The Failure of Youth Ministry

I found an interesting article from the late great Mike Yaconelli from youth specialties. It was an article about the failure of youth ministry. I thought it worth a repost. Let me know what you think...

The Failure of Youth Ministry
by Mike Yaconelli

What is the most important function of youth ministry?

A) Introducing young people to Jesus
B) Providing healthy activities
C) Involving young people in service
D) Abstinence pledges
E) Good theological training
F) Worship

Answer: None of the above.

The most important function of youth ministry is longevity. Long-term discipleship.

It's my contention that the vast majority of youth ministries focus all of their time and energy on the none-of-the-aboves and very little on longevity. How do I know?

Look at the results.

Attend any youth group in this country and notice the "ageing effect."

Attendance is directly proportional to age. The older the students, the fewer are likely to attend youth group. Typically, there are more freshman than sophomores, more sophomores than juniors, and more juniors than seniors.

I'm sure there are many reasons for this phenomenon. Older students are more likely to work, more likely to have a car, and more likely to be extremely busy. But the real reason is that older students are much more likely to lose interest in Christianity, lose the desire to stay close to Christ, or don't lose the willingness to pay the price of commitment. In the everyday battle for the souls of the older students, the lure of the secular is just too strong.

Almost every study out there shows that when it comes to moral behavior, there's no difference between secular and Christian students. They drink as much, screw as much, have oral sex as much, and party as much.

Why?

Youth ministry doesn't have any staying power.

Young people flock to Christian concerts, cheer Jesus at large events, and work on service projects. Unfortunately, it's not because of Jesus; it's because they're young!

The success of youth ministry in this country is an illusion.

Very little youth ministry has a lasting impact on students.

I believe we're no more effective today reaching young people with the gospel than we've ever been. In spite of all the dazzling super stars of youth ministry, the amazing array of YS products, the thousands of youth ministry training events, nothing much has changed.

Following Jesus is hard.

Faith is difficult.

Discipleship requires a huge investment of time. Most of us don't have the time. Or we chose not to take the time. Or our current models of ministry don't allow us the time.

So let's be honest.

Youth ministry as an experiment has failed. If we want to see the church survive, we need to rethink youth ministry.

What does that mean? I don't have a clue. But my hunch is that if we want to see young people have a faith that lasts, then we have to completely change the way we do youth ministry in America.

I wonder if any of us has the courage to try.

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Copyright 2003 CCM Communications, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

What Kind of Joy

The room is cold and damp. I can hear tiny feet skittering across the floors.  Rats!  Why did it have to be rats?!
It seems like forever I have been in this prison of mine
Now I face a death sentence cast down upon me.  If only I could find an escape...
     There are two other men on the other side of the wall.  I can hear them talking and singing.  I lean over to the hole in the wall and listen.  I can hear two men talking with excitement and laughing talking about the last few weeks occurrence's.  I holler thru the wall a "hello" and they respond back with the same.   I ask them how they can be so joyful in this place.  They respond that they are here for crimes against the government, but the King that they serve knows they are here and has sent a Messenger to tell them He will take care of them.  They ask me why I am here, and I reply jokingly, "I shot the sheriff...but I did not shoot the deputy!"  I tell them I feel like I have been in this prison all my life.  Subject to the four walls of pain surrounding me everyday.
      They tell me with a joy in their voices that this is not their first time in a prison or being beaten but they are glad to suffer for their King.
What kind of joy is this, to count it a blessing to suffer?  When they should be crying, there is joy in their eyes.  What kind of joy gives these prisoners a song when they are staring death in the face?
They tell me it is the joy of a soul that is forgivin' and free...
My King has promised me this joy, it just seems sometimes I forget the tune and need to be reminded every now and then.  May my song be sung loud enough that others would ask me, "what kind of joy is this" you have?

Glass of Water and Stress

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience,
a glass of water and asked, How heavy is this glass of water?"
Answers called out ranging from 2 to 5 pounds.
The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter.
It depends on how long you try to hold it."

He continued, "If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day,
you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight.
But the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.
"And that's the way it is with stress management.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes
increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on.
As with the glass of water, you have to put it down."

Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble
and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

MEMO FROM THE PASTORAL SEARCH COMMITTEE

In our search for a suitable pastor, the following scratch sheet was developed for your perusal. Of the candidates investigated by the committee, only one was found to have the necessary qualities. The list contains the names of the candidates and comments on each, should you be interested in investigating them further for future pastoral placements.

