At my recent stay with my family at the Great Wolf Lodge indoor
waterpark in Grand Mound, WA, I was quite fascinated by the lifeguards. They were extremely disciplined in their
approach, almost robotic. They would
scan the giant wave pool width-wise then length-wise, shooting their eyes
across the pool and then down alongside the near wall. Often, they would use their hand to point at
what they were looking at and their necks were always moving from side to
side.
Admittedly, I was slightly amused at the first lifeguard I observed. Her movement seemed unnatural and forced. In chatting with a few of the lifeguards
throughout my three days there (and watching the Great Wolf Lodge episode of
Undercover Boss...haha) I gained a greater appreciation for their disciplined
routine and of course, their important role overall.
Much like lifeguards, we youth ministers are in the business of saving lives
as well. While we may not have to jump into a pool or ocean (although it’s very
possible), we’ll certainly be called on to help a young person who is drowning
spiritually.
Here are 3 ways to build routine into our youth ministry:
1. Have regularly scheduled gatherings.
Whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or whatever; it’s important that
there is some sort of rhyme and reason to your youth ministry schedule. It will be easier for the youth to build your
youth gatherings into their already hyper-busy and over-scheduled lives. Parents will also appreciate the regularity
so they can plan ahead with their children.
Of course, a good youth ministry will also add one-off and non-regular
events for variety; this combo is the best approach. But without a regular routine of gathering,
it will be more difficult to get young people to commit to coming regardless of
how good the event is.
2. Be consistent with your availability.
When it comes to relational ministry, be routine in the times you are available
to young people. While we might say to a
teen that he can “call us anytime”, it’s also important that we set parameters
(whether we announce them or not). With
my primary vocation being husband and father, I’m always trying to separate
family time from ministry time although I recognize that they sometimes
inevitably overlap. I work hard to schedule
relational ministry time in to my own busy schedule, yet not cheat my family of
my time with them. It’s hard, but I’m
slowly learning that I don’t have to pick up every single phone call or return
every text message within seconds of receiving it.
3. Set-up and clean-up. Back to
our gatherings for this one. Routines can be extremely helpful when it comes to
the before and after portions of our gatherings. When members of the leadership team know what
has to be done and by whom and by when, it makes things go much faster. That doesn’t mean that we make a certain
person do a certain job week after week after week; after all we want avoid the
rut of repetition. But it does mean
being strategic in deciding who does what so things go smoothly. After the regular weekly youth gathering at
my home parish, the youth workers always do their best to spend a few minutes
with teens as they are waiting for their rides... before they start to clean
up. This is prime relational ministry time!
Once the teens are gone, the leaders then go into their clean-up
routine. After all, many hands make
light work.
Going forward, consider how much “routine” you are using in your youth
ministry. This consistency and discipline
will certainly make a splash in the lives of young people...and might even save
a life or two.
Clayton
Imoo is husband to Gail and father to sons Sean Isaiah and Jacob
Isaac and daughter Kayla Marie. He has served as the Director of
the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Vancouver for the past ten years, helping parishes
develop their own youth and young adult ministries. When not doing
ministry, Clay enjoys spending time with his family, playing music,
playing sports, playing naptime, and writing blogs on topics such
as family, faith, and the Vancouver Canucks. Learn more about him
at http://www.claytonimoo.com or follow him @claytonimoo
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