Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

What is Next for Your Youth Ministry? (Never Settle for Status Quo)

• Kristen Lascola • Episode 198

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Youth ministry shouldn't be about stagnation.  As youth pastors, we must constantly be improving ourselves as well as our ministries to disciple students.  In this episode, we will equip you with the tools you need to break free from the status quo.  We'll uncover the art of creating margin in your schedule, ensuring you have the mental space to foster growth and creativity rather than just putting out fires.  Learn the secrets of bulk planning and thoughtful scheduling to keep urgent tasks from overshadowing important ones, allowing you to maintain a vibrant, thriving student ministry.

Discover how to avoid the pitfalls of high-pressure environments that stifle creativity and inspiration. Efficient communication, clear goals, and impactful programs are essential, and we provide practical tips like conducting time audits, automating processes, and delegating responsibilities. Finally, breathe new life into your youth group gatherings with engaging activities that perfectly balance fun and the core message of God's word.  Join us for actionable insights that will elevate your youth ministry work and keep it aligned with the ultimate mission and vision.

Are you looking to grow the size and health of your youth ministry? Check out
GrowYourYouthMinistry.com

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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!

If you have it on your heart to support this ministry, please consider going to our Patreon page at: www.patreon.com/ministrycoach

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You may also enjoy these episodes:

(#111) - Plan a Whole Year of Youth Group Games in Under 30 Minutes

(#038) - How to Plan Your Week in Youth Ministry - Time Management Tips

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Speaker 1:

If you can create margin in your schedule and your work week, then all of a sudden you have this time to dream of what's next. It's impossible to dream of what's next when there's a program happening in two hours and you still have no idea what you're doing. You've got to create space for yourself to be able to enter into those spaces. Are you settling for the status quo in your youth ministry? Well, don't. Today we are going to talk about what is next for quo in your youth ministry. Well, don't. Today we are going to talk about what is next for you in your youth ministry.

Speaker 2:

This is the Ministry Coach Podcast, where we bring you weekly tips and tactics to help you fast-track the growth and, more importantly, the health of your youth ministry. My name is Jeff Laskola and this is.

Speaker 1:

Kristen Laskola, and today we are talking all about how to move past the status quo in your youth ministry and ask yourself what is next? Because I think stagnation is a very common problem in churches and youth ministries and we're going to ask ourselves some questions today of how we can make sure that we're always, as Andy Stanley would say, always look for ways to get better. He always says you might be good, but could it be better? If it's better, could it continue to move into the future? Just stagnation is kind of an enemy of thriving ministries. And then you sort of look around one day and you're like what happened? Have you ever heard of that church or that youth group that used to be the place?

Speaker 1:

to be, and it was exciting and vibrant and healthy. And then over the years, it's just kind of like nothing happened.

Speaker 2:

Right, exactly Nothing happened, you know.

Speaker 1:

So meaning like maybe nothing terrible happened and there was some big moral failure or church split or something crazy. But over time, if nothing happens, like fresh and new and and you know it's that analogy we used a couple weeks ago about a house it's like, okay, you built it, but it doesn't mean you just wind it up and let it go. It takes constant maintenance and improvement, and what can we do here in remodeling and redecorating, and so that's a good way to look at your ministry. So how can we make sure we're moving toward our best constantly? And that's what we're going to talk about today. So what is our next hill to climb? Number one the only way you can do this is if you have margin.

Speaker 1:

Early on in youth ministry, I made the mistake of getting everything that was urgent done and I had no time or energy for anything future thinking or important or creative. It was just did I get the game planned? Just barely. Did I get the message done? Just barely. Did we pull off this event? Yeah, just barely, and it was always kind of this like one step behind and getting through just in the nick of time, kind of thing. Well, when you're running a ministry like that. You only have the mental capacity for just getting day-to-day operations done. But if you can create margin and your schedule and your work week, then all of a sudden you have this time to dream of what's next. It's impossible to dream of what's next. It's impossible to dream of what's next when there's a program happening in two hours and you still have no idea what you're doing.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

So how do you create margin? Well, my favorite way, which I've talked about before, is bulk planning and planning ahead. So basically I figure, okay, I need six months worth of games and then I can repeat those six months worth of games. We can play the same game twice, you know, for a Sunday or weekend service, the same game twice a year for our Tuesday nights, and then I just fill my calendar with that. I planned ahead, I know what game we're playing eight weeks from now and I don't have to spend mental energy, whereas before it'd be three o'clock on a Tuesday, the night of my program, and I'd be like um, what do you guys want to do? What should we do? No, what do we do?

