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OUTREACH MODELS THAT WORK I taught a seminar at the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention called UNDERSTANDING AND REACHING THE UNCHURCHED TEEN. (Click here for the article on this training) In this seminar, I wanted to give more than just good statistics and proven methods, I wanted to give some examples of some ministries who are actually doing it! So before this convention, I wrote a list of some ministries that I had seen who I had seen reaching “unchurched teens” for Christ. I contacted the individuals who ran these ministries and interviewed them about their ministry to the “unchurched teen.” The ministries I contacted were:
I asked them all the following questions: What is your outreach ministry (or outreach aspect of your ministry) called? Do you have a name for it? What is the "ministry model" you use? (monthly events, weekly program, small groups, etc.) Give a brief description of it, it's purpose, method, etc. if you haven't already touched on it in the above question? How do you market it? (go on campus, count on kids to bring friends, flyers, posters, etc.) What is the content like? (some churches aren't afraid to use worship, Bible teaching, etc. at an outreach agenda- but some try not to use a lot of "churchy" language- and some won't use worship, etc. with the “unchurched” because they feel it "might alienate") Where do you meet? How do you attract "unchurched kids" verses just churched kids? How do you keep church kids from "repelling" unchurched kids? How many students attend? (what is the churched to non-churched kid ratio?) How many are saved annually? (monthly/weekly if applicable) How long have you been doing it? What is your biggest frustration with it or what could you improve? Below are the results from the surveys of these five ministries: THE
ROCK 1. Our outreach ministry is called Full Throttle. We meet off church campus at The Rock, which used to be a liquor store. We try to make the Rock as comfortable and fun as we can- couches, espresso bar, pool tables, awesome sound system, and a walk in freezer for private ministry opportunities. 2. The ministry model is basically this: Tuesday nights are geared toward outreach- attract non-churched kids by creating an environment in which they would be drawn to and ministered at. We see it as a funnel effect- start it off broad with lots of laughing and goofing around beginning with our sit down video (which has to be funny. We never play games, we found that we had a better chance of having fun with the kids just from the video and from interacting with our kids from the stage, kind of like a Letterman style. It then moves to meeting our visitors and having fun with them. We then start to bring it down spiritually through prayer and then right into worship. By the time prayer and worship begin, the laughing is out of our system and everyone is ready to do business with God through worship and through the Word. Sunday mornings and Thursday night Bible studies are geared to be more intimate- from the relationships, get into the Word. We do three trips a year- Winter Camp, Mexico Outreach during Spring Break, and a Houseboat trip. We like to do our own trips- from the speaker and the band all the way down through the cooking- we find that we can control the intimacy and the flow a whole lot better since we know our kids. 3. We don't really market it- we rely on our kids to bring them through the door and God to keep them there. It does help that I 'm on campus every day with the football team and that's an avenue to bring kids in as well. 4. Content is this on a Tuesday: We always start with a sit-down video, and the video has to be funny. Gets everyone laughing, glad to be there. Then we'll get up on stage and have fun with the kids- connect- birthdays, visitors, anything else that would be fun. After that is worship and the Word- two things we take incredibly seriously. We spend a great deal of time preparing for each- that's what we're called to do. If we can't bring kids into the presence of God during worship, or if we make His Word boring due to lack of preparation, then we aren't doing our job as pastors. Our kids know that's when it's time to do business with God- if you disrupt either one, you're going home. We have to provide an environment in where it's safe for anyone to worship or listen to what God is telling them without fear of what their peers think of them. It's also an awesome outreach tool- watch how non-believers look at a kid in love with Jesus worships- they know that there is something special there, and they want what it is. We feel that worship is a must. If we take God out of the whole picture, we miss what we are there for in the first place. 5. We meet at the Rock, which is a building up the street from the actual church. Used to be a liquor store. 6. We really rely heavily on our leadership kids to attract the non-churched kids in their classes. We are first and foremost a student-led ministry. Plus, kids talk and have more influence on their peers than any adult could. They want to be where the babes are. And it's a good excuse not to sit around at home and listen to mom and dad fight. 