Do You Know Your People? – Part Two

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We speak, teach & train people as if they are all in the same level of faith. In another way of saying this: We teach & train holding the presupposition that everyone is in the same grade. The result of this, leaves us wondering why lives are not changed, why people don’t show Godly faith, why is it with all that I do, I don’t see lasting impact. In part one of this two-part post, we looked into categorizing people based on the level of faith they are in. The groups are: Community, Crowd, Congregation, Committed, Core. If you want to know why we did so, please read Do You Know Your People? – Part One. In this part we will look at the various needs and plan of action of each group.

Since everyone’s level of faith or walk with Jesus is not at the same level. We need to know how to prepare, plan and also what to pray. The message must stay the same, but the methods and style of communicating it will vary greatly. As per the diagram, we need to work from the outside in. Getting people from community to the crowd, from the crowd to the congregation, from the congregation to the committed, from the committed to the core.
Each people group fulfills different purposes for church. The church overall has five purposes: Evangelism, Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry.

Different People Require Different Approaches

Community: The purpose is Evangelism. The Action Plan is: Reach people wherever, whoever, however they are. Jesus gave his life for the whole world. Everybody needs Jesus. The community must become the the crowd.

Crowd: The purpose is Worship. Jesus reached the crowd by loving them. To reach the crowd we must prepare our environments which will bring them into the loving hands of the church. A place where they can be accepted. Where they can be drawn to worship.

Congregation: The purpose is Fellowship. It’s not alright to be a face in the crowd. You cannot survive on your own. The crowd needs to fellowship and hence build authentic congregations where they help build one another. To be a member of an active action body. In our context it’s the parish youth group.

Committed: The purpose is Discipleship. From the congregation, you’ll find some who are showing more commitment than the rest. With them we need discipleship programs. YouCat is a great curriculum for discipling and making them firmer in their faith.

Core: The purpose is Ministry. Out of the committed ones, select a few to be leaders. Leading by example. Their role is to be like Jesus wherever they are. And primarily to do ministry and be the hands and feet of Jesus.

There is much more I would like to write on each of these categories and their needs and purposes. But this is just an introduction. If you want to learn more, get a copy of the book:  Rebuilt by Fr. Michael White & Tom Corcoran

You can also see Rick Warren’s training videos on How to have a Purpose Driven Church.

Do You Know Your People? – Part One

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In ministry, we often think of people having the same level of faith as everyone else (including you and me). We think that, whatever we do or prepare; we are doing it for the same group of people. Too often in ministry we shoot in all directions, hoping it’ll resonate something with someone. The problem is, we have not categorized them.

As bias as it may sound, this is an important step towards structure and stability. Jesus preached to the crowd, but He sent out the 70. Though He sent the 70, he specifically discipled the 12 plus some women. Although He discipled the 12, He had a core team of 3, namely Peter, James and John.

We need to determine who is at which level of faith. As Jesus said, we’ll know them by their fruits. You can determine people’s faith level by their actions, their words, their relationships towards people and God.

The Different Types of People You’ll Meet

Community: The people in this group includes everyone who doesn’t come to church. It includes people of every faith, color, creed, atheists etc. It also includes a special group of people called G.E.C (Good Friday, Easter, Christmas) Christians. You only get to see them thrice a year at church.

Crowd: This group of individuals are your weekly church attenders. Jesus often preached to the crowd. People who would just come listen and go back the same. Nothing changed. Often we mistake individuals in the Crowd group as congregation. But the crowd come to church as an obligation.do-you-know-your-people-diagram-1

Congregation:  The real congregation group are those who are not just weekly visitors but also active participants. Most active action bodies members are in this level of faith. They love the fellowship, the planning and programming, but they are still lacking discipline. Again you can know them by their fruit. They are active, but very temperamental. Their character values changes with their surrounding.

Committed: The individuals in this group are the special few who are more committed than the congregation, they want to grow further and deeper in their faith. They are passionate about Jesus and are willing to learn and be corrected. These are the true disciples, followers of Christ in passion and service.

Core: They are the Cream of the cream, the very few who have shown commitment and have been hand-picked for the role of leadership. They are to be like Jesus in every sphere of their lives hence their highest value is Integrity.

 

Jesus doesn’t want us to be just a face in the crowd, He wants us in His Core Team.

 

Based on the books:
Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Feilds
Rebuilt by Fr. Michael White & Tom Corcoran
Rebuilding Youth Ministry by Christopher Wesley

The Heart of Youth Ministry

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THE HEART OF YOUTH MINISTRY IS RELATIONSHIPS BUILDING!  Sounds obvious, but it’s easily overlooked. It’s easy to get bogged down on the agenda and attendance. While important, relationships matter more.

When you build relationships in youth groups young people open up and the group gets stronger and bonds closer.  To build relationships you need to put together a format that focuses on them.  And it starts with:

PRAYER

Youth groups that pray together stays longer and goes deeper.  We put prayer at the beginning simply to invite the Holy Spirit into the conversation. Then we end with prayer needs. This reminds the group that they are not on their own. The praying might sound simple but it is most important, it keeps it focused and Christ centered.

LEADERSHIP CHEMISTRY

Young people will quickly learn from their leader’s relationships. Each youth group meeting must have minimum two leaders, who not only get along with each other but also build up one another. If youth sense tension in their leadership, they won’t want to open up, to share their lives with one another, cause the leader is not ready.

Make sure the leaders spend enough time getting to know one another outside of the normal youth meetings. If you sense there is tension among the youth leaders, address it right away. Misaligned leaders will hurt a group quickly.

TALK TIME

While there are important topics of faith to cover, a youth needs to know they can open up and share about their lives, beliefs and struggles. Create opportunities with a prompting at the beginning of the group.  Let them know that they can share a life issue at any time.

Prepare your leaders to allow young people to talk. Encourage leaders to set aside time where someone can share what’s going on.

Format, content, environments are all important. But, if they do not lead to building relationships then your groups will suffer.  Relationships are what keep the young people coming back, growing deeper in Christ and embracing his church.

Your Youth Space Matters

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If the service quality at a restaurant was bad, would you go back? If the place was dirty with infestations would you eat there again? The same standards we hold toward restaurants should be held toward our youth space.

So how would you rate your youth ministry’s space between 1 – 10?

If you are not sure, start asking your youth members, youth leaders and even your animator. Find out:

Is it working? What needs improvement?

You might not like the answer, but it’ll help you move towards a more attractive environment for young people. While certain changes are going to be unique to your local setting, there are a few basic steps to improve any environment.

Step 1: MAKE IT WELCOMING

There is nothing better than being greeted at the door. Position an animator or youth leader to simply open the door and say, “It’s great to see you.” If they know young person by name, that makes it even more personal. Make the person’s first impression a loving one with a smile 🙂 .

Step 2: KEEP IT CLEAN

A clean space means fewer distractions. Make sure things are put away and kept in order. If you have a giant beanbag or a sofa, make sure the food stains are removed. If the floor seems dusty, clean it. You don’t want people distracted by the messiness of your space and breath in dust.

Step 3: MAKE AN INVESTMENT

Everyone has a tight budget, but your space needs to be a priority. Each year, see if you can upgrade a piece of furniture or a new piece of technology/equipment. If people in your church are going to donate something, make sure it’s high quality. Don’t settle for half broken things.

Step 4: BE CREATIVE

No one said youths had to sit at tables or in rows. Youth ministry is flexible and so is your space. If you find that something isn’t working or is growing stale, then shake it up. While you may be limited with what you can do, don’t be afraid to think outside the box.