Building a Paradigm for Your Ministry

by Erik Leafblad

I recall some of the best advice I received before graduating from seminary and heading into my first call as a youth pastor. It went something like this: “Name your approach. Pick one. Learn all you can about it. Make one up if you must. But make it explicit because if you don’t, your lack of an approach will become your approach, and you will be tossed this way and that with each passing fad.”

In the mid 1970s, Thomas Kuhn published his landmark book in the philosophy of science, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Citing Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein, Kuhn argued that progress in science happened not so much through incremental changes to the existing body of knowledge but through massive breaks with the received tradition, through what he called paradigm shifts.

Among many things, one of Kuhn’s great contributions not just to science but to life in general is that he made explicit something that had long been implicit. Kuhn revealed to us that paradigms matter. The frameworks from which we make decisions about what counts as valid, which course of action to take, and what conclusions to reach are almost more important than the end result. If you want different results, change your paradigm, say Kuhn and pretty much everyone after him (and, if we’re honest, a few before).

Whether you are able to identify one or not, you do youth ministry from within a paradigm. You have an approach. If you are not able to name it, ask around. Others will likely be able to help you identify it. It doesn’t need to be formal, something you read in a textbook; but something guides your decision-making in ministry. I want to give you the same advice I received: Name your paradigm. Learn it. Develop it. Communicate it to the rest of your leadership. Articulate it clearly. And if you can’t do that yet, choose it before it chooses you.

Statements like that may make the idea of paradigms seem scary, like some outside force beyond our control to which we must submit. The truth is far less intimidating—and hopefully far more encouraging—than that. Developing your paradigm for ministry can be one of the most exciting, fun, and helpful things you do for your ministry with young people.

To that end, I want to give you some tips on beginning this process. These tips are general enough that I believe they can be helpful for virtually any context, but they are also necessary for a truly robust ministry paradigm.

1. Be theological

Theology can carry a certain connotation of being dry, academic, and disconnected from real life, but it need not. Theology needs to serve as the framework for our paradigms for ministry because good theology always couples thought and action. Becoming theological youth workers helps us give a comprehensive outlook to our ministries, concerned with helping students embrace questions of ultimate importance while coupling that quest with the right kinds of actions. Ask questions such as, How does what we are doing communicate about who Jesus Christ is, and how he is calling us to be involved in his work in the world? Where is God currently at work in, among, and amidst our young people, and how can we join God there?

These questions can serve as a plumb line for what you do and the other kinds of questions you explore in your ministry. To answer them you must pay attention to what the Spirit is doing in your ministry while also drawing upon the biblical and theological resources of your tradition. As you begin to intentionally explore questions like these, you will also pay attention to how your students begin to answer these questions and how they are being formed as followers of Christ for engagement with what God is up to in their world.

Theology lies at the heart of ministry paradigm because theology directly affects the kinds of environments we create for the formation of our young people. In other words, your ministry is theological. Just make it intentionally so.

2. Be practical.

Theological conversations and reflection, especially as they help us develop our ministry paradigms, have a tendency to be abstract; so in addition to being theological, you likewise want to focus on being practical. Being practical, however, does not simply mean being focused on applying theology. Rather, making your ministry paradigm practical means focusing on the practices of your ministry, the things that your community does as part of its regular rhythms.

Do your regular rhythms match up with your theological questions and reflections? Do they help students begin to know, understand, and move into what God is up to in the world? Is your paradigm one that promotes a way of life and not just a few habits to tack onto the many other things that vie for students’ attention?
In many ways, this is one of the most critical components of constructing your paradigm, one of the most difficult, and yet one that is often given the least attention.

3. Be self-critically reflective.

Developing a ministry paradigm that is both theological and practical is not a static process but ongoing and dynamic, so as part of this development, you will want to be intentionally self-critically reflective. This means being willing to constantly ask critical questions about everything you are doing. Is it both explicitly and implicitly creating the kind of learning consistent with your theological considerations? Are students—whether they buy in completely or not—beginning to see the rhythm of life you are inviting them to practice?

Being self-critically reflective is similar to but also slightly different from evaluation in that it goes deeper, to the core of both your ministry identity and practice. It pushes beyond simply asking if objectives were met but is an attempt to discern and seek after greater faithfulness to what God has called us to do in our ministry.

4.  Be collaborative.

Incorporating self-critical reflection into your ministry ethos and paradigm demands the involvement of other people. We all have blind spots, and we need other people to speak into our ministry for both good and bad. Hence, the development and implementation of a robust ministry paradigm has to be collaborative. To discern truly where God is at work in your group and how you can effectively shape your ministry around God’s activity demands a wide range of trusted, honest, and committed others, including students.

This step in the process can be scary because it opens us up the criticism of others as well as gives away our ministry, but this is necessary for a truly dynamic approach to ministry. Likely you already have a group of committed people who can be collaborators with you as you strategize, plan, and direct the ministry you’ve been given, so really you may only need to revamp how you invite them into the process. It may mean asking for their participation on the front end, rather than after all the planning is done.

5. Be holistic.

Another significant plus of inviting others into the construction of our ministry paradigms is that each person brings with him his own unique perspective. As much as we try to think in all directions, we are limited and often default to our own interests and areas of giftedness. This is okay and even good, but a truly robust ministry paradigm is holistic. To be intentionally holistic, we need to invite others into the process. How does our paradigm address the complete person and not just some abstract spiritual person? Students are concrete and complex people with concrete and complex needs.

The good news of the gospel that lies at the heart of our ministry is hope for the whole world, which includes the whole person, so our paradigms should likewise address the wholeness of God’s hope for our students. Is our approach holistic enough that the paradigm we are constructing creates enough space for all students? Again, answering this question, or one like it, has to be an ongoing process that goes beyond ourselves.

6. Be interdisciplinary.

Being holistic means addressing the complexity inherent in the lives of young people. Constructing a robust ministry paradigm that takes into account everything discussed above means becoming interdisciplinary as learners. This does not mean we have to formally educate ourselves in a number of different disciplines, but it does mean being people who learn from the so-called experts in cognitive development, cultural studies, sociology, family studies, etc.

Our students’ lives are shaped and affected by a number of different factors, from their home lives to their psychology to cultural forces; and to truly address the reality of who these students are, we need to be people who are learned across multiple disciplines. I challenge you to begin reading at least one book a month that can directly help you in your ministry with young people. Even think about inviting others into that process with you.

7. Be creative.

Finally, paradigms are meant to shape, not dictate, what we do in ministry. A truly dynamic paradigm will allow you freedom to move around, experiment, and even fail, but it should never squelch the creativity of ministry. Paradigm construction is an ongoing process, a kind of mindset that you want to infuse into your ministry.

In a sense, a paradigm is really a way of life, so rather than look at this process with fear and trembling, see it as an opportunity to embark on a lifelong discovery of what God is up to in you, in your ministry, in your community, and in your world.