The Future of Student Ministry?
We don’t know what the answer is, but we think something needs to change. The last couple of weeks, we’ve had over 500 students gather for Fuse, NewSpring’s student ministry, on the Anderson campus. We have huge momentum, and we think that’s going to escalate in the coming months when the new student ministry facility opens in Anderson.
But that’s part of the problem. We know it’s highly unlikely that we’ll have the resources for dedicated space, staff, etc. to pull off student ministry at our other campuses like we do in Anderson. We think something needs to change. But we don’t know what it’s going to look like.
That’s where Davey steps in. He’s our student ministry pastor in Greenville, and we’ve given him some freedom to test drive a new approach to student ministry. We’re hoping we’ll discover a way to help students connect in relationships with peers (the hook) and ultimately connect in a relationship with Jesus (the goal).
Here’s how Davey recently described how we’re initially going to approach student ministry in Greenville:
Tonight we are cranking up what we’re calling Fuse*Groups. This will take place in 4 rather large homes across the city every week from 6:30-8:30pm. At these homes we will pack 40-60 students in a very relaxed and conversational environment. As our numbers grow Fuse*Group homes will spawn new homes. Our MINIMUM vision is to have a home for every grade per high school and middle school.
At these homes we will have some very intentional “hangout” time with students . . . A time of video teaching from all kinds if crazy intense locations . . . And some focused small group discussion time.
These small groups will be divided by age and gender and will facilitate discussion about how the video teaching can be applied to each of the student’s lives.
Then, once a month we will come back to the GVL Campus and, in place of Fuse*Groups that week, we will have Fuse* (a huge celebration and what I will call a “throw down”). You never know what’s gonna go down here so bring all your friends.
Here’s an example of the video teaching that Davey prepared for the initial Fuse*Groups gatherings:
Two A Days from Davey Blackburn on Vimeo.
Like I said, this is a test drive, but here’s some of the value we think this model will deliver:
- It puts the focus on relationships rather than production.
- It necessarily empowers volunteer leaders to build into students’ lives.
- We’re using homes rather than facility space because they’re much more conducive to relational connections.
- The once-a-month gathering becomes a big event rather than part of the weekly routine. We think that will create an outreach opportunity for students to invite friends.
- We think students may take spiritual steps faster if we create environments that revolve around relationships with their peers and their volunteer leaders.
- We’re able to encourage students to fully engage in Sunday services and serving opportunities without completing with the Sunday services.
Yes, we know. This is a risk. It might not work. But, I love that I’m part of a ministry that’s unwilling to sit idle and watch the next generation become more and more disconnected from the church and their faith. And I love it that we’re willing to try something that may fail in order to find a solution that works.
We’ll keep you posted on the results. In the mean time, what are your recent learnings from the world of student ministry? What trends are you noticing? How can churches continue to effectively impact the lives of students?
I really appreciate the first bullet – relationships rather than production. The other thing I appreciate, and although you didn’t say it, is that the idea is scalable since it seems like NewSpring is growing so fast.
Cool. Can I come?
Looks fantastic!
Multi-site student ministry has proved to be a challenge. Great to see you guys pushing forward in this area!
Rich
This rocks!!! Our student group under our former Youth guy did something similar a couple years ago (early 2000′s). (he has since moved on). But if you wanted a perspective on what worked and well and what he ran into I’m sure he’d be happy to share. We had ( have) over 11 school districts represented in our student area so they broke it into 4 or 5 zones through out the county meeting in homes to create community on the students turf and to essentially create a force that would reach kids far from God in there own environments ( Instead of trying to get the kids to come to them or an event they would go where the kids were..school…sports events.. etc) They had leaders assigned to each district and zone that were champions and missionairies for that zone and district. They also used large Worship and or gathering events and quarterly attractional and missional events.
Tony, love everything you guys are doing and stand for. Most people would not try these types of things because of the WORK that’s involved.
I wonder if some version of this may not also be a foreshadowing of what churches in America look like. Some new churches start this way, but I wonder if it could also be a sustainable and effective strategy for a longer period of time? Not fully convinced, just thinking out loud… Thanks for posting this!
This would make for a great church strategy…
This may sound obvious, and may have already been said in the post in a different way, but the idea of doing what we’ve been doing is out. Students need fresh ideas and even if they don’t know it, they need to connect on a more intimate level with their peers, their spiritual leaders and the church. I love this idea.
There is a local church in my area doing this with their college ministry. Some find it uncomfortable – others are growing like crazy. I guess the point is – no matter what you do it doesn’t work for everyone, but when following the Spirit’s leading you can’t go wrong.
This excites me. We’re launching the exact same model in Lexington, KY next month, so it will be interesting/beneficial to see what roadblocks you hit and how you push through them.
One major trend I’ve seen in student ministry over the past 3 years is the pursuit of the fruit of being the church, rather than the pursuit of the vine. Moving to home groups has huge potential to perpetuate this error – we can become more concerned about building ‘good community’ than building into Jesus’ kingdom community, and experiencing the love/joy/unity/etc that naturally overflows from experiencing what Jesus is doing in and around us. There are countless way this plays itself out, but that is beyond the scope of a blog comment.
I think the major way the church can effectively impact the lives of students is as simple as time invested. If the only time students see you is at a program on Wednesday night (that’s when we meet), it doesn’t necessarily meet them where they are at. Asking students to come to our program (or even our home group) and meet us there only is like Jesus telling us to come to heaven so he can meet with us. That’s not how Jesus operates, He came down and met us on our ground. In the same way, we have to enter students’ world. We have to go to their high school football games. We have to watch their plays. We have to connect with them on myspace/facebook if that’s the only place we can start! When they notice we really do care, they’ll give us their respect and ear.
