“Do you want to go large?” asked the clerk. I was at a drive-through window. This time I turned her down, but more often than not our culture has adopted a super-size-me approach when it comes to fast food—and church ministry. We seem to glorify today’s megachurches, with their impressive facilities, attendance records, growing budgets and programming abilities. Even many youth ministry workers tend to be attracted to the trappings of what large churches have to offer.
Yet most of us youth workers serve in small churches. According to a 2003 report from The Barna Group, fewer than 2 percent of churches in the United States have 1,000 or more adult attendees. In fact, the typical Protestant church has fewer than 90 adults in attendance on an average weekend, according to Barna, a prominent research organization.
Statistics from my fellowship of churches, the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, substantiate Barna’s numbers. A few years ago our denominational publishing office commissioned a survey of its customer base, which included more than 10,000 churches from several different denominations. Among the results was this note: the average church size was around 80 people, with approximately 4 teenagers.
Sure, the big churches get all the attention and may be able to attract more students through their programs and facilities. It’s understandable for adult youth workers in smaller churches to feel frustrated at times about the lack of money, facilities, volunteers, and even the overall lack of kids. But, the truth is, the vast majority of churches do not have impressive buildings, budget, or numbers to garner a interest from anyone other than the regular members or attendees.
Yet, a friend of mine has observed, “Every large church is doing its best to get smaller and every small church is trying to get larger.”
Maybe he’s on to something there. The current trend toward small groups in student ministry is certainly reflective of youth workers’ observations that there are incredible strengths in small groups. Large church youth workers understand the value of dividing the larger group into smaller units to facilitate relationship-building, adult-to-student mentoring, and the development of more effective lines of communication.
Perhaps it’s time to rehearse the positive characteristics of what student ministry in smaller churches has to offer.
Make Much of People, not Programs
Perhaps the biggest advantage of serving in a small church is that we can get to know the students better.
We should remember it doesn’t take an organized structure to do real ministry. Effective ministry can happen in our kitchens around a cup of coffee, or in our living rooms with our feet propped up on the coffee table. I’m becoming increasingly convinced today’s students are more impressed by adults who genuinely care about them than they are with overly organized and structured programs. Don’t get me wrong; I see great value in organization and structure.
However, smaller churches have a real advantage over bigger churches in the development of close relationships.
If you are a youth worker in a small church, you can have everyone over to your house for dinner or take the whole group out for milkshakes without robbing a bank. If you only have a handful of students in your group, you can get out to their high school football games or concerts. You can remember everybody’s birthdays, and you can pray for each one specifically each day. You can show them how to do their own personal Bible study and you can answer specific life-related questions. You can become their friend and not just another acquaintance from church.
Emphasize Relationships, not Rooms
A pastor friend of mine recently experienced a fire that destroyed virtually his entire church facility. During the process of reconstruction, he said, “I’d almost like to do without our building permanently. Our people were closer, the fellowship seemed to be more genuine, and church seemed to be real.” I’m convinced sometimes our buildings and facilities get in the way of real ministry.
In my early days in ministry, there were times when I taught teenagers in church buses; in basements where I couldn’t even stand up straight; even in closets under the stairs. I really don’t think Christ would have been overly concerned with data projectors, smart boards, or Bose sound systems. Sure He made use of visual aids. He wrote in the dirt on the ground and referenced objects in nature, but, mostly He concentrated on people. That seems like a good model for ministry with teenagers today.
Build Trust Instead of Technology
My college-age son recently said, “You’re the only dad who has cooler toys than his kids.” Yep, I love my laptop and my iPod, and I carry my smart phone religiously, but I am careful not to let my electronic gadgets isolate me from people.
I remember the days when Walkmans were the great evil in youth ministry. Youth workers feared that kids who listened to portable tape players would not have healthy conversations with other people. They made rules that wouldn’t let kids bring those devices on youth trips. Are you old enough to remember those days?
Now we are all hearing that modern technology actually helps kids connect with each other. One recent research organization reported that today’s teenagers would be willing to do without almost anything they owned, except for their cell phones.
I’m sure that technology can help us stay connected to our students, but let’s be careful not to send text messages, e-mails, or IM’s to kids when we should be spending time with them in person. You can do that very well in a smaller church.
Emphasize Mentoring over Methods
Youth ministry is always “method” crazy. Countless conferences and seminars tout the latest and greatest “what-works” technique for ministry. Methods are fine, but we must never forget that real youth ministry focuses on the concept of godly adults impacting students through practices of discipleship and mentoring.
Mentoring needs to be intentionally implemented into the fabric of our ministries. It’s the concept so aptly described in
Train, Don’t Just Teach
I have spent the majority of my life involved in various educational endeavors. I believe in the importance of preaching as in the proclamation of truth, but we must emphasize training, or equipping, not just the verbal presentation of fact. Our students need to see how biblical principles apply to life. I love the account in
Perhaps that is an apt description of what real ministry is all about: showing students that God’s Word relates to life! Youth workers are probably more likely to have that opportunity in a smaller youth group.
After looking at all these factors, youth workers in smaller churches may have an advantage when it comes to impacting kids. Come to think of it, maybe size does matter.
1 See “Small Church Struggle to Grow Because of the People They Attract”
