T.H.I.N.K. Youth Ministry pt. 3

T.H.I.N.K. SERVICES! 52 times a year, 364 times from 6th to 12th grade we have an opportunity as student leaders to impact students in the large group setting we call services assuming they show up every week for their entire student career (highly unlikely). Chances are this will be the "environment" they bring their unreached friends to and evaluate the youth ministry on. With that in mind our services will be the most important point of contact to our students (small groups would probably be the best for our students). It will be the place where the majority of salvations will occur and therefore it deserves our attention. We must T.H.I.N.K. services.

TIME - We should focus and invest a serious amount of time to building and creating services that attract students (see post on T.H.I.N.K. atmosphere). We should also evaluate how much time our services consume. Say more with less. Keep it short, students are more likely to invite their friends to a 60 minute service than a 90 or 120 minute one. Students today are used to programming that captures their attention from start to finish. Our services should be no different, they should capture their attention, so God can capture their hearts.

HEART - Sometimes working hard and investing time into services is draining. Having to prepare a message week in and week out wondering if anyone is listening let alone getting changed; can turn an incredible honor God has given us into a duty or a have to. We need to examine our hearts and make sure that our heart is filled with desire and passion. Make sure your heart is captured by your students and God will use you to capture theirs.

INVOLVEMENT - Getting the right people involved in your services is paramount for it's success. From the creative planning process to who steps foot on the stage, who's involved is huge! Evaluate who is involved. Make sure they have character and the talent. Presenters on stage should be engaging and captivating and full of Godly character. The creative team should be well... creative and character filled. Just because someone has character doesn't mean they should be a presenter and just because they have talent doesn't mean they should be a presenter. Evaluate who's involved and get the right people even if you have to go get them yourself.

NUMBERS - Your service had better be taylored to reach the masses... period. We're called to reach a generation, not just a specific genre or clique. Make sure everything you do for your services has the whole generation in mind. Every series, design element, worship experience should have the numbers in mind especially those numbers of students who do not know Christ.

KULTURE - Our services need to reach a culture that is broken and blinded with the life changing message of Christ in a way that the culture understands it. With this in mind we often then must speak the language of the culture like Paul did on his missionary journeys in acts. The language of youth culture is music, movies, tv and internet oh and texting :-). Without compromising the Gospel we need to speak their language. Use the culture to reach the culture. Be in this world, but not of it. The Gospel doesn't change, but the method for presenting it does. Speak their language in your services. Here's an example of a cultural service intro.

Questions to ask yourself:

• How much time do we spend planning our services?
• How much time do we spend evaluating our services?
• How long are our services?
• Are our services engaging and captivating to students?
• What needs to change?
• Is the service intro engaging?
• Is the worship engaging?
• How do we transition to the message?
• Is the message engaging?
• Is the closing engaging?
• Do our services allow for God to capture students hearts?
• Is my heart captured by God
• Is my heart captured for my students?
• Is my service preparation a have to?
• Who's involved in our services? Do they have character and talent?
  
• Who's involved in our creative planning process? Do they have creativity and talent?
  
• Do we have the right people involved?
• Does our service reach the many or the few?
• Does our creative process plan to reach the many?
• Are we speaking the language of a culture?
• Are we presenting the unchanging Gospel with an ever changing method that reaches a culture?

T.H.I.N.K. Services!

T.H.I.N.K. Youth Ministry pt. 2

T.H.I.N.K. Atmosphere. When it comes to youth atmosphere is everything. Look at what draws them. Walk into their favorite store, their room, their favorite hang out spot, or watch their favorite TV show and you'll see atmosphere. Atmosphere attracts students and therefore in order to reach students we need to create atmospheres that attract students. Dictionary.com defines atmosphere as:

• A surrounding or pervading mood, environment, or influence.

• A distinctive quality, as of a place; character.

• An aesthetic quality or effect, especially a distinctive and pleasing one, associated with a particular place.

TIME - We need to spend time planning and preparing atmospheres that create a pervading mood and environment. We need to spend time thinking and studying how to create environments (meeting places, promotional materials, web sites,) that have an aesthetic quality that pleases a generation and creates an association with a particular place. When a student walks into your room, reads your promotional material, or visits your website they should all associate it with your church and it should attract students.

HEART - Creating an atmosphere for students cannot be something you have to do, but something you want to do. It has to be in your heart to develop atmospheres in your facility, promotions and web that attract students.

INVOLVEMENT - Getting the right people in the room to create the right atmosphere for students is of the utmost importance. If you need creativity get creative people. If you need money get people with money and cast the vision, if you need to think like a student get some students in the room and ask the right questions.

NUMBERS - Atmosphere should attract the masses for the most part, especially your facility. If your facility only attracts a clique within the generation then you'll only reach a microcosm of the generation. God desires all men be saved and so do we. Create an atmosphere that attracts a generation, not a gender or a genre.

KULTURE - When creating an atmosphere that attracts think culture (or Kulture). Use what the culture is using to attract students as long as it doesn't conflict with your theology and values. Use cultural tools (Social networks, texting, etc...) and cultural influences (video games, music, movies, TV) to attract students, again as long as it doesn't conflict with your values and theology. Think culture when you create atmospheres it will draw them and the unchanging Gospel will change them.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Are we thinking about the atmospheres we create for our students?
  
• Does our atmosphere attract students?
• Does our Facility attract students?
• Does our promotion attract students?
• Does our web site attract students?
• When someone visits our facility, web site, or views our promotional material do they associate them with my ministry or are they conflicting?
• Is my heart set to creating an atmosphere for students?
• Do I have the right people involved?
• If not, who do I need to get in the room and what questions should I ask?
• Am I creating an atmosphere that attracts a generation, big numbers?
• If not, what can I change to do so?
• Is the atmosphere we create behind the culture?
• Am I using the culture to attract students?
• What are some cultural influences and tools am I not using that I should be?

T.H.I.N.K. Atmosphere in your student ministry!

T.H.I.N.K. Youth Ministry pt. 1

I did a session on Saturday for Mitosis on How to create and environment for youth and children. In order to build an environment for youth you have got to T.H.I.N.K. Sometimes so little thought actually goes into youth ministry and to make it successful we must T.H.I.N.K. three areas to think:

• T.H.I.N.K. Atmosphere
• T.H.I.N.K. Service
• T.H.I.N.K. Fun

TIME
HEART
INVOLVEMENT
NUMBERS
KULTURE (Spelled it with a K because that's hip and trendy and I needed culture in there)

This is just the intro. I'll be breaking down each of the bullets in my first ever... !!!BLOGERIES!!! That's a blog series.