Monthly youth leaders column

New Year often means a new start - new ways of doing things and frustrations with the way things have been. If only I had five more leaders. If only I had a wonderful youth centre rather than a very obvious church hall. If only my young people could afford to go on a youth camp. We could do so much more if ... . And the sentence trails off into a dream world that you feel is unattainable.

Have you ever sat down and wished you could transform the youth ministry at your church into something better but where do you start. 'I need a new strategy but the first step even baffles me, let alone all the hard graft of making ideas into reality'. Here are some stages that may help.

1. Reflect

Prayerfully consider your current state. Try to assess all aspects of your work and decide what your strengths and weaknesses are. Look at the curriculum that you use and ask whether that is effectively communicating God's truth from his Word. Are you teaching from the Bible or are you passing on the 'wise thoughts' of your youth team? It often helps to go away quietly and look at all the issues before they become public domain. Think about plant, staffing, timing and what your young people are like. Where are they coming from and what are the issues that are central to their lives?

2. Realistic aims

Where would we like to be and when is that likely to be? We always start strategic planning with an acknowledgement that God is sovereign and it is his work to grow his church. But if you aim at nothing you'll probably hit it. Paul's visits to churches in the book of Acts reveal a range of approaches in his ministry which took account of the local situation and the maturity of the church in which he was working.

And there is no place in church work for worldly management strategies which are ruthlessly pursued without reference to where God is leading you. But it is helpful to set realistic and flexible aims

3. First steps

So you've looked at your present situation and reflected on where you'd like to be. Often these two will be miles apart. If they are, your aims are probably not realistic and need to be revised. You and your team of leaders need to be confident about it and it is to them that you go first. Maybe a few key leaders at first, but soon the team need to be aware of where the thinking is going. Make sure your church leadership are aware of your plans as they will probably get the questions from parents and must not be 'surprised' by this new plan for youth ministry.

Change is hard to manage in church life and people need to be confident about it if they are to be operating in a new way. Your first steps are crucial and it can be helpful to make your first steps experimental. 'We will go this way and we'll try it for six months' will feel easier than 'This is the new plan and we're committed to it for five years'. If people feel they have the ability to go back to the security of the old way, they have the time to adapt to the new way and can often forget how they used to do things.

4. Review and refine

It is always dangerous to think that your wisdom is greater than God's wisdom. We can make plans and create strategies and they simply don't work out. Cynics will point out that we were wrong in the first place but don't be discouraged as much can be learned from facing up to your mistakes. If you said you would review after six months, you must do it, but it's a good thing to do anyway. Some youth workers have a new strategy every week - such people create insecurity in teams and should try to control themselves.

But part of our role as youth leaders is to review what you do and just as we prayerfully considered where we are at the start of this process it is irresponsible not to review your work after a period of change. If your initial thoughts were carefully planned it is unlikely you will need more than a slight change of course, but be prepared for that. The team may well want to express their views on how things have gone - listen to those views but keep your eyes on the initial goals and plan accordingly.

Strategic planning need not be frightening, but once in place can provide a sense of security for your ministry and gives your work a real sense of purpose.

Remember - dream your dreams but do your job.

Next month I will look at how to innovate a new teaching programme for your youth group and how you go through these first two stages.

If only...

1. Reflect

2. Realistic aims

3. First steps

4. Review and refine

Dave Fenton

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