Almost all my best friends are youth leaders in the six youth networks in our area. When I meet with these friends from Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Assembly of God, Free Methodist, Wesleyan, and charismatic churches, I see God at work in more ways than I ever could have imagined. I must agree that the local church is the hope of the world!
Something that's been adding a lot of fuel to my fire for networking is the concern that we are losing the spiritual battle with this generation. It doesn't have to be that way! A lot of youth leaders hear statistics that many youth graduate from high school without a strong faith. We've been talking about this in our network meetings.
While there are other important factors to consider in addressing this crisis, youth leaders in our area are responding with a renewed determination to work together! We are tackling four objectives:
Every church needs a healthy, growing youth ministry.
Every youth worker cares deeply about the young people under his or her care. But we often struggle with how best to bring about spiritual change in their lives. Fellow youth leaders help each other discover great resources and events that can make a big difference in developing effective youth ministries. For example, my friend Danny Rogers, a youth ministry veteran, graciously shares the wealth of resources he's collected over the years with all the new and volunteer youth leaders who come to our network meetings. And one of our network leaders, Roseann Sworts, would regularly remind youth leaders in her network to take advantage of great youth ministry training conferences that are available locally and nationally.
Every community needs a network of church youth ministries.
We love seeing youth leaders discover the youth ministry team they never knew they had! Many of them have a difficult time getting help from people within their churches, but then they come to a network meeting and are really encouraged to find people who are just as passionate as they are, who struggle like they do and who really understand them! Five of our networks started bringing their youth groups together monthly for worship, a challenge, and sharing testimonies about how God is using them. At one of the events, Al Rowicki, a volunteer youth pastor, challenged 140 students from 10 different churches to be passionate for God and to reach their friends for Christ — asking them to come back the next month to share testimonies of what God does through them.
Every school needs to be reached by a network of churches.
Youth leaders in our community are deciding that it is time for them to fish on the other side of the boat. In recent years our network has joined together to bring in incredible school assembly speakers. At the last one, 800 students packed out a school gymnasium where they heard a former Harlem Globetrotter share the gospel. Nothing like that had ever been done in that community before. Now youth leaders have great relationships, and a solid reputation with the school administrators here.
Every student needs to hear the gospel and get connected to a local church.
Our network helps us all be devoted to a larger vision than just that of our own ministry. If we work together, it really is possible that every teenager in our area could hear the gospel and find foundation in a local church.That is the reason I get out of bed every morning, and I am blessed to work with people who feel that same passion.
Who is your "Every?"
Thinking about where you live, who is it that God has called you to reach? How can you work with others to reach every youth in your sphere of influence? To help you work through the questions, We have network coaches who want to help. You can contact the NNYM office or locate a coach in your area.