reVerb: Changing the Way We Think About Change in Student Ministry

Posted by: Greg Gibson
Director / The Veritas Network
Student Pastor / Foothills Church, Knoxville

For the longest time, my language toward student ministry was extremely negative and often very hurtful.

If student ministry were a girl then I probably would have seen my teeth knocked in on our first date. Yes, at one time in my life, student ministry and I were enemies. I use to sit around the high and mighty, critical version of the theology round table and bash student ministry with the best of them. “Oh, student ministry is wretched,” I would say. “Can you believe how emotionally driven student ministry is” I would muster. “It is so program driven and separate from parents,”

I would say with utmost enthusiasm like a young man who had the entire world figured out. During this phase, I often thought to myself, no wonder so many students are leaving the church after high school. I wanted nothing to do with it, and I wanted to scream from the mountaintops, “What you (student pastors) are doing is NOT working!”

Then, ironically, I became one.

Even more ironically, my undergraduate degree is in youth ministry.

By the time I had graduated college though, I was pretty burned out on student ministry stuff. I had some bad bridges burn, and I was pretty bitter from it all. I have, however, mended these few bridges, repented of a few silly decisions, and now all seems right in the world. Jesus is giving me daily more of an understanding spirit instead of a critical one, which leads me to the point of this article.

It is no secret that the student ministry scene is being flooded with research about the exile of young people from the church after high school (some saying upwards of 90%).

Maybe, like me, you are a pastor who has been carrying this burden for a while now.

Maybe, like me, you have asked yourself over and over, “What needs to change in student ministry for these statistics to change?”

I have read countless books and articles on the need to make changes in the church. Some of these books bring in the concept of raising the bar of ‘student ministry graduation’ and adding college ministry under the student ministry umbrella. Others talk about the need for a family only ministry approach. Still, others are chanting for less programs and more authentic relational environments.

So, student pastors, what do we do?

With all of these developing approaches to student ministry, what do we specifically need to change?

My answer: We need to change the way we think about change in student ministry.

Allow me to explain.

We might not need to change everything we do or wipe out student ministry completely, but we can add a few concepts to our arsenal that will allow us to focus on changing the way think about student ministry. This in turn will allow us to focus on the good, begin to deflect the bad, and change this current negative view of student ministry into something positive.

Here are a few ways I believe we can do this as student pastors.

1. We need to change our language.

If you change your language then you change your thoughts. Talking about change is talking about the wrong thing. We need to make our language positive. What is working? What does the Bible call us to as pastors? What should we not change?

My personal view on the Dropout Statistic is that it is extremely inaccurate and poorly researched.

This concept is not original to me however. Dr. Brandon Shields, spokesperson for the family-based ministry model, provided what I think is some pretty encouraging research in his doctoral dissertation on the Dropout Statistic. He found that 88% of students who graduated from conservative Southern Baptist megachurches (the denomination which I find myself) with a more traditional approach to youth ministry (family-based) stayed actively involved with church after high school graduation.

Shields rightly says this concerning his finding statistic,

While this study does not serve to validate the effectiveness of youth ministry across the board, it does warn us that we need to wise up in our use of statistics as we seek to learn from the past in order to forge a better future.

Family-Based ministry strives to achieve an appropriate balance between traditional strategies aimed at young people and the biblical mandate to support parents in their role as primary disciple-makers. To those ends, things like public school ministry, evangelistic events, age-appropriate Sunday School, and youth camp can be effective tools if they are used purposefully and flexibly.

I agree with Shields on this point. Youth ministry has a great track record throughout the last 100 or so years. Let us not forsake success and attempt to try and change everything because of a few statistics.

Let us learn from the past in order to forge a brighter future for our churches, students, families, and the student pastors who will come after us.

2. We need to define our language.

We need to define what is important for our people. Andy Stanley calls this ‘defining your terminology.’ This is pivotal because everybody in your church can begin to understand what is important by continually using a few short phrases.

I often use these core words to define what I think is important in student ministry: Family, Community, Theology, and Apologetics.

At Foothills Church, I am always bringing these four concepts to the forefront of everything we do on our calendar and in my teaching.

• Equip the Family: At Foothills Church, we desire to partner with parents in the discipleship of our young people. We are currently putting together a church-wide strategy on how to effectively equip the family for this great mission. What is more, I am constantly investing in our youth leaders so they can walk beside our students in discipleship relationships as well.

• Create Community: Another word for community in our setting is relationships. No matter what age you are, God has made us to be relational beings. We try to create authentic environments where students can function relationally with one another, our youth leaders, and their parents.

• Define Theology: This is something I am very passionate about. I do believe we need to raise the bar in what we are teaching to our students. They can handle it, and they want it. The entire counsel of God is profitable for every person at any life-stage (i.e., 2 Timothy 3:16). I am seeing young people begin to crave theology. In fact, we must begin to teach our students the foundations of their faith, so that when they are faced with opposition they are ready to give an account for their great Savior (i.e., 2 Timothy 4:2; 1 Peter 3:15, etc.).

• Teach Apologetics: Lastly, we hold a high view of apologetics because we believe that young people must begin to know why they believe what they believe. Let me be clear though, we teach theology first. In order to defend your faith, we must understand it. This is especially important as students leave the comfortable confines of their parent’s home and step onto the battlefield for the mind, the college campus (i.e., Jude 3).

3. We need to define our goals.

We need to ask what our core values and goals are as student pastors and then orient everything we do around these goals. Let us not focus on Dropout Statistics or attempt change to the point of always trying new things, but let us continue to strive for what we know God, the Father, has called us to as student pastors – preaching Jesus to the glory of God, equipping families, making disciples, and enlarging his Kingdom.

Here are my top 5 goals at Foothills Church for our student ministry:

1. We want to see students saved and baptized.
2. We want to see discipleship relationships begin to take place between leaders and students.
3. We want to see students get passionate about Jesus and his Word, and begin to study Scripture on their own.
4. We want to see small groups grow and reproduce.
5. We want to see families continue to be equipped to be the primary disciple-makers of their children.
Now that I’ve defined my goals, I structure everything I do around them.
4. We need to constantly communicate our goals to our students, our student leaders, our pastors, and our families in our church.

No matter where you find yourself within your ministry, stay true to the goals that you believe God has called you to as the student pastor.
If you haven’t defined your goals, then maybe you should start there.

But we must constantly communicate them for our students, leaders, and families to know them. This allows you to define your wins and losses, locate your momentum, and evaluate the effectiveness of your philosophy of student ministry.
If you find yourself facing more losses than wins, then maybe it is time to start thinking through change. But don’t rack your brain over CHANGE as it is traditionally defined.
We don’t want to throw out the proverbial student ministry baby with the bath water. We just want to change the way we think about change in student ministry.

Don’t join the high and mighty, critical version of the theology round table and begin to bash student ministry like I use to. Do not begin to turn your head on the impact you are making in the lives of students and families.

Your ministry footprint is often bigger than you realize.

Change your language. Define it. Define your goals. Stick to them.

But don’t change student ministry all together, or it might knock your teeth in.
———————–
For more resources on equipping young people to love Jesus, his Church, the family, and the Great Commission, check out The Veritas Network.