the Monday Morning Debrief: Get Rid of the Formula
Recently, I read an article about how Romantic comedies are no longer a genre movie studios are trying to make. The reason is because movie goers are tired of them. No, they aren’t tired of romance, they are tired of the formula. You know, “boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, something comes between boy and girl, they break up and then they get back together” formula. Or, “unpopular boy comes up with plan to date popular girl, popular girl realizes unpopular boy was pretending to be someone he isn’t, both are traumatized but then realize they love each other, boy and girl love forever after” formula.
Audiences want a fresh take on romance. They want a new story.
In the same way, students need a fresh take on “youth group”. The same, mingle, mixer, worship, message, small group time formula (or whatever our formula may be) may not be the most beneficial for the group. The primary reason why is because it gets stale after a while. Students come to expect it. And, as with everything, the more students expect the same thing over and over again, the less impact it can have on them.
That is why our Student Ministry had to make a change this year. Our formula was stale and routine. So we made some changes and now, one of our unspoken goals is to NOT have a formula…that every week needs to look different so that student can expect the unexpected.
Because we abandoned the formula, that enables us to be creative and try new things. We are not tied to this or that. We don’t have to include all components of “youth group” to be effective. Not all things we have done or will do in the future are going to work but had we not abandoned the formula, we may never had tried Nerf on the Turf which was a huge win for us.
So how are things going for your group? Are things a little stale and predictable or you taking some fresh takes on how you minister to the students? TAKE A MINUTE right now and process what you are doing and what, if any, changes need to be made. I do know that the less I am tied to a “formula” the more effective I am in ministry.
Thoughts? Experiences? Post a comment so that we can all learn and benefit.
I found the same to be true in children’s ministry as we’ll. in children’s church or on our mid-week program I try to switch it up often enough to keep the kids guessing. Inline them to show up wondering what Pastor Matt is gonna do this week.
haha, so true…having them wonder what we are going to do this week creates some excitement and energy. Good word Matt!