Ever wondered how to effectively reach every type of youth that attends your church? Join us as we examine the 4 different types of students that are in your ministry and talk about the ways that you can effectively minister to all of them. From casual attendees to committed members, we'll help you understand how to create an environment that draws in the curious and encourages them to deepen their faith.
Imagine a youth ministry so well-balanced that it provides a place for both newcomers and seasoned members to grow. That’s what we're aiming for in our discussion about balancing depth and inclusivity in ministry. We explore strategies for moving someone from a surface level understanding to a deeper spiritual level. We'll share insights on creating a spectrum of programs - even a simple social event can be the first stepping stone for a newcomer.
Book Mentioned in this Episode: Purpose Driven Youth Ministry By Doug Fields: https://amzn.to/3NMZAuW
We love hearing from you all and we do our best to provide powerful and insightful youth ministry content on a weekly basis to be that coach and mentor you may not have, but desperately need. If you have an episode idea, please E-Mail us at MinistryCoachPodcast@gmail.com!
*This episode is not sponsored. Some of the links are affiliate links which simply means, if you buy something, we will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) Thank you!*
Ever wondered how to effectively reach every type of youth that attends your church? Join us as we examine the 4 different types of students that are in your ministry and talk about the ways that you can effectively minister to all of them. From casual attendees to committed members, we'll help you understand how to create an environment that draws in the curious and encourages them to deepen their faith.
Imagine a youth ministry so well-balanced that it provides a place for both newcomers and seasoned members to grow. That’s what we're aiming for in our discussion about balancing depth and inclusivity in ministry. We explore strategies for moving someone from a surface level understanding to a deeper spiritual level. We'll share insights on creating a spectrum of programs - even a simple social event can be the first stepping stone for a newcomer.
Book Mentioned in this Episode: Purpose Driven Youth Ministry By Doug Fields: https://amzn.to/3NMZAuW
We love hearing from you all and we do our best to provide powerful and insightful youth ministry content on a weekly basis to be that coach and mentor you may not have, but desperately need. If you have an episode idea, please E-Mail us at MinistryCoachPodcast@gmail.com!
*This episode is not sponsored. Some of the links are affiliate links which simply means, if you buy something, we will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) Thank you!*
I think sometimes we wonder, as youth pastors am I reaching anyone? And most of the time you are, but you're only reaching one type of person, and I think you could really apply this to the church overall too. Four different types of people that come to your church, four different types of students that come across your youth group. So what do I have for them? Because you don't want people to feel like, oh, this church is like over my head, i clearly don't belong here, and you don't want the core people to be like guy, this is just fluff. We never do anything meaningful or deep. That's why our spectrum of what we offer just has to be so wide and intentional. Today we're talking about the four different types of kids that come to your youth group and how to minister to each one of them.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to the ministry coach podcast, where it is our goal to help you grow the size and health of your youth ministry. My name is Jeff Lascola and this is Kristen Lascola.
Speaker 1:
And today we're talking all about the four different types of kids that come to your youth group and how to minister to each one of them And really move them.
Speaker 1:
We're gonna kind of talk about the funnel of people and how to move them from the wide part of the funnel to the narrow part of the funnel. And I first learned about this in a book by Doug Fields and maybe Kurt Johnson. I can't remember if they co-wrote it or maybe it was just Doug Fields. Anytime you say Doug Fields, i think you have to say Kurt Johnson, johnston, because they just always do everything together. So where do they end and begin? I don't know. It was probably one of the very first books I ever read as a youth pastor, so it is dated now, but I think it's so relevant And it's called Purpose Driven Youth Ministry And they talk about these four different types of students And I think you could really apply this to the church overall too Four different types of people that come to your church, four different types of students that come across your youth group, and how to minister to each one.
Speaker 1:
And kind of what we're gonna do throughout this episode is ask ourselves as youth pastors, as we come to each one, do you have programs that are designed for each group? So I think sometimes we wonder, as youth pastors, am I reaching anyone? And most of the time you are, but you're only reaching one type of person. And so when we start to ask ourselves, well, do I have different things that all kinds of people at all levels of commitment And that's kind of what it comes down to, what is their level of commitment could participate in, so the widest part of the funnel at the top would be the crowd. So all of these, you know it's gonna all start with C, because that's what pastors-.
