Young Adults Ministry

This is a response to a blog posted by Dustan Bell, one of the pastors at Kings Christian Church. Dusty was posing the question about young adults ministries and what would make a successful ministry to the age group of the 20 - 30 something.

My thought is that the best way to find out what a young adult needs is to ask them. As I fall into that category my thoughts on the idea of setting up a ministry for the young adults is this.

I think one of the worst mistakes in the setting up of a youth ministry is to try to put us into a demographic and bracket that doesn't need to be there so stop calling us young adults.

Sure we don't have the life experience of a 40 or 50 year old, but we're adults. We don't need another night out during the week because some of us have kids, quite a lot of us have demanding jobs and are having trouble finding the time to balance the commitments we already have. We don't need a dumbed down message that's specially sculpted to our short attention spans, we need something hard hitting, challenging and something we can get our teeth into. We get our spiritual food from the message on Sunday and we worship together on Sundays too, just like all the other adults in the church. We don't need an organised meeting to spend time with our christian friends, or to drag our unsaved mates along to. We're probably just going to go down to the pizzeria and spend time with our mates anyways at a time that works for us and fits into our busy schedules.

I know what I need from a ministry is mentoring, not another night out. I need a guy who's been there before me, been through the stuff that I've been through and come out the other side. A guy who can come alongside me and relate to where I'm standing and give me the perspective, the camera 4 view (thanks phil), and let me know there is a way to get through what I'm facing, and that God has got it all under control. Could you imagine what it would be like if we did all have people around us, praying for us and with us, giving us a pat on the back and a clip over the head when we need it? Judging from the reaction I got from my brother and my best mate to the suggestion of a mentoring ministry there is something to this form of ministry.

My thoughts on how to design a ministry for young adults would be this. Go buy a marketing text book, not a ministry text, and pull out the four P's of marketing or factors that will influence someone toward buying into something.

The first P is product. What are you trying to sell? What are the specifics about this service? and the big question is, does the service meet the needs of those people who you are targeting? If you dont the answer to this question then it's uncertain the service or ministry will work. The other thing is do you even know what those needs are? How are you going to be able to build a ministry that meets a need if you don't know what it is!

The second P is price and this isn't necessarily money. In terms of a ministry this can be the amount of time and effort it requires of the people involved. Will it be another night out in an already stretched week, or will it be travel to many different places? Door charge? If the cost is something that people aren't willing to pay then it'll flop. Although if the product is deemed worthy then people will pay to get it. Get the product right and the audience will meet the price.

The third P is promotion. If people don't know about something then it'll flop, the other side of this is if you tell them about it in the wrong way then they won't buy into it either. Do you spread the word via word of mouth or some other creative method or another dinky ad on church news which no-one pays attention to?

The fourth P is placement or how the product gets to the target market. If the targeted person can't get to it for many factors like shifting schedules, busy diaries and lack of money or petrol then it'll flop. Structure the ministry so that it's flexible in time and place and for a young adult, you've got a winner.

That's just my opinion on young adult ministrys. Thanks for asking Dusty!

Get over yourselves boys!

Two of my best friends got engaged on the weekend and I’m stoked for both of them. They’re made for each other and it’s very obvious to anyone who sees them that they dearly love each other. The engagement was extravagant and very clearly an expression of his love for her. I’m not going to post the details out of respect for their wishes and so as not to make anyone feel bad. The one details that I am going to post is that he was given a very nice guitar by his bride-to-be. I think this is just awesome.

The other thing is that in the church that they attend all of the boys have started saying to their fiances or their wives, “Where’s my guitar hey?” I’ve got to admit that I had harboured some of those thoughts too. I had a bit of “Hey, where’s my James Morrison signature series trumpet?” and was feeling a bit discontent.

I think the best thing about the bible is that God has this knack of speaking to us through it just when we need it. Right when I needed to hear it, I was flicking through the bible this morning on the train into work and God took me to Ephesians 5 which strangely enough is one of the relationships chapters. The bit God specifically smacked my wrist with was this

Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ's love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They're really doing themselves a favor—since they're already "one" in marriage.
Ephesians 5:25-28 MSG

So in closing, boys go out of your way to show your girl you love her, don’t worry about getting back. Once you’re married you bless yourself through blessing her. I can’t remember where I heard this, it might have been a 96.five wisdom bite, but it said for guys if you want to go out with your mates, spend time with your wife. If you want something then make sure your wife has everything she needs and more. Now I’m not saying that you should go and work the system and that the only time you should spend time with your girl is so that she’ll let you go out with the boys. The girls are smarter than that guys, she’ll see through it! That’s just the way it works though! If she’s happy then your girl will want you to be happy too! It’s great!

So get over not getting a guitar or something big for your engagement, that’s not what it’s about. Heap love on your girl, let her know she’s beautiful and that you cherish her. You’ll be surprised what happens when you do it God's way!

Proverb of the Day

Proverbs 5:15-20

15-16 Do you know the saying, "Drink from your own rain barrel,
draw water from your own spring-fed well"?
It's true. Otherwise, you may one day come home
and find your barrel empty and your well polluted.

17-20 Your spring water is for you and you only,
not to be passed around among strangers.
Bless your fresh-flowing fountain!
Enjoy the wife you married as a young man!
Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose—
don't ever quit taking delight in her body.
Never take her love for granted!
Why would you trade enduring intimacies for cheap thrills with a whore?
for dalliance with a promiscuous stranger?

This one is a bit relevant considering I'm getting married in less than six months! (YAY!)

I think the thing I love the most about this scripture is that it's God outlining the best way to enjoy something that He's made of us. There seems to be this mindset out there that believes that the Christian view of sex and relationships is constrictive and closed minded.

But think about it, think about how much hurt that people wouldn't have to go through if they drank from their own rain barrel and only from it. Physical and emotional hurt.

I choose to keep sex for marriage not for constrictive religious reasons, but because I don't want to cause hurt to my wife to be, want to keep sex special and realise that it just makes sense.

proverb of the day

Proverbs 4:23 (MSG)

Keep vigilant watch over your heart
that's where life starts!

Romans 9:33 (MSG)

Careful! I've put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion
a stone you can't get around
But the stone is me! If you're looking for me
you'll find me on the way, not in the way.

Movember

Well it's been an absolute age since I blogged last. I've been in no state of mind for it, dealing with the emotional repercussions of moving to a new city. Took a while but I'm coming to grips with the new life, life with many friends left behind, but with plenty of new friends being made and yet to be made.

I've got no idea of how to tie prostate cancer into this post so well aside from mentioning the fact that I have a prostate, and hopefully that I will never have to go through the effects of this cancer that is exclusively male.

The reason why I'm posting is to put the word out that I'm doing movember this year which is raising money for research into prostate cancer and for raising awareness of men's depression. Bloke's so don't talk enough about stuff like that. Actually I think I'm a bit jealous of girls in that respect.

Anyways the aim of the game is for me to start the month of November clean shaven and grow the most impressive, curley moustache I possibly can. I've had a special request for the greasy curley twirly bits on the end. I'll see what I can do.

If you're up for donating you can through the following methods
1: Click on the following link and donate by using your credit card or paypal account
- https://www.movember.com/au/donate
2: Pull out your cheque book (those of you old enough to have one) and write a cheque to the "Movember Foundation" referencing my registration number which is "1343656" and mailing it to
- Movember Foundation, PO Box 292, Prahran VIC 3181