Youth Pastors : Billy Kennedy & Dave Bonniface

Context

• adult congregation of approx 800
• full-time youth pastor (not hands on); 2 part-time youth pastors; 1 full time youth administrator.
• youth staff workers (ie.volunteers)
• predominantly middle-class
• adult church not cell-church
• church has own building in centre of town, youth have own (shared) meeting hall (share with Sun-AM ministries)

History

• transitioned to cell approximately 5 years ago with 5 groups - it was birthed out of a Wed night prayer meeting with the ‘committed core’ of youth, needing to ‘get a handle’ on them and to disciple them better
• grew to 14 cells within 10 months and 18 cells within 12 months (they had about 100 attending their Sat night youth church at this time and 800 youth rocking up to a now regional monthly worship event called Cutting Edge)
• currently they maintain a similar number in cells.

Weekly Structure

SAT pm Sublime (13-18 yr olds)

SUN am ARC (18-25 yr old)

Midweek Cells

Leaders G12 (fortnightly)

Youth Church (Sublime)

• Creative” approach - no chairs, lighting, smoke machines, lighting.
• interview” format with couches /spotlight
• focus on worshipping

Cells

• follow wwww for most
• meet on varied nights midweek, all in homes
• recently de-formalised external structure: ie allowed leaders to chose target group they wished to disciple rather than deciding on what structure they wanted and allocating leaders accordingly.
• varied cell demographics, ie. mixed seniors/junior girls/mixed juniors
• utilised mostly 5 x 5 structure/method until recently transitioned to some G12 principles and approaches.

Equipping/Training/Resources

• sustenance” - private, devotional material
• Christianity Explained” (used in schools)- FRESH resources
• teaching weekends to equip
• no specific equipping track - “equip leaders to resource their disciples” (ie to provide them with the appropriate “sustenance” material or other material)
• transitioning to some G12 methods.
• Fast Track” for leaders- ie. recommended reading/daily devotions.
• youth pastor meets with all key leaders every 3-4 weeks and then individually once a month.
• fortnightly “discipling” cells established with staff - 12 leaders/apprentices each (with focus on building relationship and transparency and accountability).

Strengths

• innovative/creative
• leadership development: have managed to train up new/next generation before seniors leave for university.
• musical worship focus/enthusiasm
• utilising technology to motivate young people (very successful website and web ministry)
• not afraid of change/honest evaluation.
• resource development

Weaknesses/Issues

• previous wave of passion needs to be re-ignited
• ‘cell concept’ feeling a bit tired (young people now lacking enthusiasm for it) and looking to some G12 principles to build depth and strength again.
• needing to break through with real transparency. Starting with leaders with mentoring-focused fortnightly “discipleship groups” (ie. G12s), and using weekend retreats/camps for different age groups.
• not bringing in “the lost” (have a separate outreach ministry - youth club in an estate housing area, but this is seen more as a church plant - youth from these backgrounds do not relate well to adult church and are not encouraged to be integrated.)

(8)NORTHDOWN CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CENTRE