Speaker 1:

So when you already know what you're going to do, then you create this time of like hey, the planning, the urgent is done, could we move into a sphere that is more creative? Or dreaming of what could be or what's next? You've got to create space for yourself to be able to enter into those spaces. But urgent will always take the place of important, and it's so important that we have time to dream. So you've got to take care of your urgent stuff ahead of time. So, like I said, I like to bulk plan, I like to plan ahead so that I don't have to spend time on those things.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's kind of the sprint mentality instead of. What you should have is more of like a marathon mentality where, if you're constantly sprinting from here to there and then from there to there, you know like keep on these bursts of energy that you're expelling, instead of kind of like going with the long view in mind of where you can kind of get ahead a little bit and you're you're a couple of laps ahead now, so you can kind of slow down a little bit or maybe even stop and get a glass of water or something. But if you're constantly doing those sprint, sprint, sprint it's, it's just going to kill yourself and lead to burnout really quick.

Speaker 1:

Right and it's not very inspiring to just take care of day-to-day operations. It's a little bit of a hamster wheel and it's not like a inspiring place to be mentally or emotionally. It just feels like you're constantly under the gun.

Speaker 2:

Barely got things done. Now you've got to sprint.

Speaker 1:

Sprint to the next thing so, whatever it takes for you and we'll talk more about this in a little bit but you've got to get out from the under the gun mentality. Nobody can breathe there, nobody can be creative there, nobody can dream or be their best there. So that's sort of the foundation for this type of work and this kind of headspace is you've got to be in a space of margin, knowing all the urgent is taken care of, so you don't have to waste time there. So once your program pillars are healthy and thriving, then you can ask yourself is there a way to make these things better? And what I mean by ministry pillars is if you're in like a launching phase, like hey, we need to launch student leadership or a small group ministry, or we need our adult leader culture. We don't even have any adult leaders, we don't even have worship. So those are kind of like the pillars of this ministry. And then you can go through and say, ok, are these running efficiently? Like, where could this be better? So, for example, could something be more efficient? Maybe they're.

Speaker 1:

You haven't quite figured out your communication style yet and you need to figure out a way for everyone to be on the same page or have a schedule for yourself of I communicate everything on Monday and get it out I prep my communication on Thursday. This is speaking from experience. This is what I do. I prep all my communication on Thursday and then I have my weekend, you know, and then send out all my communication on Monday. It's an efficient system. Everyone knows when to expect communication. It's not like a hodgepodge throughout the week. Maybe I should send out a little email reminding them about this. Oh, maybe I should do that. It's like nope, here's the efficiency of the communication.

Speaker 1:

Maybe you need to ask yourself are we meeting our goals? Well, meaning, if your goals in ministry are evangelism or outreach, or discipleship or serving, like if you were to sit down and think what does our ministry want to be known for, then you've got to ask are we meeting those goals? We want to create students who discover their gifts and are able to use them. Okay, that is a really good goal. Is there a vehicle within your ministry that is making that happen? We want to create our mission statement at North Coast Churches, to create disciples in a healthy church environment. Well then, we've got to look at well, what's the best vehicle for discipleship? Our church says life groups, a small group ministry. So then we pour a lot of our energy and time and announcements and all that in resources into life groups, because that is creating disciples, and so you kind of work backwards of okay, what are we doing? We want to be known as a missional church.

