The Youth Ministry Mindset Podcast Youth Ministry Mindset

In Episode 8 of The Youth Ministry Mindset Podcast, a limited series with voices from Alpha and YDisciple, Joshua, Annie, and Jordan discuss the possibilities and practicals of implementing a transformational ministry. Join us as we continue the conversation on youth ministry in a post-COVID world.

SHOWNOTES


Introduction: What could transformational ministry look like
Do not change what we teach; change how we teach it
Need to learn to extend grace and teach others to
  -Create a place of invitation and relationship
Transformation = slow
Success isn’t a breakthrough; it’s them coming back
Can use programs and not see it go anyway
  -It's the person and the culture that matters
Alpha and YDisciple working together
  -Need an encounter first that leads to evangelization
  -Discipleship isn’t linear; it’s circular
There are more questions than answers
  -All work together to find answers
  -Be Spirit-led
What is the most important point to communicate?
  -Start small, don't stay small
  -Discern where the Lord is calling you to transform
  -Be hopeful
  -What you do matters
  -Lean into reliance on the Holy Spirit; that will be the beginning

REFERENCES


Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by  Dr. Carol S. Dweck

“Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” Romans 12:2

Saul becoming Paul - Acts 9

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller


PULL QUOTES

9:28 “Transformation is slow, and it's a gradual process that we don’t even see happening in the moment.”

12: 02 “There are no silver bullets.”

18:30 “Disciples start to desire to make other disciples.”

HOSTS:
Joshua Danis
Annie Grandell
Jordan Biere

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https://www.youthministrymindset.com

https://www.facebook.com/alphausa

https://alphausa.org/youth

https://www.facebook.com/YDiscipleLeader

https://ydisciple.com

https://netusa.org

In Episode 7 of The Youth Ministry Mindset Podcast, a limited series with voices from Alpha and YDisciple, Joshua, Annie, and Jordan bring Jim Beckman, the founding architect of YDisciple, into the discussion on the relationship between content and the culture of youth ministry. Join us as we continue the conversation about how youth ministry could look in a post-COVID world.

SHOWNOTES


Introduction: Content is not king
The role of content and what it does and doesn’t accomplish
Content is the vehicle, but it is not primary
Culture we need to cultivate that creates a space
  -Jesus is king; the content leads to that truth
Jim Beckman, currently works for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, has been in youth ministry for many years and is the founding architect of YDisciple
It’s all about introducing them to Jesus, who is with them their whole life
  -If this doesn’t go into the rest of the kid’s life, then what’s the point?
The culture is a tsunami of opposition
Need to think of the context of where the youth are coming from
Content is critical
  -Need marriage between sharing content of faith and the lived relationship
GenZ is ready to stand up for the Kingdom, but they don’t know the King
Need to pay attention to spiritual and physical reality
Peel back layers and show Truth that is hidden
  -Reveal identity to young people
Fundamental groups of discipleship are found in small groups
  -Need to provide content, but cultivate with appropriate intimacy
  -Be willing to enter into real relationship
If you want to be good at this, get close to Jesus
Key Takeaways
  -It’s all about creating a space for relationships
  -Be in love with Jesus, and ministry will come from the overflow
  -Disciple-making is about the people, not the program
  -Given the freedom to start again fresh
  -Content is a means to the relationship with Jesus

REFERENCES


Franciscan University of Stubeunville
Young Servant with Elisha - 2 Kings 6:17-20
The Lost Art of Disciple Making by LeRoy Elms

PULL QUOTES

3:40 “If the point of all of this is for young people to know and love Jesus, well you can’t love what you don’t know.”

13:35 “The landscape has changed so dramatically just in the last two years –this may be controversial– but I would actually venture that youth ministry as we know it is over.”

23:40 “Fundamentally, we have a sacramental reality that is lost on the vast majority of people.”

31:57 “Once they realize that you really love them, you just can’t get rid of them”

Hosts:
Joshua Danis
Annie Grandell
Jordan Biere

--------------------

https://www.youthministrymindset.com

https://www.facebook.com/alphausa

https://alphausa.org/youth

https://www.facebook.com/YDiscipleLeader

https://ydisciple.com/

https://netusa.org

In Episode 6 of The Youth Ministry Mindset Podcast, a limited series with voices from Alpha and YDisciple, Joshua, Annie, and Jordan discuss practicals of reproducing a transformational youth ministry that empowers young people. Join us as we continue the conversation on youth ministry in a post-COVID world.

