Ever come to the point where you don't know how to do anymore than you're already doing? The frustration of ministry gets the best of you. So you stop. Sit down. Pray. Even plead with God.
Help. Please!
In over 20 years of working with students, I must confess more of those moments than I care to admit. We all find ourselves in those situations because we care. Deeply. Passionately. For youth. For more. We want more for young people than they want for themselves. Or so we like to think.
Throughout my season of youth ministry, I have offered opportunities galore. So have you. We have worked to provide environments and atmospheres where Jesus is present. And we hoped. And prayed.
"Dear God, help them understand how much you love them."
Sound familiar? Sound like you?
Give Away Your Job
A few years ago, my ministry shifted. Completely. I found myself giving away my responsibilities. And even my job. I was letting young people do everything I once did before. And they were succeeding. They were actually doing my ministry better than me. It felt awesome. Because I came to realize that I didn't have to work so hard. If they owned the ministry, they cared. They were vested. It was theirs.
And I got to help them win!
My tasks took a different shape. I used my time to teach. Became a coach. Dropped the ball. Picked-up the clipboard. And helped youth do ministry. As a result, I became more effective than I ever dreamed. But it didn't happen overnight. It took me weeks to train them to do everything I was paid to be doing.
During that period, I discovered how to do ministry like Jesus taught his disciples. By letting them. And I just had to tell others about the drastic shift. God opened doors for me to share with youth workers everywhere. He was changing our mindset and the youth ministry paradigm.
For the next 10 years of my life, I crisscrossed the country and other continents. The message he gave me to speak was simple.
"Give youth ministry back to young people."
"Give Youth Ministry Back to Young People."
Yes, back. You see that's how youth work actually started. In 1881, a pastor gave the responsibility of meeting, teaching, praying, worshiping, and serving to a team of 57 teens. And youth ministry was born.
The story goes like this: Pastor Francis Clark had a problem. Young people were leaving the church. Even walking away from their faith. And he was at the point where he didn't know how to do anymore than he was already doing. So he stopped. Sat down. Prayed. Even pleaded.
Help. Please!
This young pastor was at a place where you and I have been. And a place the Church is today. But instead of doing more for youth, God simply said, "Do less. Let them do it. And trust me." His mantra became, "Never do anything for youth in the church they can learn to do themselves." That's a powerful premise!
Get out of the Way
In 2007, I sat down at my desk at Endeavor in a similar moment. As I mentioned, I had beating the youth-led ministry drum across the world without making any real progress. So I stopped again and pleaded. My prayer went something like this: "Father, I have said everything I know how to say to change minds, but I'm not getting anywhere. Help. Please!"
Do you know what I believe God said to me in that moment? "Shut up!"
Really. That's what I heard. As I continued to pray, I wrote down these words as I listened:
- pray with youth
- get out of my way
- support young people
That was not a message, strategy, or plan I ever heard in Bible college. Never sat through that seminar at a conference. There was no book on my shelf with that process outlined. I thought must have heard the wrong message.
But I didn't.
Instead of second guessing, I chose obedience. Risked failure. And told others.
Pray with Youth
Starting with my own church, we followed the process and began to pray. Not for. Not about. But with.
With youth.
Specifically, we partnered them with a mature, adult Christ-follower once a week for 3 weeks. Their task was simply to seek God together. Ask him to reveal his call on their young life. Simple. But incredible.
In the book of 1 Samuel and chapter 3, we read a story about a young man in the care of youth pastor per se. Samuel was under the spiritual guidance of Eli; a priest who could not see well anymore. In the middle of the night, God called to the young Samuel. Three times the boy went to his youth leader and said, "You called me?" It took some time, but finally, Eli understood that it was God speaking to the young man. And he taught him how to reply the next time he heard the voice.
Help Youth Hear God's Voice
As youth workers, pastors, and church leaders, we have a responsibility. No a small matter either. Huge. Our primary job is to help young people recognize and respond to God's call on their life. We must teach them to know God's voice. As well, we must be willing to make room to them to step into leadership. Even into the job we have been doing. Read the end of the story to see what I mean.
God is speaking to the hearts of the generation we serve today in a profound way. Or at least he's trying. Often, it's hard for them to hear because the noise of the world is loud. Maybe our ministries are loud. Even too loud. Louder than we want to admit.
As we have worked hard to create environments where Jesus is present, have we perhaps built ministries where youth do not know how to recognize God's voice? Accidentally? Even if he calls multiple times?
I don't know how God is working in your ministry. All I know is what was happening in mine. And I knew that with youth and then with youth workers I wasn't making the impact God desired. Because I ran out of ideas and words. My ideas. And my words.
Be Their Coach
When I determined to pray with youth, get out of God's way, and support his call on young people, my ministry changed in a way that I still can't imagine or understand. And I will never go back.
Since that day sitting at my desk, God has opened doors for the Pray With Youth™ message to transcend the globe. Tens of thousands of youth in thousands of church in dozens of nations have followed the formula. The transformation has been astounding in their faith communities and especially in the lives of teens trying to find their place in the cause of Jesus Christ.
The challenge continues again this year. We have prayerfully determined to expand the Pray With Youth™ message and give away the original Pray21™ tools we created back then to any-church-any-where now for free!
You can register for free, too, and download all the materials immediately to make this campaign happen in your congregation. Participate in the Global Pray With Youth™ campaign on Sunday 9.11.11.
All I can do is encourage you to experience the results yourself and let God rebirth youth ministry in your church, as young people learn to listen, recognize and respond.
Young people are wanting more and waiting.
Put down the ball. Pick up the clipboard. Become a coach!