7. Our church kids, particularly our leadership kids, understand our ministry because we go through it with them and they play a huge role in the ministry- making sure that visitors feel welcome and safe. They know what our ministry is about and have bought into the program. They've seen it work and have been blessed by it. 8. We usually get between 215-230 kids on a Tuesday night, 60% of which are churched kids, and about 60% of those are our churched kids. (Others from other churches). 9. About 100 are saved annually. 10. We've been doing it for five years. 11. Our biggest frustration would be our adult helpers- we feel that we could do a better job of training them so that they would take a bigger piece of ownership in the ministry and would be more aggressive in their ministry approach. However, since we are a student-led ministry and we have such a strong core group of student leaders, it makes up for what we lack in adult help (plus, we find that students are more effective leaders if they are trained correctly. MORE SPECIFICS Games- why not? Good question. With the sr. high we work with- I feel like they are saying “don't treat me like a kid or I'll act like one and drive you nuts.” We have rarely seen games done well. When I see a game model ministry I see the A.D.D. kids having fun and the dorks, shy kids, cool kids, older kids standing there saying "this stinks!" We minister in a major metropolitan area where there is a million things to do and kids have money. That translates into a pagan having a lot of options on any given night and I have to answer the question that he has "Why would I come to THE ROCK?" Why would he leave his entertainment center, his bong, his 2001 mustang, his naked fatherless girlfriend to come? I believe that kid wants to laugh hard- at himself, he wants to cry, he wants his questions answered that he never asks anybody, and he wants to know there is a God. Regardless, I see 2,700 kids one block from our facility not being reached! Sad, sad, sad and un-settling. I'm passionate because I hate losing and to often I see the church (my church included ) doing the same things they were doing 30 years ago and we are losing a generation. It kills me. CAMPUS
OUTREACH What is your outreach ministry (or outreach aspect of your ministry) called? The high school aspect of the ministry is just called Campus Life; we're continuing the name of Soul Extreme for the jr. high groups. What is the "ministry model" you use? (monthly events, weekly program, small groups, etc.) Or do you have a multi-modeled method in your purpose? Multi-model of course. Typical ministry week involving high school students is as follows: Monday - Visit high school and have lunch with various students during both lunches. I roam and introduce myself to friends of the students I already know. Generally I'll say, "Hi I'm Rob, I'm John's probation officer - what's your name?" First of all John cracks up and then all his friends look at John like - ‘we never knew you got into that much trouble.’ It breaks the ice, have a laugh and then I tell them who I really am and share about what we’re doing that night or upcoming trips and events. In between the two lunches I'll have lunch with a senior student or two that have a flexible schedules and simply listen to their life and field any questions they may have. Monday is our group meeting at the local community center. Our core group of students get there early and help set-up. Generally we have between 50-70 students and approximately 8 volunteers. The Campus Life meetings are generally topical and revolve around real life issues. Students will welcome the group, introduce visitors and generally lead the first game or mixer. A few mixers, a game or two, video highlights from the previous week's events and then a discussion starter. Generally I'll approach the subject and speak for no more that 10 minutes and break the group up into smaller groups. Ideally the questions have been e-mailed to the volunteers earlier and they have already thought through their personal answers. We then wrap it up with a general Q&A time and small group representatives will share their findings. Announcements of upcoming events take place and then we break. The vent is from 7:15 - 8:30pm. After club over 90% of the students and all the volunteers proceed to the local Starbucks/Jamba Juice/Ben and Jerry's. We simply hang out, meet new kids, and learn a little more about first time visitors. This is when the real ministry takes place. Students will ask for private time and go for a walk and share what's happening in their lives. Multiple decisions for Christ have been made after club on the way home on Monday evenings - generally wraps up about 9:30-10:00. Meet with several students after school or as this week for early 6:15 coffee. Robbie wanted to know the difference between his newfound faith and the Jehovah's witness. Matt wanted to simply check in and, I think, deep down, be held accountable. Midweek, occasional meetings with core kids. Thursday evening freshman football games - generally take my own two boys (7 and 9) and