Following a recent status update, a Youth Pastor friend messaged me: “So, how do you battle the trouble Young Life has with connecting teens to churches? Our local YL sees no problem and has no desire to connect teens to churches. Do you have an actual ‘Parachurch’  model working?”

Based on this and a number of conversations I’ve had over the years, I decided to take this question on in the form of a blog series.  Yesterday I introduced the matter, read that post here.

Parachurch, as defined by wikipedia:  Christian faith-based organizations that work outside of and across denominations to engage in social welfare and evangelism, usually independent of church oversight…

For the sake of my blog, I want to be specific about the kind of parachurch I am referring to.  In this series I am specifically dealing with a parachurch like “Young Life,” ones that take on a similar form of that of a youth group (a gathering of students for a programmed time of some sort).  Other organizations that could be included in such a category would be Youth For Christ, Athletes In Action, Youth Dynamics, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and several others.

With that specific type of parachurch “club” in mind, I’ll address the “What’s Up With The Parachurch?” question.

What You Might Hear From The Church (or Youth Pastor) : “The Parachurch is only concerned with numbers, keeping their students at their club and is really watered down; they never bring saved students to us.”

Let me start by saying every ministry should be concerned with “shepherding” so, if the argument is being made that a Parachurch leader is “keeping their kid,” I would hope that every leader (church or parachurch) wants to keep (shepherd) their students.  The better question/statement could be, “once a student becomes a Christian, is a parachurch ministry effective in discipling the young believer? In general I believe that the parachurch NEEDS to be more proactive with the church leadership in getting students involved with the local church.  The goal should not just be to get the student to camp and get them to say the “sinners prayer.”  As a leader in a parachurch ministry (Young Life), I believe every student coming through the doors of our ministry (or those we meet outside of the ministry) is a person with whom we hope to share the Gospel.  This student may or may not ever get to go to camp, so we look to love them then/there and enter relationship with them so this person can hear about and experience the person of Christ.

Though the parachurch I am volunteering with places a high emphasis on camp ministry (I believe Young Life does it best), the leaders who are most effective are going to be the ones who are committed to relationship now! But because they do camping ministry so well it is really easy to point toward camp and make that summer experience such an emphasis that it really can become about getting numbers to club so that we can do the ultimate push toward camp.  I completely understand this potential knock against club-based ministry.  It is something WE MUST resist and begin to see each person as a soul in need of redemption and then love them accordingly.  God may or may not want them at camp and we must emphasize relationship now!

The issue of “watering down” the Gospel has come up a number of times in discussion. One key thing I would want all church leaders to understand, our goal is to see the unchurched and unreached students at our clubs.  Though Christians are very welcome, our hope from the parachurch club side is that we have mainly non-Christians at the club (and that’s really what we want).  If a Christian student comes, we believe they should be there to bring their unchurched friends.  The audience does change the perspective of the listener.  I believe this is Biblical.  In Acts 17 alone, we read of Paul presenting the Gospel at least three different ways in three different cities, it was the EXACT same Gospel, but three different ways of presenting because of three different audiences in Thessalonica, Berea and Athens.  Whether it is our director sharing, me or another leader, we are looking for entry points to share the Gospel with these students. My presentation style does change when speaking to a primarily unchurched group; everything from the stories I tell, the length of message and the potential point of action–this does not mean that I’ve watered down the Gospel.  In fact, I would much rather love a student so well at club that my follow-up conversation at the basketball game or Dairy Queen is the place that I really get to share life with them (and the Gospel as well).

Much like the church, the parachurch is not perfect.  There is so much more I can/should write on this subject, however, due to space, I’ll keep it at this for now and take on the “What’s Up with the Church?” tomorrow or Friday.  Through that post and probably one more I hope to bring a little resolution as to how I believe we can work together better, get past some misperceptions and see the Kingdom increase so that God is most glorified.  After all, this is about Him!

Grace,
Brian

On a Monday night a few weeks ago I updated my status on my Twitter and Facebook accounts; the update was something about the great time I was having hanging out with the high school students at Younglife.  I’m honored to be a volunteer for my alma mater, my third year now on the team.

