Finding a Way Forward in Youth Ministry During a Pandemic
Troy’s ministry has been directly impacted by COVID—with staff members contracting it, school systems 100% digital, and their ministry planning happening week-to-week. But they’ve found a way forward, and we wanted to hear how they are doing it.
Check out the full interview above, but here are a few key ideas that resonated from Troy’s conversation:
Everyone is just “watching” church, but we need to find ways for them to still experience church.
We have to pay attention to levels of engagement during this season. For Troy, that is partly done through efforts that help students still be able to experience church. They’ve found little ways to create those opportunities to gather safely in person. Parking lot meetups have been one of the foundational experiences they’ve developed, and they are investing in more opportunities like it for the fall.
Future ministry planning is still incredibly valuable now, but we might have to hold it loosely.
Planning around your core values, with ideal experiences that help embody those values, is more important now than ever because it helps us focus on the next steps we need to take. The difficulty of this season is that we have to help reset expectations, choosing to hold elements of the experience loosely just in case they might need to change. But the core value doesn’t disappear, or the experience has to go away completely, it just might need to shift and potentially look different.
Lean into ministry partners even more this season.
We’re not doing ministry alone. Big anchor events like mission trips can feel so hard to plan in this season, especially if you feel like you’re doing it alone. The good news… You’re not alone. That’s why we exist. That’s why we created YW Extended Care:
You have so many questions, concerns, and unique pressures in this season. YW Extended Care was created so that you have help and support you need. So lean into our Customer Engagement and Support team and we’ll be in your corner along the way.