hangout. My own children are the best tools for meeting new kids. Last week we played catch in the stands and included 6-8 students we really didn't know. Goal is to be seen and then call several key kids (I did this last night) and tell them what a great job they did etc. Friday evening - home football games and then hang out afterwards. Ice cream, fast food etc. Summer - during the summer we had a Real World meeting attended by between 6-20 students 6 times. It was exposure to the Gospel followed by a pool party. Trips and events - Once a quarter we'll do some big trip with over 200 students from about three campus clubs: An all-nighter called Rush Night, Snowboarding Trip, Fright Fest, Core team overnighters, Southland (5 days down south at amusement parks, hearing the Gospel at a program at night), day trips etc. I'll keep jr. high simple. Select a core team - last year 12 students - this year we had 57 students show up at lunch to get involved in leadership - wow! Meet once a month as a leadership team; plan a monthly on campus outreach meeting with student leaders. Meet monthly after school for a Friday afternoon Campus Life club - less structure and more fun than high school. Visits to sporting events etc. How do you market it? (go on campus, count on kids to bring friends, flyers, posters, etc.) Student leaders are given flyers to hand out to friends. We have established a database and also send out quarterly updates with calendars etc. I also advertise trips and upcoming clubs in the school newspaper. This year (2 weeks ago) we formerly became an on campus club at the high school. We have a faculty advisor and a real campus presence. The club really needs to be student run- but it gives us great exposure and the ability to advertise to the general school population. Jr. high is generally word of mouth and is accompanied by computer generated invitations produced by the students themselves. Soul Extreme can also make announcements about upcoming school events - yet is unable to advertise the after school events. What is the content like? (some churches aren't afraid to use worship, Bible teaching, etc. at an outreach agenda- but some try not to use a lot of "churchy" language- and some won't use worship etc. because it "might alienate") Content is very unchurchy and relational in nature. A number of times a year the Gospel story is presented using stories and some of Jesus' parables, on occasion an invitation is given, generally some form of response card is given for follow-up purposes - and then occasionally it is left up to the student to seek out a staff person. Most club weeks our faith is discussed in one manner or another - sometimes it's as simple as "You know we're a Christian organization and we're here because we really care about you." But each week our staff are seeking one-on-one time with students where we are building relationships and sharing our faith with them. Where do you meet? The local community center on Monday evenings. Summer meetings and core meetings are at student's homes. How do you attract "unchurched kids" verses just churched kids? We generally attract non-church kids - perhaps 10% or less of our students are involved in a local church. How do you keep church kids from "repelling" unchurched kids? My problem is having unchurched kids repelling churched kids - a problem in and of itself…but one I'd rather deal with. How many students attend? (what is the churched to non-churched kid ratio?) Monday evenings - 50-80 - high school. 10% church attendees How many are saved annually? (monthly/weekly if applicable) Jr. high numbers can be 50 in a year. High school, sadly a lot less. Then plugging them into the local church is even harder. It seems that we need the church to be in the process from the beginning the make the segue into the church easier. How long have you been doing it? Been in youth ministry over 10 years. Just completed my 4th. year at this campus outreach ministry. What is your biggest frustration with it or what could you improve? To summarize here are several key points -
SADDLEBACK JONATHAN: Kurt- I’ve always been impressed with your junior high ministry. I’d love some insight about how you reach the “unchurched teen.” KURT: Glad to share. For the last 7 years, our primary source of evangelism is simply friends telling friends and bringing them to whatever program they think is appropriate...usually our weekend one. Our weekend program probably serves as our most evangelistic on-going program, but it's really just a seeker-friendly worship service. JONATHAN: So what is your outreach ministry called? KURT: We call it FRIENDSHIP EVANGELISM. Catchy, huh! JONATHAN: What is the “ministry model” you use? KURT: Our ministry model would be PDYM. FRIENDSHIP EVANGELISM serves our purpose of evangelism through students living an authentic life and sharing Jesus with their unchurched friends. JONATHAN: How do they do this? KURT: Students who commit to friendship evangelism basically follow a 3 step strategy:
JONATHAN: Do you remind kids about this- or encourage them in this throughout the year? KURT: We consistently remind them in our small groups and occasionally, we do a weekend series on the subject. JONATHAN: So what is your program like? KURT: Our weekend program usually looks like this: FUN/FAST MUSIC GAME OR VIDEO MORE FUN/FAST MUSIC GAME OR VIDE STUDENT TESTIMONY OR SPECIAL SLOW/WORSHIP MUSIC MESSAGE JONATHAN: Where is this? KURT: At the church in a large, semi-permanent tent. JONATHAN: What’s your ratio of churched to unchurched kids. KURT: About 5 churched for every 1 unchurched. JONATHAN: And how many do you have saved each year? KURT: About 75 to 100. JONATHAN: What is your biggest frustration? KURT: Not enough kids really “get” the friendship evangelism concept. We need to promo it better, have better testimonies of success stories, etc. Tons of our studetns never bring a friend to our weekend program. They say the love it, but just don’t have the guts to invite a friend. JONATHAN: You’re not alone- I think a ton of us struggle with the exact same thing. I appreciate your answers Kurt- thank you. One last thing. I'm still wrestling with some answers about methods of outreach. Let me ask you an honest question. Do you think counting on jr. highers is enough? I don't ask that to be blaming- and I don't ask it to “diss” on junior highers. (I actually did several programs where we counted on them). But- do you think that JUST friendship evangelism is enough . . . or have you ever thought about doing another model of outreach to work along side with friendship evangelism. (examples: specific outreach events, on campus ministry, hang out centers like teen centers or coffee bars, etc.) KURT: Great question...and I probably should have clarified: Friendship Evangelism is our PRIMARY method, but not really our only. We offer a couple of events a year to help support it...in two weeks we're renting out a local water park where a couple thousand kids will show up. Also, our weekend program looks a LOT like a typical outreach program. Plus, we're getting ready to build a low-budget student center/coffee hous. I guess my heart is just that these things would never become the system our students rely on. Our strategy is to provide REAL, RELEVANT, RELATIONAL and RELAXED programs that support our students efforts. The deal we make with students is basically: You go out on a limb and share Christ and invite a friend to church and we'll make sure the limb doesn't break out from under you...we'll make you proud you took the chance. The reason I believe so strongly in Friendship Evangelism...as flawed as it is...is because I think big on-going outreach programs handicap our students in the long run. I don't want them to rely on me, the church, our budget, our facilities, etc. to reach their friends. I want them to see early on that a program doesn't change a life, but a relationship does. If a kid leaves Saddleback and goes to a tiny little church in the mid-west with two students and no outreach program I want that student to have the understanding that HE is the outreach program. It may not click right now while their in a big, happening environment, but I'm hoping that we're planting seeds of maturity in their hearts that will reap results when it matters most. We don't do typical "campus ministry" Ie: clubs, outreaches etc. But we do minister to the campus. What I mean by that is that we are moving toward having interns who are responsible for a particular campus. They pray for that campus, show up at events, take those kids to lunch etc. Again, our strategy is to be a support to kids as they attempt to be a light. I'm sure we don't see as many conversions each year and our attendance isn't as high as it could be if we did a more pro-active outreach program, but I think that when friends reach friends the decision is more apt to stick for the long haul. Idealistic....Totally! Effective....Somewhat Healthy...Boy, I hope so. The best way...No way! Like all of us, you, I'm still learning, praying, experimenting and trying to figure it all out. Obviously, there are incredible examples of success using virtually every method. I guess that just shows us that God is bigger than any of our methods, programs, buildings or budgets. He saves kids despite us! :) JONATHAN: Great sermon . . . I mean . . .answer. That’s just what I was looking for. KURT: I'm glad your asking the questions, and I'm glad your doing a seminar to give guys like me new insights and ideas into a crucial issue. Thanks for taking the time! JONATHAN: Thank you. We’re all learning from each other. YOUTH