Speaker 2:
Alliteration.
Speaker 1:
Love to do. So it's the crowd. You could also call it the concerned, Not concerned like hey, what's going on? But like kind of like curious, Like hey, we just sort of come and we're a part of the crowd And you know those kids who it's like you would recognize their face but you might know their name, but not much about them. They just sort of come to things and they're not super regular, but you know who they are and they've never really moved past just being a part of the crowd. Well, what would a crowd program be? That would usually be a midweek youth group program. That's what it is for me. That's what it's designed for. It's that anybody can come, everyone is welcome, as long as they're in junior high, and you can glean as much or as little, like depending on your spiritual level.
Speaker 1:
There would be something for you within that two hour period that you would be able to connect with, and this is like there's so much we could unpack here, but I think that's one reason why, like Starting even with my playlist for the music that we listen to, it's on Spotify Chaos 4.0. I think it's almost 100 tracks. Now Probably need to go through and delete some that are kind of getting tired.
Speaker 2:
But Is this 4.0 or a 5.0? at this point, i have a 4.0 and a 5.0.
Speaker 1:
One is more hip-hop heavy, that's 5.0. But anyways, it's like I want kids from the crowd to just come and know oh, I recognize this song. This is not scary, This isn't some weird cult that I can't relate to on any level at all. It's just we don't want to exclude people on silly things. We don't want to be too insider when we're trying to attract the crowd. Not everything I do is for the crowd, And I think that's where youth fosters get a little mixed up Seeker-sensitive and seeker-friendly. It was a really popular buzzword probably 15, 12 years ago, And it was this thing of like hey, don't water things down just so that people who aren't Christians can make it palatable for them or something, and that's not what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:
I'm just saying you want somebody to come in the door and feel comfortable, and if that's playing a clean, secular song, i'm totally for that. I think if it's only worship songs when some kid, or Toby Mack, when a kid comes in the door, nothing wrong with either of those things. But I just feel like you've immediately said to them you're on the outside And when it doesn't matter, like this is a clean song, this is a clean, encouraging song. When it doesn't really matter at that moment, why not make them feel welcome?
Speaker 1:
in that way of like hey, like this is something you recognize, like this might make you feel a little bit at home. So that is the crowd. That is like youth group. And then we move to the connected. So this is a person who not only comes to youth group or a midweek, they probably would come to both. So, like my midweek program on Tuesday, it's super high energy, it's meant to be, it is fun with like meat in it. but someone who's connected would probably also be coming to our weekend service. So the weekend service. you know, we've done a whole episode on the difference between the two of them and Jeff will link it below.
Speaker 1:
I will link it below, because he does that, he links things.
Speaker 1:
You know, a Sunday morning or weekend service is a little bit more like study oriented you know the sermon is longer, The game is shorter, it's more, everything's a little tighter and it is very like churchy, you know, as opposed to like youth group. So someone who's connected would be coming to that also and probably be involved in a small group, and so you really need to make sure that you have small groups available. If that's a ministry you haven't launched yet, make sure you have gender and age specific small groups that are being led by adults. That's where people come to get connected. So now we're moving them from the funnel. Like you just came, you were playing some games, heard a sermon, observed worship or maybe participate in worship, and we got you connected because now you're in a small group and you come on the weekend services. So that is like someone that we look at.
Speaker 2:
But you don't have small groups at your weekend services, we don't Only midweek.
Speaker 1:
Yep. So they would be in a small group midweek and hopefully becoming a weekend services. So that would be like a connected person's thing. It's like, hey, i know you, you come to both like awesome, i see you every Tuesday, i see you every Sunday. You're in a small group, you're officially a connected person Like leaders know you, i know you, you know other students because you're in a small group and that's a great step for someone to go from. We just observed and came and checked it out And now we actually have community, we have a small group, we're coming on the weekends and then we move to the committed, and the committed are the people that not only come on the weekends but they come to events and activities and they're bought into what you do.
