Here are some best practices (well, at least really good practices) when you are first starting in Student Ministry or starting with a new church.

Deconstruction is becoming an unhelpful term to frame what is happening in the faith of so many. I think we need to reframe the idea & how the Church can respond to & prepare for the growing pains of faith.

When we build, design & create healthy systems, we’re not just increasing the chances that our numbers increase, but it also increases the chances & opportunities for our students & our ministries to more effectively live out our mission. So even though talking about & designing systems might not feel spiritual…you better believe it’s a spiritual & pastoral act as we lead people into a life-changing relationship with God.

The truth is that the vast majority of my parent meetings were simply live versions of the emails we were sending out each week. I was asking for about an hour of their time out of a busy day & was pretty much just talking about details they could have read about. It’s embarrassing.

Regardless of what your fall looks like, this truth remains: there are students & families who have not engaged in your ministry (in person or otherwise) since spring of 2020. As they get ready for their fall rhythm, now is the time they are most likely to be open to re-engage into your community. So, how are you doing that?

Often, curating & contextualizing in ministry is more effective than creating something from scratch.

a punch thrown. a website started.