Pulling the Plug

About a year ago I began working with the youth group at a local Church on Wednesday nights. This was a very exciting thing for me because I love working with teenagers. I also believe that youth work is part of my ministry here in Australia. The ministry was a challenge because I did not know any of the young people at that church (I attend another one on Sundays). But I prayed as the ministry began that God would give me wisdom and guidance in what to do on Wednesday nights.

We started out small with five teens coming regularly. That actually helped things because I was able to get to know them better. Over time I began to learn what kind of ministry made the strongest impact upon their lives. And adapted my teaching style to one that met their needs. Instead of spending twenty minutes on Scripture I gave a fifteen minute devotional and followed that up with lots of discussion.

After adapting to their way of doing things more teens started to show up on Wednesdays. We started getting around thirteen every week! This made it a lot harder to control the larger group but it also was encouraging to see the ministry grow. Over the summer the youth group did not meet on Wednesdays. This gave me a chance to talk with the other youth leaders and plan what we wanted to do in the coming year.

Unfortunately for a number of reasons the youth group meetings have struggled greatly. Partly because the parents don't come to Church on Wednesday nights. Part of it is because the teenagers have other obligations at school or with sports teams. Some families with children are no longer attending the Church. For whatever reason we now two teens showing up each week, and three at the most.

This situation is hard because I am faced with a very difficult decision. I could continue ministering to the few teenagers that come on Wednesdays and pray that others start coming. Or I could totally change the way we do the youth ministry. The first choice means I just keep doing what I have been but with more energy. In the latter situation we would shut down the meetings on Wednesday for a short amount of time (a month to two months) and spend those weeks praying about what to do next. Planning and thought about future plans will take place during that time as well.

A few weeks ago I gave serious thought to that decision on the way home from a Wednesday evening service. It was a bit discouraging to think about going from thirteen teens to one or two. But at the same time it helped me understand what to do in the situation. Before getting home that night I decided to temporarily pull the plug on those youth meetings. There were a few reasons for my making that decision. But the strongest one was the fact that the ministry was simply not working any more.

Surprisingly there was a voice in my mind that did not want me to do that. It practically screamed that it would be too embarassing to admit that the ministry was not working. The voice encouraged me to simply go out and continue doing what I had been. Only this time I needed to put more of myself into it. And above all other things it told me that admiting the ministry on Wednesday nights did not accomplish its purpose made me a failure.

I know that voice all too well. It is my human pride that demands I never show any kind of weakness. It is in direct conflict with another voice in my mind. That of the Holy Spirit which reminds me that change is not a sinful thing. And that adapting or recreating a ministry when necessary brings great glory to God. I am not sure what the new ministry on Wednesday nights will look like. The new plan may fail miserably. But I do know that it is better to change and grow as a ministry than to ignore the fact that you are slowly dying.