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    stop, collaborate and listen
Sean Meade
Autumn is an exciting season for youth ministry! Full of ministry kick-offs, back to school bashes, and (dare I say it) lock-ins, this is the prime season for the big events in our ministries. At Stuck in the Middle, autumn is the time that we kick-off our "Red Stuff" national event tour for junior highers. After each tour date our team gets together to follow the sage ministry advice of Robert Van Winkle (aka Vanilla Ice) and "stop, collaborate and listen"...and I think his words can help your ministry too!
STOP
Whether you're launching something new or continuing on with your existing programs, take time to stop and evaluate what you're doing as a ministry. What are your ministry strengths and weaknesses? What are you communicating to students and how are they receiving it? Without scrapping everything you're already doing, what are the changes or tweaks you could make to improve your ministry?
COLLABORATE
Whatever you do, don't evaluate your ministry alone! Talk with staff, volunteers, parents and students to get a big picture view of what's going right and wrong in the ministry. Be open to both their praise and their criticism, and encourage an environment of open and honest feedback to the ministry. Then collaborate with them to re-design weaker areas of the student ministry and make them more effective.
LISTEN
As youth pastors we've too often received (and earned!) the reputation of being "lone rangers" in ministry. Don't miss out on your greatest ministry resource, your adult volunteer team. Give them the opportunity to stop and collaborate with you, but make sure that you actually listen to them when you do! Listening to and incorporating the ideas and suggestions of your team will not only help strengthen your ministry programs, but it will also deepen the commitment level of your volunteers and bond your team together.
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http://www.simplyyouthministry.com/community-articles-from-the-field.html
Sean Meade
Autumn is an exciting season for youth ministry! Full of ministry kick-offs, back to school bashes, and (dare I say it) lock-ins, this is the prime season for the big events in our ministries. At Stuck in the Middle, autumn is the time that we kick-off our "Red Stuff" national event tour for junior highers. After each tour date our team gets together to follow the sage ministry advice of Robert Van Winkle (aka Vanilla Ice) and "stop, collaborate and listen"...and I think his words can help your ministry too!
STOP
Whether you're launching something new or continuing on with your existing programs, take time to stop and evaluate what you're doing as a ministry. What are your ministry strengths and weaknesses? What are you communicating to students and how are they receiving it? Without scrapping everything you're already doing, what are the changes or tweaks you could make to improve your ministry?
COLLABORATE
Whatever you do, don't evaluate your ministry alone! Talk with staff, volunteers, parents and students to get a big picture view of what's going right and wrong in the ministry. Be open to both their praise and their criticism, and encourage an environment of open and honest feedback to the ministry. Then collaborate with them to re-design weaker areas of the student ministry and make them more effective.
LISTEN
As youth pastors we've too often received (and earned!) the reputation of being "lone rangers" in ministry. Don't miss out on your greatest ministry resource, your adult volunteer team. Give them the opportunity to stop and collaborate with you, but make sure that you actually listen to them when you do! Listening to and incorporating the ideas and suggestions of your team will not only help strengthen your ministry programs, but it will also deepen the commitment level of your volunteers and bond your team together.
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