Speaker 1:

Okay, how are people having opportunities? Do they know where to find if they want to partner with a local missionary? Could they even find that information? That's a conversation I had this weekend. This sweet 19 year old girls like I want to go on a missions trip. Like how do I do that here? I'm like, yeah, we need to make sure everybody knows.

Speaker 1:

So just making sure, are our goals clear and does everyone know how those are getting met? Maybe you're wanting to know how do we reach more people. Maybe you have a really great program but it's just hard getting the word out because you're new or whatever. That might be where you need to put your brain power. Maybe things need to be more organized and clearer. Maybe people are a little bit confused of your ministry and how to get ahold of you and what I want to come to your events, but I can't seem to find any information on them. So these are all things. These are just examples. Maybe you look at your culture and you're like man we have a lot of fun, but are we God honoring? So these are things that, like I said, now you're sitting in a margin where you can like all right. Discipleship Like these are so much bigger questions than what game are we playing on.

Speaker 1:

Tuesday. So do we need games? Trust me, yes, you know me, I love a game. But once we can check those off now, we can move into a bigger space where we're asking something deeper and more profound, to make sure that our ministry is not just these nuts and bolts of like I did the announcements and then I did a game and then I did message. But really, are we moving in the correct direction? Are we clear, organized, god-honoring, missional, whatever? Are we on track? Are we on task? And then ask yourself, where do we need to go next? Where are we and where do I see us going? What is the goal on the horizon?

Speaker 1:

You know just that plug and play mentality. Each week, like I said, you can sort of get on that hamster wheel but ask yourself and your team what's new, what's exciting, what's dynamic, what is breathing new life into this ministry. Because I will say I feel like ministries are almost a living, breathing entity, like they are not just stagnant, like programs, but they have an energy to them, they have like a buzz to them and you know, is there something in your ministry right now that people are excited about, you know, and that could take the forms of a lot of things. Talk to the people in your ministry and ask their advice, like where do we need to go next? What are you excited about right now? Make sure you're getting other vantage points than just yours, because the people who work alongside you have a really great vantage point from where they sit and they might see things totally differently than you.

Speaker 1:

I had a. I went on a walk with one of my leaders two weeks ago and she had this brilliant idea. That was so simple. But she's like you know, we really want kids to bring their Bibles to youth group but it's so hard because we're running around the whole time, they don't know where to put their Bible and I always lock the small group rooms because I don't want kids just wandering into classrooms doing who knows what. So she's like they stopped bringing their Bibles and that's such a shame. I said I agree, I, you know I don't know what to do and cause we have so many kids it's like do they just throw their Bible on the floor? Like that's not going to work. So she's like hey, I was thinking what if we got bins for each small group and labeled them like Heidi and Arden small group, and then the it's like near the information table and if the kid sees their small group bin, they just put their Bible in there and then the small group leader takes that bin to small groups.

Speaker 1:

You know, during that time I'm like, oh, that's such a good idea. And then she was going on. She had this idea of like and then maybe you know, if they bring their Bible they get these bucks. And she had this whole system for how they could earn money toward camps and events by memorizing scripture and doing Bible studies and you know like she's like.

Speaker 1:

we have so many kids who would just thrive in that. And then they get paid these chaos bucks, and then those account for real money, and then that can be. They can either use it at the snack shack or put it toward snack shack. There, what did I say?

Speaker 2:

You said snack shack. I'm confirming that's where it will go. I know she's like there's no other option.

Speaker 1:

We'll just be like heck. Yeah, I memorized the verse. I'm buying something next but she's like, or they could turn it in for camp scholarship funds and she's like. You know, I'm willing to get this off the ground. I think it's a really good idea.

Speaker 2:

It's like that's brilliant, that's great.

Speaker 1:

So many good things just in that one walk of like. You've been a leader for a long time. What do you think we need? And so make sure you're talking to people. Get outside of your own head, your own self-talk, and see what is. If you were running this place, what would you do? What would you say? We need everyone's voice. Voice. We need everyone's ideas number one.

