Sustainable Youth Reflections

Chapter 8

Jeff Cope — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:51:07 +0000

1. What are some warning signs that a youth staff person is not doing ministry from an emotionally healthy place?

2. What are the uique stressors on our youth ministry staff as we seek to do minitry from an emotionally healthy place?

3. Who can provide support and accountability for the youth staff so they can maximize their chances of tending their own souls and not just their ministries?

Chapter 7

Jeff Cope — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:48:23 +0000

1. What worked well in our church’s last search for youth staff?

2. If Jeff left today, how ready would our church be to engage in an effective search and walk through the transition process without losing momentum?

3.In what ways will your next search have to start from scratch and in what ways will it rely on the processes developed in previous searches?

4. On our current youth ministry team who plays the role of the architect? The general contractor? The craftperson?

Chapter 6

Jeff Cope — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:45:28 +0000

1. What do you feel the “climate” of our youth ministry is right now?

2. What stories define the culture of our Youth Ministry?

-a story of when “God showed up”

-a story of unexpected grace

-a story of a student’s unlikely connection to our church

Chapter 5

Jeff Cope — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:43:44 +0000

1. Do you know of any control documents we have in place already?

2. If you had to guess, what is the target number of youth the leaders of our church would like to see involved in an average week?

3. What would a group look like that was perfectly structures to create cliques? That was perfectly structured to create apathy in students? That was perfectly structured for 11th and 12th graders to drop out?

Chapter 4

Jeff Cope — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:41:05 +0000

1. Do you think our youth ministry is more systems focused, or staff or program focused? In what ways?

Chapter 3

Jeff Cope — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:40:01 +0000

1. Do any traits of a church with a superstar mentality apply to our church?

2. How would leaders in our church respond to the idea of hiring from within?

3. Which previous youth staff members stepped in to thriving ministries after leaving our church? Who has been sidelined from ministry altogether?

Chapter 2

Jeff Cope — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:47:10 +0000

1. Which of the youth ministry normals fit or don’t fit your particular ministry?

2. Do the math for your ministry to determine the baseline capacity for your youth ministry, given the rules of thumb identified in this chapter.

3. What are the biggest obstacles to your church investing at a level that matches its expectations for youth ministry?

Chapter 1

Jeff Cope — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:44:45 +0000

1. Look back at the story of your youth ministry over the past 10 years. What patterns bubble up?

2. Which of the characteristics of a stuck youth ministry have you seen in your own context?

Sustainable Youth Ministry

Jeff Cope — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:41:58 +0000

Welcome everyone. In Appendix A there are a few questions per chapter that will help us flesh out some of what we read in the book. I’ll simply post those questions, one chapter’s worth on each post, and I’ll ask that you respond to them as you read through the book. I’m thinking March 22nd or so for our next meeting. My hope is that by then we will have read through it and discussed it. Also feel free to comment on the comments of others. Ready, set, interact!