I NEED TO BE HONEST ABOUT SOMETHING: I don’t believe in youth ministry. In fact, more often than not I believe youth ministry is a colossal waste of time.

There is a growing consensus among youth workers that we all need to “get real” about the fact that if and when youth ministry is effective, it is usually in spite of the current ideas and practices permeating this area of ministry, not because of them.

Like many of you, I have been greatly challenged and encouraged by the number of articles arising from those who work with students and are attempting to reimagine youth
ministry. Articles from YouthWorker Journal and other leading publications have been a great blessing to me because they’ve identified a growing discontent among youth
workers. This discontent — which I believe is approaching critical mass — is rooted in an honest evaluation of the mixed results of the youth ministry empire over the last several decades.

FROM REMIXING TO REIMAGINING
More and more of us who work with students are coming to recognize the need for a deep and genuine paradigm shift. Merely remixing what we do won’t be significant enough.

We need something much more profound and transformative. We’ve tweaked, we’ve modified, and we’ve refined our  programming and our own personal styles; but youth ministry isn’t working overall. Maybe it never did. At least Mike Yaconelli, a founder of this journal, didn’t think so.

“The success of youth ministry in this country is an illusion. Very little youth ministry has a lasting impact on students. I believe we’re no more effective today reaching young
people with the gospel than we’ve ever been. In spite of all the dazzling superstars of youth ministry, the amazing array of Youth Specialties products, the thousands of youth
ministry training events, nothing much has changed.”1

The first time I read those words, something deep within me affirmed their truth. The principal problem isn’t just what we are doing in youth ministry; the problem is youth ministry. Our problem is that we embrace a “youth ministry” paradigm that limits our ability to reimagine programs, practices, and the ideas that support them.

We are blind to the possibility that the best approach might not look like “youth ministry” at all!

Henry David Thoreau observed, “For every thousand people hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root.” That is a powerful image and metaphor. And it is one that offers a legitimate answer to why so many of us are struggling to understand the recurring failures we face.

We’ve been assuming the problem lies in some product of the tree, and so we’ve focused our efforts there; but the problem is the tree itself.  Fundamentally, our problem isn’t one of practice but one of paradigm.

FROM “YOUTH“ TO “FUTURE LEADERS”
Of course, explaining what I don’t believe is the easiest thing to do. So what do I believe? It is this: We need to shift our efforts from doing youth ministry to doing ministry to/with future leaders. We need a shift in how we see younger Christ-followers who are blossoming into spiritual maturity and learning to participate in transformational influence and leadership in Jesus’ name.

There are six parts of the paradigm shift we need.

1) A future leaders paradigm sees students as “leaders in process” and not just “youth.”
One of the ideas I have become convinced of is this: How you see someone determines the opportunities you will give him or her. Conversely, how you see someone will
determine what opportunities you withhold.

This truth is no more evident than in our interactions with and expectations of students. If we see “youth,” it becomes easier for us to ignore, segregate, or relegate them within the local church by hiring some uber-hip guy/gal to come in and keep them in a holding pattern until they are ready for “serious discipleship.”

But if we see them as future leaders within Christ’s church, I believe the focus becomes providing highly intentional training in the way of Jesus.

2) A future leaders paradigm recognizes that our expectations for students are too low.
I think most students are looking for a level of engagement that goes way beyond the typical youth group experience. In fact, I know they do. Instead of playing down to the lowest common denominator, a “future leaders” paradigm will force our students to “play up” and engage on a level that is challenging and extremely difficult at times.

For example, in our high school program I prepare all of my content as if I were addressing a first-year university audience and then adapt the language (but not the concepts) down. The results have been increased engagement, increased attendance (which surprised me, to say the least!), and increased growth for everyone involved (including myself and my adult leaders).

3) A future leaders paradigm is about exposure instead of isolation.
Stereotypically speaking, youth need to be isolated from ideas and experiences that have the potential to radically reorient their Christian worldview — or even dismantle it. But as a member of Christ’s church, our future leaders need to be given age-appropriate exposure to exactly these kinds of things.

They need to be coached and mentored in what to do when confronted with these realities and how Jesus’ gospel comes to bear on the  complicated/confusing/painful/dark/frustrating elements of our fallen world. So a regular practice of ours is to explore alternative views from other Christian and non-Christian sources and discuss the merits of them openly and honestly.

4) A future leaders paradigm spends little energy in attempting to make church/Christ/faith cool or hip or attractive.
I think we all recognize the cultural forces at play that have rendered the seeker-sensitive model of ministry redundant. I think this model (which has infiltrated almost every existing model of youth ministry) is no longer tenable in our cultural context given that, at its heart, it is a movement that sought to apologize for the difficult and harsh realities of following Christ in a broken world.

Instead, this model spent its time making Christianity look attractive, fun, etc. But this emphasis flies in the face of an embodied struggle to follow Christ in our world: It isn’t sexy or cool or easy or attractive (by worldly standards), so why make it out to be something it isn’t?

To do so amounts to little more than a stylized bait ’n’ switch. Ministry to/with future leaders frees us from having to provide entertainment for students and forces us to “get real” about the demands of discipleship to Jesus — the good, the bad, and the ugly.

5) A future leaders paradigm fosters a leadership focus instead of a management focus.

A youth ministry paradigm employs a subtle but unmistakable management agenda much of the time. “Manage the activities and events, and in the process manage the youth for
the rest of the church. Keep them busy with things to do, and we’ll all hope and pray for the best.” What a short-sighted and faithless approach!

A future leaders paradigm has at its heart an empowerment model, which instead of seeing students as liabilities or something to be managed, recognizes and attempts to
unleash their God-given potential through meaningful interaction and service.

Our approach as a church has been to welcome and encourage the contribution of our future leaders to all levels of church leadership. Doing so has been enormously gratifying,
as they consistently rise to the occasion, providing tremendous leadership and influence in the evolution of our ministry as a church body.

6) A future leaders paradigm recognizes that our students need us to help equip and empower them for dynamic Christian lives, both now and into the future.
If we see our future leaders simply as “youth,” then every adult within the local church can outsource the responsibility of their care, shepherding, mentoring, and discipleship to
some “youth guy/gal” who “gets” them.

In the process, parents and other adults can wash their hands clean from their responsibilities and callings as parents and leaders — a situation that serves to only facilitate a
culture of disempowerment.

A future leaders paradigm, however, calls everyone within the local church to see our future leaders as our responsibility. This, in turn, forces us to reflect upon how we are
collectively helping them grow into maturity in Christ. Since the church is one body and is, therefore, implicated in the discipleship of our students, how are we as local
congregations providing the best possible environment for Christian growth and nurture? The shift from “youth ministry” to “ministry to future leaders” forces all of us to think about the role we can each play in nurturing love of God and neighbor within these “leaders in process.”

NEXT STEPS
The challenge is clear. Mike Yaconelli said:
“Youth ministry as an experiment has failed. If we want to see the church survive, we need to rethink youth ministry. What does that mean? I don’t have a clue. But my hunch is that if we want to see young people have a faith that lasts, then we have to completely change the way we do youth ministry…I wonder if any of us has the courage to try.”2

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Jeff Strong is the Director of Emerging Church Ministry at Grindstone Church in Waterdown, Ontario, where he oversees ministry to/with 11-30-year-olds. Jeff holds a master’s degree from McMaster Divinity College and has served as a part-time professor at Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ontario. Jeff and his family (wife Heather and daughter Lauren) live in Hamilton.

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1 Yaconelli’s article can be found at www.youthspecialties. com/articles/Yaconelli/failure.php.
2 Ibid.