SHOWNOTES


Give leadership roles that give youth the ability to be part of the ministry
  -Caused their faith to deepen by answering questions and seeing peers grow
How do you do that?
M.A.W.L.
  -Model - what does it look like to be a leader in a community?
  -Assist - be near and help the youth as you go
  -Watch - watch them, but they lead everything
  -Launch - “you got this;” affirm them
Discipleship is like an apprenticeship, not a program
Need to walk with them, nurture the gifts
Invite young people to go with other parish groups
  -Give the youth opportunities to integrate into the parish
  -Ask other staff how the youth can help their mission
Don’t put on a show; it’s a process they are part of
  -They build the thing they are benefiting from
  -Let them take ownership of the content, give options
When young people encounter Jesus, they share that
We need people who will give tools to have conversations and love well
Key takeaway of how to empower the youth
  -Get out of the way and don’t take control
  -Your failure isn’t a failure
  -Need to launch disciples
  -Find other youth ministers and do it with them

REFERENCES


Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Woman at the Well - John 4:4

PULL QUOTES

7:50 “It’s important that we don’t think ‘Oh this is how we reproduce ourselves a million times over, so I don’t have to do anything.’ No, you are doing the work of being a discipler, and you’re integrating them to do something with you.”

12:09 “They are looking for things to integrate themselves into, and we just have to create those opportunities, and we can’t replicate jobs cause they are going to know when a job is hollow.”

31:14 “If you want to see young people who are alive in Christ, then find young people who are activated in Christ.”


HOSTS
Joshua Danis
Annie Grandell
Jordan Biere

--------------------

youthministrymindset.com

facebook.com/alphausa

alphausa.org/youth

www.facebook.com/YDiscipleLeader

ydisciple.com

netusa.org

In Episode 5 of The Youth Ministry Mindset Podcast, a limited series with voices from Alpha and YDisciple, Joshua, Annie, and Jordan talk about how to empower volunteers to become leaders and create a successful ministry. Join us as we continue the conversation on youth ministry in a post-COVID world.

SHOWNOTES


Introduction: Reproducibility and Empowering adults
It can be easy to make the youth group around the youth minister’s talent
Empower adults to be a part of the ministry
  -Create a culture of known, seen, loved
Qualities in a leader
  -Relational intelligence - anyone who has a heart for young people
  -Spiritual velocity - passionately in love with Jesus and following Him every day
  -Teachability - not stuck to the old way
Know what to look for, but where do I find them?
  -Best leaders recruit other leaders
  -Create community and invite their community into the mission
  -Ask parents who they want to mentor their children
  -Ask students who's already influencing them
Need to change that 18 months is the standard career for a youth minister
  -Takes 3 years to start a successful youth ministry that empowers the parish
  -Observe and build trust in community
Multiple leaders and help continue to form them
Need consistency - try to have two group leaders
Might need to redirect some leaders to another ministry they will thrive in
  -Follow up afterward
Change the language to change the culture
Advice to volunteers
  -Do for a few what you wish you could do everyone
  -You are necessary
  -To make disciples, you need to be a disciple - Daily prayer life

REFERENCES


Ali Hoffman - alihoffman.co
The Lost Art of Disciple Making by LeRoy Elms
World Youth Day - a worldwide encounter with the Pope for youth ages 16-35 to encounter Christ, celebrated in a different country about every three years. worldyouthday.com

PULL QUOTES

4:45 “As the ministry grows, it needs to feel smaller.”

13:11 “We as the whole church have a responsibility to anchor with them and to assist them in lifelong transition.”

25:25 “The best leaders out there, the ones who are most attractive to be employed, are the ones who actually replace themselves really well.”

