Direct the Rider

DIRECT THE RIDER

Intro:

They say that the only that this is constant in life is change! How many believe this to be true? We can avoid it yet it is the inevitable. While it is all of our reality and truth, thinking about change can be a little overwhelming, especially as it is all around us in our personal lives and in our ministries.

We feel that change is coming or we see the need to change, yet the question is where to start and how to be effective in executing such change.

Today, our young people are indirectly screaming to us that WE, youth ministers need to step up and embrace our identity as “agents of change.” Here is why….

About two weeks ago, a USA Today article stated that young people are not finding the Church relevant. They are simply NOT INTERESTED in coming to church. The article starts, “"Bye-bye church. We're busy." That's the message teens are giving churches today.”

The piece continues to say that “only about one in four teens now participate in church youth groups” and that “numbers have been flat since 1999.”

Youth ministry may be losing out to Facebook and other virtual worlds. Did you know that if Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populated after China and India with a population of 500 million?

Here is a taste of what we are competing with for youth’s attention:

[Show portion of youtube video “Did You Know 4.0”]

The article USA Today article I mentioned earlier notes that "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.'

The article goes on to state a handful of reasons or justifications for why teens are no longer interested in church, the list…parent irresponsibility and over-committed teens. Above all, they conclude that teens are no longer fed by “pizza” parities anymore, rather, they thirst for depth.

Ladies and gentlemen, today we embark on a journey together to discern where we need to “change” or ministry to offer something authentic and different to our young people.

Authors Chip and Dan Heath when talking about change, use the analogy in their book about a rider. Yes, an average sized rider who directs and wields the path of a large elephant. You and I are the riders, We are conscious and rational minds that recognize the need to change our ministries to captivate young people.

However, we are in a precarious situation as our job is to hold the reins of an elephant and be the leader. The rider’s strength is the ability to think long term, to plan beyond the moment The elephant is the emotional side needed to make change. Margaret will explain later.

As riders of elephants, we recognize the need for change and we provide the planning and direction. Before doing that however, we need to identify where there needs to be change.

Process: Take two minutes to quietly reflect and identify where change is necessary in the way you do youth ministry. When you’re done, share with the person next to you.

As riders, we have the big-picture of what change needs to happen. However we have our weaknesses. We can get overwhelmed, we can overanalyze, and overthink thigs. Any of you relate to that?

The Heath brothers give us tools to keep the rider focused and on course.

1st--Find the Bright Spots—What is working and how can we do more of it?

In ministry it is very easy to focus on the areas that are not excelling, connection with parents, not enough volunteers, need for more advocacy of youth ministry, etc. However, how often do we spend time on what is actually going well?

When trying to make a change, the idea is to spend a majority of our time attempting to figure out what is doing well and replicate it?

“Big problems, big changes are rarely solved by big solutions, instead, they are solved by a sequence of small solutions.

For example, in your investigation of “bright spots” you might find that a particular program worked because of a number of key volunteers who were recruited by the pastor or the pastoral council president on the parish staff. The person who helped recruit would not be the bright spot, but the fact that there was individual/personal recruitment for a specific program would be considered the bright spot.

Process or Vietnamese example in book?: At your tables, think of one of the aspects of your ministry that is working well? What part of the situation, that is not an anomaly or an exception (i.e. special recruitment by the pastor) the can be replicated?

The bright spots give a specific action plan.

2nd tool to keeping the rider on task-- Script the Critical Moves

Ambiguity is exhausting and can be overwhelming. Creating change requires translation of ambiguous goals into concrete behavior. You can’t replicate every move, only the critical moves are the ones that count.

For example, in West VA there was a campaign to get people to eat healthier. However that goal was very ambiguous. Instead, investigators determined that an overwhelming amount of people drank whole milk, which contributed to unhealthy diets. Researchers then “scripted the critical moves” and led an entire campaign to compel people to “switch to 1% milk.” The switch from whole milk to 1% was more feasible for people to grasp than simply the general tagline of “eat healthier.”

Process: In the next minute or two, think of the change you wish to foster in your ministry. How can you remove the ambiguity of the change and translate it to a reasonable and attainable goal? Share it with your neighbor.

3rd tool to keeping the rider on task—Point to the Destination

This is where as riders, as vision holders, we get to point to where we are going. Yes, we all know we are walking with our young people on the road to Emmaus, however, key to our success; we need to paint a vivid picture of what the change we seek will look like.

Thus far we have sought the bright spots or discovered what works, we have scripted concrete courses of action “Switch to 1% milk”, now we have to determine what is the destination we are headed? Pointing to the destination shows where we are headed and makes the journey worthwhile.

In this ministry, we know that that we are headed to equip young people who can develop a zeal for the Gospel. What would that look like? Does it look like a well equipped team of peer leaders who are fully engaged in planning a liturgy or retreat? Does is look like a group of volunteers that are equipped to lead different youth groupings? In the next presentation, Margaret will aid us in understanding how to be riders of big elephants leading to the destination we are headed.