CHAPTER 5
DEEP ASSETS: WHAT BESIDES “YOUTH MINISTRY” DOES A KID NEED TO REALLY GROW?
Kara Powell
DEEP DESIGN, STEP 1 (DISCERNMENT) : NOW?
“Kara, I’m tired of loving kids in my ministry and then sending them right back to hell.”
I knew Rodney well enough to know hell was not a word he used lightly. I asked this veteran youth worker what he meant.
“Kids are all excited about Jesus when they’re around me, but so many of them have terrible situations at home. How deep can I take them in the two hours I have them every week?”
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Creating Space for God’s transformation: Kids are excited about Jesus.
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Hindering God’s transformation: Obstacles that prevent students from developing.
I knew immediately what he was talking about. I thought of Alia, a sophomore whose parents were too addicted to drugs to raise her, so they sent her to live with her aunt and uncle.
I also thought of Scott. Captain of the soccer team, popular at school and church, at the top of his class academically—Scott seemed to have it all together. But underneath the applause was a 17-year-old scared of what would happen at home if he let down his dad.
Of course, along with kids like Alia and Scott are many students who walk out of our youth gatherings and into families that pay attention to them, support them, and make sacrifices for their well being. Yet even in these promising homes, it’s impossible for family members to always love and serve kids in the right ways at the right times. How can we have deep ministry with kids when they live in communities and families that struggle and sometimes even undermine our work with them?
Is Jesus Enough?
Here are a few questions to get you thinking: True or False? Kids need Jesus.
If you’ve spent the money to buy this book and the time to read it, you’re probably someone who follows Jesus and wants your kids to follow him as well. As I’ve heard many youth workers teach, a relationship with Jesus establishes a “foundation” for everything else.
Here’s a second question: True or False? Jesus is all that kids need.
At first, this seems like an easy one. True, right? We’ve sung words such as, “Your love is all that I need” and “All I need is you.” But what about the inner-city sophomore who’s being raised by his older sister and can’t read? He needs Jesus plus some literacy training. Or how about the girl whose parents just told her they’re getting divorced? She needs Jesus, and she also may need some counseling.
A common problem in youth ministry Now is that we’ve taken the true statement that “kids need Jesus” and left out the other things kids need that don’t seem so spiritual. Sure, most of us agree that Jesus is the foundation. But many kids living in hellish home situations will continue to struggle unless we also provide a few walls and a roof to support their growth.
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Hindering God’s transformation: We focus only on “spiritual” needs.
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Creating space for God’s transformation: Adults who build relationships with kids.
Support Wall #1: Adult mentors. Lots of youth ministries recognize that while Jesus may be the foundation, kids also need adult mentors and disciplers. Sometimes these adults “float” through the ministry, keeping an eye out for kids who need extra attention. Other ministries assign certain adults to certain kids to make sure that every student gets attention from at least one adult. (See Chapter 6 for more on adult mentoring.)
Support Wall #2: Educational help. Common in urban ministries, this second wall often comes in the form of after-school tutoring, computer centers, and aid in filling out college applications. Since this type of academic help generally involves working closely with an adult, it reinforces the first wall of adult mentoring. As one youth worker who had integrated a tutoring center into his church told me, “If a kid can’t read, it’s the church’s job to help that kid learn to read.”
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Creating space for God’s transformation: Educational help.
Given kids’ vast and varied needs, these two walls are important in helping kids and adults flesh out what it means to have Jesus as the foundation. But if you’ve ever tried building a house of cards, you know two walls alone don’t offer much stability. Without a roof, the walls take a beating when it rains. Strong winds can toss those walls to the ground. None of us would choose to live in a house with only two walls, and yet that’s often how we structure our ministries. As a result, kids end up too shallow to stand against the storms that come their way.
Hindering God’s transformation: A couple of walls do not make a strong house.
DEEP DESIGN, STEP 2 (REFLECTION) : NEW?
Recent research shows us a deeper approach to ministering to kids that’s more holistic than simply adding adults and tutoring into their lives. Instead of just two walls, kids need New “scaffolding.”