LINKS

https://www.youthministrymindset.com

Alpha:
https://alphausa.org/alpha-youth-series
https://www.facebook.com/Alpha

YDisciple:
https://ydisciple.com/leader
https://www.facebook.com/YDiscipleLeader

NET Ministries:
https://netusa.org
https://www.facebook.com/netministriesusa

In Episode 4 of The Youth Ministry Mindset Podcast, a limited series with voices from Alpha and YDisciple, Joshua, Annie, and Jordan discuss successes, failures, and the importance of relying on the Holy Spirit in ministry with guest Sarah Kaczmarek, Director of Pastoral Ministry at Encounter Ministries. Join us as we continue the conversation on what to bring into youth ministry in a post-COVID world.

SHOWNOTES


Introduction: Reliance on the Holy Spirit
Important to experience the power
Start with what reliance is not
  -Not emotional manipulation; needs to be authentic
  -Not a watering down, there needs to be an experience
  -Not an excuse to “wing it”. Necessary for the moment, but not for long term planning
Speaking with guest Sarah Kaczmarek, former Associate Director of Alpha Catholic and now works with Encounter Ministries, about what reliance on the Holy Spirit is
  -Taught about God, but never given an interactive relationship
  -Encounters bring about transformation
How do we create this space?
  -Obstacles
     +If we haven’t had an encounter with Him, then we can’t lead others. Need to have the belief that God will show up
     +We want to control because we are human
  -We need to pray
  -We need to wait in silence
  -Always be looking for a moment and be obedient
Asking for the Holy Spirit to come is part of our tradition, but not part of our culture.
Ask for God to show up, just like He promises in the Scriptures
Important to start with personal encounters and then look at why the ministry exists, and then pray. Just show up and God will show up and amazing things will happen
Takeaways
  -Having confidence: ask the Holy Spirit to show up and He will
  -The Holy Spirit is moving, regardless of what we see or what the youth see
  -Felt nervous, but she created the space and impacted the youth and the parents
Create a space for yourself, then invite the youth into that space.

REFERENCES


“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you” - St. Augustine

iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us by Jean M. Twenge

We all have experience of this moment, in which it is no longer enough to talk about Jesus by repeating what others say. It is necessary to say what you think, and not to report an opinion; it is necessary to give a witness, to feel committed by the testimony given and to go up to the extreme demands of this commitment.” - St. John Paul II, Homily for Young People and Students, Belo Horizonte (Brazil), 1 July 1980

PULL QUOTES

8:15 “We do not hype the Holy Spirit up, the Holy Spirit comes down.”

23:54 “[The Holy Spirit] doesn’t need all the bells, the whistles, the fog, whatever it is we think that the Holy Spirit needs to show up. We just need to ask and then get out of the way.”

29:53 “I want to do just enough to set the table, to make sure everything is prepared as the Lord has led me to, and then invite the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings to sit down and have a conversation with their sons and daughters.”

37:38 “We know God is good theologically, but we’re creating space for His Goodness to come through and that’s reliance on the Holy Spirit.”

In this special bonus episode of The Youth Ministry Mindset Podcast, a limited series with voices from Alpha and YDisciple, Joshua, Annie, and Jordan continue talking with Jason Ballard and Ben Woodman about creating successful small groups. Join us as we continue the conversation on what youth ministry could look like in a post-COVID world.

SHOWNOTES


Small groups are key but can be difficult
  -Pause along the way for discussion
  -Give opportunity for different points of view
Use the tool to start and continue the conversation
Not everyone can give talks, but everyone can ask what people think
Train the youth to lead
  -Ownership in students
  -Create teamwork
  -Raise leaders
Goal to evangelize through empowering others
  -Learn to ask questions they encounter outside the classroom
Jesus sends out disciples but is still with them through the Holy Spirit
  -Being invited into the mission deepens our faith
  -Church today needs to still participate in that mission

REFERENCES


The Great Commission - Matthew 28:16-20

PULL QUOTES

6:55 “All of a sudden we are raising leaders and not just consumers, and that is when this thing goes viral, and when I say this thing I’m talking about the Christian movement, is when people are owners of this.”

LINKS

https://www.youthministrymindset.com

Alpha:
https://alphausa.org/alpha-youth-series
https://www.facebook.com/Alpha

YDisciple:
https://ydisciple.com/leader
https://www.facebook.com/YDiscipleLeader

NET Ministries:
https://netusa.org
https://www.facebook.com/netministriesusa