It’s time. It's time for you to have a plan for your creative, empowered, and life-transforming youth ministry. The task of leading a growing youth ministry is two parts; caring about youth and the work of leading a ministry. You care too much and work too hard to just feel like your constantly spinning your wheels.
In this 5 part special podcast series, Zac and Chad will walk you through the five stages of youth ministry growth. You will learn where your ministry is currently, and how to get to where you want to go.
Take note! These are not 5 stages your youth ministry will go through automatically. These are the 5 stages your youth ministry should go through, the stages we want you to go through so that you are set up to succeed!
Why A Roadmap?
For the last two years, YMB has heard from hundreds of youth ministry leaders, met with many, and coached several folks that have voiced a similar question.
What is next for my ministry?
For some folks what is next means constantly questing for the next thing, for others it means innovation, hacks, or sweet tech and in all the books we’ve read (great handbooks like Sustainable Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry Nuts & Bolts, Youth Ministry Management Tools, and Sticky Faith), we haven’t seen a roadmap, yet that succinctly prepares youth ministers for the challenges of growing a ministry in each of its unique phases (not all growth is created equal!).
So we put together our own roadmap. And we’re working with you to help make it better. This is what Youth Ministry Booster has been about from the beginning. Helping hardworking youth ministers find success and health for their ministries and their lives. This is our book to write together
Here is why the Roadmap is great.
When you know the 5 stages, you can identify not only where you are, but what phase is next.
And just that, that tiny sense of direction or purposefulness, can be the difference between burn-out or persistence, empowerment or frustration.
In this first podcast episode (and the next 4) we lay out the 5 phases as we see them, addressing the key questions, objectives, and expectations.
Check out this episode, and the next several as we lay out the roadmap, with goals and resources for each stage, and as you listen, try to find exactly where you are.
It’s our hope that this roadmap will help you identify where you are, where you’re going and how to set yourself and your idea up for a home run. Every context is different but the conclusion we have learned is this, expectations are knowable, health is determinative, and success is possible,
Phase One Discover
The goals of the Discover phase are to research and discern (A lil' R and D if you will).
The Work of Discovery
- Asking great questions
- Noticing important factors
- Taking good notes
- Listening well
Big Question:
Not just where I think these people, this student ministry ought to go, but where do these people need to be led.
Which Phase Are You in?
If you’re at this phase, did this episode resonate with you? Let us know in the comments!
OR, if you’re at this phase but we didn’t talk about what you’re going through, tell us that as well.
OR, if you’ve been at this phase before, can you tell us a story about what you remember from this stage?
