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Has your church or ministry ever had to make the difficult decision to give up a “sacred cow”? After running the numbers, praying about it, and discussing it with the community, have you ever had to put an end to an activity, event, or practice that you’d been doing “since forever”?

For Adam McLane at Youth Ministry Exchange, that sacred cow was youth retreats, a longstanding and beloved tradition that, upon careful reflection, just didn’t make sense for their ministry to keep doing. Here’s his closing challenge; if you’re not a youth pastor, replace “retreat” with any other activity in your church and see if it holds up to scrutiny:

It’s easy to get caught up in a sacred cow syndrome. It’s easy to get caught up in doing something just a little different and a little better than the year before. It’s easy to go with the flow. It’s easy to do something simply because you’ve budgeted for it. It’s easy to keep doing retreats.

But have you been able to measure their effectiveness over the past several months? Have you noticed it getting a little harder to fill the roster each year? Have you had a fluke or two? Have you wondered if they were worth all the trouble? Have you asked students why they are coming?

Please don’t read this as a vilification of retreats or retreat ministry. It is hardly that. All I am simply asking you to do is be open to rethinking how retreats fit into your philosophy of ministry. And if you find that they are ineffective or putting pressure on your students artificially are you willing to take a break? Are you willing to retreat from the “must do” retreat mindset?

Read the full post at Youth Ministry Exchange.

What about you? Have you ever been in the difficult position of having to put an end to a ministry “sacred cow”? How did you reach that decision, and in retrospect, was it the right decision to make?

What do you think?

Our good friends and colleagues over at Youth Specialties just produced their 50th video podcast! It’s an achievement for any organization to create 50 podcasts, but to do so while maintaining the level of quality of the YS crew is a truly special thing.

While I’m not personally a youth pastor, I love learning about the issues that youth pastors are confronted with on a day to day basis. You can check out the 50th podcast over on their site.

The video kicks off with a list of 50 tips for youth workers. Some of my favorites were:

• Good planning makes for successful spontaneity
• Always count your kids
• Being present with kids is just about the most important thing you can do.

The rest of the video is of YS co-founder Wayne Rice. It’s highly worth watching if you or someone you know is involved in youth ministry.

What are some tips you’d give to the youth worker in your life?

At the Youth Specialties blog, Adam McClane discusses the tension between evangelism and discipleship in churches and youth ministry.

He writes that youth pastors are often caught between the stated and unstated goals of the church. The written vision of a church is often focused on evangelism. However, individual church members typically understand the vision to be one of discipleship.

While both excellent visions for a church, these two points of focus can create tension in everyday youth ministry. Youth workers need to stress both evangelism and discipleship equally, but sometimes the two appear to be mutually exclusive. As Adam puts it:

Maybe this is jaded, but it’s been my experience. As much as we’d like to be an equal, complimentary balance between evangelism and discipleship, it always plays out that one wins….

Think about the youth programs you’ve been involved with, either as student or worker. Have any of them handled that tension well?

What about in your personal life? How do you make sure you’re making enough time for both nurturing your personal faith and actively inviting others into God’s kingdom? Do you ever feel a tension between discipleship and evangelism?

The Youth Specialties blog is written by and for youth workers. As someone whose last involvement in youth ministry was attending youth services in high school, I find it a great place to read about the issues youth leaders face today.

In a recent post, Brooklyn Lindsey discusses some of her thoughts on cell phones and youth ministry:

I recently returned from a summer mission trip where we made the unfathomable decision to collect cell phones for an entire week. A few students needed us to help them through the night sweats and uncontrollable shaking, but for the most part, by day two, all was well in the world.

We ended up having a week of deepened relationships, focused conversation, and focused service to others. Students could call their parents from the adult leaders’ cell phones but other than that, they were free…so to speak.

Three days after our trip I found myself in our local college/ young adult ministry setting. We meet in a local coffee bistro with live music and awesome discussion. My husband is the leader, so I love the ministry, 30 Below is something I look forward to every week. However, one thing was really obvious to me after having a week free of technological interruption, everyone around me (dozens of people sitting around tables) sat in this all too familiar conversation with eyes darting every few minutes to their lit up phones. Even if it was to simply “check the time”, we were all there…but not really. I started to wonder if I too, if our phones have become our safety, our fall-out plan.

We’ve all been around someone who can’t stop fidgeting with their phone or some other piece of technology, and I’m sure we’ve all wondered if they were really paying attention or if they were off in another world. It’s interesting to hear of youth ministers physically taking devices from teenagers in an effort to bring about some semblance of normalcy to their lives. Perhaps it’s a discipline we should all practice from time to time.

Do you think technology can keep us from fully experiencing our relationships with people? Or do you think our relationships can be made better through the use of always-on tech? And more importantly, what about your relationship with God? How do those bundles of circuitry help or hinder your connection with God?

