By Dan Kreienkamp
When we originally planned this article, it was about increasing attendance in youth groups. It’s something that I think all youth workers struggle with, and we sometimes fear that our ministry is dependent on how many students show up on Wednesday or Sunday or whatever day you gather.
But my first question is this: What if 5,000 teenagers showed up at your church? What if they all came for the free pizza? Would you really want to feed the 5,000 teenagers?
Large groups seem great, and a crowd makes you feel successful, but is this really impactful?
Take a look at the Gospel story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 in Mark 6:30–42. It seems like a large youth event. It’s a bunch of hungry, restless people just hanging out. Jesus describes the crowd as sheep without a shepherd, and I have known teenagers to wander and look lost. (Although when it comes to middle-school students, it’s more like herding cats.) I wonder if Jesus ever had a dodgeball game start up right when he was ready to speak. Did he get their attention by clapping once, twice, three times? Okay, maybe I’m just projecting my own experiences on the story. But if 5,000 students showed up to my church, we would need a miracle.
As I read through this Scripture passage again, I realized that it wasn’t the large crowd that was truly impacted by this miracle. In fact, I’m not even sure the crowd knew they were part of a miracle. They probably went back home afterwards to finish homework or stay up all night watching Netflix. No, the real impact of the story was made on the disciples. They saw the crowd and heard Jesus tell them to feed them. They shared their doubts about the feasibility of such an act, and then they were amazed at the miracle Jesus performed. Jesus often made an impact on a small group of people. In fact, his most intense ministry came amidst 12 young men in a close setting.
I know that large-group events can really pump up students, and I don’t mean to say that a crowd is bad. But still, I want to point out that you don’t need huge numbers to be successful in ministry. Instead of trying to bring a crowd of 5,000 in, maybe the idea is to take your smaller group and go out to feed the 5,000.
Does this statement sound familiar?
“I’ve been losing youth to . . .” (You fill in the blank—sports, band, other activities.)
When it becomes a competition, then everyone will lose. What if it wasn’t about competition and numbers, but collaboration was the goal?
What kinds of student organizations or ministries could you partner with? (For example, Fellowship of Christian Athletes is in just about every school).
Are there large events that already happen (like sports games) that your group can go to for the purpose of serving in Jesus’ name?
In any case, your youth group isn’t supposed to be 5,000 teenagers, so don’t worry about ordering 1,875 pizzas (There’s a proven formula for this: number of students X 3 slices / 8 slices per pizza). Just leave the miracles and the feeding to Jesus.
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