You May Not Know How Good You've Got It
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Originally published in January 1994.
It’s another youth meeting night. You are setting up chairs for the incoming youth you are expecting. You’ve prepared for this meeting. You’ve prayed for your youth. Do you set out 20 chairs or have faith for 25?
Your mind wanders. “The guy down the street is probably deciding on setting up 50 to 60 chairs. “I’ve prepared and prepared and I still get the same 15? What’s wrong with this ministry? Is it me as their leader?”
All who have felt this, raise your hand and scream!
Let me quote a youth pastor who does have one of those large groups who had this to say about you who raised your hand and screamed—“They don’t know how good they’ve got it.” Let me tell you why.
First of all there is a general rule of youth ministry you need to know about. Your church attendance should run 10 percent of the church attendance. It is a rarity, and usually Holy Spirit influenced, to have any youth group run over that 10 percent number. So if you are a church of 200, your youth ministry should be 20. Since according to most church attendance surveys, 80 percent of all churches are at that 200-mark. That means 80 percent of all youth ministries are at that 20 mark.
See. You are normal. You are by far the majority.
Similar to the beauty myth the media tries to sell us, the youth ministry media seems to paint that everyone hand have a youth ministry of 50 or more. Truth is, unless there is a Holy Spirit revival, your 20 is a good and healthy number.
Do you realize how good you’ve got it? With that number, you know your youth. John 10:14 says, “I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.” You know who they are, their family situations, their school life, t heir friends, and their pains. And in turn they know that you know. That makes them feel special—that an adult, a cool adult at that, knows them.
A natural result of this is a sense of belonging and accountability. Every youth who comes to your youth meeting knows you know he/she is there—and when he/she is gone. It’s not so easy for them to skip a meeting or hide some guilt they are dealing with. You know them and they know you do. You do not seem swamped by several other youth who seem to have problems worse than them. You have a relationship with that individual.
A large group can probably entertain the youth better. There are more bodies and possibly more financial resources to put on some nice programs. The result which often frustrates youth pastors of groups this size is that the youth develop this entertainment mindset. They slide into their seat, sit back, maybe wondering if anyone knows they are there. The gospel message is presented in some exciting way but that same youth can slip out the same way he/she slipped in. If next week’s program is not as exciting, who will know if he/she doesn’t come?
Have you heard or even said the statement, “Next week we are doing such-and-such. Bring all our friends so we can have as big of a group as we can get.” This may come from a true visionary heart but it may be hurtful to your faith group. Don’t they count? Aren’t you glad that they are there week after week?
The success of your ministry is not marked in numbers (although some of those in authority may think so—I worked for someone like that…once). It is marked in their lives that are truly transformed. You who can take their faith into adulthood and into their families. This takes time and relationship—what you have to offer.
Some would say that because of these words that I’ve written, I’m not a visionary. A large youth group is not always visionary. I would rather have 20 youth ministered to and rooted in a lifelong relationship with Jesus than 50 who have just sampled all that Jesus is. This is visionary stuff which changes their world.