Scaffolding is a social science term to describe the importance of social interaction in a child’s development. Adults who interact with kids in warm and challenging ways provide the support that helps kids really learn and grow. Just as with buildings under construction, scaffolding is also crucial during child and adolescent development. As teenagers mature and grow more independent and capable, the scaffolding can be reduced.
Research: Kids need scaffolding.
Scripture: Jesus brings a broad sense of family that includes all who serve the divine Father.
While the term scaffolding isn’t in the Bible, the concept certainly is. Christians today often view “family” through a narrow lens, equating it with a nuclear family of parents and children. In reality “family” extends far beyond an “us four and no more” focus. When Jesus came, he ushered in both a new kingdom and a new family. All who do the will of the divine Father are our brothers and sisters in this New family (Mark 3:31–34).
Jesus confirms this New sense of family in his dying words to his mother. As Mary watches her son’s agonizing crucifixion, Jesus tells her, “Dear woman, here is your son” (John 19:26). Jesus then turns to the disciple (presumably John) and says, “Here is your mother” (John 19:27a). John records next that “from that time on, this disciple took her into his home” (John 19:27b). Jesus establishes a New mother/son relationship not based on traditional blood ties but on the ties that come from the blood he shed on the cross.21
More than two millennia later, we have the opportunity to reveal this deeper sense of family to the world. Jesus has invited us to join the New kingdom family, and now we can continue his work and invite others to join also (John 14:12). Jesus did more than just teach about “spiritual” needs; he healed, fed, and cared about how people treated one another. Just as Jesus offered more than his words (Luke 4:18–19), so we now offer more than our verbal witness to others. In a sense, we are Jesus’ loving hands to those inside and outside the divine family, embodying the caring scaffolding that kids and families need (Matthew 5:3–10; Luke 10:25–28; 1 Corinthians 13:1–13; 1 John 4:7–8).
The Importance of Assets
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Scripture: Now Jesus’ blood is the primary source of “blood ties.”
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Scripture: We now are Jesus’ loving hands and scaffolding for those inside and outside his divine family.
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Research: Kids need internal and external assets.
The Search Institute, a well-known research center in Minnesota, helps us use this New type of scaffolding to allow our ministries to go deeper. Based on surveys with more than two million youth in the United States and Canada since 1989, Search has developed the “40 Developmental Assets”—40 building blocks of development available through our surrounding communities and relationships that help people of all ages (including teenagers) thrive. Half the assets are “external” and focus on what kids receive from others. They fall under the categories of support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, and constructive use of time. The remaining half of the assets are “internal” and reflect the four constructs of commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity.22
40 DEVELOPMENTAL ASSETS FROM SEARCH INSTITUTE
EXTERNAL ASSETS
CATEGORY
ASSET NAME AND DEFINITION
SUPPORT
1. Family support–Family life povides high levels of love and support
2. Positive family communication-Young person and her or his parent(s) communicate positively, and young person is willing to seek advice and counsel from parents
3. Other adult relationships-Young person receives support from three or more nonparent adults.
4. Caring neighborhood-Young person experiences caring neighbors.
5. Caring school climate-School provides a caring, encouraging
6. Parent involvement in schooling-parent(s) are actively involved in helping young person succeed in school.
EMPOWERMENT
7. Community values youth-Young person perceives that adults in the community value youth.
8. Youth as resources-Young people are given useful roles in the community.
9. Service to others-Young person serves in the community one hour or more per week.
10. Safety-Young person feels safe at home, school, and in the neighborhood.
BOUNDARIES & EXPECTATIONS
11. Family boundaries-Family has clear rules and consequences and monitors the voung person’s whereahouts
12. School boundaries—School provides clear rules and consequences.
13. Neighborhood boundaries-Neighbors take responsibility for monitoring young people’s behavior.
14. Adult role models-Parent(s) and other adults model positive, responsible behavior
15. Positive peer influence-Young person’s best friends model responsible behavior.
16. High expectations-Both parent(s) and teachers encourage the young person to do well.
CONSTRUCTIVE USE OF TIME
17. Creative activities—Young person spends three or more hours per week in lessons or practice in music theatre or other arts
18. Youth programs—Young person spends three or more hours per week in sports, clubs, or organizations at school and/or in the community.
