Philosophy of Wordlife Youth Ministry - Book Report/Review Example

Ministry Philosophy Report Stage Philosophy of Wordlife Youth Ministry Basis ity Wordlife Youth Ministry is a ministry that has a passion for reaching the youth, particularly students in the area where it is located, with the aim of assisting them to grow in the likeness of Christ in all walks of life. Since the ministry was founded, it has been used by God to reach out to young people in the surrounding communities with the news of salvation that can be gotten from Jesus Christ. Every week, the ministry strives to provide worship that is Christ-centered, activities that are youth-oriented, quality bible study, and other religious activities in order to engage students and the youth in general in the goodness of the lord. It is a family friendly and mission-minded community that loves to assist the youth in serving one another, with our doors open to all the young people who desire to form and maintain a relationship with Jesus Christ as well as with others. The ministry is located in San Diego, California, and is based at the St. Patrick Anglican church in the city. As for the student ministry’s vision, we believe that God wants the ministry to be the church for the middle school and high school students of the schools that are located in San Diego, California, mainly those who attend the St. Patrick Church. Its mission is what the Lord calls the church to do all over the world, which is to make the youth to become martyrs whose lives are dedicated to serving Jesus Christ and can die for him. Wordlife Youth Ministry hopes to accomplish the mission as laid down by the vision, which is to convince students and the youth in general to love both God and other people, to learn the bible, and lead a lifestyle as Jesus would have wanted his followers to live. Our aim is to see students experiencing the real meaning of following Jesus Christ, both within and outside the church building walls1. Additionally, the ministry hopes to see students being able to defend their faith and have knowledge of Christianity essentials through studying how God reveals himself in the scriptures. This is made possible through the ministry covering worldviews, theology, and apologetics for both high school and Middle school students. Wordlife Youth Ministry wishes to see students living authentic lives just like Jesus Christ did as they follow him. This is achieved by encouraging the students to serve in either in a leadership role that is official, such as a student leader, or as a volunteer in the student ministry or any other area of the church. Nature of Persons Wordlife ministries targets students starting from the 6th grade all the way to college-age students. This is aimed at providing opportunities to them that are age specific in order to lead them to love God, other people, and life itself. Students and the youth are not only the future of the church, but they are also the church of today and here. They are this generation’s driving force and pulse, a generation that has more cultural influence and spending power that any other age group in the society. The youth culture of today is a marathon that is always changing, eventually leading to the discovery of the real person inside the shell of a teenager who is always changing. Teenagers and the youth in general often find themselves in a dilemma in the search for their identity, purpose, and destiny in life while trying to balance relationships with family members and friends at the same time. This life of an American teenager that is so fast paced requires the intervention of Wordlife ministries to guide it to success. The ministry actively targets the students who are at least in the 6th grade, and creates an atmosphere that is welcoming students from all walks of life, irrespective of their interests or the groups that are involved in. since the youth of today are surrounded by a pop-culture that projects their standards, Wordlife Youth Ministry wishes to help students in gaining a full understanding of who they are Christ, as well as equipping them the boldness and passion necessary to be secure when making their choices2. Wordlife Youth Ministry was established with the youth of today in mind- for the high school and middle school student, male or female, white or black, musician or skater, debating team captain or football captain: the ministry offers something for everyone. The ministry’s primary focus centers around five vital elements: prayer, discipleship, worship, outreach, and tank groups. With such a focus in mind, the ministry desires to assist students in their knowledge growth and relationship with Jesus Christ. Through teaching spiritual principles that are capable of influencing practical living, Wordlife ministry provides support and encouragement for the youth as they follow Christ. As much as the whole ‘church ‘ idea may sound odd to the youth, Wordlife ministry is not the usual church youth group; it is different and unique in a way that every young person will find something in common and get a place. The ministry aims to come up with and execute a Christ-centered worship program that is engaging to the congregation, is consistent in terms of quality, and cross-generational. Despite the difference in styles and diversity of taste, God is divine as is definitely worthy to be praised. Purposes and Goals Simply put, Wordlife Youth Ministry exists in order to support and assist parents in their responsibility that is God-given of guiding their teenage children spiritually. The ministry’s desire is to see the youth love Jesus more as they change from children to adults. In addition to this, the ministry has several other goals and purposes that guide its services and operations. Perhaps the main aim of Wordlife Ministry is to introduce teenagers