Organisation of the Youth Ministry

4.Within the English Ministry, youth ministry refers to the ministry groups and activities that are specifically targeted at high school students, and to some extent, early university students.

5.The youth ministry is generally comprised of a number of ministry groups in which, besides the Evening Service, high school student etc. would meet. In this document, these are known as fellowship groups, as this is the most common structure by which these ministry groups are organised.

6.Structurally, fellowship groups are generally better suited to youth ministry as opposed to small groups. This is because fellowship groups allow group members to make contact with more people that would be possible under a small group structure. This, in turn, allows group members to learn and respect the differences inherent amongst the individual group members. This is particularly important as during this stage of development, group members are likely to enter into a stage of mutual role-taking.

Organisation of Fellowship Groups

7.There are a number of overlapping terms describing people that are involved in a particular fellowship group.

8. Group members are people in the target group of the fellowship group who attends the fellowship group. The fellowship group may have a Committee, which consists of selected group members, that forms the leadership of the group. Groups members that are part of the Committee are known as Committee members.

9.As a complement to the Committee, there are usually a number of advisers to the group. The key difference between a Committee member and an adviser is that an adviser is generally outside the target group of the fellowship group. As will be explained later, the role of Committee members and advisers are different.

10.Committee members and advisers are collectively known as fellowship group leaders, ministry group leaders, or simply leaders.

Younger vs. Older

11.This document often refers to younger-aged and older-aged fellowship groups. This recognises the fact that in youth ministry we are dealing with a wide age group with very different characteristics at each end. In this document these two terms refer more about the developmental stage of the group members than their actual age.

12.As a result, it would not be appropriate to prescribe a precise cut-off point between a younger-aged and an older-aged fellowship groups. However, fellowship groups dealing with junior high school students (up to about year 9) can generally be classified as younger-aged, whereas groups dealing with more senior students can generally be classified as older-aged.

The Wider Strategy

27.Each fellowship group's tactics should be consistent with the overall strategy of the English Ministry, and the wider church as a whole. In fact, given that the English Ministry's strategy is already spelt out in EMD 10 Manifesto of the English Ministry, it may not be necessary to have a "mission statement" for a fellowship group at all.

28.One of the implications of this, is that fellowship groups, like all the other ministry groups within the English Ministry, aim to:

Proclaim and defend the truth of the gospel in the world for the redemption of a holy people of God.

This is in the light that, at least for those who have been brought up in Sunday School, the junior high school years are crucial in group members' understanding of their relationship with God.

Serve each other in encouragement, biblical teaching, discipleship and fellowship, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, to build us in faith, knowledge and maturity in Christ so that in everyday living God may be honoured.

Fellowship groups are one of the key environments whereby training in these things occur.

29.Another implication is that leaders should consider the Core Principles of Ministering in the English Ministry in the Manifesto when formulating tactics. This is explored in the subsections below.

Physical and Spiritual Maturity

30.Consideration of group members is extremely important in formulating tactics for a particular fellowship groups (Principles 3 and 4 of the Core Principles). A useful model to do this is to consider both the physical and spiritual maturities of the group members. The next two paragraphs provide extremely simplified descriptions of these two concepts.

31. Physical maturity refers to the group's members physical and mental development. A group member physically matures as the member goes through adolescence. A group member's intellectual capacity, emotional, moral and social needs are different at each stage of the physical maturity process. A rudimentary indicator of physical maturity is age-sex.

32. Spiritual maturity refer to the group member's spiritual development as a Christian. A group member spiritually matures as the member knows God deeper. A rudimentary indicated of spiritual maturity is how long the person has been a Christian.

33.It is useful to consider these two maturities when formulating tactics as plans that are appropriate to the members' spiritual maturity may not be appropriate to the members' physical maturity. For example, in-depth Bible studies, while appropriate to a older-aged, spiritually mature fellowship group, may not be the most appropriate medium for ministry in younger-aged fellowship groups, even when the spiritual maturities of both groups are similar.

34.One final note about these two maturities is that they are interdependent: one feeds off the other. Thus it would be appropriate for both these two concepts to be considered together when formulating tactics.

Parental Relations (Level 2 Ministries)

35.Many fellowship groups, especially at the younger ages, exist as Level 2 ministries. This means that there is a strong need to involve the parents in the Chinese Congregations.

36.Fellowship groups should take into consideration the effect on their tactics and operations on the Chinese Congregations in general, and the parents in particular. This means that fellowship groups could be constrained by what they could or could not do. This calls for particularly innovative thinking on the part of the fellowship group leaders to develop plans that would satisfy both the group's aims and parental concerns.

37.Of course, there may be certain matters where the fellowship group is unable to compromise. Fellowship group leaders should identify these as early as possible and tactfully communicate them to parents.

38.In general, frequent and comprehensive communication to parents is particularly important in Level 2 ministries. It has been found from past experience that meeting with parents about twice a year (April/October) has been useful in providing opportunities for parents and fellowship group leaders to better understand each other.