Youth Ministry Resources - Evaluating What You Need

I can still hear some of the most dreaded words from my childhood
ringing in my ears. "It is time for spring cleaning." I did not really
fear the work, but I really feared losing my stuff. We can be the same
way as student pastors. Many times we have the youth ministry
resources that we have known and loved for years, and they have become
like a security blanket for us. But we need to always be in a constant
state of re-evaluation, and the materials we use are no exception. We
may not have to get rid of everything, I'm pretty sure I still have a
handheld version of Tetris somewhere. But we do need to at least look
at everything and decide what is necessary. We need to ponder on what
is still relevant to our students and our community. We have to ask
the tough questions about whether or not what we are doing is
working.For example, I am sure you play some games. This category of
youth ministry resources is probably the toughest one for me.
Honestly, I do not enjoy games that much, and I go back and forth on
whether or not we should play them. But I have found them useful for
community building and for object lessons. Not to mention the
usefulness of wearing out a middle school student or two. But I have
learned they are not a one size fits all. A game may be great with one
age group but not another. Or sometimes, groups are just different.
One 7th grade group may be high energy, and want to run around, and
next year's group may like to sit around a table. You have to be
sensitive to this.Sermons can be the same way. Are you preaching the
same sermon over and over again? Is it working? Maybe it is time to
change it up a little. There are plenty of youth ministry resource
sites out there with fresh ideas for sermons and lessons. Why not
check one of them out and see what happens.We have to be willing to
change in some areas and be flexible on occasion, but be sensitive to
where this needs to happen. You do not necessarily have to literally
throw everything away. Some things definitely come back in to style.
But we do have to give everything a good look. Is it time for you to
do a little spring cleaning?