Side-Stepping Siloed Young Adult Ministry
Side-Stepping Siloed Young Adult Ministry
6 ways to sidestep the temptation to silo a young adult ministry
One of the biggest objections that I hear from senior and lead pastors from across the country when it comes to young adult ministry is that they fear the young adult population becoming a church within a church. Meaning they would rather be an integrated church that is multigenerational. I agree with this goal to have vibrant local churches reflective of every generation.
If we are honest, however, many times this doesn’t happen. The demographic that is most often missing is that of 18–30-year old’s. I do believe that it is completely possible to have young adults involved in the lifeblood of the church. Meaning they are serving in every department. They are ushers, they are greeters, they are on worship team, they’re leading small groups, their nursery volunteers, serving in kids church and as youth leaders.
The challenge that I see is that whether due to our own insecurities as leaders or simply the not understanding the next generation can cause us to overlook people and can leave people feeling left behind.
Our priority should always be people > programs. As we aim to offer invitations and create opportunities for young adults to be a part of the life blood of our local churches, there’s several things we can do to sidestep the temptation to silo a young adult ministry. Here are six:
1. Submit
I really like the imagery the word “the porch” gives to a young adult ministry. Go with this idea of the local church as a house — God’s house. Each department or ministry can be one room under the same roof, all with one vision. What a front porch can do is extend that vision and ministry to a group of people who wouldn’t normally envision themselves a part of church. The porch is an extension of the house. That’s how it is with a young adult ministry.
The lead/senior pastor is the primary vision bearer for the church. As an associate pastor — whether college ministry, next gen, youth, or young adults, these leaders can carry and cast the same vision to their area of ministry responsibility. This means you don’t need a separate vision.
The vision of the young adult ministry comes in alignment with the vision of the entire church, in fact, it’s an extension of the very same vision. When we keep the vision unified, we honor the leader who God has placed there in authority.
I’ve heard it said you’ll never go wrong with honor. Honoring leadership is one of the primary ways to communicate we are submitted to God as our ultimate authority and the lead pastor as the visionary of the church. Unity helps remove the feeling of siloed ministries and begins with submission!
A great place to start is asking your pastor: “what is your vision for our church and for the young adults within our church?” Clarity around vision gives you a target to aim at because success is defined.
2. Surrender
This is crazy to imagine – but Jesus loves the next generation even more than you or I do. Or for that matter more than either of us could ever comprehend. A great place to be is the place of dependence. This opens us up to the working of the Holy Spirit. To build on the last point – surrendering is submitting to the power of God.
Our role as leaders is we are on assignment as stewards. The place we minister to doesn’t belong to us – it’s God’s. The very people we are called to serve aren’t ours – they are His. When we recognize this, we truly live open handedly. The way Terry Parkman puts it is comparing the open hand to the closed fist. The open-handed leader lets things come and go, knowing where they came from and whose they ultimately are; whereas the closed fist believes the lie that they are the owner and in charge.
We also take the unnecessary pressure off ourselves when we remain in a posture of humility and surrender towards God and those He places in authority.
3. Sweet Spot
The whole role and goal for those of us who pastor and lead people is empowerment. Whether we are a pastor, teacher, prophet, apostle, or evangelist; the mandate for leaders is to equip saints for the work of the ministry. (See Ephesians 4:11-12)
I love what our friend Jonathan (JP) Pokluda says: “We do ministry through people, not to people.” Helping people discover their spiritual gifts and finding a setting where they can develop them is what this looks like.
My best guess if you’re reading this article, is that along your journey, there have been some leaders who helped you find your way and gave you opportunities! When was the last time you called out the gift in someone around you?
Practically speaking a couple of next steps are:
1. Find your sweet spot personally. It’s hard to help others find theirs if you haven’t identified yours first.
2. Take a spiritual gifts test or survey. Here’s the link to one I’ve used in the past – or there’s several other great ones you can search for online!
3. One of my favorite team-building activities is to bring a leadership team or small group is to go through the spiritual gifts test together and then discuss what you discovered.
4. Serve
Leadership is all about serving. Jesus is our example. It’s crazy to imagine what it must have looked like to see our savior in action washing feet! To truly go to the next level in next generation ministry with both reaching and retaining young adults for Christ is harnessing their passion for making a difference and channeling that energy towards the local church.
Grant Skeldon often asks a question I think is worth pondering: “why does the most cause driven generation struggle to connect with the most cause-oriented organization of the local church?” There are many reasons – I’ll highlight two that I think are near the top: vision and personal invitation. Are we consistently casting a compelling vision? Young people are passionate about changing the world. Are we inviting people personally into God’s great plan?
Who to serve:
· Serve your pastor
· Serve your church
· Serve those in your ministry
· Serve those in need
· Serve those who are hurting
· Serve your community
· Serve around the world
5. Strengthen
To strengthen is to build up. Construction is the core imagery Christ used when talking about the Church. (See Matthew 16:18 where Jesus tells Peter “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”) (Also see Ephesians 2:22 “And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”) This makes sense being that Jesus’ early father, Joseph was a skilled carpenter/stone masonry.
It’s very possible you are an artisan or skilled carpenter, architect, or builder. More often than not though with ministry - people around you are the dwelling in which Christ lives! We build up people! Individual lives are the focus of ministry. The great distinctive of leading people is building with our words.
Let’s be leaders who build up others with our words and not tear them down. Whether written or spoken, in person and online, may our lips be quick to speak words of encouragement. Gossip should be far from our ears and mouths. My personal absolute favorite thing to do with my wife, Micah, is pick someone in our lives or ministry we are praying for that day and pull out our iPhone and shoot a quick video encouraging someone and then texting it to them.
6. Strategy
I’ve heard it said in leadership that we are to “marry the mission, date the strategy.” What does this mean? Simply put, the mission is unchanging – meanwhile, the vehicle of strategy you drive to deliver the mission needs to be flexible. To talk specifics, the mission is disciple making, the methods can be small groups, Sunday School, or something completely different. So, we commit to the permanent mission and remain adaptable with the strategies which gives us freedom to experiment and change.
When it comes to strategy, let’s be sure we are thinking long term! When the 22 year olds you’re pastoring are 38, will they have a heart for their local church? Will they have an understanding of how to self-feed, read God’s word and apply it? Will they have a generous heart and understand stewardship? What will their relationships, their marriages, and their families, their neighborhoods, and their workplaces look like?
Maybe you’re reading this and you’re on the fence whether to have a young adult ministry at your church or not. It can be instinctive to think in terms of programming. Do we really need another thing? A service or program may or may not be the next step for your context. My encouragement for everyone would be to intentionally include the next generation – and specifically 18-30 year olds in your primary discipleship strategy regardless of what that may look like.
I would love to hear from you! Have you been intimidated by the younger generations? What are ways you’re seeing young adults get involved in your church?