here.  But suffice it to say if you don’t have the time, volunteers and space to convey to your guests the message “we were thinking about you long before you ever came” you need find a way to get creative with the resources you do have and creatively develop more.

It takes volunteers. I’ve got to admit I almost feel like a hypocrite here because this is the one area in which right now our youth ministry is the weakest.  It’s not that we have bad volunteers, it’s just that right now we don’t have enough.  That core group of volunteers that I took so long to develop when we first began has dwindled.  Some have moved into other ministries; others have gone to serve as pastors in other churches; Some simply find that Water’s Edge no longer fits into their increasingly busy schedules.  And those that remain are overworked and underappreciated.

It’s the one area where I really need to creatively develop more resources if we are going to continue to grow.  But just because we’re weak in it right now doesn’t mean I don’t understand the importance of it.  (On the contrary, I probably understand it’s importance now more than ever.)  You cannot create a safe environment where students can feel comfortable bringing their friends without adequate volunteers.  You cannont consistently pull off a program that is organized and excellent without adequate volunteers.  And you cannot reach out to more students without having the infrastructure in place to minister to them. So whatever it takes, find a way to recruit, develop, encourage and retain quality volunteers.  Without them you will fail.