and young people to the Christian faith. A longstanding argument has been raised that the youth are not old enough to be made disciples of Christ. However, becoming one does not just involve taking an oath, as it takes a journey. One has to have the willingness to struggle, walk through some fire, and make sacrifices. Many young people are yet to strain themselves to achieve this sort of commitment to faith. Therefore the main aim of Wordlife ministries is to introduce the youth to what is the meaning of following Christ, as well as to the radical and boundary-breaking way of Christ of bringing justice and peace to the world. This helps them to become Christ interns in a certain sense, and through this way, the ministry is preparing the youth to become the disciples they will be in future3. The other purpose of Wordlife Ministry is to assist the youth in building the community. The Christian faith is built using the community as the stepping-stone, as well as upon relationships that are passionate and recognize the love of Jesus Christ for all. The ministry assists the youth to learn to lead spiritual lives in a community that is radically loving and open. It offers young people opportunities to experiment with what such a community looks like in the real life. It provides them with an experience of what it feels like to loved unconditionally and also assists them as they struggle to love others when it seems difficult. The other major goal of the ministry is to assist young people in uncovering their spiritual needs. The youth are usually given the impression that their self-worth is equivalent to the amount of income they get in employment and their ability to consume in the current economy. Wordlife ministry enables young people to know that they have God given talents and gifts, which cannot be measured in monetary terms. Some of the gifts include prayer, missions, teaching, healing, and hospitality, among others. Structural organization In order to ensure that Wordlife Youth Ministry is effective, it has a working structure that is made up of a youth committee, a youth leadership team, advisors, youth staff, and teachers. This whole team is referred to as the youth ministry team, and acknowledges that the active role and interest shown by the parents of the youth members is vital for the ministry’s effectiveness. The youth committee is the session’s sub-committee and its function is to be an oversight committee for all the ministry’s aspects. The committee is made up of a chairperson who in most cases is the Elder, the Elder if he is not the chairperson, adult’s representatives of the congregation, the youth director and youth delegates if any are interested. The chairperson position is determined by the youth committee. The chairperson in turn appoints both the youth and adult members of the congregation. Adult representatives of the congregation serve in the committee for two years, while the youth serve for one year, but can extend to a second year if allowed by the chairperson. The youth committee has numerous functions, including the establishment of policies and procedures involving the youth ministry, as well as seeking input and approval from the session. It also reviews the Handbook of the youth ministry, making the necessary revisions if necessary. It is the duty of the committee to recruit interested volunteers for the youth ministry, such as adult supervisors and teachers. Additionally, the committee evaluates youth programs that are currently ongoing in accordance with the vision statement of the ministry, as well as recommending and implementing new youth programming. The youth leadership team is as group consisting of the youth, young interns, and the Youth Director who work together in the assessment, evaluation, and implementation of the ministries that are offered to the youth at Wordlife Ministry. The team meets at least once per month and gives the ministry ownership to the youth. Young people may apply to serve in this team during the designated recruitment period. The Youth committee makes the selections, and those who display exceptional leadership skills mat be appointed to the position of a Co-moderator for either middle school or high school. This team promotes and publicizes the activities of the ministry with the youth and their parents. They also contact and welcome new members and visitors to the ministry’s programs, as well as working together with the youth, teachers, advisors, Director of Youth ministries and study coordinators in planning and implementing programs of the ministry. In addition, resolve issues and address problems of cohesiveness and team building within the youth group, and also serves as mentors for the young people, assisting them in identifying the areas where their gifts and talents may be applied in building up the ministry. Ministry schedule Wordlife Youth Ministry desires to create a place that is fun, exciting and safe for young people and their parents. The ministry uses numerous different events and programs that meet the needs of the youth of today. It is constantly on the move with numerous activities always happening. Every Sunday morning from 10 Am to 10:50 Am, young people gather at the youth room to meet both new and old friends and discuss issues that matter to them. These small groups are graded according to age and are planned with a biblical purpose in mind. On Wednesday night from 6:15pm to 7:45pm, students come together for a midweek night of fun that includes topical discussions on life issues that the youth encounter every day. This night forms an awesome time for friends, bible study, and the ministry. Once the youth group is finished, the gym is opened whereby the students are welcome to play a wide variety of games ranging from basketball to dodgeball before they can head to their