Ramez Atallah at DG Pastors Conference 2012

While everyone else in the blogosphere seems to be debating about what Piper said at his latest Pastor’s Conference i’d like to strongly recommend that you listen to the talk by Ramez Atallah.

Ramez is Egyptian and the leader of the Bible Society in Egypt. His talk, that i listened to this morning, is very powerful and challenging for anyone looking at or in ministry. He tells his story, speaks of what it is like to minister in Egypt, a bit of history about mission to Egypt, and also about the garbage people. Over-arching this talk is his five principles that a Christian leader should have.

After listening to both Piper’s and Ramez’s talks i think they are both worth listening to. I came away thinking that Ramez had put a few things in perspective for those of us in the West.

Highly recommended.

How to do social media as a youth pastor

leaders and leadership

I live and work in an area where people are leaders in their field. This brings a unique opportunity to speak into these people’s lives but also enables me to learn from them. It was such a privilege, therefore, to sit down for a bit over an hour with someone within the CBC community who interviews people for senior level business positions. I believe he has an organisational psychology background and has also written a couple of books about hiring the right people. In any case, he could be off earning hundreds of dollars in the hour he was with me but i had the benefit of learning about some keys to leadership from him.

Here are some thoughts from our conversation about leaders and leadership:

1. Leaders have an over-arching vision. The clearer the vision the more powerful it is.
2. Leaders build relationships with people. A good question to ask whether someone might be a leader is: “Does this person have the ability to build relationships?”
3. Leaders listen to others.
4. Leaders build trust with people. They do what they say they are going to do.

It should be noted that there is a difference between listening and hearing. i.e. two people can hear that there is something wrong with a car, however, a car mechanic can tell you what is exactly wrong with it. It could be a loose fan belt or something like that.

Someone who listens is one who hears ‘it’ and interprets what it means. Very few people can listen patiently and get meaning out of what others are saying.

A question that should be asked about leaders is: “Where do they take people?”

There is also a difference between leadership and management. “Managers are able to climb the ladder while leaders know which wall the ladder should be placed on”.

recent mission stats

From a mission magazine i recieved a few days ago:

• There are 100,000 missionaries in the world.
• Only 3% work among unreached peoples.
• There are 16,000 people groups in the world.
• 3,700 people groups have no church and no missionary.
• There are 3.5 billion Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus in the world.
• 86% of them don’t know a Christian.
• There are 2252 language groups that don’t have on single verse of scripture in their own language.
• 3.2 billion people survive on less than $2 per day.
• 30,000 people starve to death each day.
• We have 27 million slaves an 18 million orphans in the world today.
• In the last hour 115 children were forced into prostitution.

the platform

When i think of platforms i think of those large stages at the end of church halls. They are about 1.5m tall and now-a-days have a lot of junk on them behind a tatty curtain that tries to hide its contents. Do you know what i mean? We have one in our church.

This, however, isn’t what I’m talking about. The platform I’m talking about is church.

As Christians we seek to engage with others and spread the Good News through a variety of platforms. For some a blog is a platform, for others it could be a podcast, a book, a conference, a radio program, a YouTube video. These days there are heaps of platforms. Platforms enable people to be in a position to give voice to their message.

All churches are platforms. They enable people, the pastors and the people in the pew, a place where the message of Jesus may be given to others. This doesn’t mean everyone needs to preach on a Sunday morning nor does it mean that everyone has to be a leader within a church. What it means is that people must be willing and open to create, express, and run with new ideas in order to connect and serve others.

This could be done through a service on a Sunday, it could be done through door-knocking, it could be done through a drama group, it could be done through running personal training or fitness sessions, it could be done through having coffee, it could be done through a play-group, it could be done through English classes for foreign students, it could be done via a bloke’s breakfast, it could be done through a sporting team, it could be done through a singing group, it could be done through the visual arts, it could be done through a cafe in the local shops, it could be done online. There are hundreds of ways that a church can be used as a platform in order to connect with others and consequently with Jesus.

The important thing is not that the church be a platform but that there are people within the church willing to create, willing to run with an idea.

So what’s your idea?

youth influencers

The term “youth leader” is regularly used in all works regarding youth ministry. It describes a person who has been set apart for a special ministry within a church regarding young people. A youth leader’s role is wide and can incorporate a variety of things. Most likely this term is used to describe a person who is in some form or another looking after young people within the context of a church program or event.

I use this term, “Youth Leader”, and in many ways it makes a lot of sense to continue to use it. Yet, i also find it difficult to determine who is a youth leader and who is not within my context. Some young adults, who are not “official” youth leaders, work more with young people than the youth leaders themselves. For example, i would not call our worship leaders “youth leaders” yet they find themselves dealing with the young people of our church more than some of the actual youth leaders themselves due to music commitments, rehearsals and services.

I think this can cause an issue. A mindset can set in where people who don’t think of themselves as youth leaders or aren’t given the official title are classed as secondary helpers in the area of youth ministry. In many respects there becomes a two-tied ministry – on one level there is the official youth group nights and small groups while on another level (quite often seen to be below the first) are the areas of the church community where young people themselves contribute to and interact with other members of the church (who aren’t “official” youth leaders).

In thinking about this, and also having to get my head around it while i have been writing some Electronic Communication Guidelines, i think a better term for all people who interact with young people in the church would be “Youth Influencers”. This term captures those who aren’t deemed to be “official” youth leaders, who don’t turn up to the youth ministry events per se, but, it includes those who deal with young people week to week. It also recognises that many people within the church can shape and mould young people, whether they are classed as leaders or not.

If youth ministries were to expand their terminology in this regard i think there could be a greater involvement and take up by people to be involved in the lives of young people. Some people don’t like to be thought of as leaders, or, they don’t have the time commitment to be active ”youth ministry” leaders. Yet, this would be an opportunity to recognise those who have influence over young people in our churches and establish a culture of people investing in people.

integration of youth ministry

How is the youth ministry at your church viewed?

Quite often young ministry is considered a must but it is also seen as the baby to a lot of the other ministries within the church. Sometimes i get the feeling that as long as there is some sort of youth group happening and there are some people we can call youth leaders then the church can promote itself as looking out for the needs of young people.

This, however, doesn’t capture how youth ministry fits into the whole church. Ideally, a good youth ministry should be able to be integrated into other ministries, where it would be acceptable for young people to participate, help out, and even lead. For example, it should be quite easy for young people to not only attend youth group on a Friday night, but also feel comfortable enough to be attending a service, or a small group or even a whole church event.

Finding and working this culture of integration between ages is hard, yet, it seems to be an ideal way for maturity to occur throughout the age groups of a church.