What Happens When Churches Collaborate
Collaborating with other churches in effective ministry to young people is a great way to connect WITH others iN the collective task of mission
Related
7 Principles of Effective Ministry to Children and Youth
This year was the first time I’d ever been on LiT (Leaders in Training – a Youthworks leadership training camp for Years 9-12). It was also the first time I’d been a director on the camp (baptism by fire!). And because of COVID-19, it was the first time LiT had ever been run with a hubs model.
I didn’t really know what to expect. But it’s fair to say I was BLOWN. AWAY.
It was so good.
Here’s why:
I’d never seen a group of young people so invested in taking responsibility for their own faith and growing in their desire and ability to serve others.
The leadership team was so intentional about giving young people the tools and the opportunity to serve in the body of Christ.
The youth who came loved training for reading, understanding and communicating the scriptures, using the teaching target.
There were great opportunities to train in ministry skills like peer evangelism, running discussion groups, and giving Bible talks.
Kids and leaders were inspired to use all that they had learned back in their home churches and schools.
But for me, the most wonderful thing was something I hadn’t anticipated. Through local churches partnering together to make LiT happen, we experienced some of the joys of collaboration in youth and children’s ministry.
One of the 7 core principles of effective youth and children’s ministry that have been distilled over years of thinking, practice and experience by Youthworks Advisors is this:
Collaborate with other churches in effective ministry to young people [1]
This principle comes partly from our view of the future of the church, where people from ‘every nation, tribe, people and language’ (Rev 7:9) will stand together gathered around the Lord Jesus. When we collaborate with other churches, we express who we really are and will fully be when that day comes – one global church with temporary local gatherings. This was a beautiful reality of LiT!
But collaboration has benefits in the here and now.
Some of the good things that collaboration brings are:
1. A greater sense of the diversity of the body
Because the body of Christ is made up of all kinds of people, when we collaborate with other churches, we get to appreciate that! Differences in age, gender, cultural background, musical tastes, schools, sense of humour, skin colour, political affiliation, disability, geography, personality traits are all part of the mosaic that make up the body of Christ. Each person is made in the image of God, each person is of inherent value, and each person is essential for the church.
At LiT we had people representing all of those differences. It was truly beautiful. But all of us had Christ in common. When a group of teenagers got up to sing for the gathering one night (COVID safe – according to guidelines), their unity was made more beautiful by their diversity as they shared, in song, the one thing that unites them - that there is….
“no other name but Jesus” [2]
2. Solidarity with Christians in similar circumstances.
But it’s not just diversity that can be celebrated. There’s also comfort in knowing that there are Christians who are like you – share things like age, interests and local culture. Mel Bell, children’s worker at St Andrew’s Roseville shares,
‘One of the great things about LiT was the way it helped young people to know that there are others like them, going through similar things, trying to live as a Christian, which for many young people can be really hard.’
And it works both ways. Not only can young people benefit from others, but they also support, encourage and pray for each other, something demonstrated on LiT.
She also reflected the hubs model of LiT this year, being a local collaboration in the local setting, helped young people imagine how they could use their training. Seeing other similar people in a familiar setting made it a smaller jump to transfer their skills to use at their home church.
3. People are inspired for collective mission.
When leaders and young people from different churches get together, they are often energised for the combinedmission of the church. Sometimes our local setting can seem so mundane that we lose some of the urgency of making disciples. But something happens when people get together and focus on God’s collective mission. We can see together that our local mission is part of a God’s global mission. We dream about what it might look like to share Jesus locally.
Luke Jarmain, a youth leader from Norwest Anglican shares how this happened at the Quakers Hill Hub at LiT this year. He said that through the hubs model adopted because of COVID-19, even closer bonds were formed with other local Christian youth.
‘Knowing that there are others in their area that they might even go to school with or play sport with could lead to possibilities to partner together to share the gospel at school or in their community.’
He also said that even though some of the leadership team had partnered together before, working together so closely on LiT further strengthened relationships, making future collaboration easier to imagine.
At the Quakers Hill hub, we rallied around the theme of mission to the west. It’s exciting to think what stories of God working through young people will flow.
Five ways to collaborate with others:
So, what things might we be able to do to involve ourselves and our young people in collaboration and all its benefits?
1. Get to know other youth and children’s leaders in your local area
Often the first step towards collaboration is friendship. When we build trust with others, it makes it easier to work with them. There might be a local network of youth or children’s workers in your area. They’re a great way to share ideas, pray together and be encouraged for ministry to young people. To find out about local youth or children’s ministry networks speak to your regional Youthworks Advisor.
2. Run combined events
I love the vision of one local combined youth event:
UNITE exists to rally the youth of Western Sydney around Jesus; to encourage them to follow Jesus; to equip them to share Jesus. [3]
While they usually run live gathering a few times a year, in September, they ran it as a livestream. While youth groups weren’t able to gather with each other physically, unity was still expressed through the shared experience and the collaboration of leaders to make it happen despite restriction on gathering.
3. Come to LiT or send your youth to LiT
For all the reasons above! LiT is an amazing place to come together with other youth and other leaders to be singularly focussed on growing together in faith and ministry.
4. Get involved in teaching SRE as a team.
In many places, SRE is one of the primary places where churches overlap in their ministry to the local area. What opportunities do you have to meet together and encourage each other and pray for the ministry? When I was coordinating SRE in my local public school, we would pray together before class weekly, and meet termly. This led to many other avenues of collaboration!
5. Help facilitate a lunch time group at your local school
Where there is opportunity, work together with someone from another church to help run a lunchtime group in your local school. This can be a great space for young people to meet with other local Christians and express their fellowship across churches and denominations.