The Youth Leadership Initiative (YLI) is up and rolling across the NOW District (click here to download the overview!).
On the afternoon of Feb. 12, the classroom at Christ Lutheran Church in Arizona was starting to feel like an oven, and the questions from Best Practices in Ministry participants made it even hotter:
“What makes this different from other youth stuff?”
“How do I help young people in my church stay engaged?”
“Will this work?”
“What makes YLI worth my time?”
Having your own District President listening at the back of the room lent an edge of accountability to the entire event (even though he’s incredibly encouraging!).
This was a bigger moment than even a warm classroom in Arizona could contain. We had arrived here after 5 years of qualitative research on adult behaviors that help young people grow as servant-leaders. We had convened an all-district team of regional leaders who had been meeting monthly to clarify our takeaways from the research. Standing there, sweating in that classroom, we had the same feeling that a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) should give a leader – the feeling you get right before you jump off a cliff into a lake.
And the question remained: Will the people here from all across the LCMS find value in our research, in the key behaviors for adults, and in the tools we’ve identified to measure success? Will they want to do something about it?
The short answer is…
Yes!
In part, because no one in the LCMS has ever implemented a project quite like the Youth Leadership Initiative.
Going back to the beginning in 2022, it started with a simple question: “Could we find the ‘vital behaviors’ in adult leaders that are most likely to help young people grow as servant-leaders?” Gathering leaders around this question led to the YLI research project, and the launch of The YLI Team (made up of DCEs who represent each region in the NOW District). And then, finally, to a BHAG, and what we now call the 3 Metrics for launching youth as servant-leaders.
There is way too much in the previous paragraph to unpack here, but if you’ve made it this far in this story, our hope is that you’ll have a look at the updated YLI resource page – which is your one-stop spot to access a growing list of group-sourced resources. Our expectation is that, with the foundation of our research in place, this initiative is just beginning to bear fruit. The BHAG and the 3 Metrics provide a framework for launching or revitalizing youth ministries to focus on equipping young people. Every local ministry leader and team of leaders is responsible for fleshing out the framework. The YLI gives support for your ministry structure without excessive control.
After all the research, our team believes unequivocally that there are key behaviors that reframe youth and family ministry in fresh and compelling ways. These behaviors, if practiced consistently by adults in ministry, can absolutely bear fruit in young leaders being raised up… IF ministry leaders stick to the behaviors and practice them regularly over many years. The entire YLI is built on this preceding assumption. This is not a “one-time” project or event; it is an initiative that will take time to implement, to measure regularly, and to follow through the years. Leaders are invited to hear real-world examples of what this looks like on every second Thursday during the “Hear and Share the Next Yes!”, the all-district Zoom focused on celebrating stories of helping young people grow into servant-leaders.
A final encouraging note: The YLI is built on the behaviors of adults, which means anyone can learn to do them… which also means it does not matter the size of the ministry. Anyone can access this framework and begin to implement it! We hope that you find this encouraging. Our goal is to provide an ongoing node in the network for resources, information, and consultation through the YLI Team. However, the best stuff always occurs on the ground in ministries and through equipping and encouraging relationships.
Back to that classroom in Arizona: The BPM presentation was successful because our team measures success by the number of challenging questions we face and how many find the concepts underlying the YLI useful – and then start using them. A number of leaders from that audience are now in ongoing conversations with us on implementation. We are thrilled to see ministry leaders from across the country accessing the simple (but profoundly impactful) leadership tools we have discovered. We hope, though, that it begins with each of you right here in the NOW District. Interested in making it happen? Click here for everything you need!
This story was filed by the NOW Youth and Family Ministry Projects/Initiatives Team: Jonathan Kopecky, DCE and Vicar at Hope in Seattle, Washington; Jackie Druckhammer, DCE and Children’s Minister at St. John in Vancouver, Washington; and Dust Kunkel, Director of Ministry Leadership at the NOW District.