I heard the story of a youth pastor recently in a big church who staffed his team based on the various high school sub-cultures. So, there was a “goth” specialist, a “jock” leader, a “skater” coordinator, and so on. The various groups would meet whenever their leader thought best and in a setting that most suited that particular subculture. I thought it that was a pretty innovative idea.
It got me thinking about how we do stuff in the Mariners High School Ministry:
GUIDING MINISTRY VALUE: “Be in it”
(whatever “it” is) First with our volunteer leaders and second with our students.
NOT WHAT, WHERE…
Our church serves multiple high schools and school districts. Our staff and volunteers are assigned to particular geographic areas that cluster a few high schools together. In effect, the centralized super campus is decentralized to the neighborhoods in the surrounding areas.
SIMPLE WEEKEND EXPERIENCES…
The weekend used to be our “open door” for new students (and in many respects it still is). But, because our first step for new students isn’t actually at the church — it’s in a home — we have really simplified our weekend experience with two semi-unique twists: 1) Students sit loosely in the areas where their midweek home is located. 2) We don’t utilize our stage. Our speaker teaches and the band leads from the middle of the room in order to create more community and greater connectivity within the program elements and their intended audience.
FOR THE CURIOUS-ABOUT-JESUS… and those who bring them.
Weekly, our area teams create an in-home environment for students to introduce their friends to Jesus and his followers. Typically, the 1-hour meeting involves connecting through relational and intentional interactions, eating together, and a 10-minute message about Jesus.
CONNECTING BEFORE THE SIGN-UPS…
In contrast to the present model of our church and the former model of our own high school ministry, we now form small groups not from an online registration form or sign-up sheet. We’re working on helping new leaders form small groups through the various relational settings in which they lead (like our midweek program). As such, small groups are formed in a more natural setting and manner (most small groups become small groups before the students even know it) but with obvious drawback of a longer set-up period.
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