A local network of youth pastors. That either brings up thoughts of “a pointless meeting to hear others brag about their ministries” or “something I wish I had.”
When it all boils down to the essentials, the purpose Youth Pastor Networks started in the first place is two-fold,
1|to do things as a community
2|to care for eachothers souls
So what do you do when your the only youth Pastor in your area? When your the only youth group in your area, its tough to get together with other youth pastors and discuss things you can do in the community, for the community, or as a community. If your interested in information on tips for starting this sort of network in a larger setting , I’m sure a simple google search will bring up a number of hits, or you can check out National Network of Youth Ministries.
But the second purpose of a Youth Network is the one that is the most important in my eyes, because without that group to pour into you who you also are pouring into in return, longevity in ministry is a million times harder. It’s even worse in a small town where again, your the only youth ministry.
Small Town churches are tough enough to work in because typically there isn’t a team of staff or a team of volunteers that are on your level that you can be open and honest with, a team that shares in your wins and mourns in your losses, a team that gets what your going through. Typically, Small Town Pastors/Youth pastors function almost entirely in the Silo of ministry. At least Pastor’s typically have a number of other Pastors they can meet with, but that’s not always the case for the Youth Pastors. So what does one do?
Though these three things can never replace a literal local Youth Ministry Network, they are great for filling a void that needs to be filled if you have no other options.
1| Tweet like you mean it. If you don’t have a twitter account, get one today. If you do have one, how connected are you? It goes without saying, namely because its been said a million times already, but Twitter is not a tool to simply shout to the world that you exist. It drives me crazy when I do a search for #uthmin and see the same guy tweeting the same post from his blog but @mentioning 6 different people every tweet, and thats the 25 tweets twitter shows. If this is how you use twitter, your not building community, your building yourself. If you can’t meet with real people in person, meet with them via twitter. Start conversations, ask them questions you may have about ministry. In time, you will have a few twitter friends, people you may not really know but who you have talked to enough that you’d feel comfortable sharing prayer requests or struggles with. It wont happen overnight, but if you are really committed to finding online community, its worth the investment.
2| Get connected with Youth Ministry Bloggers. Don’t just read their blogs, comment, follow them on twitter, interact with them on twitter. But here’s the thing, Yes, You have a bit more control then over who is in your “Youth Ministry Network,” but don’t expect the “Youth Pastor Celebrities” to join your Network. If every small town youth pastor were to try and get Josh Griffen, Doug Fields, or whoever into their “Online Youth Ministry Network,” that wouldn’t work. But there are hundreds of other youth pastors out there who are more than willing to get connected with you via email/skype/twitter/text if you take the initiative to get connected.
3| Start your own blog. The final thing you can do that will help the two above is to start your own blog. There is just something about writing out your thoughts about why you do ministry a certain way, or why you believe something to be true about ministry, that really challenges you. It’s one thing to think “Video games all the time!” is a great way of building relationships, it’s another thing to have to sit down and write it out in a way that others will want to read and agree with. You will learn more about yourself and about Youth Ministry because of blogging, and in time, you will have a great connection with other youth Ministry bloggers.
And so obviously, again, these three things will never replace a real life youth ministry network. But if it’s all you have, it’s all you got, and this something is better than nothing.
