A few weeks ago I was in a conversation about youth ministry with a couple of children’s ministry leaders. I told them, and I meant it, that if we really want our youth ministries to grow we need to focus most of our energy on ministries to and with preschool parents. That is where faith habits and spiritual disciplines begin. That is where parents begin making decisions that influence how their children experience the church, the essence of community and communion, and faith at home.
With that thought in mind, I recommend reading Think Orange by Reggie Joiner. If you have a parent group, I might even recommend reading it with them. He describes a whole philosophy for ministry with families, but even if you don’t embrace the whole, there are lots of tools and conversation starters. He writes on page 217, “As leaders and parents, our primary calling is not to keep our children in the church, but to lead them to be the church.” And if we as youth leaders or as a church have only 40 hours a year on average with a student (in a group, not alone), we absolutely must partner with parents to lead our youth to “be the church.”
As we form a new conference in Indiana, we are looking for ways to connect youth workers around the state for mutual support, resource sharing, and training. Stay tuned for more information about connectional opportunities coming in the Spring, but also don’t miss a great opportunity that is connected to the Simply Youth Ministry Conference in Chicago. On Friday, February 26, the UMC Division on Ministry with Young People is hosting a special chance for UMC youth workers to connect with Doug Fields on the subject of the future of youth ministry. You don’t have to register for the whole conference to do the one day workshop on Friday, and if we have enough interest, we may set up a car pool or transportation from different areas of the state. In the coming weeks I’ll share more details, but you can check out the details at http://conference.youthministry.com/.
Do you know about IYI? IYI is a statewide organization that supports youth work in Indiana and provides leadership and research in areas of importance to raising our youth and children. The website is www.iyi.org. Two resources you should know about as a youth ministry leader in the church:
1. Professional Development Grants (http://www.iyi.org/fundraising-grants/development-grants.aspx): Many of our church youth workers have little money available from the church for training, but if you are working with youth or children, IYI provides grants for training of up to $750. Applications are due by the 10th each month and are awarded monthly.
2. The IYI weekly update provides information on issues of importance to youth, grant tips, and information on IYI training across the state (their training sessions are usually very good and affordable). Sign up at http://www.iyi.org/consulting-services/help-line.aspx.
IYI also offers regional networking opportunities with other youth workers, low price one-on-one consulting or research help, a tips line for on-the-spot advice about challenges you may face in youth work, and a variety of training options. While they aren’t faith based, they are very friendly to faith-based organizations and have a wealth of experience to teach on helping in the social and faith development of young people.