Speaker 1:
So they probably come to camp. They come to your overnight events, they come to you know your whatever your monthly event is, but you know that they are going to be there because, they're so excited about what's going on and they don't want to miss anything.
Speaker 1:
So that's why events are important. So it's not like events mean nothing And it's like, oh, they're just fun and they just fill up time. No, because they give someone who's working on becoming connected And so what they're doing is they're doing that extra stuff and besides, just a weekend or midweek, but they're actually signing up for something and wanting to hang out on a Friday night. They're going to winter camp, they're going to your week long summer camp, all of that stuff you can tell that person is connected.
Speaker 1:
So that's why, using small groups as that vehicle of you know, i always tell my small group leaders, tell the students, hey, are you going to camp? Are you going to camp, are you going to the next event? Oh, i hope you'll be there, because we're trying to get them from being just connected to now committed, Like you will come to our stuff and get that extra face time, extra connectivity, and then the last little part of the funnel that you want to move them down to if you can, and this isn't for everybody necessarily And it's called the core. So we went crowd, connected, committed, and then the core, and those are the students that are usually on your student leadership or student discipleship team. So those are the ones that, like they, not only are coming to everything, they're in a small group, they're at all the events. They're at the weekends, in the midweek, but they want to contribute now.
Speaker 1:
That would be a good see contributors because I think when we can successfully move students from consumers only to contributors, it's not just like, yay, we need more volunteers. But what you'll notice is that makes someone like so committed to the body of Christ, the family of God, and they are just coming alive, in the sense that they're using gifts that maybe they never even knew they had.
Speaker 1:
They're exploring passions that they've never gotten to explore before. And I just watch students time and time again Like their confidence is just we're just using so many C words, their confidence is just built. And you watch them kind of walking around church of like, i have a place to be And they'll be like, hey, kirsten, oh, i'm helping out in the three year olds today And they're so proud because they have something to give And that is so spiritually nourishing And it also gives like a stickiness to the church of like, where you serve, you are committed to, you want to see that place thrive, you want to see that place get better, because now you're invested And it's not just like, oh, that's someone else's job or, oh, that's the pastor's job, but it's like we're all invested here. So I guess the question becomes, you know, to look at your youth group and say, do I have enough things in each category? Because we don't want to be too crowd focused and just all we're ever doing.
Speaker 2:
Very surface level, we never go deep.
Speaker 1:
I mean, that's not. We're not growing anybody that way.
Speaker 2:
But you might be growing. You're not growing in the depth and the health of your ministry.
Speaker 1:
Exactly And then at the same time, it's not like we're having a communion worship night on Friday night Everyone needs to come, and then you're going really deep. For three kids, yeah, and it's like whoa well, we probably have some kids that would be psyched out of their minds to be there.
Speaker 1:
But the kid who just sort of walked from the apartment building next door to check out youth group we're not going to invite them to our communion worship night, like right off the bat. I don't even know if they're a Christian, So what do I have for them? Because you don't want people to feel like, oh, this church is like I'm over my head, I clearly don't belong here, And you don't want the core people to be like God. This is just fluff, Yeah.
Speaker 1:
You never do anything meaningful or deep. That's why our spectrum of what we offer just has to be so wide and intentional and strategic, because I think we need to be honest of is there an area where I have some like? I think youth pastors tend to get in a place of one or the other of spiritual pride of like I'm going to raise the bar so high And like these kids they're going to be at a 24 hour prayer event and they're going to be on their knees worshiping God. I hope so. But then there's this other side where the youth pastors are like I don't know, like let's just let them hang out or a pizza and music, and it's just fellowship man.
Speaker 2:
YMCA man.
Speaker 1:
We're just hanging out, we're just going to play dodgeball and have some good times, which, again, there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. There is a place for fellowship and fun in the body of Christ. We have to be able to enjoy each other and enjoy being there in each other's company. It's not all about you know, eschatology, but I think we have to make sure we're covering a healthy spectrum And like, i think what we're talking about really, if we were to boil it down, it's like this is sort of the process of discipleship. It's a discipleship model of how do I get you from point A to point B, to point C, to point D, and like, how do I keep moving you forward and being okay for wherever you are currently at? Oh, you're at, just like you've never heard a worship song before and kids are dancing around and raising their hands and this is hard for you.