19. Religious community-Young person spends one or more hours per week in activities in religious institutions.
20. Time at home person is out with friends “with nothing special to do” two or fewer nights per week.
INTERNAL ASSETS
CATEGORY
ASSET NAME AND DEFINITION
COMMITMENT TO LEARNING
21. Achievement motivation —Young person is motivated to do well in school.
22. School engagement-Young person is actively engaged in learning.
23. Homework—Young person reports doing at least one hour of homework every school day.
24. Bonding to school—Young person cares about her or his school.
25. Reading for pleasure—Young person reads for pleasure three or more hours per week.
POSITIVE VALUES
26. Caring—Young Yerson places high value on helping other people.
27. Equality and social justice-Young person places high value on promoting equality and reducing hunger and poverty.
28. Integrity—Young person acts on convictions and stands up for her or his beliefs.
29. Honesty—Young person “tells the truth even when it is not easy.”
30. Responsibility-Young person accepts and takes personal responsibility.
31. Restraint-Young person believes it is important not to be sexually active or to use alcohol or other drugs.
SOCIAL COMPETENCIES
32. Planning and decision-making-Young person knows how to plan ahead and make choices.
33. Interpersonal competence—Young person has empathy, sensitivity, and friendship skills.
34. Cultural competence-Young person has knowledge of and comfort with people of different cultural/racial/ethnic backgrounds.
35. Resistance skills-Young person can resist negative peer pressure and dangerous situations.
36. Peaceful conflict resolution-Young person seeks to resolve conflict nonviolently.
POSITIVE IDENTITY
37. Personal power-Young feels he or she has control over “things that happen to me.”
38. Self-esteem-Young reports having a high self-esteem.
39. Sense of purpose-Young person reports that “my life has a purpose.”
40. Positive view of personal future-Young person is optimistic about his or her personal future.
For more information, see www.search-institute.org.
We who long for deep ministry must pay attention to these assets and their power in kids’ lives. Research indicates that the more assets kids possess, the more likely they are to exhibit leadership, maintain good health, value diversity, and succeed in school. In contrast, the fewer assets kids possess, the more likely they are to use alcohol and drugs, be sexually active, and commit acts of violence.
The average 6th to 12th-grader Search surveyed has 19.3 of the 40 assets. In general, older youth have lower average levels of assets than younger youth. Interestingly, boys seem to experience fewer assets than girls.
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Research: The more assets kids possess, the better they do.
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Research: Most kids do not have enough assets.
Although there is no “magic number” of assets that guarantees kids will thrive, Search hints that 31 assets is a common benchmark that divides kids who do well from those who struggle. Only nine percent of the youth they’ve surveyed have 31 or more assets. Assets evident in 30 percent or less of the youth they’ve surveyed include the following:
Positive family communication (asset 2) Caring school climate (asset 5) Community values youth (asset 7) Youth as resources (asset 8) Adult role models (asset 14) Creative activities (asset 17) Reading for pleasure (asset 25) Planning and decision-making (asset 32)
Search Institute also reports that many of the assets are evident in 60 percent or more of the youth they surveyed including these:
Family support (asset 1) Positive peer influence (asset 15) Religious community (asset 19) Achievement motivation (asset 21) School engagement (asset 22) Integrity (asset 28) Honesty (asset 29) Responsibility (asset 30) Positive view of personal future (asset 40)
Much of what we’ve typically valued in youth ministry is represented in the 40 assets. Relationship with Jesus and involvement in church is relevant to asset 19 of religious community, which means a kid spends one or more hours per week in activities in a religious institution. Our first “support wall” of adult mentoring is specifically represented in asset 14 of “adult role models.” Similarly, our second support wall of educational help is connected to school engagement (asset 22) and doing at least one hour of homework every school day (asset 23).
