The 6 Building

Blocks of Culture

How do you build a youth ministry? You change the culture of it. How do you change the culture of a youth ministry? You start in 6 specific areas: language, groups, spaces, events, leaders, and ownership. When all 6 of these building blocks are working together, a youth ministry becomes healthy and grows.

Block #1: Language

Block #1: Language

Every group has interior language, or words used to communicate meaning. In order to grow a culture, you have to inspect what is being said in everything from the sermon to the emails/text, and even the way the core values are communicated can push people towards dysfunction or wholeness.

Block #2: Groups

Block #2: Groups

Groups are the life-blood of any ministry. It allows students to receive community on a scale that’s bigger than one person, and it allows other leaders to use their gifts for the betterment of the group. Healthy churches has healthy small groups

Block #3: Spaces

Block #3: Spaces

Does your youth service provide spaces for students to build community or to think critically? Or is everything orchestrated to be a consumer relationship? Good communities provide spaces for students to be themselves and gives them an opportunity to invite their friends into a comfortable place

Block #4: Leaders

Block #4: Leaders

You need student leaders and adult leaders to be truly effective. The best ideas and moments come from the collective creativity of a group of people, not just one person. Any healthy youth group is lead by healthy systems that empower both student and adult leaders.

Block #5: Events

Block #5: Events

Events allow students to build anticipation, invite their friends, and create moments of impact. Quality events can change a students life and allow a youth group to come together like no other thing can.

Block #6: Ownership

Block #6: Ownership

Organizations that succeed have this ownership of the goals from top to bottom. When a youth ministry adopts the idea of ownership and people run forward with that idea, it creates a group that self-diagnoses problems and gives anyone the ability to fix it. Ownership creates a thriving, healthy system.

  • All of this depends on a number of factors, but if you implement these 5 building blocks, you should start seeing results in 3-6 months and really experience a momentum change in a year to two years

  • Yes! The benefit of this strategy is that it isn't based on the personality of one person, the skill of one department, or the funding of a church. Its grassroots and focuses on becoming a healthy culture first, and that healthy culture allows a youth ministry to grow effectively

  • Send me an email and lets talk about it!

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