Speaker 1:
Okay, like, let's just start there of like well, here's why we worship And you know, here's why we put our phones away during a message And here's why we pray, and you know, like, be okay with students being at that level, and then your goal is, euthmasters, to come and move them slowly down the funnel, and that could take years.
Speaker 1:
Like this isn't like a six week plan of getting a kid from crowd to core like overnight, but it's just looking critically at our ministries to make sure that if they Wanted to, they could. And I think that, you know, is one reason why you know you might be losing students too. So if you notice that, like students are outgrowing you, you might think, because I don't give them anywhere to serve, like when they get deep and they're ready to go and they've been, you know, walking this walk for a while Do I have anything for them? or does a visitor come Again and they're just like yikes, like these people, i Don't connect, i don't know what they're talking about, and so that could be when sometimes youth pastors wonder Why are people leaving or why can't we keep a visitor, this could potentially be one of the reasons so would you say that on any given weekend service or midweek service, you are providing all four of those Levels for lack of a better word like you're catering to all those levels in some way, or Is it?
Speaker 2:
does it lean really heavy? like, obviously, if you did like an outreach event, that's gonna be leaning very much towards the crowd, right, and then if you're doing a service project with your student leadership team, that is obviously leaning core. So how where do you draw that? I think I answered my own question as I just talked through it, but how much? how much of that would you say outside of, maybe, events that are specific? How much do you Cater to each of those?
Speaker 2:
like within the event itself or not, not even saying in an event like program.
Speaker 1:
So, yeah, let's take a Tuesday night for an example. So a student would come in and it would be very crowd-friendly. There's music, you recognize video games, games, snack shack, it's just everyone's having a good time. You wouldn't maybe even know you weren't church right away. You're just enjoying the vibe, you're enjoying the energy and the people, and then we bring you in and it's still kind of that way It's.
Speaker 1:
We're watching a funny video, we have some announcements, and then we're gonna play a big group game and, as far as you know, it could have been the boys and girls club up until that point. But then we're gonna move into worship and The message. And that's the point where you probably start to feel like, okay, like this is, the energy has definitely changed to a more spiritual tone and they're worshiping and you know, i think a crowd person can still be very comfortable there and there might they might be in observation mode of like, oh, i've never seen people worship before. Oh, maybe I do want to worship, and how do I do it? Well, people are putting their hands up and you know, it could be a learning thing.
Speaker 1:
Yeah but then we're gonna ask you to be in a small group. So if you come on a Tuesday night you're gonna kind of be forced into that committed area, or you know, i feel like small groups are kind of between committed and Connected, you know, and so they go into a small group and now they're known and their face is seen and they have to share Their name and maybe contribute to the discussion.
Speaker 1:
And the group just became a lot smaller. They can't just blend in in the crowd anymore. They're being known and so if they're a really core kind of student like on a Tuesday night They would have a job to do so. They would be in charge of running the snack shack, they would be in charge of running tech booth, they would be up on stage helping lead worship, they would be cleaning up or setting up or Helping with a game or whatever it might be. There would be a job for the core to do, so that they are kind of doing ministry along with the adult leaders And so getting students involved in that is kind of like that last step. Yeah, so you can see just kind of how like you would get a little taste of each stage of that funnel just on a regular program night. But then you know, like we're saying, there's events and things that would cater to one particular group over the other for sure.
Speaker 1:
So we're having a prayer night coming up. I think I probably will invite everyone, but I'm gonna force my student leaders to be there. It's like you guys have to be there, everyone else Hey. If this has your name on it, feel free to come. But you are the core. You have to be there, you have to be representing and leading this thing. So it's it's those kinds of things where you can give opportunity And to see who wants to kind of move down that funnel or invite them personally. Like I said with the small group leaders, hey, you should come to camp, or hey, you should sign up for our student leadership team, or you'd be so good at this, or you've never been to a Sunday morning, like. So, wherever they're at, we're trying to get them to the next one and tell them why it would be a good thing for them.
