information for transformational people

Youthwork 2 24610 essential tips for effective Youth Ministry 


From a video by Ridley Hall Cambridge


Becca Dean, a tutor in youth ministry at Ridley Hall, shares 10 transformative tips that she has learned through her extensive experience in the field. Practical advice on how to navigate the challenges and rewards of working with young people in a Christian context. Here are extracts from the video:

  1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this fantastic book, "Life Together". He says that the thing that you need in order to do life in Christian community well is to get disillusioned. He calls it the gift of disillusionment. Once you're disillusioned with the idea of Christian community, you can get on with the job of loving. It's maybe the best thing you can do for your youth ministry. The perfect Youth Minister doesn't exist. So don't expect it of yourself, don't expect it of others. Be kind to yourself. Notice the things you're good at. Notice your weaknesses. Get disillusioned and then get on with being the Youth Minister that you actually are.
  2. Sticking with the gift of disillusionment, get disillusioned with your young people. Expect them to be contradictory, cranky, needy and to get things wrong. They're human too and they're works in progress like we all are. Your job is to love the young people that God has given you.
  3. Sticking one more time with disillusionment, get disillusioned by your church because the perfect church doesn't exist. They'll wind you up, they'll do your head in. There'll be things that don't make sense to you and there'll be people that irritate you. Your job is to love the church that you've been given. They're a gift to you because they'll make you more like Jesus as you love and forgive them.
  4. This work is God's work and we're getting involved in his rescue mission. It's not about our great charm and our superhuman ability to do great things. It is always God's work and that gives us great reason for hope.
  5. We do it because he first loved us. We don't do this out of our own skills, energy, wisdom. We do this because we know the difference that this has made and we live out of that.
  6. Love is attention and biscuits are more important than you think. They're a way of showing welcome and love, as is listening, as is remembering details, as is taking time with people and making memories and in jokes.
  7. Expect more from young people. They may look like fragile little seedlings but they're growing into something that we're not yet privy to seeing.
  8. Continue to expect more from them because they are taking us somewhere new. If we listen and if we follow them, young people will show us things that we don't yet know about.
  9. Youth ministry is hard work. It needs particular tools. It needs attention. It needs time and energy. It's hard work but it's good work.
  10. Expect the unexpected. The last few years has especially taught us in youth ministry that we can't prepare for every eventuality. We don't know how every week or day or group is going to go. We can't predict every conversation. We are going somewhere new and we are all still learning. You need to be adaptable, wise and insightful as things come up that you're not expecting to happen.

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From a video by Ridley Hall Cambridge, 07/08/2024

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