Noah
He has 120 years of preaching experience, but no converts.

Moses
He stutters; and his former congregation says he loses his temper over trivial things.

Abraham
He took off to Egypt during hard times. We heard that he got into trouble with the authorities and then tried to lie his way out.

David
He is an unacceptable moral character. He might have been considered for minister of music had he not fallen.

Solomon
He has a reputation for wisdom but fails to practice what he preaches.

Elijah
He proved to be inconsistent, and is known to fold under pressure.

Hosea
His family life is in a shambles. Divorced, and remarried to a prostitute.

Jeremiah
He is too emotional, alarmist; some say a real pain in the neck.

Amos
Comes from a farming background. Better off picking figs.

John
He says he is a Baptist but lacks tact and dresses like a hippie. Would not feel comfortable around him at a church potluck supper.

Peter
Has a bad temper, and was heard to have even denied Christ publicly.

Paul
We found him to lack tact. He is too harsh. His appearance is contemptible, and he preaches far too long.

Timothy
He has potential, but is much too young for the position.

Judas
He seemed to be very practical, cooperative, good with money, cares for the poor, and dresses well. We all agreed that he is just the man we are looking for to fill the vacancy as our Senior Pastor.

Thank you for all you have done in assisting us with our pastoral search.

Sincerely,
The Pastoral Search Committee.

The Donut Master

There was a boy by the name of Steve who was attending college
where Brother Christianson taught seminary.

He had an open-door policy and would take in any student who had
been thrown out of another class as long as they would abide by
his rules.

Steve had been kicked out of his sixth period and no other
teacher wanted him, so he went into Brother Christianson's
seminary class.

Steve was told that he could not be late, so he arrived just
seconds before the bell rang, and he would sit in the very back
of the room. He would also be the first to leave after the
class was over.

One day, Brother Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so
he could talk with him. After class, Bro. Christianson pulled
Steve aside and said, "You think you're pretty tough, don't
you?"

Steve's answer was, "Yeah, I do."

Then Brother Christianson asked, "How many pushups can you do?"

Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."

"200? That's pretty good, Steve," Brother Christianson said.

"Do you think you could do 300?"

Steve replied, "I don't know... I've never done 300 at a time."

"Do you think you could?" again asked Brother Christianson.

"Well, I can try," said Steve.

"Can you do 300 in sets of 10?
I need you to do 300 in sets of ten for this to work.
Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it,"
Brother Christianson said.

Steve said, "Well... I think I can... yeah, I can do it."

Brother Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on
Friday."

Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of
the room.

When class started, Brother Christianson pulled out a big box of
donuts. Now these weren't the normal kinds of donuts, they were
the extra fancy BIG kind with cream centers and frosting swirls.

Everyone was pretty excited. It was Friday, the last class of
the day, and they were going to get an early start on the
weekend.

Bro. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and
asked, "Cynthia, do you want a donut?" Cynthia said, "Yes."

Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would
you do ten pushups so that Cynthia can have a donut?"

Steve said, "Sure," and jumped down from his desk to do a quick
ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Bro. Christianson put a
donut on Cynthia's desk.

Bro. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked,
"Joe do you want a donut?"

Joe said, "Yes." Bro. Christianson asked, "Steve would you do
ten pushups so Joe can have a donut?" Steve did ten pushups,
Joe got a donut.

And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten pushups for
every person before they got their donuts and down the second
aisle, until Bro. Christianson came to Scott. Scott was captain
of the football team and center of the basketball team. He was
very popular and never lacking for female companionship.

When Bro. Christianson asked, "Scott do you want a donut?"

Scott's reply was, "Well, can I do my own pushups?"

Bro. Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."

Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."

Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would
you do ten pushups so Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?"

Steve started to do ten pushups. Scott said, "HEY! I said I
didn't want one!"

Bro. Christianson said, "Look, this is my classroom, my class,
my desks, and my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don't
want it." And he put a donut on Scott's desk.

Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He
just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much
effort to be getting up and down.

You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around
his brow.

Bro. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students
were beginning to get a little angry.

Bro. Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?"

Jenny said, "No."

Then Bro. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten
pushups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn't want?" Steve
did ten, Jenny got a donut.