Upon returning home a Youth Pastor friend of mine had sent me a Facebook message.  He questioned, “So, how do you battle the trouble younglife has with connecting teens to churches? Our local YL sees no problem and has no desire to connect teens to churches. Do you have an actual ‘Parachurch’  model working?”

Hmmm, where to go with that one? Experience and perception shapes reality, this Youth Pastor’s experience was that the YL leaders in his area want nothing to do with the church.

Each one of us will carry a different viewpoint based on our perception and experiences.  For the next few SMS posts (all this week) I would like to point out the perceived problems, from both sides and then the possible partnership and solutions that could come out of it.

Let me start by saying, I feel qualified to speak to this issue;  I am one who heard the Gospel and trusted Christ through the ministry of Younglife.  I have been involved as a volunteer leader for two different seasons and spoken many-many times as a guest speaker and volunteer leader.  I have been to YL camps  on the program side, speaking side, staffing side and as a leader of kids.  On the flip side; I got involved with a youth group my senior year in high school, then I was a Youth Pastor for 16 years and feel I know the “church” side of Youth Minstry pretty in depth as well.

I have “felt” both sides of the spectrum:

1. I’ve been the Youth Pastor who wished the Parachurch leader (in one case YFC, another case Younglife) would better partner with us, the local church so that these brand-new Christians could grow in their faith through the local church.  In addition I’ve seen parachurch ministry done where easy-believe-ism ruled and a “come to Jesus” was presented without ever mentioning the cross.
2. I’ve been the Younglife leader who wished the local church and the Youth Pastor would take more interest in Younglife, get his or her students to be more proactive with outreach and quit thinking that all parachurch ministries “water down” the Gospel.

I am fortunate that even my own spiritual formation came because of the ministries of both the church and parachurch.  Saved through Younglife; and then literally ignored (leadership transition led to not one person following up).  I was fortunate to be invited to a great youth group and immediately was discipled by the Youth Pastor.  I then attended a more church-oriented school (college) where “outreach” meant ministry to the down-and-out or out-of-country more then across-the-street.  I did both the church and parachurch leadership thing through my college years.  Through my years of being a Youth Pastor I have certainly had my own ups and downs in partnering with the Younglife and other orgs.  I’ve made the accusations and received them as well.

Over the next few posts (and I’ll probably post each day this week until I feel I’ve exhausted this issue) I’ll take a look at the following:

• What’s Up With The Parachurch?
• What’s Up With The Church?
• What’s Could/Should Be

I am fortunate and blessed to be on both sides, to see the strengths in both sides and to know the weaknesses of both as well.  My hope is that through this series of posts a better understanding can come about so that we all understand that there isn’t “sides,” rather, one body, many parts.

Grace,
Brian

• Peanut Butter slathered on celery.
• Nacho Cheese Doritos dipped in hot mustard.
• French Fries dipped in a Wendy’s Frosty
• Baptists, Nazarenes and Methodists dipped in a Covenant Church All-Nighter.

Odd combinations.  But ones that work really well for me.

Some churches and youth leaders are very open to doing cross-church and cross denominational events.  Others are not.  Some are open to it because they have experienced great success in the past.  I know plenty who are against the idea of doing events as a network because they’ve been burned, ignored or “had to do it all myself”  in the past.

Our Student Ministry Stuff (SMS) post today gives some practical advice on how and why larger group events/cross denominational events can work well.  In addition it should point out a few of the warning signs to avoid.

My perspective on this subject is somewhat shaped by my regional background.  In the northwest corner of the United States are a few of the most unchurched states.  We don’t do professional church very well. In my area a church is considered “big” if you have over 400 people in attendance.  A “mega” church in the northwest is a church over 1000.  Denominationalism does exists, but to a much lesser degree as I have seen it in the mountains, south and southwest. As a whole, the Youth Pastors I have dealt with in the NW are not overly concerned with theological i-dotting and t-crossing when it comes to reaching the lost students.  This is not always the case and certainly isn’t always the case when it comes to the rest of the church leadership (in other words, there are certainly some “boards” who tell their YP’s not to do events with that church because of specific stands and non-stands).

