Filed under: leadership & youth | Tags: youth ministry strategic planning
An old Chinese proverbs says, “If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.”
For someone working with young people, it is not enough for me to make plans that will last for a year. I want to be able to pass the knowledge in formulating strategic plans. To equip youth leaders with the right tools so they will fully understand, create, and utilize these skills and help them in the days ahead.
The day after my MTY Masteral class, I immediately gathered our youth leaders in the church after our morning service. It is surprising to learn the amount of needs and questions that surfaced during our meeting. I am glad that I learned how to conduct environmental analysis the previous day because it became very useful and handy during my meeting with our youth leaders.
It is my intention never to short-change our young people that is why I want to immediately share with them everything that I learned in my masteral class. After the meeting, the youth leaders and I have agreed to have two more meetings together. To sit down and go through the learning process of creating a strategic plan. I want to address first and foremost the needs of our youth leaders, before we formulate a strategic plan for the entire youth group. This way, I will be able to guide them and impart with them the methods in strategic planning. At the same time, I want to meet their needs/requirements as youth leaders, so they can better serve and function in the group. I am looking forward to the days ahead, the next two meetings with the youth leaders, and the initial meeting we will be having with the youth group by the end of this month.
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Na-iinspire po ako sa inyo bilang youth leader, kc po sa church namin tini-train din ako maging youth leader.
Comment by Arman Delossantos April 22, 2010 @ 10:27 pm@ arman – maraming salamat sa iyong pagbisita. God bless you!
Comment by joy April 25, 2010 @ 1:11 amI think you always need a plan for your ministry you can plan a year out in events…but I don’t plan a year out in my messages because I want to leave room to be able to change if the Holy Spirit directs me. I do think that everything falls on leadership and as a leader you need to plan.
Comment by Jamie Starrett November 8, 2010 @ 8:21 pm@ jamie – thanks for sharing your thoughts. you are correct by saying that we need to give room for the Holy Spirit to direct us. this should be our first and foremost priority, listening to God’s direction. we also need to listen and become sensitive to our youth group and understanding their needs, and then begin to plan accordingly.
not everything falls on leadership. we often hear and say that but in reality, not everything revolves around leadership. there are so many things that are expected from leaders, but we need to remember that this is God’s ministry and we as leaders function as mentors/guides/examples. we point the right direction (based on God’s Word) and humbly allow God to work in the lives of young people. two of the most important parts of youth ministry are (1) God (2) lives of young people. we, leaders, must remember that we are the support group, the stewards that needs to inspire and encourage the next generation. we are merely pointers, the young people will, in the end, make their own choices and decisions.
Comment by joy May 8, 2011 @ 12:13 am