A New Kind of Youth Ministry

I don’t think anyone can predict the future.  I do believe, however, that some can see the future.  Unpredictable doesn’t always mean unimaginable.

Scenario thinking is a process of visualizing the future.  It is the sibling of its older brother called, strategic planning and its purpose is simple – to proactively plan for future rather than being an inactive casualty of inevitable change.

The scenario thinking process asks the “What if?” questions and leads toward potential behaviors and practices based on forecasted trends or events.  While strategic planning tends to deal with the situations and conditions of today, the scenario thinking process deals with what might happen tomorrow.

There are big “What if’s?” like social changes, technological advances, economic threats, environmental concerns, political matters, etc. and then there are smaller “What if’s?” like church attendance, student involvement, old/new buildings, leadership transitions, salaries, volunteer participation, etc.  Of course, the determination of big and small is relative.

I like to use the scenario thinking process in my consultation with churches, youth ministries and with our staff at Youthfront for two main reasons.  First, scenario thinking helps people arrive at the “driving forces” or the unique environmental influences that might lead to paradigm shifting and unavoidable transition.  Second, scenario thinking spawns creativity and makes vital use of the imagination.  Emerging out from creativity and imagination are new thoughts and ideas.

I thought it would be good practice, a great learning experience and a bunch of fun for all of us to engage in some scenario thinking.  Over the next few days and weeks we’ll do some thinking around a variety of scenarios.  Each of the scenarios will be specifically related to youth ministry and will attempt to help all of us proactively plan for the future to avoid being casualties of inevitable change.

I am prepared for seven different scenarios at this point.  Sometime tonight or tomorrow I will post scenario # 1.  However, I’d love to get some scenarios from all of you at some point in this learning exchange.

There are only three guidelines for submitting scenarios.  (Simply use the comment tool to submit your scenario.)

1. The scenario must be youth ministry specific
2. Each scenario must have a helpful time frame
3. Each scenario must clearly articulate a “What if?”

Let’s avoid being a casualty of inevitable change and proactively plan for the future!

I follow a blog affiliated with CNN called, Young People Who Rock.  YPWR is a is a weekly interview series focused on people under 30 — from CEOs to entertainers to athletes to community and political leaders — who are doing remarkable things.

I have been especially motivated by the last two posts.  The first post is highlighting a 17 year-old girl who is helping homeless children create poetry through photography.  You can read it here: http://ypwr.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/21/melissa-urfirer/

The second post is about a 13 year-old boy who has developed an organization helping victims of hurricanes Katrina and Gustav.  You can read it here: http://ypwr.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/14/julian-adler/

Perhaps the students in your faith community could benefit from hearing how other teens around North America are living out their dreams, for the benefit of others.

After spending part of the previous evening in the hospital for some routine testing, me son Drew (pictured below in the yellow shirt) came down the stairs for breakfast looking a little tired, sad and glum.  Here is how the conversation went…

ME: “Drew!  How are you feeling this morning buddy?”

DREW: “Hi Dad.  Do I have school today?”

ME:  “Yep, you sure do have school today.”

DREW: “Then I don’t feel so well.”

That simple converstion has been giving me life for the last day and a half!

I spent the last three days with some new friends from Nazarene Youth International.  Dave Curtiss heads up NYI and does a fantastic job creating a space where youth workers from around his denomination feel welcomed, encouraged and empowered.  I was deeply encouraged by the conversations and connections I had and made from within a group of over 300 youth workers from across the US and Canada.

I attended what the Nazarenes call their District Leadership Conference to help Barefoot promote a new product we are partnering with them to publish called, Immerse.  Immerse is a tool designed to help youth workers create environments of spiritual transformation through narrative theology and through a philosophy of applied learning.

I was also at the DLC to “certify” about 10 Nazarene trainers in our Enroute content.  Youthfront and NYI (Big Picture is what they call their training arm and it is led by Mike Kipp) have come together to partner in training youth workers throughout their denom.

It was a pleasure to walk their regional trainers team through the content and then dialogue how they might deliver the training across North America.  I am truly humbled by their feedback regarding the direction of the material.  I am also humbled by how God seems to be pulling denominations together (next week we are “certifying” trainers in Enroute from the Evangelical Free Church of America denom) to collaborate in a vision to equip, challenge and inspire youth workers with a transformational approach to youth ministry.

Mike King, was the keynote speaker at the DLC and he did a good job pushing the youth workers to think about new kinds of youth ministry for the days ahead.  Mike spoke mostly around thoughts from his book, Presence-Centered Youth Ministry.  His passion and theological insights for a “more theologically robust youth ministry” came through clearly and as a result we were able to have many conversations about the need for change and how we are implementing change through Youthfront via our learning environements, training initiatives and resources.

All in all, a terrific three days in Orlando.  The conference was great.  What was even better, however, was the meal I shared with my dad and brother who I seldom get to see…