Trends Facing Youth Ministry

There is a great post over at the Youth Specialties blog about the trends facing youth ministry. Youth leaders were asked to identify the top three trends they felt students and youth ministers were facing as it related to the future of youth ministry. Read it to get a better perspective of what I am writing. Here is my response to some of the questions and my insight to some of the issues affecting youth ministry. Let me know what you think.

These at least for me are not new but put me at ease that I am not the only leader dealing with these problems (tongue in cheek).

#1 square off has, I think, always been a battle, Competing for Time of a student is tough. I remember when I was a teen hearing my YP voice his frustration. OF course we can wrestle it till we are blue or learn to leverage it. I think there are ways to leverage the time we have and the time we don't. Help the student who is on the football team adopt his team as his personal mission field and help him identify himself as the pastor/shepherd to them instead of making him feel guilty over choosing football over a youth event/service. Allowing students their 'spot' to shine can help us with our 'need' of their time. We need to learn how to make the secular and the sacred mesh into harmony and not battle it, I admit it is very tough!

#3, Social Networking for me at home has been a win. In ministry/life learning to leverage what we cannot muscle has been the biggest advantage anyone has with something. Let us not be quick to call this a lack in any proportion, possibly we are seeing a new wave of culture moving across the horizon that many of us leaders are not a tune to. Learning to ride the wave can be your biggest advantage. Marty Burroughs, a District Youth Director for the state of Texas told me a story how a church of a 100 had a youth ministry of about 90, that is insane. Every kid that came in, they got their Facebook and Myspace and added them and their top 10 friends. Then when an event was to happen they would sent invites out to the students and their top 10. They were sending upwards of 5000 invites. I have responded to a post on twitter here, what a TOOL, I would pay for this if it weren't free (Twitter don't get any ideas). There are great ways to harness these tools.

twitter.com/shaunmayfield
twitter.com/eikonlive

#4, Economic Turndown is a killer, parents out of jobs is huge add-on to that one. There is not much to do but be more creative about our events and look and alternatives to costly events, sometimes those cheaper events can be more richer in the end.

#2 & 5 are tough, the Definition of Family and Sexual Confusion. These represent the cultural trend of a cultural agenda. Never before have we seen such an agenda at the forefront of America. The definition of family, at least here in AZ and in California and other states is in a battle to be redefined. This may not seem like a big deal but what it has attached to it's roots can hugely impact the church and pastors.

Secondly, identity issues and sexual confusion, I am so glad this hit the top 5. That sounds horrible of a statement, but I am glad because this will put more focus from a broader audience of YP's to effectively build curriculum and teaching lessons and sermons. For many years the 'church' at large has not been equipped to handle this and has almost feared the subject. We are dealing with it huge. What hurts the most is the agenda from MTV and Hollywood. The agenda is trying to make it a civil issue which then means that anyone who speaks out against it can be charged as a hate crime. It has become so rampant in the school system and what was once considered PDA between a girl and guy is now accepted as normal between two guys or two girls. This agenda has made it very curious for our teens to experiment. That experimentation mixed with just the sexualism of puberty has made so many students confused.

This will be probably one of the biggest topics of discussion amongst church leaders in the next decade, that is my prediction. I believe this is just the beginning of an issue that will hit the church so hard we BETTER begin now or even a year ago on developing strategies on winning this war and #1, helping students learn their identity roles. We need to be teaching masculinity to the men and what marriage is and why the definition should be preserved in our hearts of a 'Holy Matrimony' between one man and one woman. That is why I grouped these together. When the definition of marriage is attacked and the agenda of homosexualism as a trend widens, these two unite as one joint problem. Let us look to God to direct us on how to love and teach and allow the Holy Spirit to convict and change hearts.

Thoughts?