Dale and Jonalyn Fincher of the the Soulation ministry were interviewed recently on the Association of Christian Schools International radio program! During the interview they talk about what drove them to start up an apologetics ministry with a focus on students and young people, and why it’s so critical to engage people intellectually and spiritually with the Christian faith.

You can listen to the radio interview at the Soulation website. Dale and Jonalyn are an extremely eloquent and thoughtful pair; if you have any interest in student ministry or apologetics, it’s well worth giving the short interview a listen.

Short-term service trips are a common feature of youth groups in churches around the country. But do they accomplish the goals they set out to accomplish—helping others while giving students a chance to grow spiritually?

Kara Powell of the Fuller Youth Institute is promoting a new type of short-term missions curriculum meant to avoid the common problem of mission trips that have little or no impact on the participants’ lives:

In describing the new curriculum, Kara highlights some of the negative aspects of short-term mission trips as they’re commonly carried out: most of the advance preparation for the trip is focused on obtaining funds and parental permission; and whatever they experience on the mission trip itself, few kids seem to experience any long-term, meaningful spiritual growth afterward.

I’ve seen this topic circulating on blogs more frequently over the last year—see a Washington Post article on the challenge of creating short-term missions projects that actually do good, and very good ensuing commentary on the Tall Skinny Kiwi blog. See also an article at the Center for Student Missions about why most short-term missions trip isn’t a waste of time.

What has been your experience with short-term missions trips—positive or negative? The Youth Specialties blog is inviting comments on the topic, so head over there to discuss it, or share your thoughts below.

Do you work in youth ministry? Did you know that Youth Specialties puts out a video podcast each week?

The YS podcast provides tools, tips and much needed encouragement to thousands of youth workers. You can really sense their love for students and youth workers alike in these videos. They’ve been doing the podcast in video format since August of last year, which in podcasting terms is quite an achievement.

Here’s their most recent video from March 30, 2009:

“What is God’s will for my life?”

“What does God let bad things happen to me and my family?”

“Why should I trust the Bible?”

If you have kids or work with young people, chances are you’ve heard countless variations of these basic spiritual questions. Unfortunately, it’s often all too easy to respond with pat answers that don’t really address the heart of the question—and sometimes, even without realizing it, we can send the message to young people that it’s not OK to ask and think through tough spiritual questions.

Dale Fincher of Soulation has some thoughtful and inspiring words on the topic in a new audio message about apologetics questions that young people ask. Fincher challenges Christians not to run from young people’s “tough questions,” and not to minimize their importance. Rather, we should encourage kids to think critically through difficult spiritual issues.

This is one of several new audio resources at Soulation; see also a new audio message asking “why would a good God send people to hell?” and another about issues of identity and body image. If you’re looking for a fresh and direct approach to Christian apologetics, Dale and Jonalyn Fincher’s ministry has a lot to offer.

For most high school and college students, summer is officially over and the new school year has begun. All around the country, school campuses are full of nervous freshmen trying hard to plug into campus life, make new friends, and get their personal and spiritual lives organized. If you’re an upperclassman, that means there’s plenty of opportunity to reach out to new students who could use a helping hand as they adjust to school life.

Several articles at StudentSoul.org look specifically at the challenges and opportunities of campus ministry during the opening weeks of the school year:

• The Power of a Personal Invitation: if you’re an upperclassman, you might be surprised how much of an encouragement you can be to a new student trying to find their way around campus life!
• Help, I’m a Freshman! remember how overwhelming your freshman year was? Here are a few ideas to help you lend a helping hand to new students on campus.
• New Student Outreach: Get Ready! a list of some fun and unique ways to minister to your fellow students.

If you’re an upperclassman, you’re in a unique opportunity to help struggling freshmen on your campus. Next time you see a freshman wandering lost around campus, don’t point and laugh—think about how you can show Christlike love and encouragement to them. And keep an eye on StudentSoul.org for more ministry ideas like the ones above.

Is student ministry worth the immense amount of time, energy, and money that churches and dedicated ministries put into it? Aren’t many young people apathetic toward spiritual issues, or inclined to abandon the faith once they leave their family and church community?

While there’s a grain of truth to these conceptions, student ministry nevertheless remains a crucial part of the church’s call to evangelism. Making the case for student ministries are five articles over at the Lausanne World Pulse’s recently redesigned website:

• Why Bother with Student Ministry? Five reasons why Christian ministry among students is so important.
• The Strategic Importance of Student Ministry: What Are You Living For? There are things common to university students that make ministry among them a valuable use of time.
• Is Student Ministry Important? Student ministry is most strategic for the mission of God. It has always been so.
• Claiming Back Our Campuses for Christ: An Example from South Africa: In order to turn the tide of moral decay South Africa is rapidly heading toward, the Church should invest in children, youth, and young adults.
• Reaching Future Leaders through Word and Deed: One international church is reaching out to graduate students who are highly intellectual and skeptical of faith issues.

The LWP site is full of other excellent articles about church and ministry topics, and they’re regularly adding new content. If the above articles are useful to you, look through their online archives and stop back periodically to see what’s new!