I thought I’d provide some answers to some of the questions I hear the most:

What advice can you give our church for reaching out to young people?

All ministry is specific to the place where it happens, and ministry with young people particularly so.  Effective youth and young adult ministry in Bloomfield will look different from a fruitful ministry in South Whitley.  What generates passion in New Castle may create a different energy in Battle Ground.  To lead fruitful ministry with young people, you have to first understand the needs of your community (your congregation, your area of the state, youth in schools near you, etc.).

With that said, I believe there are three keys to ministry with young people for every church:

1. Ask the youth (in your church and, perhaps more importantly, outside the church) what the needs of young people are in your community – both spiritual and physical.  Then work as a congregation and meet those needs.
2. Make ministry with young people, or raising young church leaders, a major priority for your whole congregation – not just those working with your youth ministry program, but everyone!  This includes the trustees, the finance committee, the mission committee, the worship committee – you get the idea.
3. Recruit, train, equip, and encourage young leaders in your congregation.  Get them involved in worship, planning church events, making important decisions, teaching younger children, missions – leading throughout the life of your congregation.

I share these ideas because they worked for me.  When I was in high school, I was an extraordinarily reserved young man who was scared to death of public speaking.  Then my pastor invited me to be the liturgist for a week, and then a month, and then to preach on Youth Sunday.  Supported by a community of faith, I found my voice, and while I wouldn’t enter the ministry for another 15 years, the invitation to leadership in my local church fostered not only my later call to ordained ministry but my passion for God and my commitment to Christ and the church.

My hope is that my story will be the norm for the United Methodist Church in Indiana—that every young person who encounters a UMC congregation in this state feels welcomed, accepted, surrounded by God’s love, and empowered to transform the church, the community, and the world.  I’d like you to be a part of that movement.  All it takes is reaching out in the love of Christ to a young person in your community, and voicing the need for supporting and equipping young leaders in your congregation.