respective homes. One of the most popular events organized by Wordlife Youth Ministry is the Battle of the Dance Crews, which takes place once every two months. The event aims at attracting students from neighboring high schools so that they can compete with youth members of the ministry in a dance competition featuring gospel music. The event also exposes them to the gospel by inviting guest preachers to offer summons, as well as a music artist and a media personality. In the course of the event, each of the dance crews are invited on stage to show their skill and prowess and once the performances are over, the judges deliberate and eventually announce the winner. The winning crew is awarded consolation prices such as Bibles and cash prices. In most of the competitions, the winning team is from Wordlife Youth Ministry. Another popular event is known as Extreme Makeover that aims at exposing the youth to experts in hair clothing, makeup, and lamp modeling. This program is very popular with female youth ministry members, and is aimed at building the self-confidence of the youth while at the same time sharing a life message with them. In the course of the event, several stations are created on rooms each dealing with a certain aspect of the makeover experience. The event culminates with the final revelation where the participants make a catwalk to display the transformation that has taken place. The above two events are just examples of the numerous programs organized by the ministry with the youth in mind. They enable young people to come together to socialize and have fun while at the same time learning about the teachings of Christianity in accordance with the vision and mission of Wordlife youth ministry. Ministry evaluation One of the most important activities that a youth ministry should always do is to do an evaluation in order to find out whether the efforts applied in leading the youth closer to Jesus Christ are on the right track and if they are effective. In the evaluation of a ministry, there exist several factors that are used to judge how successful the ministry is, such as the number of youth who have volunteered to joins as members, the degree of compliments and complains received on the services offered, or the support given by the church pastor and the parish as a whole. As much as Wordlife Youth Ministry applies the above factors in its evaluation, it also takes a different approach since in the end, it is not about the compliments and complains or numbers; it is about the faithfulness to the call that Jesus Christ has placed in the ministry. One of the ways that Wordlife Youth Ministry will evaluate itself is through coming up with communication lines with the members that are effective. This is done through ensuring that messages move quickly among the youth team members, the adult volunteers, church staff members, students, and their parents. Through this approach, it becomes easier to get feedback on the activities taking place in the ministry, thus get an idea the progress being made in fulfilling the goals of the ministry. Another approach involves the adult volunteers and parents of the youth members. The ministry’s officials hold talks with the parents regularly to find out if they are pleased with the ministry. They also ask the adult volunteers if they are excited about working with the students and if the leadership jades them. The indirect people, in this case parents and volunteers, are the ones capable of accessing how the youth ministry is doing, and their opinions are much appreciated and valued. The other important approach is ensuring the youth members are socializing and befriending other young people who are Christians. This is vital since if young people want to immerse themselves in Jesus Christ, they have to surround themselves with Godly and positive influence. Bearing in mind that in a young person’s life the top influences are their friends, if they chose to hang out with other Christians, then they are likely to pursue and live according to Christ’s teachings. Additionally, this leads to even more accountability. Stage 2: Book critique of Youth Ministry Nuts and Bolts by Duffy Robbins Youth Ministry Nuts and Bolts is a religious and theological book by Duffy Robbins, a professor at the eastern university and also a youth ministry guru. The book explains the steps followed in the formation of a youth ministry from its design to completion. Any attempt to cover the entire length and breadth of a particular subject may be a daunting task, but Robbins succeeds in presenting his updated edition about youth ministry, and he does a good job of it. Readers of this book who are Lutherans will note the theological assumptions that the author makes that are common in publications about the youth ministry. Furthermore, from the author’s background it is assumed that youth ministry will be conducted by youth pastors who may have or may have not received seminary training specifically for youth ministry. Since he is more inclined to theological practice as opposed to reflection, keen readers will be able to figure out these assumptions and provide their own conclusions according to how they understand the youth ministry4. Duffy Robbins divides the book into four parts that matches with the youth workers’ flow while developing their ministry. The four parts are design, Foundation laying, construction and maintenance. Quoting Mark chapter two from verses 1 to 12, Robbins gives the example of the four friends who could not access the front door for their paralytic friend to be healed by Jesus, eventually accessing him through the roof. He uses this example to show how the youth ministry workers bring young people to Christ. This way, he portrays the youth ministry as a healing ministry whereby the youth can be healed from the impact of their