August 22nd, 2010 
joshherndon “A decade ago teens were coming to church youth group to play, coming for the entertainment, coming for the pizza. They’re not even coming for the pizza anymore. They say, ‘We don’t see the church as relevant, as meeting our needs or where we need to be today.‘ ” -Thom Rainer, ‘Forget the pizza parties,’ Teens tell churches
Apparently less students are going to youth group. Are you surprised? I’d argue if they were coming to youth group for pizza parties, play, and entertainment we didn’t have them to begin with. There’s a lot more exciting stuff out there than dodgeball and Fast Food Fear Factor. Maybe it’s the games that make the junior highers coming back, but when they start dealing with real stuff are we still chugging soda through a sock?
So, how then do you keep them? And not just physically but how do you move students to be spiritually, mentally, emotionally invested in Jesus and His church?
Simon Sinek builds a leadership principal from the notion that says people buy into causes, not products. From my recent purchase, I’d have to agree. Organizations should be built on a greater cause than “I want to make a profit” or “I want a lot of people to come to youth group.” Those reasons for an organization to exist is limiting, uninspiring, and boring. Profit or people should be a byproduct of the cause– why should I care this organization exists? When there’s a clear knowledge of Why, there can be an accurate portrayal of values that directs the products of the organization, which will be more plentiful (profit, people). But the trick isn’t can you articulate Why, but can your students?
If you’re not asking yourself
- Why does our ministry exist? Why is what we’re doing important? Why is our cause imperative?
- How are we communicating our ‘why’? How is our ministry’s values being shaped by ‘why’?
- What are we doing to live out ‘why’?
- Do I talk about my ministry based upon what I do, or why I do? Do I find value in my ministry based on successful programs, or because of why I attempted the programs?
If you’re not asking yourself these questions on a weekly basis, you’ll be relying on pizza parties to be the savior of your ministry, and not Jesus.
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OK. This article has been posted on so many different blogs/websites. I totally, 100% agree with this article and am dumbfounded it’s only being posted now. I’ve been dealing with this, especially for my high school ministry, for a while now. HOWEVER, there’s this side of me totally struggling right now b/c THE CAUSE is so clear and plain as day. We’ve got great speakers and great small group times. But, it seems like the kids aren’t having ANY FUN! And, frankly, I think Jesus liked to have fun. I’m not your “gamey” type of youth pastor, but I do like to have fun and have some mixers/games included in my nightly program. It’s this constant pull. My ministry hasn’t really “grown”, exponentially, either. I haven’t lost any, but I’m not gaining any. And, believe me, I talk the YM talk. We’re all over contact work, sporting events, you name it…but, I’m at this huge lull for my high school program and have NO idea where to take them this fall (programatically).
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