Immerse | A Journal of Faith, Life, and Youth Ministry

Choosing a Model of Ministry – Contextual Programming

by Jim Hampton on September 27th, 2011 -- filed under

In a recent Immerse blog post, Professor Brian Hull wrote an excellent article on the need to contextualize our theology and ministry practices in order to best present the gospel to those around us. Brian did an excellent job of sharing from his own efforts at contextualizing the youth ministry he led to better reach certain cultures around them.

I appreciate greatly what Brian has written and believe he is on target. In this article, I would like to take Brian’s work to the next level and suggest there is another issue of contextualized youth ministry that must be addressed because it is, in my opinion, a potentially greater issue for many youth workers—namely, that of uncritically adopting youth ministry programs, curriculums, and/or sermons without doing the hard work of contextualized ministry.

As a professor, I am often asked to consult for churches that are trying to rethink their youth ministry programming. More often than not, one of the things they are interested in is adopting a new youth ministry model. The model often comes directly from another church that is doing successful youth ministry. The church I am consulting for wants to figure out how to install the model wholesale into their existing youth ministry.

They are often surprised when I suggest this may not be the best way forward. I explain to them that many models of youth ministry are helpful guides, but they are rarely implemented well in local situations. There are a number of factors that interfere with their translocation to a particular context.

Let me illustrate this using the analogy of computer software. Let’s say you buy a computer. There is already an existing software package on it—the operating system—that allows the computer to do what it is intended to do.  You use the computer for a few years but then discover a new program that you think is so much better than what you’ve got right now. You install the new program over the existing operating system but soon discover there are glitches, and the program doesn’t work the way you thought it would.

In youth ministry, the operating system is the people (students, adult staff) and traditions (theological, historical, practical) that exist. When we try to put in place a new program without considering the impact on these issues, we in effect create a lot of confusion in both our vision and our practices. The old operating system often struggles to adapt to the new program. The result is that adult workers find this to be a convenient time to leave the program, and these are often some of the most faithful workers you have. Similarly, students are confused, unsure where they now fit and what their roles are.

When we simply buy into a new youth ministry program/model without thinking through the existing operating system, we set ourselves up for failure.

So how do we avoid this? There are no easy answers, but let me offer three questions one should ask before choosing to adopt a new model.

1. What are the intended goals, outcomes, and driving forces of the model? And do they fit our context?

2. How will those in the ministry (the operating system) hear this new model? Will they see it as a criticism of the existing model they have invested so much of their time and effort in? How can we help them share in the new model by seeing how it improves on what is already in place?

3. Do we have the resources (people, finances, space, traditions, theologies) necessary to adopt the model? If not, can we adapt the model without losing its focus that attracted us to it in the first place?

photo form http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/2910549217/sizes/m/in/photostream/