Speaker 2:

I'd get rid of computers right off the bat boom and that's about as far as I'd go computers. Why not? That is weird. Okay, fine, you lead, go ahead.

Speaker 1:

Oh, were you trying to give me a bad idea to see how I would respond Like wow, jeff, thank you for your input. That wasn't a bad idea. But also we need them.

Speaker 2:

Whatever you do, you Go ahead.

Speaker 1:

Some ideas that have kind of like breathed life into our ministry have been little things, and this again only works if your ministry is already healthy. Yeah, Like you can't just slap a bandaid on and be like we got new shirts. Just forget that your small group leaders never show up or that you're getting bullied at our youth group.

Speaker 1:

Like so if it's unhealthy, this stuff doesn't work. But like we have a brand new class coming in and my guys director Caleb had a great idea. He's like let's kind of pair their entrance into our ministry with a new merch drop and he designed this really sweet shirt and the kids are so excited because they're so excited for the ministry and they want to be a part of it. They want a shirt and it's like this bonding experience Like ah, you got a shirt, you got a shirt, what's that shirt, you know? And it created a little thing. So that kind of breathes new life.

Speaker 1:

Sprinkling competition series throughout the year has really breathed life into our ministry too, because it's bonding Like being on a team with someone you know those of you who played or play sports. Being on a team with someone, having a victory and a defeat with each other, really just bonds you relationally, you're creating memories and you're cheering each other on. There's a lot of good that comes from team competition. So I do a small group team competition where the small groups compete against each other. We do a boys versus girls competition. That's what we're doing right now as our new class transitions up, and then we do a big competition in the fall called the battle. We've talked about that before, but throughout the year we like it's like it's youth group, but it's more intense, or it's fun, or it's like there's a prize on the line and we just like change it up.

Speaker 1:

And then another thing that breathes life into our ministry is small group night out, where the small groups, instead of coming to youth group, they plan their own fun thing. And I've just seen a lot of bonding through that and people kind of come out of the woodwork like people that don't come to youth group. But if they're on that list and they get an invite, they're like I'll try it out and it brings people that I haven't seen in a really long time. We'll go hang out with a small group. So make sure you're having little things that breathe life into your group.

Speaker 1:

There needs to be, I guess, a movement against predictability always, but that there's always. I don't know how you guys feel, but in my own personal life I feel like I always need something to be looking forward to. If I look ahead and I'm like I'm on a hamster wheel doing the same thing for the foreseeable future, it's just so demoralizing, I guess. And so I love planning little fun things like, okay, bike ride with a friend on this day or coffee with a friend on that day, and just make sure I at least have one thing on my calendar that I'm like excited about, instead of like Monday is the day I do this, Tuesday is the day I do this, Like I think our youth groups kind of function the same way as like let me guess that we're doing this and then that you know, and so it's like keep it fresh, keep it exciting, give them something to look forward to.

Speaker 1:

And again, this stuff sometimes, I think, from the outside can appear gimmicky and be like oh well, it's God's word alone that should bring them in. But again, I've said this so many times yes, that's the whole point. God's word is the whole, entire point of why we're doing this. If there were no, if God's word wasn't a part of this, I wouldn't be having this podcast. I would not care about doing it.

Speaker 1:

You wouldn't have a job, true, but it was just like we're doing all this to point them there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and meeting a human need of adolescence, human nature, and I see us, you can go back sorry, not to cut you off, but you can go back to the feeding of the 5,000, because he could have said hey, it's all about just my word, I'm not going to feed you anything. Listen up people. But it's like he fed their their need.

Speaker 1:

I think what you're trying to say and I'm picking it up is like Jesus treated humans like humans. You know, and I think that is one of the beautiful things about youth ministry is it's like this canvas, or it's like almost this bottomless pit of possibilities of how we can creatively point people to the gospel by treating them as humans, like pulling out the stops for them, showing them kindness and showing them like family and community and fun and connectivity and relatability, and designing a ministry that meets a human where they're at. Because that's what you're right, that is what Jesus did, and the truth is like I've heard people complain about churches, like they serve coffee and donuts how dare you make it like fun?

