Appendix: The Young Adult Ministry Road Map
Appendix
The Young Adult Ministry Road Map
This road map attempts to put into summary form the essential steps for building a thriving young adult ministry in your unique context. Whether you’re renovating an existing ministry or starting from scratch, the road map can reorient you along the journey when you’re lost or wandering.
The road map provides clarity about your long-term destination and where you’re specifically heading on the journey’s next phase. When you need more detail about the terrain of a particular leg, you can return to the book. But this road map provides a clear overview of landmarks along the way—and steps you’ll need to take.
It will be tempting to skip over the foundational stages and jump right into planning programs. Most normal young adult ministries use this approach, and most achieve abysmal results. Some of this work will be a trial-and-error, experimental process. When things don’t work as planned, celebrate what you’ve learned and try something new. Nothing works until it does!
Stage 1: Prepare for the Journey
Create an older-generation database.
key players and partners
helpers and cheerleaders
anyone else in the church with a heart for engaging the next generation
Create a young adult database.
currently in the church
currently out of town
currently in town but not in the church
Take inventory.
current effective young adult ministry programming
current calendar for young adult ministry
Stage 2: Engage Your Traveling Companions
Identify the roles you’ll need on the young adult ministry team.
Recruit a team of partners and key players.
Gather the team for orientation to clarify roles.
Schedule regular team meetings.
Identify a point leader for your church’s young adult ministry initiative.
As soon as possible, invite young adults who share a passion for young adult ministry to serve in meaningful roles on the team.
Stage 3: Learn the Landscape
Become fluent in the world of young adult ministry (working through this and other books).
Establish a process for getting to know specific young adults in your church and community.
Work the process of getting to know specific young adults in your church and community.
List all the places in your community that influence young adults.
Establish habits of continuing to build relationships and make connections with young adults who aren’t yet part of your church.
Stage 4: Try a Few Excursions
Identify a young adult-friendly mission to invite young adults to participate in.
Engage an approximately equal number of young adults and older adults in your first short-term (two- to four-hour) mission excursion.
Based on the first prototype excursion, schedule additional mission excursions.
Stage 5: Pack Your Bags
Develop basic control documents for your young adult ministry.
an updated database
a missional calendar for the next twelve months
an updated website with all pertinent information about your young adult ministry
a communications game plan, including social media (for an example see “Communication Game Plan” online at ivpress.com/sustainable-young-adult-ministry).
a master list of possible leadership roles in which young adults can serve in your church
a budget for the young adult ministry for the coming year
a volunteer recruitment and training process (for an example see “Volunteer Recruitment and Training” online at ivpress.com/sustainable-young-adult-ministry).
a job description for each of your young adult ministry staff and volunteers, if necessary (for an example see “Ministry Job Descriptions” at ivpress.com/sustainable-young-adult-ministry).
a preventive maintenance calendar to ensure that your leadership team regularly tends to fundamental systems required to keep the ministry healthy (for an example see “Preventive Maintenance Calendar” at ivpress.com/sustainable -young-adult-ministry).
a game plan for celebrating rites of passage for sending young adults into new phases of life and new ministry opportunities (for an example see “Creating a Sending Culture and Launching Rituals” at ivpress.com/sustainable-young-adult-ministry).
a young adult ministry manual that includes all the above documents
Draft visioning documents for your young adult ministry.
mission statement
tagline
core values
three-year measurable goals with one-year benchmarks
an organizational chart
Note. At this point, you haven’t formally invited a single young adult to attend your church or to participate in a young adult class or small group. You’ve simply partnered with them in missional experiences and worked to build collaborative friendships between young adults and other generations. Should young adults choose to develop a class, Bible study, or mission project, the Young Adult Ministry Team will support the efforts of young adults launching and guiding these programs themselves.
As a general rule, wait to offer traditional young adult programming until you have at least ten regularly connected young adults engaged and at least fifty young adults in your database. If you aren’t at this point yet, don’t proceed to step 6 (where most failing ministries try to begin). Instead, go back through the previous steps, continuing to build more relationships with young adults and to invite them more regularly into missional excursions.
Step 6: Plan Your Trip
Draft a plan for developing young leaders for your church.
In collaboration with young adults, determine your program offerings for next year.
Create an informal laboratory for incubating the missional dreams of young adults.
Draft a plan for infusing your church with an intentionally intergenerational DNA.
Step 7: Launch Your Journey
Launch the first prototype to implement your game plan for developing young leaders.
Launch the first prototype for incubating the missional dreams of young adults.
Launch the first prototype of placing young adults into specific church-leadership positions.
Launch the first prototype designed to infuse your church with an intentionally intergenerational DNA.
Step 8: Sustain and Improve the Journey
Iterate and improve your game plan for developing young leaders.
Iterate and improve your game plan for incubating the missional dreams of young adults.
Iterate and improve your game plan for placing young adults into specific church-leadership positions.
Iterate and improve your game plan for infusing your church with an intentionally intergenerational DNA. This includes short-term equipping opportunities.