Ideas to Action

October 12, 2009

David Fraze
David Fraze

Subscribe Now!

Print Make PDF

“They [youth workers and pastors] agree with the findings but don’t put them into practice.” This was the frustrated voice of a reader in response to last year’s articles on intergenerational ministry.

The response was right on target.  There is a lot of discussion and writing taking place on how youth ministry practice must change in order to meet the challenges present in today’s adolescent landscape.  The support for intergenerational strategies appears to be growing in popularity and becoming the “in” term to bring up when discussing youth ministry strategies (I know I bring it up frequently—my volunteers joke with me if I do not mention the word at least once in the course of a meeting).   Even so, support for change does not always translate into action—thus the frustration.

I believe the source of disconnect between support and action is revealed when translating the following statements.

  • “Our attendance numbers are great!  Why do we need to change what we are doing?  It’s working!”  Translation: I judge ministry success mainly by numbers.  A change in programming may scare people away.  I have to please the consumer.
  • “I do not have enough adult volunteers to pull something like this together.”  Translation #1: I am the professional youth worker—the adults are MY support staff (i.e. I have communicated by my actions that adults are not needed in the youth ministry).  Translation #2: I have not done the hard work of building bridges with the adults in my church community. I work with teenagers because I don’t like adults.
  • “My leadership does not understand.”  Translation #1: They hired me to work with the students of the church—I may get fired if I rock the boat.  Translation #2: I do not want to spend the time educating them on how ministry strategy has changed—they like me right now.

In short, it takes courage and wise communication skills to change the course of traditional “2.0″1  events-driven youth ministry programming.  Here are a few pointers in moving the intergenerational mark in programming forward:

  1. Work the Deep Ministry process! I am not saying this because of my relationship with FYI.  The suggestion comes from experience in working through it in my ministry.
  2. Start small! Find the areas in which intergenerational programming naturally fit and begin at that place (ideas will arise naturally from working the Deep process).  The momentum will carry from that point.  Or at least opposition will become quickly evident and easier to deal with in small doses.
  3. Communicate well!  Any shift and/or new idea in programming needs to be communicated well to leadership, church members, adult leaders, parents and students.  It is amazing how well things go when everyone knows what is going on in the youth ministry.

One final thought: Just start somewhere!  This was the advice given to me by a professor in undergrad when resisting the start of my first “major” research paper.  I was filled with all types of questions and excuses.  Why?  True confession time: I did not want to do the work.  So, if you are convinced that intergenerational strategies are needed in youth ministry programming, get to work!

  1. See Mark Oestreicher’s Youth Ministry 3.0. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. [↩]

©2009 Fuller Youth Institute

Subscribe Now! Print Back to top
  • http://transformingseminarian.blogspot.com Mark Baker-Wright

    Hoping to push back without being rude… Having spent most of my time in fairly small congregations, I can’t help but feel that both “translations” to item #2 may well be unfair. If there aren’t that many adults to pull from, how do we expect the youth worker (who in this situation is probably unpaid him/herself) to get the human resources needed?

    That said, “just start somewhere” strikes me as good advice in almost any congregational setting.

  • David Fraze

    Thanks for your comments Mark. The translations for item #2 were made after working in and with both large and small youth ministry contexts. The “I don’t like adults” comment has been made more than once. Whether paid or volunteer, adult resources are available to the youth worker. If you have teenagers, you have parents. If you have an adult worker, they have friends. If you are in a situation with little parental support (the kids just show up), then you more than likely have members in your church that were once parents of teenagers and/or work with teenagers. The point is, we have to start somewhere and encourage engagement of adults with teenagers.

  • http://www.247-rhcc.org Jason Herman

    In Response to Mark Baker-Wright:

    Yes I work for the original author of this post, but no, he did not ask or offer me a raise as incentive to reply to your response. However, I must say that I disagree with your assessment of a church’s inability to involve adults as a direct result of its size.

    I find no qualification in the Shemah regarding the presence of adults as related to the size of one’s faith community. While I have only been in youth ministry for ten years (ten shy of Dr. Fraze), I have ministered in both large and small congregations. In both settings I found that the role of caring adults in the lives of students was vital to their spiritual journey. On a personal note, I grew up in a broken home and attended several small congregations. I am confident, and this is where my passion comes through, that I would not be where I am today had it not been for a few caring adults who were willing to walk with me on my journey of faith.

  • http://transformingseminarian.blogspot.com Mark Baker-Wright

    Here’s the thing. I don’t dispute the availability of some resources, where ever you are. But to take statement #2: “I do not have enough adult volunteers to pull something like this together,” (my emphasis) and “translate” that to suggest that anyone who says this is really “communicat[ing] by [their] actions that adults are not needed in the youth ministry” or “[They] have not done the hard work of building bridges with the adults in [their] church community” and “don’t like adults” is painting with too broad a brush.

    I agree with the “just start somewhere” bit, but don’t insult the people you’re trying to encourage to change by imputing to them sinful motives!

Post Tags

RelatedContent

    1. Intergenerational in Action
    2. Ideas on how to talk to teens and emerging adults
    3. Start with Adults
    4. About the Kid Table
    5. CQ Strategy and Action

Latest Blog Entry

LatestArticles & Audio