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
Research: Many youth ministries don’t intentionally offer the assets.
Yet other assets exist that many youth ministries don’t even consider as they try to love and serve kids. These include a caring neighborhood (asset 4), caring school climate (asset 5), creative activities (asset 17), cultural competence (asset 34), and peaceful conflict resolution (asset 36). Helping kids out of their “hellish” homes, schools, and neighborhoods—or even just helping them through the common ups and downs of adolescence—means we need to think about how we provide not just a few walls or a few assets but an entire New structure of support.
DEEP DESIGN, STEP 3 (OBSERVATION): WHO?
Curt Gibson, the Neighborhood Student Mentoring Director at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, California, is trying to help kids develop a stronger scaffolding of support. He found the 40 developmental assets so relevant to his kids and community that he placed them at the heart of his ministry. We interviewed Curt to discover how the assets influence his ministry and how they might be relevant to you and your ministry.
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
How did you first become interested in the assets?
I heard about them at a conference and decided to do a little experiment in our ministry. One student we were just getting to know was Kamesha. She was living in northwest Pasadena with her brother, sister, cousin, mom, and grandma—all in a one-bedroom apartment.
How’d you start with Kamesha?
First, we got to know her mom better and told her about the assets. Then we met with Kamesha’s teachers at her continuation school. We also explained the assets to them and asked them to give Kamesha’s mom progress reports three times a semester.
We met with Kamesha’s neighbors in her 19-unit apartment complex. We introduced ourselves, explained the assets and the importance of a friendly neighborhood, and asked them to talk to Kamesha and become her friend. Kamesha hated that.
Why did she hate it?
She had been intimidating all of her neighbors and misbehaving around the empty swimming pool in the middle of the apartments. That got harder to do once she had actually met her neighbors.
We also met with her pastor—or rather the pastor at her grandma’s church. Kamesha told the pastor why she hated the church so much, and he took it like a pro. He listened to her, validated what she said, and then asked, “What would this church need to be like for you and your friends to want to come here?” Plus, he asked her what she liked to do, and she said she liked music. Soon after that, he asked her to be in charge of their seven-member youth choir and praise dance team.
What kind of difference did establishing a better connection with her mom, teachers, neighbors, and church make for Kamesha?
Huge changes. She started actually coming to school. There was one particular teacher whom she worked especially hard for, even to the point of going to the library to use the free computer so she could type out her assignments. She started getting to know her neighbors and smiling at them instead of ignoring them or intimidating them.
So having gone through an experiment with Kamesha, what did you do next?
Given how well it worked with her, we decided to make the assets the foundation of all we do. We’re doing more and more mentoring (asset 14). We now have 17 mentors, each working with two or three kids.
Plus, since the assets recommend that kids have fewer than three nights per week with nothing to do, we need to get kids off the street and keep them busy. We signed one guy up for karate, and we paid for a girl to join a basketball league. We bought kids guitars and trumpets and paid for music lessons. Of course, that meant we had to put our money where our mouth is, because that stuff costs money.
We also started working differently with kids’ parents. It was a huge step for us to talk with them and explain the assets and what we were trying to do with their kids. But then we did even more than that. We tried to connect parents with current services in the city so they could get the support they needed, whether it be legal advice, jobs, or even help feeding their kids healthy meals.
So you connected parents to resources?
Yes, in fact that’s become a mantra of our ministry. I tell our mentors that instead of trying to be the resource for their kids, they should find the resources for their kids.
To see the Youth Inventory Assessment and Goal worksheet Curt’s adult leaders use to reflect upon the assets with their own kids, check out www. cyfm.net.
What assets are most of your kids missing, and what assets do they tend to have?
They’re almost universally missing a community that values youth (asset 7) and a positive view of personal future (asset 40).
In terms of assets they tend to have, I’d say caring school climate (asset 5) and youth programs (asset 18), because of all the nonprofits in the city of Pasadena.
Which assets seem to produce the deepest changes in kids?