FOR CHRIST What is your outreach ministry (or outreach aspect of your ministry) called? CROSSOVER YOUTH BASKETBALL™ What is the "ministry model" you use? (monthly events, weekly program, small groups, etc.) The ministry model is a twelve week program incorporating small group discussions with two large group events all within the frame work of athletic competition Give a brief description of it, it's purpose, method, etc. if you haven't already touched on it in the above question? CYB is designed to incorporate three very separate components into effectively reaching the non-churched teenager and sharing with him the message of the gospel. Those components are; the Athletic component, the Personal Development component and the Faith component. How do you market it? (go on campus, count on kids to bring friends, flyers, posters, etc.) CYB is marketed through the campus by doing on-campus demonstrations during the lunch period. Most schools, when presented with the opportunity to have CYB work with their students, will be very willing to help promote the league. What is the content like? The personal development content is a twelve week small group curriculum written to help the students develop greater Character, Confidence and Responsibility. The two large group events spread out during the twelve weeks are designed to give the student an opportunity to understand the gospel. Usually a speaker, pastor or one of the coaches will give their testimony. Where do you meet? We use public school gyms How do you attract "unchurched kids" verses just churched kids? We run a very competitive, low cost league and promote it only through the public school campus. How many students attend? (what is the churched to non-churched kid ratio?) We had over 400 different students involved this year. Ratio is somewhere around 80 percent un-evangelical churched How many are saved annually? We have seen as many as 90 students each year make an informed decision to follow Jesus. How long have you been doing it? Three years What is your biggest frustration with it or what could you improve? The number of quality Christian coaches or volunteers will limit the size of your league. Be prepared to have a waiting list of kids that want to participate. INSIGHT What is your outreach ministry (or outreach aspect of your ministry) called? We call it Insight at this point. We meet Sunday Mornings in the Gym. Here in Paradise, Sunday a.m. works for people. We meet 2nd service so it’s not too early that kids can’t get up and come. We also do a big first of the year kick off at our church. 3 Nights of extreme games, crowd breakers, speakers, and food. We work with other churches in the town to reach kids for Christ during this outreach. We had around 550+ students show up on our last night this year. 49 decisions (20 first time) we made on the last two nights. The students that made decisions were asked where they go to church or where their friend goes and we gave their info. To that Youth Pastor to do follow up. Jr. High is called Jr. High Explosion (Sunday am). - Friday night Insanity (once a month) What is the "ministry model" you use? (monthly events, weekly program, small groups, etc.) We meet every week on Sunday mornings. We start with music, then have some crowd breakers and then I speak. About every 3rd week we have a decision time from the front. Our Jr. High meets in small groups on Sunday am. Their focus is Winning and Building. Both programs are a time where students can come and socialize before and after, they hear great music, have fun interacting with people, and hear a message of hope and grace. During the small groups each student has the opportunity to investigate the Bible and ask questions safely. Building relationships is very key. How do you market it? (go on campus, count on kids to bring friends, flyers, posters, etc.) My job as I see it is to equip the students to reach their mission field. We challenge our students to invite, excite, and reach out to their peers. I go to events at school, but not during school hours. Coaching is another way of building relationships with “un-churched” students. What is the content like? We are not afraid of the gospel and share it boldly. Students want to hear it straight up and not watered down. We don’t use hymns and churchisms, we do use music and words that the students can relate to. Starting in two weeks, we will be starting our servant leadership team (high school student team). They will be very active on and off stage every week. They will plan and evaluate every week with our adult team. They know what is relevant and will reach the eyes and ears of their peers. They are extremely valuable to our success in reaching students for Christ. Where do you meet? The church gym How do you attract "unchurched kids" verses just churched kids? Our students reach them! Our students take ownership in the event and programs and then will bring their friends to come and check it out. One student who has the sense of ownership is better than a 1,000 flyers!! Provide an event that looks, smells, and IS attractive. How do you keep church kids from "repelling" unchurched kids? We don’t teach churchisms, we teach real life. Jesus walked this earth with sinners and so should we. Questions we ask: We are called to be the light of the world, then what’s your light look like? Do you bring people to Christ or repel them? How many students attend? (what is the churched to non-churched kid ratio?) Jr. High = 60 – 100 Sr. High = 100 – 150 depending on what we’re competing with. How many are saved? Combined in the last few months (since August) around 17 students. How long have you been doing it? 5 years for Ryan (my jr. high guy) and 13 years for me. What is your biggest frustration with it or what could you improve? Transportation!
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