One concern I’d have with your model is separating the houses by grade. I think that’s eliminating one of the largest resources in the church – the natural influence and learning from those older than you. If you have mixed classes together, you’ll have this natural chain of discipleship where the seniors will want to be like your college leaders, your underclassmen will want to be like your upperclassmen, your freshmen will want to be like your sophomores… you get the idea.
One more note – students need to feel “ownership” of the house their in. I don’t mean they get keys to the front door and the garage code, but they need to be able to feel comfortable, and definitely not be “walking on eggshells”. If the homeowner can’t accommodate that kind of mindset, it’s time to find a new house.
I’ll stop their… I’m getting into excitement mode where I could spew the ins-and-outs of this model for hours… Looking forward to hearing about it!
Umm, this is new? The youth ministry I interned at back in 1999 did it this way, and the youth ministry I currently lead does it this way, too, for our sr. high ministry.
(Just so ya know, the relaxed and non-threatening atmosphere of a home is perfect for pre-saved teens. The model works great on all levels.)
Tony,
I think the method you described is going to become more common. I started doing youth ministry in NC about 6 years ago and am now in WV doing student ministry. I have witnessed a HUGE need for real relationships. Most teens I have dealt with don’t care too much about programs. They are interested in real relationships with people who love them. Age doesn’t seem to be a factor with leaders, because I have seen students respond as well to college age leaders as they do to retired folks. They just want a place where they can be who they are, whether they know Christ or not.
We have started toying with a similar model at Cross Point, but we are making a slow transition to it because we currently still have the space. “Something has to change” has been a phrase I’ve said a number of times when we’ve talked about how students have been graduating from church. We will be watching closely how this works for Dave.
SLT/SOS is our approach at Barefoot Community Church, along with lots of net campuses, and community events to keep everyone connected. Seems to be working very well with us. God Speed. Mark
Hmm… I’m intrigued and ask that you show results in coming months (both good and bad). I think small settings, raw community, and rebellion against insitution worked with Gen-X but we’re finding the opposite true out here in So-Cal…
Gen-Y wants the big bang, passion, and chance to unify for world change. It’s easy for us Gen-X leaders to transpose what worked for us on the next generation and maybe that’s why 69% of “the most spiritual generation in history” is walking away from what we’re offering (Barna/Kinnaman). Praying for your launch and please keep us all posted!
Tony,
We experimented with the exact same format this past year. It did not work very well for us. I will be interested to see how it goes for you guys. If you figure out how to do youth ministry well with multi-site, immediately write a book about it.
Got my start in youth ministry in a program that did this. We had students come from so many different schools and districts that the only way to make it work was to set up “Regional” youth groups in large homes in the community. It was a great way to get students more connected to the schools and community. That was 1996. It worked for us but there were problems too. We had students who had friends from other districts who wanted to be together on Wed nights so they would drive to different Regional events. There was also the difficulty of having students who connected with certain leaders want to go to other regions where they like the leaders more. High school students are so fickle that it’s tough to have something that meets everyone’s needs.
We met twice a month in these groups and twice a month in small groups.
Tony, while I totally understand it “feels” risky, I don’t think it is. I think you’re hitting a felt need with students … big time! The 500+ weekly student ministries have their role (and I think I can legitimately say that), but it’s kind of like making an annoucement on Sunday morning. When there is only 50, it feels like you’re talking to me … but when there’s 500, it feels like you could be talking to anyone. That works better with adults than students.
The only other “felt” need I know of is to serve. Crazy as it sounds, I know more students that will come out to an event that “feels like they are giving their life away” than to Six Flags. They really want to get out of the “church chair” (or in this case, off the couch) and do something.
My guess is if you set it up right by strategically placing the magnet kids (the magnets with the athletes, gamers, girly girls, average kids, musicians, etc.), ramp up the veteran students, get your leaders at the curb and front door, shoot some hoops/throw a football/make something together in the kitchen beforehand, play your AMAZING video on a BIG screen, have Davey make the rotation to as many houses as possible and, of course, serve food … you will be SHOCKINGLY successful.
Sorry for the long post, I’m genuinely excited for you and your kids.
Sounds like you guys are asking the right questions and because of that have developed a strategy that is going to impact a generation. I can’t help but think this could be a strategy for “church” not just the youth ministry. You are on to something here…
I’ve watched youth ministry in a few churches now. Most of those have involved using a program approach. I like this approach. I think it looks more like what Jesus did with the 12. It’s going to produce an atmosphere for discipleship and will transform lives. To use Thom Rainer’s idea, it’s going to make the church “essential” for students.
This is a great article from the current issue of Christianity Today about David Gibbons. He decided TRANSITION his whole church into a similar model instead of entering a building program.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/003/7.72.html
I’ve worked in youth ministry for a while now and have noticed the need for making disciples more than anything else. Youth ministry is usually very program and adrenaline driven, yet what is needed is intentional and relational disciple-making. The goal is to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples.
The method that you guys are trying out is great and has worked for us in the past. The non-threatening environment of a home vs. a church provides excellent opportunity for the Christ follower and the outsider to connect in a neutral environment.
It is great to see youth ministries who aren’t afraid to try something other than what has been done before!
Reminds me of Young Life. I always liked meeting in different homes.