Speaker 1:
Because it would. This is discipleship, you know we want. We don't want a kid to stay a crowd kid for three years or four years in our ministry, like I would be super bummed if I never got a kid, like all they did was kind of just Show up and hang out in the back and I never saw them at an event or a camp or anything you know it would be. I would feel kind of like in a way like oh, i sort of failed that one.
Speaker 1:
Like how, why couldn't I move them? And there could be various reasons that are outside of our control, of course, but I think I would just be super bummed to just watch someone come and go.
Speaker 1:
And the bummer for me too is those kids. If they never moved down the funnel, good luck transitioning them to the next ministry, like if they were fringe in your ministry. They're not gonna transition Usually. Sometimes there's like crazy stories where it's like where were you in junior high And now you're thriving in high school. But a lot of times I feel like they just don't transition very well when you have to send them up to high school or to the adult service or whatever.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, i would go ahead and recommend a couple episodes for you guys to either watch or listen to. If you were thinking I would love to funnel a student all the way to student leadership but you don't have a student leadership team, make sure you check out our How to Launch a Student Leadership Team episode and we'll link that below. And then also we did kind of a episode that parallels this one in a little bit, but just that whole journey of taking a student from new student to student leader and kind of what that journey looks like. So make sure you guys check those out. You can wait until after this episode is over before you do that, but that's some resources for you to do. And actually for the student leadership episode we do have some resources little resources that we can give you guys. So check that out.
Speaker 2:
All right, let's do a question of the day. So this is kind of like a fill in the blank. When leaving the house, i feel incomplete if I forget these two things. and you can't include wallet keys, cell phone or Bible for you spiritual people. Yeah, so you can't include those ones. It has to be some two other things.
Speaker 1:
Number one would be my water bottle. I cannot leave home without it. I will be so thirsty, i drink so much water and it has all my beautiful stickers on it. So I always have a thermo flask, not a hydro, cause I'm poor. So that's that. And secondly is my makeup bag.
Speaker 2:
Like.
Speaker 1:
I literally feel panicky, like if I leave the house without my makeup bag, because sometimes I'll be in the car and I'll notice like, oh my gosh, this is smudged, i have to fix it. Or like, and if I don't have it with me, i'm just like doing my best. Or you get like really shiny throughout the day And I like, oh, i look in the mirror, i'm like I need more. I just look so shiny.
Speaker 2:
So that's shiny, though Shine, hey, i would say, for me it would be I would. a hat is one, because in the wintertime my head gets cold and in the summertime my head gets burnt, so it's always good to have a hat. The other one is a little more random. This is maybe just a me thing and you guys can agree or disagree, but a belt I feel like I have to wear a belt and I and most of the time Belts don't serve the purpose of, like, my pants are gonna fall down unless I'm wearing a belt. It's just like, i don't know, like a security blanket, like for my So that did.
Speaker 1:
You get pants a lot as a kid.
Speaker 2:
Never, once I don't think, but yeah, i just. It just feels like something literally is missing. So oh, put in the comment section below what two things would you not be able to leave the house in, because you're gonna feel really incomplete. All right, this is the community comment of the day. This comes from Jade star 21, who says I listen to them on YouTube and they are great. Every Thursday I get a boost of wisdom and insight into an aspect on my ministry that can be improved. I've only been a youth pastor for three months and so many people have told me that. How. So many people have told me that I have wonderful ideas. Hint, a lot of my good ideas come from here, so if you're wondering if these people are for you.
Speaker 2:
Why not listen to them? and they always make sure that what is important is important. I love that about them.
Speaker 1:
Wow, that's a very thorough compliment It is. I like it very specific.
Speaker 2:
This actually is a fairly old comment. It's still relevant, but he's been in youth ministry much longer than three months.
Speaker 1:
I hope he's still in.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, comment below are you still in youth? Hey, thank you guys, so much for watching and listening and we'll see you next time. Welcome to the ministry coach podcast, where we welcome to the ministry coach podcast, where it is our goal to help you grow in the size and health grow in the size. Let's go ahead and do. I'm gonna cough for a second, so everybody Look away or listen away. Sorry about that.
