Tony Payne’s recent article in The Briefing, summarises recent research into the growth of the Anglican Church in Sydney. It’s a good overview of some very interesting research.

Particularly interesting are the conclusions in the research that relate to youth ministry:

Sydney Anglicans seem to be doing a good job of ministry to teenagers. We have about the same percentage of that age group in our congregations as in the population as a whole…

The inference that Sydney Anglicans are quite good at youth ministry is born out in National Church Life Survey figures that show significantly higher levels of satisfaction for children’s and youth programs in Sydney than in other parts of Australia.

Tony Payne concludes saying, “There is a story to tell about youth ministry in Sydney, and why it has been so successful over the past 40 years, but we must leave that for another time.” Perhaps this blog can be a place to start talking about that story, and the story of where we go from here.

The first thing to note about the youth ministry story in Sydney is that, though the overall data indicates a certain level of success, the reality is that the story is patchy. NCLS data from 2006 tells us that just under half of the churches in the Diocese have five or less twelve to fourteen year-olds (Junior High School), and just over half have five or less fifteen to eighteen year-olds (Senior High School). Only 16 of the 270 parishes in the Diocese had over 40 in junior high school, and 16 had over 50 in senior school. We’d always expect there to be a range of sizes of youth ministries, just as there is a range of sizes of churches. But the extreme distribution of ‘haves’ versus ‘have-nots’ makes for a more complex story.

From my perspective the patchy nature of youth ministry in Sydney offers an immense opportunity. We have good ideas on how to do youth ministry that have, under God, seen many young people come to faith and take their part in the life of the church. We have many opportunities to establish effective youth ministry in places where there is little or no work being done at present. We also have opportunities to build the large number of youth groups of around 10-20 people into groups of 15-30. From conversations on the ground that work is already under way and NCLS 2011 will give us another snapshot of where we’re up to; but the task is far from complete.

Tony Payne asks two specific questions for youth ministry: How can we retain more young people as they move from Sunday School in year 6 through to youth group at age 15? How can we extend our success in youth ministry forward into the early-to-mid 20s? More broadly, we need to reflect on how we came to be here, and what we should do next?

I don’t have the answer to those questions.

Which doesn’t mean I don’t have any answers, just that I don’t have the answer. Those who are looking for a silver bullet, a bold new idea that is going to change everything, are going to search in vain. The complexity and diversity of our city, of our churches, and of youth ministers argues against any one-size-fits-all plan.

What we do have is a broad fellowship of people labouring in youth ministry in various places around Sydney (and beyond) who have already been engaging in the conversation about what’s going on in youth ministry and what we ought to be doing to move forward.

My plan over my next few posts is to give us the opportunity to hear from some of those practitioners and thinkers. I’ve asked various people to think about the essential principles that we need to hold to and the practical steps that we need to pursue in order to grow the church through youth ministry. None of us have the whole answer, none of us have the sole answer, but each of us has something to contribute to the conversation.

I’ll start with what should be obvious. An essential principle of youth ministry that ought to frame our practice, irrespective of context is this: preach the word.

Our goal in youth ministry is to see young people established and nurtured in the fellowship of the church as missional disciples of Jesus. Though there will be various elements of a youth ministry program that support and flow out of that goal, youth ministry is fundamentally a ministry of the gospel. That doesn’t mean the answer to growing a youth group is to have three-hour Bible studies on Zephaniah. This is not a prescription of form or style, but a fundamental principle that shapes the rest of our plans and activities.

Our mission in youth ministry is no different to the mission of the Diocese: To glorify God by proclaiming our saviour the Lord Jesus Christ in prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit, so that everyone will hear his call to repent, trust and serve Christ in love, and be established in the fellowship of his disciples while they await his return.The specific task of youth ministry is to pursue this end among young people.

My practical tip is this: where we are pursuing the ministry of the word among young people lets stick at it and finish the course. All things being equal, a ministry that has the same youth minister for six to ten years will grow more strongly than a ministry that chops and changes the youth ministry personnel.

Even if you could find a series of exceptionally gifted and highly skilled people to come and fill the youth ministry role in a church for a few years at a time, without long-term continuity they’re each going to struggle to build a sustainable ministry. They will struggle to establish relationships of trust with the young people, to build committed teams of leaders and to develop effective links with the surrounding community. Instead, a proven recipe for sustainable growth in youth ministry is to take a suitably gifted youth minister and give them the space to build a ministry over a number of years.

Preach the word, and stay the course.

Not the whole answer, but part of the answer, and a place to start the conversation.