From disconnect to discipleship
A local youth ministry finds new life…
Andie Davies is co-pastor at Kumeū Baptist Church in West Auckland. This article was first published in the BYM Mail on 30 June and is reproduced with permission.
What have been some of the challenges in the Kumeū youth ministry space?
We always had something going on for our young people… for a year we had a bible study group. The following year we combined with another church group.
We had several key challenges: a lack of leaders, a lack of space and a lack of finance to support youth ministry. In my opinion though, challenges can help you rethink your why:
Why are we using this space?
Why are we meeting at this time?
Why are we doing things this way?
Asking why helped us focus and make choices we could commit to, rather than feeling forced into decisions.
The greatest challenge was giving space to think about these things and finding the right people to think it through. We ended up partnering with another youth ministry (thanks Church Northwest!) so we could take our young people along fortnightly and reduce the weekly organising load on the team. This decision ensured our young people were supported while leadership took six months to pray, consider, and make a plan.
We ended up with a five-year vision plan that had three-month, one year and five-year goals.
We intentionally left our three-year goals blank because we anticipated new leadership who would direct what the ministry would look like.
One of the three-month goals was talking with the current youth, leadership, elders, pastors and parents about youth ministry and its direction. We had a collab night which was beautifully encouraging and helped set the course for the following year. It also inspired two of our leaders—who had been helping—to fully commit to leadership. This was so exciting!
For so long, I had felt like I’d done things alone. Now two leaders were showing initiative and passion for the direction we were taking. One of them has since shared that she would like to be a youth pastor, so we are now intentionally training her with this goal in mind.
What sparked the need for action?
We saw a disconnect between our youth and our church family, emphasised by a desire for a programmerather than discipling young people to faith. Our church has been on a discipleship journey, and the dwindling youth leadership and youth provided an opportunity for a reset.
Taking it slow was huge; we were going on the journey with others. Teaching people how to be leaders became a core part of our vision, and our mantra was:
“Do with the few what you want to do with the many.”
Our leaders needed to understand how to disciple young people—and we needed to journey with them! Putting time aside to train them and making this a way of being has been so key to starting fresh and being on the same page.
Our community also has no space for young people. We have no high school, so our youth are quite separated. I really felt a call to make a space for young people to make their own.
Some research about this generation also showed that they want to participate equally—not just be led. So, our hang space nights are just that: a space for young people to bring what they want to bring, do what they want to do, and for us to learn and engage with them. It’s an awesome way to connect and gives them ownership of youth group in a way I’ve never done before.
What advice do you have for others in a similar situation?
Know your why; the what and how come out of this.
Ensure your other leaders are on board with your why—or even better, are part of defining it.
It’s OK to reset. Kumeū Youth had a huge reputation and history behind it that made it seem untouchable. But it shouldn’t be.
If God is calling you to do something new, follow that calling!
Image credit: Andie Davies