By now, the students were beginning to say "No" and there were
all these uneaten donuts on the desks. Steve was also having to
really put forth a lot of effort to get these pushups done for
each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the
floor beneath his face; his arms and brow were beginning to get
red because of the physical effort involved.

Bro. Christianson asked Robert to watch Steve to make sure he
did ten pushups in a set because he couldn't bear to watch all
of Steve's work for all of those uneaten donuts. So Robert
began to watch Steve closely.

Bro. Christianson started down the fourth row.

During his class, however, some students had wandered in and sat
along the heaters along the sides of the room. When Bro.
Christianson realized this; he did a quick count and saw 34
students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be
able to make it.

Bro. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and
the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a
rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.

Steve asked Bro. Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch
on each one?" Bro. Christianson thought for a moment, "Well,
they're your pushups. You can do them any way that you want."
And Bro. Christianson went on.

A few moments later, Jason came to the room and was about to
come in when all the students yelled, "NO! Don't come in! Stay
out!"

Jason didn't know what was going on.

Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."

Bro. Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason comes in you
will have to do ten pushups for him."

Steve said, "Yes, let him come in." Bro. Christianson said,
"Okay, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way right now.
Jason, do you want a donut?"

"Yes."

"Steve, will you do ten pushups so that Jason can have a donut?"
Steve did ten pushups very slowly and with great effort.

Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.

Bro. Christianson finished the fourth row, then started on those
seated on the heaters. Steve's arms were now shaking with each
pushup in a struggle to lift himself against the force of
gravity. Sweat was dropping off of his face, and by this time,
there was not a dry eye in the room.

The very last two girls in the room were cheerleaders and very
popular. Bro. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last,
and asked, "Linda, do you want a doughnut? Linda said, very
sadly, "No, thank you."

Bro. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten pushups
so that Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?"

Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow pushups for
Linda.

Then Bro. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan.

"Susan, do you want a donut?"

Susan, with tears flowing down her face, asked, Bro.
Christianson, "Can I help him?"

Bro. Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No, he has to
do it alone. Steve, would you do ten pushups so Susan can have
a donut?" As Steve very slowly finished his last pushup, with
the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required
of him, having done 350 pushups, his arms buckled beneath him
and he fell to the floor.

Brother Christianson turned to the room and said.

"And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, plead to the
Father, 'Into your hands I commend my spirit.'

With the understanding that He had done everything that was
required of Him, He collapsed on the cross and died. And like
some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the
desk, uneaten."

What A Week!

What a week this has been! Have you ever had a week when everything just seemed to go wrong? Well, that was my week. I turned my back on a friend, lost a friend to death and just felt like everyone in this small town had it out for me.

See, it started out so great, just another day of having fun laughing with friends, ministering to people and seeing lives changed. Then all of a sudden, poof! It was like somebody ripped the carpet out from underneath me.

We were all out to dinner just sitting around the table eating and telling jokes, sharing out our day of ministry, when out of nowhere someone at the table announces he's going to die. That isn't something you just say; it's not like, "hey pass the salt, oh, by the way, I'm dying, how's the meat loaf?". No, there needs to be preparation, a lead in a buffer. But no, not this time.

We were all shocked, nobody was saying anything, it was too quiet. That eerie quiet. So I spoke up and said, "I won't allow that to happen", as if I could stop it.

That was a week ago. The group all got together again tonite. We were all in the room, kinda hiding out to regroup and see what our next step was going to be. Nobody was really sure what to do. Should we all separate and go back to what we had done before we formed our group or should we continue with the ministry. To be honest, we were a little scared to go forward, but nobody really wanted to admit we were scared.

I was just about to leave when I heard a girl screaming! I turned and there was my buddy Luke, screaming like a girl, screaming "Ghost!!" We all turned and there in the room stood a man who appeared from out of nowhere. His voice sounded familiar, that soothing calm, familiar. He held out his hands and said, "Peace be with you."

Out of all the things He could have said, that was the one thing we needed to hear!

At that we realized it was our friend who had died! Jesus was back! My heart leaped. I wanted to jump up and hug him, but I was in to much shock to move! He sat down with us and once again for once last time and ate with us. We laughed and shared stories and shared about how our ministry was going to go on....

Until I meet you again on the road,

The Disciple Peter

Ten Easy Steps to Guarantee a Successful Youth Ministry!

I found an interesting article from the late great Mike Yaconelli from youth specialties. It was an article about 10 easy steps to a successful youth ministry. I thought it worth a repost. Let me know what you think. Do you agree, disagree, done it, seen it done, been involved in it??

