I am in the late stages of receiving a degree in Youth Ministry, and through my years of study one question still arises: Is a youth ministry about the number of people it reaches or the depth in which it reaches people?
My former view on the question is that my purpose and calling was to be the vessel that God uses to bring as many people to Him as possible, to save as many lives as possible. As long as they believe in God, I am fulfilling my purpose. Thus, the more people I can bring to Him, the more adequately I am fulfilling my job. That means that while it was a numbers "game," it is a holy one at that. But that leaves all those people wondering, "Where do we go now?" That is an issue that I always tried to deal with in my own life - the spiritual roller coaster.
Because of my own personal ties to the issue, both from my past experience and the need to have an answer (not THE answer) in the future, I am very passionate about it. I decided to ask a couple different mentors of mine about their views on it, and here is a compilation I have formed of those answers, rendering one complete solution I now stand by:
As a youth pastor, I have the responsibility of numbers and discipleship. It doesn't have to be one or the other, and I don't have to single handedly take care of both. There are two different methods that can be implemented simultaneously - adult volunteers and student leaders. First, there is a volunteer team that I oversee. My responsibility is to disciple and equip these volunteers with knowledge, curriculum, and spiritual health. These volunteers then poor themselves into a select number of students each, whether it is one person or five. The goal here is to, over time, develop these students so fully that they would bring the numbers in themselves and be able to help disciple the newcomers. If one can develop some really great and spiritual student leaders to disciple newcomers, the ministry would become self-sustaining, in a sense.
What are your thoughts on the issue of Discipleship Versus Numbers?
My former view on the question is that my purpose and calling was to be the vessel that God uses to bring as many people to Him as possible, to save as many lives as possible. As long as they believe in God, I am fulfilling my purpose. Thus, the more people I can bring to Him, the more adequately I am fulfilling my job. That means that while it was a numbers "game," it is a holy one at that. But that leaves all those people wondering, "Where do we go now?" That is an issue that I always tried to deal with in my own life - the spiritual roller coaster.
Because of my own personal ties to the issue, both from my past experience and the need to have an answer (not THE answer) in the future, I am very passionate about it. I decided to ask a couple different mentors of mine about their views on it, and here is a compilation I have formed of those answers, rendering one complete solution I now stand by:
As a youth pastor, I have the responsibility of numbers and discipleship. It doesn't have to be one or the other, and I don't have to single handedly take care of both. There are two different methods that can be implemented simultaneously - adult volunteers and student leaders. First, there is a volunteer team that I oversee. My responsibility is to disciple and equip these volunteers with knowledge, curriculum, and spiritual health. These volunteers then poor themselves into a select number of students each, whether it is one person or five. The goal here is to, over time, develop these students so fully that they would bring the numbers in themselves and be able to help disciple the newcomers. If one can develop some really great and spiritual student leaders to disciple newcomers, the ministry would become self-sustaining, in a sense.
What are your thoughts on the issue of Discipleship Versus Numbers?