Nancy Combs-Morgan
MidAmerica Coordinator of Emerging Youth and Young Adult Ministries
Dori Davenport Thexton
Faith Development and Growth Director, Central Midwest District UUA
1. Sponsored by the MidAmerica Region:
Prairie Star, Central Midwest & Heartland
Districts
Nancy Combs-Morgan & Dori Thexton
2.
3. Can you just give us some good ideas?
Can you keep our youth ministry from failing?
Do you understand how different we are?
Will you help my congregation understand it’s
not just about the numbers?
Can you keep the politics away from youth
ministry?
4. Steeple chasing
Underinvestment
Mis-investment
Questions of capacity:
o Budget $1,000
minimum per youth
o One full-time staff for
every 50 youth
o One adult for every
five youth
5. One youth staff can
handle it.
Wallpaper vs. concrete
“We’ll never hire from
within our church”
With a new youth
director, our
volunteers won’t have
to work so hard.
6.
7. Control documents –
annual events
calendar, job
descriptions, master
recruiting
list, curriculum template
Youth ministry
mission/vision statement
3 year plan
Statement of values
8. Emotional health –
appropriate
boundaries, intentional
spiritual
practices, accountable
relationships
Balcony time; three
kinds of meetings; the
value of “third pig” youth
workers
9. Youth ministry is the
congregation’s ministry,
not just that of
specialists who can
relate to teenagers. The
mandate to BE THERE
for young people
belongs to the whole
faith community.
Kenda Creasy Dean
10.
11. Teams are crucial to
the long-term success
of youth ministry.
The first step of calling
volunteers is the
hardest.
Blanket appeals and
mass announcements
don’t work!
12. Start early – at least 6 months before volunteer
term begins
Identify your needs – RE teachers, advisors,
event leaders/organizers, planning committee
members, small group leaders
Be strategic in recruiting – don’t ask an “A”
player to do a “C” level job
Develop master recruiting list for future use
Start smiling and dialing!
13. Sustainable Approach Traditional Approach
Long-term focus on o Episodic
single issue focus, disconnected
Responsibility shared by meetings
a team o Responsibility carried by
Regular meetings – 3 the youth staffperson
kinds of meetings o Concerns raised
Working a plan randomly and reactively
o Expectation of quick fix;
reacting to anxiousness
14. Stage 1: Creating
blueprint & preparing
for the process
Stage 2: Laying the
foundation
Stage 3: Beginning to
build
Stage 4: Framing the
second floor