I am an advocate for teamwork, unity and multi-group/church effort, especially when it comes to reaching those who do not know Jesus.  I do believe we are better together; I’d like to see better efforts made together to reach our campuses, clubs, community and even our churches for Christ.  I really don’t care about the size of church (interesting of the “big church” often gets finger(s) pointed at them, sometimes rightfully so for thinking they have it together and sometimes wrongfully just because “they’re big).  I am simply an advocate for the Christian Community understand that we can be better together! Here’s how I think multi-church events can work better.

Relationship: I believe the best group events flow out of the relationships represented in the leadership.  Group events rarely work well when the the people leading them are not committed to each other first.  As humans (read: sinners) we’re prone to hide and blame (especially when things go wrong or difficulties arise).  When the cross-denominational leaders are first and foremost committed to the Lord and to each other and the long-term relationship it seems an agenda for an event flows out of their united hearts. As Youth Leaders get to know one another and acquaintance relationships move to Gospel-centric friendships the trust-level grows and the success level of a given event seems to rise up as well.  Bottom line: Look to do events with others as a result of the relationship not to forge a relationship.

Ownership: The best group events are the ones where ownership aspects are given to each participating group.  Recently while traveling I heard, “I don’t know why other churches don’t join us for our worship nights?  We have a great band, great sound and lighting equipment, our Youth Pastor knocked it out of the park with his message and the testimony from the homecoming queen, she goes to our church, was amazing.”  I have personally attended worship nights at other churches to check it out, at times it has felt like more of an effort to sheep-steal than “group worship night.”  I’ve seen camps, retreats, youth rally’s and worship nights work really well for group situations –the common denominator has always been “group ownership.”  I’ve seen many camps, retreats, missions, youth rally’s and worship nights fall flat as well; the common denominator in these settings has typically been single-church ownership. Take the “worship night” example.  Church A has the great worship band, equipment, setting, etc.–let them head up the event and host the event.  Church B can provide the person giving the testimony while Church C does the “upfront” skit, game or artwork.  Church D has a very talented keyboardist and soloist who provide the background music during an alter call?  Guess what, church E, which is much smaller, decided to participate by simply bringing the large Igloo containers full of Tang!  Well, we now had 5 churches participating and each had ownership. The same can be done with camps, rally’s or missions… transportation, speaking, worship, shirt-design, games, etc. can all be divided so that ownership is created!  Bottom line: You may have a GREAT event in mind but if you’re the only one who owns the event your group is probably the only group that will attend the event.

Simplicity: Know the primary purpose of any group setting and keep it simple and focussed. Understand that theological bents may prevent you from doing some events (dances, worship concerts where “tongues” is encouraged, even communion and baptism could be issues that bring theological division).  Doing an “overnighter” where the purpose is to bring unchurched friends into a setting where the unbeliever can see Christians have a lot fun together is a simple purpose.  In this setting the leadership should decide together if and who will be speaking and what the message will be (I will always suggest the Gospel be the focus).  I’ve seen groups get in trouble when they’ve tried to take on “training” events in cross-denominational settings.  Who is the speaker?  What theology will he or she bring?  What is their view on the end-times?  Keeping things simple and focussed with a single purpose of “outreach,” “encouragement,” “worship” or “service” has seemed to bring about more success than more complex purposes.  Bottom Line: If you’re aiming at nothing, you’re bound to hit it.  Know the primary purpose of a group event and be clear in communicating that purpose before, during and after.

Keeping group events simple, giving ownership to each group involved flowing out of already existing relationships of the leadership should lead to greater unity in the larger Christian community.  As I read 1 Corinthians 12 and see how the Lord has formed the body to work together I am greatly encouraged and see how we, even cross denominationally, can better glorify Jesus as we are freed up to do that which he has equipped and gifted us to do!

Grace,

Brian