This is the ‘vision’ I see panning out for the youth work/ministry at Malmesbury Abbey.  Its based on the our core values of youth work: voluntary participation, empowerment, equality of opportunity and informal education.  And a few ideas that I have stolen from other book etc.

WHAT

I really like DEEP & WIDE from Dare2Share , I came across it through Life in Student Ministry but I found that their strategy for implementing DEEP & WIDE would not translate well into my context so I ‘borrowed’ the terms but left the strategy!

DEEP & WIDE helps us know WHAT we are.

Abbey youth…a missional community striving to go DEEP into God’s love and WIDE into the world

WHY & WHO

I made us of some of the  Purpose Driven Youth Ministry first because it makes you ask WHY.  Then the ‘target audience’ part makes you ask WHO.  The TA I think is far to rigid and we live a much more fluid world then I think TA gives credit but I use TA for big brushstrokes.

HOW

I inherited a lot of great youth ministry.  And at one level I had to think how it could fit into the above.  Fortunately I didn’t have too much trouble.  This is how I think it all fits together…

WHO

are we trying to reach?

Main Group

 WHAT

is our aim?

Main Aim

 HOW

will we try to do this?

Programmes
Community (no contact) WIDE (Evangelism) Detached (not yet in place)
Congregation (Some contact) WIDE (Evangelism) Friday Night Thing (open aimed at non-churched)
Committed (Regular contact) DEEP (Discipleship) Pipeline/Trax
Core (Leader) DEEP (Discipleship) Pipeline +

THOUGHTS

  • Is shaped a great deal from inherited youth work
  • Has to work in mid-sized church
  • I need to expand on missional
  • A lot of the current youth ministry focuses on DEEP need more WIDE
  • It quite modernistic
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