This weekend, I had the opportunity to lead a breakout session with Joel Burkhead at CLUE (Campus Life University of Excellence). I had a blast working with Joel (an old high school buddy of mine). But something I noticed about the other youth ministry peeps there stood out to me.
As a parachurch ministry, these guys & gals were freed up to do outreach aimed at those outside of the church walls. They don’t have a lot of “church kids” sitting around a this camp. They have some teens who are leaders who are only there to learn how to better share the story of Jesus with their peers. They also have some teens who grew up outside of a church setting.
Because of this, the youth workers end up aiming outside of the church walls. They aim to train students to minister to their peers within the context of school, not the context of a youth group. They minister to teens in a completely different paradigm.
I realized that this approach is SO refreshing. I need to help students learn to minister in THEIR context, not in mine. I need to reach teens in THEIR setting, not in mine. I need to orient my ministry about connecting with youth on THEIR TURF, not on mine.