Ten Easy Steps to Guarantee a Successful Youth Ministry!
by Mike Yaconelli

1. Dumb Down the Gospel. Employ attractive phrases such as, "Since I’ve known Jesus I’m happier, getting better grades, and captain of the football team!" Even better, reduce the complexity of the gospel into group cheers (i.e., "Give me a J!") or simple worship choruses like, "God is so good...blah blah blah." (Try singing those words in Ethiopia.) Or even better, try out some hip slang (i.e., God is "phat"; Jesus is a "hottie").

2. Count. Constantly make everyone aware of your group’s attendance figures and the increases in attendance. Make numbers an issue by setting attendance goals for each activity and reward the group for reaching those goals. Spend lots of time throwing pies at the leaders if goals are reached.

3. Put Your Students on Display. As soon as kids become Christians or rededicate their lives or show real growth, put them in front of the group and have them share their testimonies—especially if they’re physically attractive. Let young people talk about their faith as much as possible and don’t worry about the fact that most young people have no clue how complicated and rough the real world is with or without Jesus.

4. Don’t Allow Down Time. Hey, kids today are MTV kids! They can’t sit still for any length of time. Silence, solitude, prayer, meditation, fasting? All totally lame in the eyes of this generation! Nope, keep ’em busy, active, noisy, and shuttling from one Christian rock concert to another. Fill every moment of your program with something to do—otherwise you’ll lose their attention (which would be disastrous because then they’d have to pay attention to God and their souls).

5. Stay on the Technological Cutting Edge. What would Jesus do? Are you kidding? Jesus would have the best sound system you ever heard, along with a DVD player, the Internet, instant messaging, the coolest Web site, and of course a digital TV. Show your kids that when it comes to the latest technology, Christians are right there! I mean, who needs to read when you can watch?

6. Create Celebrities. Make sure your young people get an earful and eyeful of the latest Christian music stars, video stars, and NFL players who profess their faith in Jesus on national television. Encourage your young people to worship, idolize, and live under the illusion that these people are somehow better, deeper, more Christian, more together, and more dedicated than them. Let them believe that the marketed images of these celebrities are completely representative of them—even though you know it isn’t true.

7. Let Youth Group Take the Place of Church. Oh sure, encourage your kids to attend the contemporary service—even though you know most of them never will because church is "boring," filled with "dull, old people," and the music "sucks." Whatever you do, though, don’t suggest that worshiping with people they don’t like and connecting with people who are older and wiser just might save them when their adolescent view of the world is shattered. Just keep convincing your students that youth group is a good substitute for church.

8. Tow the Parental Line. Whatever you do, don’t cause friction with parents by suggesting to their kids that grades, SAT scores, financial security, college degrees, and athletic scholarships really don’t matter. Just accept the fact that most parents want their children to attend youth group as long as it doesn’t interfere with hockey, football, ice skating, tennis, ballet, or baseball practice. And don’t encourage young people to resist their parents’ attempts to smother the call of God on their lives, either. After all, you could get fired!

9. Ignore the Arts. Never encourage painting, dance, sculpture, writing, poetry, ballet, or trips to the museum, symphony, and opera. Stick with activities that rock! The WWF rules!

10. Live in the Now! Verify the success of your ministry by visible, measurable, observable results you see now. Don’t waste your time worrying about lasting results. Who can wait?! Go for the instant return. Hey, once your kids leave youth group, you aren’t responsible for what happens to them anyway, right?

11. "Us" Versus "Them." (Yeah, yeah, I know I said "Ten Steps"—sue me.) Convince your kids that the only way Christians can make a difference is through public, physical confrontation with the "world." Explain that this "world" is "them," and Christians—the good guys—are "us." And since it’s us against them, we have to "stand up for our faith." Encourage them to march in rallies, wear slogan-filled T-shirts, hang banners, and do whatever it takes to get in the world’s face. Convince them that the Devil and his demons are running around, wreaking havoc—and the only way to deal with the Devil is to confront and "bind him." Don’t let them believe that evil is much more seductive, much more camouflaged and tricky than they could ever imagine. And whatever you do, don’t start getting into Jesus’ strategy of powerlessness.

Now go get 'em!

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Copyright 2000 CCM Communications, Inc. Reprinted by permission.