The three that we’ve found that have great effect and are pretty do-able are adult role models (asset 14), religious community (asset 19), and time at home (asset 20). Others that are super powerful but harder to accomplish are personal power, self-esteem, sense of purpose, and a positive view of personal future (assets 37–40).
What are some obstacles you’ve faced in trying to have an asset-focused ministry?
Well, some people who volunteer as mentors basically just want to lead a Bible study. I’m all for Bible studies, but this is different. This is a deeper view of the kingdom of God that says following Jesus means more than sin management.
See chapter 6 on mentoring for more on “sin management.”
See chapter 6 for more on the challenges of mentoring.
It says that the kingdom of God means we’re active in trying to serve and improve families, schools, and the entire community. Lots of volunteers don’t get that, and quite honestly, they leave.
It also takes a lot of adult volunteers to be this involved in kids’ lives. We try to have one adult for every two kids, and that means we need a lot of adults.
Plus, it often takes at least three months before an adult gets any sort of positive response from these kids. Lots of adults can’t cut it and drop out. That means that the next mentor has to wait even longer before those same kids start responding.
What mistakes did you make when you were first trying to do ministry in this way?
Our biggest mistake was that we didn’t teach the theological perspective of the kingdom of God that says we are to engage in our communities. So many people equate following Jesus only with doing Bible studies. I think that’s a truncated Jesus. Now I ask potential volunteers to read the first few chapters of The Divine Conspiracy to help them get what we’re doing.
To see the Personal Mission Statement worksheet that Curt and his team uses, go to www.cyfm.net.
We also set intermediate goals for kids now. We used to get so bummed when kids would hang out with us and still be in gangs. The reality is that it often takes years for kids to realize the emptiness of the activities they’ve done for so long. We try to have goals for kids that are based more on values and heart change than external behaviors.
We also involve kids in thinking more about their own lives. We teach them about personal mission statements and then have them create one and share it with their adult mentor. That way adults and kids are talking about where the kids want to head, and how they can take baby steps to get there. We have kids who want to be pediatricians, but they never go to class. They don’t see that disconnect until we start asking them if they’re headed in the right direction to reach their goals.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to do asset-based youth ministry?
If you’re already in a ministry, you might need to shut it down and rebuild from a kingdom perspective that focuses more on community than programs. If you or your ministry supervisor care about how fast your group grows, this is not the model for you. This is more about personal growth than numerical growth.
We also interviewed Stephanie Moore who serves with Curt at Neighborhood Student Mentoring. She finds the assets offer “a great foundation” to help kids thrive. Stephanie is currently mentoring two high-risk girls. She focuses on helping them realize the community values them (asset 7), integrating them into a religious community (asset 19), and giving them some structured activities at night (asset 20).
Yet she cautioned that, even with the assets guiding her, it took six months of hanging out with her girls before they started responding positively to her. She recalls, “They used to make fun of me and only want to be with me because I’d give them a ride somewhere or take them out to eat. I so wanted to quit, but I hung in there. After six months they finally seemed to care about me as more than a chauffeur.”
It’s not like her girls have completely left their old lifestyles, she said. They still do drugs and drink periodically. But Stephanie is encouraged that now “they actually want to spend time with me.” They also do their homework now, and have a good chance at graduating from high school. Before their interactions with Stephanie and the assets, these all seemed like impossibilities.
DEEP DESIGN, STEP 4 (APPLICATION): HOW?
Application Questions:
DEEP DESIGN PROMPT
What kinds of “hell” do the kids in your ministry face? When you think of “family,” do you think of a biological family, a kingdom family, or both? How does your view of family affect how you relate to others? Look at the list of the assets on Chapter 5. Which ones do your kids tend to possess? Which assets do your youth tend to lack? Which assets do you think would be most likely to produce changes in the lives of your youth? How do you feel about Curt’s statement that instead of “trying to be the resource for their kids, they should find the resources for their kids”? What about your ministry is similar to Curt’s? How is your ministry different? How will you go deeper in holistic ministry with your kids?
How are we going to go deeper in our ministrywith kids?
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