In the November summer sunshine I spent a week with youth and young adult specialists from across Australia. I was touring three Australian cities with an excellent youth and young adult ministry training initiative called the National Youth Ministry Convention. I was invited to speak on my book Paradoxology; as just like the UK, there is a huge challenge with a missing generation of 20s-30s in church life. We used the tour as an opportunity to challenge, inspire and equip those working with teens to develop a deeper level of biblical and theological awareness to better prepare young adults for a whole life of faith. For one reason or another most of our ideas for youth ministry in the UK are either home grown or from the USA, but the gospel is bearing fruit all over the world and so I am always on the look out for what God is doing. Here are five of the best youth ministry ideas I saw in the land of Oz.
Teen Shed
Across Australia there is a growing men’s movement that seeks to help blokes find community through making things. Community sheds have been set up by local secular organisers to give men the opportunity to spend time ogether, shoulder to shoulder building, fixing and renovating together. A group in Perth have taken that idea and adapted it for relational youth ministry. Although open to girls, it has taken off particularly with boys. They order in kits and embark on a six week skateboard making project, meeting up for a few hours each week. It is in the context of moulding, sanding and varnishing maple wood long boards that conversations about life and God take place. It struck me as a great little model – passing on constructive skills, building relationships and sharing the gospel over a number of weeks. After six weeks there’s a natural exit point but there is also the opportunity to take on a bigger project.
Fathers and Sons
In many parts of the world engaging men in the life of the church can be a challenge. An Australian church in Brisbane has invested heavily into building bridges from their open youth ministry to reach out to dads. They encourage their teenage boys to invite their non-Christian dads to come on a weekend retreat together in the bush. They embark on bushcraft and fire making together, and also have opportunity to share about faith. A number of the fathers have come to faith through their sons connection with church. I met a whole bunch of the lads who had formed a youth band and led worship for our youth work conference with great confidence. As a father who has girls as well as boys I have always had reservations about dads and lads weekends as I believe that girls can benefit from time away with their dads just as boys can benefit from time away with their mums. However I had not come across an outreach programme to fathers that was anywhere near as effective as this initiative in Brisbane and I am willing to use many different means that 'I might save some' ( 1 Corinthians 9:22).
The State Youth Games
Making the most of the culture of sporting excellence in Australia, the churches in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland have developed a major youth event around sport. Youth groups invite their sporty friends away for a long weekend of camping and competitive sport. Thousands of young people come along and spend their days playing everything from Aussie Rules Football and Basketball to Uno and Mario Kart competitions. There’s something for everyone but the gathering principle is not around seminars and worship events but competitive sports. There are evening evangelistic talks: last year Britain’s very own Mike Pilavachi preached there to great effect. I have not heard of anything of this scale happening in the UK and wonder if some of our summer festivals or sports ministries might like to take this idea and run with it?
Red Frogs
Graduation from high school is a big deal in Australia and it has become normal for thousands of 17/18 year olds to descend on resorts in places like the Gold Coast for a week-long party during the summer holidays after finishing school. It seems to be something similar to the spring break phenomenon in the US. There are high levels of binge drinking and sexual experimentation, and as you can imagine a lot of pastoral needs for the young people concerned. So every year the church mobilizes thousands of young adult Christians to volunteer as chaplains. Dressed in black tea shirts they are known as the Red Frogs after the lollies of the same name they give out. They take a very similar approach to Street Pastors in the UK, but it's residential for a whole week and the audiences are all 17/18 years old. Red Frogs will discuss matters of faith but only in response to questions and interest from the teens. The initiative has been running for about ten years and has become such an important part of the culture that many hotels offer Red Frogs free board and lodging because they can see the positive difference it makes to the lives of young people.
Green Team
Taking a complimentary approach to the Red Frogs is the Green Team initiative in Adelaide. Green Team sets up a safe space on the beach with free food and excellent music. The difference is that its' an alcohol-free zone with wristband entry. The quality of the music and the food is a big draw and thousands of non-Christain young people come along and have a great time as well as getting exposed to the Christian message. The quality of the event is so good that it makes getting drunk on the beach seem a slightly lame option. I like the missional approach that both Red Frogs and Green Team take and they seem to work very well together. Green Team is seeking to bring cultural change by offering a powerful alternative to what has become an Australian rite of passage, but they set up that alternative not in a Christian retreat centre but right in the middle of the post-graduation mayhem, offering often vulnerable teens a way to have a fantastic celebration of their graduation from school but in a Christian and culturally relevant way.
God is doing some amazing things around the world and it's worth our while listening and learning from brothers and sisters who are bringing innovation and vision to youth ministry. I have just taken on the role as President of London School of Theology (LST), and although not specialising in youth ministry we are keen to further equip youth workers through our stand-alone modules and courses. At LST we recognise that so much of the cutting edge missional activity is taking place at the coalface of youth work. We are keen to equip youth workers to be great theologians as they seek to freshly apply and communicate the never-changing gospel in an ever-changing culture. May God bless the work of your hands and minds and I pray that some of these ideas may inspire you to try new things for the kingdom.