sins. He then breaks down the youth ministry task into four components that are planning, team ministry, leadership, and equipment. Preparing the book for both the volunteer and professional ministry youth worker, he concludes with forming a distinction between a career and a vocation and also encourages volunteers to heed the calling. The second section titled Laying the Foundation is where the biggest weakness in the book occurs. Robbins deals with our passion and heart for the ministry, the need for the craft to be excellent, the organizational skills necessary to balance ministry activities and personal matters, and casts a vision for the ministry. What is missing is a theological reflection depth that is necessary when communicating the faith to young people. In recent times, the youth ministry field has been growing up and increasing its concern with the various traditions’ theological distinctions in the vineyard labor. The author clearly fails to recognize this, with the lack of serious theological reflection appearing starkly. The two remaining sections of the book provide a remarkably impressive range of topics and real advice on how to form and maintain a youth ministry program. The author explores with great wisdoms and knowledge the issues of staff relations, budget planning, decision-making, team building, ministry evaluation, volunteer management, and conflict management. This is the best rationale and true core for reading and utilizing this book as a resource. The vital day-in and day-out skills that are necessary for succeeding in the youth ministry are well articulated by the author. The basic skills that students wishing to become Christian education directors assume will be the basis of the background of the plans to build a youth ministry are the same skills that senior pastors and youth board chairpersons apply as prerequisite default skills. Adopting the skills outlined by the author may assist in preventing an early departure from the ministry because of conflicting understanding of the youth ministry’s central tasks. The book’s final chapters could have become their own addendum but Robbins included them in the maintenance section of his structure. Here the author advices the youth workers on how to find a position, leave a position with grace, and approaching a youth ministry in the long-term as opposed to just when the worker is a youth. When examining on how to find a position, the author briefly touches on theological compatibility, but does not show the implications of this approach of position searching. He spends a lot more time on the differences of the philosophy of a ministry that again touches on the theology of a person, but he does this in a manner that theology assumes a lesser role in the examination. The author’s discussion on how to vacate a position with dignity and race should be read by all. In the process of resigning from a ministry position, a lot of damage that can be avoided is capable of being done, even when the person leaving does so under duress. In offering this corrective advice, the author correctly points out to a broader picture view of a youth ministry that is beyond just the individual worker5. In conclusion, in spite of some weaknesses, the author resents an excellent book on the breadth of the youth ministry practice that is definitely worthy of the reader’s attention and time. Christian education’s young directors as well as youth workers would find this book of much use in the planning of their activities. Conclusion Wordlife Youth Ministry is a ministry that targets the youth, with an aim of assisting them adopt a lifestyle that matches with the teachings of Jesus Christ. However, in the planning and the formation of the ministry, several challenges and minor setbacks occurred, but they did not in any way deter the youth workers and directors from accomplishing their mission, which is to gather as many young people as possible and affect them the teachings of Jesus Christ. One of the biggest challenges was recruiting the youth, especially teenage students, into the ministry. Young people are always cynical and disinterested in any matters involving religion. This is because they find religious matters somewhat boring, especially those who follow the popular culture closely. All in all, the ministry’s officials still managed to convince a significant number of tem to join the ministry, through explaining to them the importance of the ministry in the shaping of their lives. The ministry has a lot of activities that may be considered fun by the standards of the youth, and the officials capitalized on this to ensure that as many young people as possible joined the ministry. Another challenge was convincing the parents of the youth to allow their children to join the ministry, especially the non-Christian and less religious ones. Some of the programs that Wordlife ministry organizes take place at night, such as the Wednesday night meeting, and many parents were suspicious of the ministry’s motives. However, this was overcome by inviting some of the parents who are members of the church congregation to the programs to the events taking place at night. These parents informed others that the activities were perfectly all right and that there was no need to worry. Some of the parents even became adult volunteers of the ministry. Bibliography Fields, Doug. Purpose Driven Youth Ministry, New York, Zondervan, 2009. Robbins, Duffy. Youth Ministry Nuts and Bolts, Revised and Updated: Organizing, Leading, and Managing Your Youth Ministry, New York, Zondervan, 2010. Yaconelli, Mark. Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus, New York, Zondervan, 2006. Yaconelli, Mark. The Core Realities of Youth Ministry: Nine Biblical Principles That Mark Healthy Youth Ministrie, New York, Zondervan, 2003. Read More