What shall we do this week?…Wait…what shall we do all year?! It can be quite daunting at the beginning of an academic or calendar year. Parents are asking for all the dates of this term to be stuck on their fridge. The budget should have been in last week. The events calendar on the website is bare. It can be quite daunting at the beginning of a school or calendar year. The sudden realisation can hit when you think about all those young people, your team and a whole lot of time and responsibility on your shoulders to fill it! The parents want all the info stuck on their fridge so they can plan holidays. A few thoughts on the subject below might help;
Prayer and Priorities
Much like planning a session, we must remember the purpose of the youth ministry. Making disciples is the command from Jesus. He’s in charge of the youth ministry and it’s important to remember in the madness of all the activities and demands that the goal is set by Jesus. Pray to God and let him know your heart for the young people in this coming term, ask him to help with your vision and goals. Ask him to provide for your needs, team members and creativity and to help with the planning process.
Mayhem and Margin
It can sometimes feel a bit restrictive to pin dates down on a calendar. You can feel like it puts a limit on things, you can be a bit worried about over committing. You also want to stay nimble in case you need to change direction. Let’s be honest, the youth work calendar multiplied by life can often result in a bit of mayhem. How about this as a way forward? You can nail down some dates for the diary, but also, make some margin for whatever you need? Plan some events and meetings but leave some weeks in the diary blank. Maybe you could plan a 2-week break at Christmas? Don’t worry, nothing will collapse if you have a couple of weeks off. The good thing is though, you know that in that time, you have created some margin. In that time, you can either rest, or, you can call a last-minute meeting, or a spontaneous worship night or you can take the team out for a special meal or event. All the parents are happy because the dates are on their fridge and your team are happy because you’re buying them an Ice-Cream after a spontaneous trip to the cinema. You’re happy because you can plan, and you can stay creative, you and your team haven’t burned out and you’ve embraced the mayhem and created margin.
Time and Space
Here’s the time to get practical, you’re going to need a sketch pad and a pen;
1. Get a piece of paper. Sketch out a timeline of the 4 quarters of the year. Highlight some key dates – Christmas, Easter, Holidays, Bank Holidays, Exam season, Sport events, X Factor final.Identify key times for ministry –
2. Keep going scribbling down some key dates with ideas, consider worship and fellowship as well. Don’t worry if you’ve got too much written down, you can pick and choose quality over quantity. This will give you a bit of an overall feel for the year.
3. Get a bit more focused. Split the year into half terms. Now you’ve got 6 blocks of 6/7 weeks in which to start thinking about what each week might look like. Now if you’ve got a Friday youth club you can plan the themes of the night. Or you might have a Sunday Morning Youth Service, you can start planning the teaching themes.
Systems and Strategically
4. Once you start to put a bit of flesh on the bones you can go back around and start to think a bit more strategically about each ministry and how they can complement each other – to serve the overarching vision of the youth and church. Maybe you could have a youth party the week after the church carol service. That way you can get flyers and a promo video ready for the parents to get at the carol service. Maybe you could move an Easter trip to the end of the school term so the year 11’s and college students have finished their exams. How can you maximise momentum and opportunities strategically for a ministry impact?
Capacity and Commitment
5. You might be flowing with some great ideas, with new events and new ministries. It might be wise at this point to consider how much you and your team will realistically be able to commit to (not forgetting you’ll be training up new leaders to increase capacity). Are you asking for 2 hours a week? 4 hours? 10 hours a month? Don’t forget people have busy lives, and other commitments. Don’t be scared of asking for much, but it is possible to be realistic with expectations. You can always increase activity if there is room.
Team and Talk
6. Now you have a good framework and an idea how to work out your vision over the year. It would be a great idea to engage your team and super charge your ideas. They might be able to help with some better ideas, or they might know about a school holiday that would clash with the calendar. With your team you can allow the ideas to grow and develop and spur each other on to the goal.
The next step will be to mastermind some great communication systems about the vision and activities. I hope these steps kick start a planning process, you’ll probably think of more steps and ways to make it better and fit your context. Happy planning!
IF GOD IS YOUR PARTNER, MAKE YOUR PLANS BIG! – D. L. Moody3.
If you would like to find out more, or have any questions please contact the youth team at youth@blackburn.anglican.org
Ben Green
Youth Work Adviser
youth@blackburn.anglican.org
Michelle Nuttall
Administrator
01254 503419
