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 | Jonathan’s Resource Ezine |
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
- Free Training Tools: Training Your Own Volunteers? Top 5 Training Methods You Can Do Yourself
- Youth Culture Window: What Kids (Really) Want?Their Greatest Desire May Surprise?and Change?You
- Something You Can Use: Toby Mac “Lose My Soul” Music Discussion
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The answer was as quick as a web link. Because our free TRAINING TOOLS page has a tool titled “Training Your Own Volunteers” with the TOP 5 training methods you can do yourself. Take a peek!
–Jonathan
When you hear the word “training,” what comes to mind? A large conference? A Saturday workshop? Bringing in a professional to train your team? These are all excellent options, but in most situations they can only happen once a year…if that.
What do we do if we would like to train and equip our ministry team more than just once in a great while?
As the leader of a ministry, you can make training and equipping a regular occurrence… and a fun one, at that. Our adult leaders (paid and/or volunteer) can always use a steady dose of youth culture updates, ministry tips and helps. It’s up to you how often you want to do this. Some leaders make training times a regular part of a weekly leader meeting; others make it a monthly thing. I prefer a monthly time of training and equipping combined with fellowship and teambuilding.
A few years ago when I had a team of volunteers working with my campus outreach ministry, we made it a priority to get together once a month around food. I found that all my volunteers enjoyed two things: food and socializing. So I decided to provide both, with a little dash of training and equipping. My budget was small so we just did a potluck dinner at a different house each month. My volunteers seemed eager to host it at their house each time. All of us would bring various food dishes and we would spend the first hour just eating and enjoying each other’s company.
Once we finished eating, I usually led a teambuilding activity, much like the ones we provide on our Team Builders page now. After the team builder I spend a little time teaching them about youth culture or sharpening our ministry skills. Some of the key topics I covered each year were evangelism, leading small groups, connecting with kids, or even balancing discipline with grace.
I encourage you to make training and equipping a regular part of your ministry. The kids you are reaching deserve it.
The Top 5 Training Methods You Can Do Yourself
The following training and equipping ideas are some of the easiest, cheapest, and yet most effective training methods you can make a regular part of your ministry calendar.
For example: you could just use our most recent YOUTH CULTURE WINDOW article that we provide each week (in the magnifying glass on the front page). Use our “printer friendly” function and print out copies of the article for everyone…
But that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be cheap, either.
Disappearing Face Time
If you’re part of a typical American family, you’re constantly strapped for time. Life is busy, work is demanding, and kids participate in every sort of extracurricular activity imaginable. Tag on chores, school, and homework, and you’ve got a recipe for family members living together…yet isolated in silos.
There’s little to no “face time.”
In fact, Dr. Robert Evans, author of Family Matters, notes, “A typical father will spend less than three minutes per day alone with a child who has reached his or her teenage years.”
And this shortfall of face time couldn’t come at a more crucial?or ironic?moment. In a landmark study by the Associated Press and MTV, performed in 2007, researchers discovered that a whopping 73 percent of teens said their mothers and/or fathers made them “happy.” (No, that’s not a typo.) And when asked, “What one thing in life makes you the most happy?” the most frequent answer given was “spending time with family.” (Nope, that’s not a typo, either!)
You might be thinking to yourself: “Yeah, but that was three years ago. The iPhone was invented, and reinvented, several more times since that research was performed. Kids don’t want me around; they want stuff, entertainment, and whatever else my hard-earned money buys.”
Well…
In a brand new survey by Family Circle, 25 percent of teens claimed they wanted more time with their parents. In fact, one 16-year-old guy actually said, “I think it’d be cool if my parents worked less, just because I’d get to see them more.”
Granted, 70 percent of the kids interviewed said they were content with the amount of attention they received from their parents, but mark this in your heart: 95 percent of teens are paying very close attention to how much quality time parents spend with them.
So, what should we do this?
A Note from Jonathan:In my travels to churches, camps, and events across the country, there’s one Christian song that I hear in every crowd… without exception. The song is catchy and the lyrics are solid. What better resource to use as a springboard for discussion with our kids! I’m referring to TobyMac’s hit song, Lose My Soul. Here’s a brand new curriculum from our music discussion page using the song to jumpstart discussion about the draw of worldly desires?”gaining the whole world” and how that can pull us away from God’s purpose for us, and from a close relationship with Him.
TobyMac – Lose My Soul(featuring Kirk Franklin & Mandisa)
The Song: “Lose My Soul”
TobyMac’s “Lose My Soul,” which appears on his albums Alive and Transported and Portable Sounds, is an oldie (relatively speaking) but still very much…
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Jonathan McKee
Jonathan McKee is the author of over twenty books including the brand new The Guy's Guide to FOUR BATTLES Every Young Man Must Face; The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices; If I Had a Parenting Do Over; and the Amazon Best Seller - The Guy's Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. He speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers on TheSource4YM.com. Jonathan, his wife Lori, and their three kids live in California.