As summer approaches, I guess our thoughts turn to holidays and finding some down time to relax a little.
After all, the youth group won’t be around for much of July and August so I can relax for a bit before winding everything up for the new term. There is often a sense of relief at reaching the end of a youth ministry year, but I wonder if, in the slackness of the time, there are things still to be done.
Ask the big questions
The easiest thing to do is, having delivered the programme for the past year, simply to write a similar one for next year. Before you do, perhaps there are a few questions to ask. There are some traditions where times of meditation and waiting on the Lord can be fruitful. Far be it from me to suggest a style of doing such things, but I think there is merit in going to a ‘quiet place’ to pray and think about the year that has passed. Before you get to the detail of what is to come, take a step backward and ask some of the bigger questions. Often, under the pressure of delivering a weekly programme, these kinds of things just take a back seat.
How has the group grown? That question usually means numbers, but if we are to help young people to ‘mature’ (Ephesians 4.13), then growth is more about seeing how our young people are growing as young believers becomes the big issue. Have we concentrated more on holding on to numbers than we have on developing maturity? We are not in the business of gaining unpopularity, but we should never be afraid to resist pressures that suggest ours is simply a numbers game. Our goal is mature disciples. It’s good to go down your list of young people and, as you pray for each one of them, think how each has grown in Christ over the past year. Recall some of the things you have seen in their lives which encourage you to think God is at work.
Who’s gone nowhere?
It’s also good to reflect on people who seem to have gone nowhere in the year and there have been times when you despair that they will ever become more Christ-like. Reflect on what it might be good to do for these young people. Perhaps a one-to-one or time spent with another leader. Perhaps a change of small group, if you have them?
And then there are organisational questions. Do you meet at the right time? Would Saturday evening be better than Friday night? Do you need to be looking for another leader from your fellowship? Is there a better place to meet? Once you get into the routine you will not ask these question, so, unless you take time to reflect, you never will and next year will be a very accurate copy of last year.
Secret prayer
This kind of reflective exercise is not without precedent. Jesus withdrew into a private place to pray. If he did it, why not you? And maybe it should be a collective reflect with the whole team involved! Even if you do a team reflect, don’t let it replace that time of reflection where you ask the question I once saw on a church board. What on earth are you doing for heaven’s sake?
