By Brian Mann 

Ever wonder if you’re being effective in the ministry you do? I do all the time – and I think other youth workers wonder the same thing. How do we know if we’re truly making a difference in the lives of our teenagers? How do we measure effectiveness or “success” in our ministry?

Is it about the number of teenagers who come to our youth group or go out on mission trips? Is it about how awesome our program is or how many teen leaders we have? Really - how do we know we’re doing the right things?

I read books and visit websites about youth ministry – because I’m sure ther are cool people out there with better ideas than mine – and I’m always looking for new ways to share an old truth. Some books tell me how to be a good leader. Other books tell me how to be a good speaker or presenter. There are books about mentoring, about group games, about video ideas and mission outreaches, you name it – every one of them trying to show me how to be relevant and effective as a youth leader. All good stuff for sure. 

But every youth leader wants to be relevant and effective. No one I know tries to bore teenagers with long talks or lame youth groups. We all strive to be as good and relevant and cool and fun as possible. Sometimes we ‘succeed’ and really impress our teenagers. We connect with them – a truth about God, a conversation, a personal story – and they get it. Other times, not so much.  

Success is fun to talk about. Failure isn’t. In the group that I help lead here in Sweden, we ended this last year with a big Christmas party. Everyone was there – we had a blast – it rocked. Then last week, we had our first youth group of the new year. Almost no teenagers came. People had good reasons – colds, flu, out of town, birthday parties, etc. But the night our leaders planned never happened. It’s usually at those points where the question sneaks back at me - how do I really know if I’m effective in my ministry? 

I was reading something a few days ago that made a lot of sense. An architect was explaining how, in ancient times, buildings were actually built in process, not from a pre-determined set of plans like they are today. In other words, the builder in charge had plenty of creative freedom even while the building was being built. In the end, success was determined by how well and beautifully the building was built, not by how closely it resembled the plans. That got me thinking. 

Youth work is a kind of building process. The books we read can give us a blueprint in our mind of what ministry should look like. But God never really called you or me to build groups – he called us to make disciples. Disciples are Jesus-followers, people who strive to look like Jesus more everyday – basically little Jesus-es. This changes everything – because then it’s not about following a preset plan. Instead, it’s about the creativity God gives us as leaders in the building process of our teenagers’ lives. This actually gives you and me creative influence in a teenager’s life as they grow into who God wants them to be. 

If every teenager is on his or her own journey of faith, then some are on the ground level of the building - wrestling, probably struggling with basic concepts of God and His ways. While others are several floors up, pursuing a daily walk with God, learning how to worship. (And a few seem stuck in the lift, constantly going up and down without much direction.) But God is the master builder, and youth workers are His hands and feet in the lives of teenagers. Youth evangelism, mentoring, friendships, discipleship – it’s all a building process. This was starting to remind me of a verse in the Psalms - "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain." (Ps. 127:1) 

I don’t know about you, but that verse always wakes me up, as if God were saying, “Brian, these are my teenagers and unless your ministry is rooted in bringing teenagers to me, you’re actually just wasting your time.” That’s usually when I realize that I’ve been trying to accomplish spiritual goals by human effort – doing my best to be a good leader with a cool youth group in the process – and all the time wondering how well everyone thinks I’m doing. 

I guess the point is – we can’t know. We can’t really know if we’re being effective. But it’s ok. We can trust in the God who made us, made teenagers, and decided to put us together for a season of ministry. We can trust that our interactions with teenagers will bear fruit one day. Back to the building analogy, it’s like the people in the Middle Ages who spent their entire lives building the great cathedrals of Europe. Because they often took centuries to build, most of the builders would never live long enough to see the beauty and splendour of the finished work. They had to trust that their work wasn’t in vain. And that’s pretty much what you and I have to do. But that’s good news. 

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1:6) Keep trusting God’s plan for your teenagers’ lives. And keep striving for passionate, relevant, fun, life-changing youth ministry. It’s so important and so needed. But don’t get caught up in creating the perfect youth group according to someone’s idea – even your own. God has to build the house. Be with your teenagers, live life with them, show them Jesus. And don’t miss the building process – even if it’s one brick at a time.