Events
My friend Puddles has an interesting post today about getting students excited about events. I'm including his post below along with my response I gave him.
"I love my job as a Jr. High youth pastor. It is amazing to see how God can use me to minister to students. It is the norm for these kids to show up Sunday mornings, falling over in their chairs because they are so tired, and doing my best to disciple them and entertain them at the same time. The students seem to love their small groups, mainly because they get to hangout with their friends, but for the life of me, I can not get them excited and signed up for special events.
We have a great event, or so I thought, coming up and thought the students would love it but I cant get them to sign up (especially the guys.)
What do I need to do? Do I need to spice up the announcements? I do have wonderful memories of singing the announcements to the tune of breakaway by Kelly Clarkson. Videos?
I would say all churches have this problem but I know that's not the case. I have worked at other churches. It seemed to not be an issue.
All right, if you are one of the 3 youth pastors who reads this blog, help a brother out.
Even if you have never worked in ministry and have no idea what I'm talking about, I would still love your ideas. Thanks!"
My Response:
I'd say this is an issue in most churches, especially nowadays. I've discovered the same thing here and I've thought maybe it's a high school student thing (as opposed to jr. high). But maybe not.
Anyways, three thoughts:
1. Students don't sign up individually; they sign up in groups. Implication: personally go after key students and it will have a ripple effect.
2. Make sure students have some type of ownership in the event. If it's their idea or they have a role to play, they're more likely to be involved.
3. Experiment. If one thing doesn't work, try something else next time.
"I love my job as a Jr. High youth pastor. It is amazing to see how God can use me to minister to students. It is the norm for these kids to show up Sunday mornings, falling over in their chairs because they are so tired, and doing my best to disciple them and entertain them at the same time. The students seem to love their small groups, mainly because they get to hangout with their friends, but for the life of me, I can not get them excited and signed up for special events.
We have a great event, or so I thought, coming up and thought the students would love it but I cant get them to sign up (especially the guys.)
What do I need to do? Do I need to spice up the announcements? I do have wonderful memories of singing the announcements to the tune of breakaway by Kelly Clarkson. Videos?
I would say all churches have this problem but I know that's not the case. I have worked at other churches. It seemed to not be an issue.
All right, if you are one of the 3 youth pastors who reads this blog, help a brother out.
Even if you have never worked in ministry and have no idea what I'm talking about, I would still love your ideas. Thanks!"
My Response:
I'd say this is an issue in most churches, especially nowadays. I've discovered the same thing here and I've thought maybe it's a high school student thing (as opposed to jr. high). But maybe not.
Anyways, three thoughts:
1. Students don't sign up individually; they sign up in groups. Implication: personally go after key students and it will have a ripple effect.
2. Make sure students have some type of ownership in the event. If it's their idea or they have a role to play, they're more likely to be involved.
3. Experiment. If one thing doesn't work, try something else next time.
Labels: youth ministry
This entry was posted by Mike Lovato, on
Wednesday, February 28, 2007.
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