Youth Ministry Crash Course!, A - Softcover

Bundschuh, Rick; Von Trutzschler, E.G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310215285 ISBN 13: 9780310215288

Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties, 1997

Synopsis

Youth ministry fundamentals at your fingertips! Or call it a light-hearted primer to a serious subject. A Youth Ministry Crash Course is 150 to-the-point entries on issues you face every week -- topics that are described, simplified, illustrated, and occasionally tweaked by a couple of veteran youth workers who've acquired a pragmatic streak alongside their compassion for teenagers. Inside you'll find shrewd insight with a wry twist: - On Curricula: 'You know your kids better than some editor working away in a cubical somewhere. Change material to suit your group, and chuck what doesn't fly.' - On Recycling: 'Students cycle in and out of your youth group every three or four years -- so recycle your program themes and events that often too.' On Rules: 'Never make one when you're tired or ticked off.' - On Sacred Cows: ' Learn what they are and keep your kids away from them -- you'll add longevity to your job. E.g., no pew hurdling in the million-dollar sanctuary during youth night. - On Spiritual Growth: 'The kid that grows the fastest may not grow the deepest. Don't overlook the one who grows slowly but steadily.' Whether you're new to youth ministry, a Sunday school teacher of junior or senior highers, a volunteer, or a veteran with a novice staff -- in Crash Course you'll find instructions, motivation, and reminders of what the glorious, hectic calling of youth ministry is all about.

About this title

About the Author

Rick Bundschuh serves as a teaching pastor at Kauai Christian Fellowship, and he also continues to write and illustrate material for various publishers. He lives with his beautiful wife, Lauren, their kids, a weenie dog, and a quiver of surfboards in Poipu, Hawaii. Rick authored Soul Surfer: The Bethany Hamilton Story, Simon and Shuster. SPANISH BIO: Rick actualmente pastorea dos grandes iglesias en Kauai, Hawai.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

A YOUTH MINISTRY CRASH COURSE Accolades If you need a lot of these, you may want to forget about youth work altogether. The rewards are mostly of a heaven variety.

The job is misunderstood by many. Some think you’re not really working, but just having fun all the time. (These are the same people who think you actually enjoy staying up all night at a lock-in.)

Then there’s the popularity paradox. If the kids like you, it makes the parents nervous. If the parents like you, it makes the kids nervous. If everyone likes you, it makes the pastor nervous.

The church won’t remember all the youth events that went right, but they’ll never let you forget the time when a couple of goofballs plugged the toilet with paper towels and the ensuing overflow flooded the pastor’s study.

Ninety-nine out of a hundred kids won’t acknowledge all the work and energy you put in on the job. But a day will come, years later, when you’ll get a note from an adult with a vaguely familiar name that says you meant the world to her during her teen years. Most veterans frame these; sometimes these get you through the day. (See Files.) Addresses The most important things to collect are the addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and grades of your kids—including the visitors. Keep them up to date, too. It’s a good idea to create phone and mailing lists to give to your kids at least twice a year. Otherwise they’ll always be calling you to get the number of some kid. (See Newcomers.) Adolescence The time of life when kids enter a thick fog. They don’t know where they’re going and can’t tell where they’ve been—but wherever they’re going, they usually do it full speed ahead. It’s your job to be a fog horn, to keep them from piling up on the rocks until the fog lifts and they exit adolescence. Advertising You need to make kids aware of the youth group and its programs. Blimps, Elvis impersonators, and similar forms of blatant advertising only drive kids away. So try some subtle ways to let it be known that your group is doing great stuff. T-shirts can build esprit de corp and call attention to your group at the same time. Book covers with info about your church—or even the gospel—work great at the beginning of school when kids are required to cover their books. The cost is low. Mail-outs are a must. Tons of terrific clip art is available to spruce those babies up. Be sure to make address-collecting a top priority. Be on the lookout for new technology that can help publicize your group. You may want to start a home page on the Internet featuring your group’s activities. Photo boards hung in the church halls quietly chronicle all the great stuff your group does. (See Linking.) Age Has Priority This is a simple rule you can use to decide who gets to ride in the front seat, which kids have to sleep in the mildewed tent, who gets the top bunk, and countless other things that kids fight and bicker about. Whoever is oldest (right down to minutes or seconds of birth if you have twins) gets first choice.

We admit that Age Has Priority is not nearly as good a solution as Christian Love. But Christian Love may be as scarce as hen’s teeth in some groups. If this is your case, this little rule works wonders. The younger kids hate the rule, but it gives them something to look forward to. They can hardly wait to get old enough to use it on the runts. Attention Spans A kid has a kid’s attention span. The younger the kid, the shorter the attention span—unless they’re doing something cool, like tormenting ants. Be conscious of your group’s attention span when preparing a lesson or activity. Just because you have an hour to fill doesn’t mean you’ll have your gang’s attention for that long.

Edition details

• Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0310215285
• ISBN 13: 9780310215288
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 96