Speaker 1:

they're like they're just trying to entice people, make those seats uncomfortable. Whoa like standing room only so I think there's another side of that coin where we can think of ourselves as like well, I'm, I'm hardcore because it's like we don't do any frills.

Speaker 2:

I sucked all the fun out of it, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So don't get too prideful on that one way or another. You know, I think ministry and pride really do go hand in hand, and so we have to be careful that we're not saying, well, we're extra holy because we got rid of our stage lights and we went acoustic and we, you know, but it's like, oh well, we're just having fun. You know, like there has to be the purpose of the fun. The purpose of it all comes back to Jesus. So you know one thing, a practical takeaway too would be I used to do this early on in ministry. We're kind of required to not that we had to turn it in, but just for like a learning experience as a time audit. So if you constantly feel under the gun and you feel like you just can't get ahead and you're always scrambling, do a time audit, see where your time is going. What are you spending too much time doing in the things that you're spending a lot of time on? Do they need it?

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

Does it need to be? Do you need to be on the phone for three hours a day? Do you need to be designing a cool graphic for two hours a day? Do you need to be making an awesome flyer, Like, what are you doing? That is taking all your time and try to adjust from there so that you can give yourself that margin.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I've heard sometimes, when you do that time audit, some of the things that you need to look for is what can be automated. Like, think, what are things that you're I don't say wasting your time, but spending too much of your time doing that can be put into a system where they can be automated. What can be delegated, what's something that you can pass off to other people around you and it's not sort of like these are the like tasks that nobody wants to do, so here you do them, but just what are things that you can share with the leadership of your staff or your volunteers, or, if you have, you have interns, things like that you can pass along to them and then, kind of like, filter down what is the priority of maybe some of the things that you really should be looking at and not just sacrificing all your time to some of these other things. So it's just sort of a way of, I think, of looking at that and if you guys want to check out the episode we did uh, we did this a while back, but it's kind of how to just to gain more time in your week We'll put that in the description below, and then we also had an episode you had touched on it about how to do a year's worth of games in under 30 minutes, which I'm sure a lot of you could use that time back.

Speaker 2:

So make sure you guys check out both of those episodes. Right now we're going to do the question of the day and I'm going to pose this to you what is something that you are looking forward to in your ministry and those of you watching and listening if you're on YouTube, put in the comment section below what is something coming up in your youth ministry that you're really looking forward to?

Speaker 1:

I'm currently um. In a week and a half we're having a leader volleyball night and we're very competitive and love to play volleyball because we're getting ready. So our summer camp is whitewater rafting and when we're there at the river we do a night where my leaders play a volleyball tournament versus the river guides, and we are currently up three years in a row. We have won.

Speaker 1:

So this is kind of practice it is, so we're going to practice on a Sunday, coming up and have dessert and snacks, get our game on, and then I'm excited to actually play the game against the River Guides come July when we're there. I got the point match last year. Oh, look at, you, look at moi, and then they do like a victory swim. When they win, I don't but I'm like yay, go, and it's just so fun, it's so competitive that's cool.

Speaker 2:

Okay, we'll put down in the comment section below what is something that you're looking forward to in your youth ministry. Right now, we're gonna do a community comment of the day, and this comes from I am going to butcher your name and I apologize in advance, but e katarina, serga, eva, that's. That's my, that was very good, it sounds like I know what I'm saying, but I could have been way off so okay, she writes. I so love the interaction of you two the light banter, the constant connection and support. It's a joy to watch.

Speaker 1:

You're really setting a great example oh well, that's a very sweet comment. It is very sweet.

Speaker 2:

We really appreciate that. We thank you so much for watching and listening and we will see you next time.

Speaker 1:

Are you settling for the status quo in your youth ministry? Well, don't. Today, we're going to talk about how to move from stagnant. What am I talking about?

Speaker 2:

We really appreciate it. We really appreciate it, thank you, we, we, we it, thank you because it includes a lot. So little throat popper.