I need those times, those still moments, when all around is frozen.  Those times when it’s just my heartbeat, or a gentle breeze that I can hear.  Perhaps it’s in those times God is speaking the most?  I need more of those times,  I just wish it didn’t take 18 inches of snow!  How are you making silence in your life, how can we as a community create more of that with and for each other?

new night, new focus, new look

At the beginning of this school year we rolled out a new elevate (our high school ministry programming).  For a couple years now I have had this sense that the way we “do” youth ministry in America couldn’t be the only way.  I have travelled some around the world and I saw everywhere I went that youth ministry didn’t end when a student turned 18 and graduated from high school.  Yet, here in the states that is what we do.  When that student finishes high school, almost overnight, they are now out of the local youth ministry.  Now, some churches have filled this gap with college ministry, but it seems that not many of those are doing real well.

So, that forced me to start to think the “what if” thoughts…you know what I mean.  What if, instead of having a completely separate thing for college students we expanded our high school ministry to encompass those out of high school?  Would 9th grade boys and 22-year-old girls coexist in the same ministry?  Would parents of 10th grade girls be freaked out by 21-year-old boys worshipping with their daughters?  But the more I thought, talked to others, and prayed it seemed to be the right time for this decision.

We have more students than ever graduating from high school here, and staying in town to go to college.  We were meeting on Wednesday nights with our high school students, and that night was becoming more and more crowded by other events, so we needed a new night.  Our staff were giving multiple nights each week to minister to students.

So, at the beginning of this school year we made a pretty sizable change in our ministry.  Elevate stopped being just a high school ministry, and became a movement of young people.  We now say that the youngest a person can be is a 9th grader, but there really isn’t a “too old” cap.  We now meet on Sunday nights and we have added our small group times to the end of the worship service (music, teaching, interactive components, etc.).

We have seen the return of some students who had conflicts on Wednesday nights, we have seen new high school and college students come, and some new staff have joined this movement.  I’m not totally sure what success is for this, but thus far I feel it has been a positive change.

When making a shift like this there are a billion things to think through, conversations to have, issues to resolve, but that doesn’t negate making the change!  There are plenty of reasons to not make this sort of move, but that doesn’t negate making the move!  I’m sure I didn’t do everything right, but that doesn’t negate making the change!  I think you get my point!

How could your ministry be done differently?  Are we locked into the American model that has been mostly determined by the progression with the educational system, or can it be different?  In an age when we seem to continue to segregate ages more and more (which in some cases like middle school and high school I’m all for) what if we brought two together instead of apart?

I will continue to share thoughts, experiences, and questions regarding this transition and new chapter of elevate.  There is still a ton I don’t have figured out…but that doesn’t and won’t negate continuing with the change!