Ep. 03 - Listening to Gen Z (with Jason Ballard & Ben Woodman)

In Episode 3 of The Youth Ministry Mindset Podcast, Joshua, Annie, and Jordan look at how to use active listening as a tool for evangelizing young people. Jason Ballard and Ben Woodman, hosts of the Alpha Youth Series, share and discuss the ways listening becomes an invitation. Join us as we continue the conversation on what youth ministry could look like in a post-COVID world.

SHOWNOTES

• Introduction: Listening is the most important skill
    -We are taught to speak, but not how to listen
    -We need to develop a culture of listening so young people feel heard and loved
    -When a young person comes with a question, we go into apologetics mode or make it about what we have been through
• Jason & Ben, who pioneered Alpha Youth, centered it around listening to Gen Z
    -Don't answer the questions, host the conversation
• It is freeing for adults to not need the answers and for the youth to hear other youths' answers.
• Invite youth to become owners of the ideas and let them set the culture.
• Don’t just do the pretense of active listening (e.g., eye contact), listen
    -People open up only after being shown respect
• Power of ownership
    -Invite youth into the process: “What topic do you want to talk about next?”
• Listening based on discussion-based programs
    -Find out what they actually believe
    -Realize the diversity of the group
    -Not everyone is at the same spot in the journey, becomes more personal
• Youth might share how they feel, testing to see if it is actually safe to share
    -Opening for other youth to create and join the discussion
    -Can lead to them sharing why they believe what they believe
• When looking for an opportunity to share about the faith, just take an interest in who they are
• What would you tell volunteers:
    -Create a place that is robust enough to handle the big questions without fear; then the faith becomes more robust for them personally
    -Dream big, but think small: Have big ideas, but think of names and real people
       +Build mutual respect, bring doubts and questions, be that listening friend
       +Relational dynamic - How are you making space and time for them to open up?
    -Pull students together on Zoom: Do you feel like youth ministry is a safe place to ask questions? How could we do that?
    -The program reveals the values. How much time is devoted to the values your program wants to embody?
• Takeaways
    -It's not about the tools; they just give the space for ownership.
    -Listening is cooperating with the work of the Holy Spirit, and we are changed ourselves
    -Five questions to ask in response:
    +What did you do in that situation/with that?
    +What did you say when that happened?
    +What do you think about that?
    +How did you feel?
    +Tell me more/Can you tell me more?

REFERENCES
1. Caring Enough to Hear and Be Heard: How to Hear and How to Be Heard in Equal Communication by David Augsburger
2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
3. The Quest Video Session - Lifeway.com

Pull Quotes:
1:30 "Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable."
3:54 "We need to be a people who are interested, and not interesting"
13:08 "Evangelism is joining in on a conversation that the Holy Spirit is already having with someone."
27:25 "Sometimes people just need to feel listened to before they listen to you."