Virtually Paul

Program vs Purpose

May 27, 2007 on 8:52 pm | In Church, Youth Ministry |

You’ll find a nice little rant from yet another frustrated youth ministry leader here:  Youth Ministry Forum

I found myself in a similar predicament last week, at least in terms of needing to rant about a youth ministry program!

I’m the “discipleship” coordinator for my church’s youth ministry.  The title, for the sake of accuracy, should perhaps be extended to “senior-high school discipleship groups” coordinator.  I have some problems with the idea that discipleship is a program that is coordinated by a single person - in reality that’s not the case at church anyway.  We have a bunch of really capable youth leaders, many of whom have disciple-maker qualities.

I don’t really need to rant about the structure stuff because the church has recognised that it’s a problem and just launched a more fluid “Youth Ministry Team” structure to be the driving force behind an entire youth ministry that is focused on growing individuals along their journey.  We’re literally just about to revamp the way everyone thinks about and approaches ministry with our youth.  But back to the discipleship stuff…
About a month ago, I started a group of guys in the 15-17 age range to meet up fortnightly as a group and chat about what I’d broadly describe as “faith stuff”.  It was a bit of a mammoth effort getting them all in the same place at the same time but they all seemed keen and ready to commit to the meeting time.

I’d even had the savvy idea (I thought so anyway) of pitching the group to the guys attending from the outset, as a tool or a help along the journey of discipleship, rather than a club within a club that was going to save them.  It’s a pity I didn’t listen to my own advice.
After the first meeting, one of the guys hadn’t show up, hadn’t contacted me to say they weren’t coming, then informed me a week later that they had just acquired a regular commitment that they wouldn’t be able to avoid - and now couldn’t come along to the group (which was a scheduling feat from my side of the fence).

It wasn’t until I stood back a bit from the whole idea a few days ago and actually thought about this young person and what I was trying to achieve, that I realised:  it actually doesn’t matter if this particular person doesn’t participate in this particular program.

Sure, I think the group will be an effective “program”.  I even think that the individual who isn’t attending would have contributed a lot to it, at the same time as getting a lot out of it.  But that’s not the point.  Yes, my program (notice the unintentional “my” I just wrote) will be effective.  At the same time, my goal here is not to enforce conformity to a particular idea - it’s to disciple.

There is more than one way to skin a cat - and it’s not always the way that you expect!