Taking Risks

I’m currently reading “Sustainable Youth Ministry” by Mark DeVries. It seems like the “IT” book out there amongst my Youth Ministry buddies, so I figured that I would give it a shot.  As I’m reading the book, there was a great line in it that I wanted to focus on.  Mark DeVries says “Here’s the irony: Sustainable youth ministries fail all the time; they thrive in a culture of experimentation, innovation and creativity.” (p. 23). Here is why I love this sentence.

In some of the blogs I look at, there seems to be this sense that they need to create a new type of Youth Pastor.  This Pastor needs to look and act differently than other Youth Pastors, although, in all honesty, I don’t know quite what that is.  Regardless of what kind of Youth Pastor you are, I do not believe this helps or hinders what kind of impact you can have as it is power of Christ who changes hearts, not me.

I don’t think what we need is to recreate the Youth Pastor position with certain types of men and women.  Rather, I believe what we need to do is to be men and women who take risks.  That is why I love DeVries comment here.  Even the best, most “sustainable youth ministries fail”.  You can and will likely fail from time to time.  And, the great thing is that is OK.  I have failed so many times that I stopped counting within the first month I started full-time ministry which is now over 12 years ago.  Failing is part of the game.

But what Mark goes on to say is that we can thrive when we institute  a culture of experimentation, innovation and creation.  Basically, we thrive when we risk.  I believe that it is when we take risks by trying something new or by developing a relationship with that hard to reach student, real, impacting ministry happens.  When you take risk, you will fail, but what you are communicating to your leaders and your youth is that you are willing to try something new to reach students for Christ.  We need to stretch our boarders and become a little bit uncomfortable by risking something for Christ.  When ministry becomes safe and easy, I believe we limit our effectiveness and the potential impact of the Christ in the lives of our students.  We need to experiment, innovate and create.  To me, that means we need to risk more.

But, I want to caution you as you take risks.  Ministry is a lot like Football.  In football you have basics – score the most points, tackle and block.  If you tackle and block effectively and score more points than your opponent, you will be victorious by the time the clock hits 0:00.  In the same way, ministry has its basics.  Two of them are to speak the Truth of Christ and build relationships (both what Christ modeled throughout his ministry).   If you speak the Truth of Christ and build relationships, you will help students come to know Christ in a real, tangible way.

Therefore, in your desire to risk, experiment, innovate and create, we should never change the non-negotiables.  Our strategy to speak the Truth and build those relationships will and should change over time (as the strategy in football changes). But we should never change the non-negotiables.  When you change the non-negotiables, you go from taking risks for Christ to taking risks with presenting an inaccurate picture of who Christ really is.

So, this week, TAKE A MINUTE and…

• RISK!!!  Think through ways you can experiment, innovate and create in your youth program.  Is it doing something new programmatically like doing a drama to present the Truth instead of your standard talk?  Or is it changing your format and getting rid of games so you can put in more community building time?  Regardless of what it may be, think through some ways you can risk for Christ without eliminating the non-negotiables.  Then, DO THEM and see how the Lord blesses you because of it.

Thoughts, comments or RISKS you have taken in ministry.  Post them so we can be encouraging each other.