I spent the first 20 years of my life in America. I then took a short trip to Australia that ended up lasting 23 years. Before going to Oz, my entire knowledge of the country came through the song, “Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport.” (Add to this “throw another shrimp on the Barbie” phrase and the Croc Hunter, and you have the total body of knowledge on Australia for most Americans.)

On my way to the Land Down Under I was in Hawaii where I saw a yacht from Sydney named “Fair Dinkum.” This was one of the strangest names I’ve ever seen. What kind of country would use this phase? (Let alone name a boat after it!) But a few months later I met my first Aussies, and they educated me as to the meaning of this puzzling expression. They told me it meant “true or trustworthy.” I still thought it was odd, but I accepted it and moved on.

So it’s ironic that many years later I’ve come to use this expression quite often myself. I often exclaim “Fair dinkum!” when I’m amazed or exasperated. Or I’ll use it to describe something as genuine, real, and true. (e.g., “Fair dinkum, it rains a lot in Vancouver!”)

It’s my contention that youth ministry today is, for the most part, not fair dinkum.

Not true. Not genuine.

I believe this is because, by and large, we have swallowed an event-style approach to youth ministry instead of a simpler, more authentic approach. If you’ll allow me to use “Anglican-speak”: In youth ministry, we’ve done what we ought not to have done and haven’t done what we ought to have done. How so? Simply put, many of us have gone down the road of youth ministry models that end with “al.” These “als” eventually led us to event-style youth ministry. To explain further, I need to point out the “ills” of the “als.”

“Al” #1: Attractional
The idea is simple: Instead of running a program for Christian young people, you run a program designed to attract the outsider and then bring her to faith in Christ. The usual method is through high-energy activities and entertainment (the event). Throughout the decades we’ve used a number of things to attract young people according to the culture of the day: Concerts, games—whatever we think will attract young people.

But this model tends to cloak the things that are really attractive about our faith: Jesus’ message, his sacrifice for us, and our love for each other. These things were always supposed to attract outsiders. Instead, we debate whether or not to fill our parking lots with skateboard ramps!

Due to this “al,” many of our churches view success in terms of numbers and sweaty crowds instead of real fruit.

“Al” #2: Intentional
The most common form of youth ministry involves intentional programming. This is a strategy of running a system of events intended to hit a target audience. The goal is to move them from outsiders who attend the event to disciples. Most of us have either attended a conference or read a book that pushes this strategy. Generally there’s a geometric diagram associated with this—funnels, archery targets, and baseball diamonds come to mind. Usually the intentional approach comes from a large church that “has grown from 50 to more than a thousand kids in just a few years.” (I hope you heard my “radio DJ” voice as you read the latter quotation!)
If you take a closer look at this model you’ll find many youth leaders tried the intentional approach with little success, as well as other leaders who dropped out of ministry due to the inevitable fatigue that accompanies the intentional approach. And you’ll find a large number of churches that lost kids to the “big church down the road,” robbing them of future leaders.

Jabbing a Needle into the Ills
Attractional and intentional. These two forces in youth ministry have dictated why most of us are committed to the event. And criticizing them is a bit like knocking your mother’s cooking—you’ve grown up on it, and it’s part of you whether you like it or not.

However, there are a number of questions that must be raised. (Please note that I’m in no way questioning the integrity of anyone who’s used these ministry styles.)

We must be careful to avoid copying megachurches.
Those of us who’ve visited some of the successful, event-based churches may have had disconcerting experiences. We drive through the 1,000-space parking lots in amazement. (“A thousand cars!?! We don’t even have 100 people!”) We scratch our heads as we walk through the buildings with their thermostatically controlled windows (“Wow, they open and close automatically!) We marvel at the coifed preacher (“How does he do that with his hair?”). This experience can lead you to believe that not only are there a lot of cars in the parking lot— there are space ships as well.

It is my experience that we need to have a healthy degree of hesitation before we try and replicate what megachurches have. In my study of these churches, there was the right mix of ingredients that led them to achieve what they did. These ingredients aren’t present in most other churches (e.g., a dynamic senior pastor, a great music team, and solid research that led them to plant a certain style of church that the locals wanted).

We must be careful of the “bigger is better; more is more” youth ministry approach.
I hope I don’t need to convince you that a larger youth group event isn’t necessarily a better one. But unfortunately many of us run events in desperation to bring the crowds that’ll make us feel successful. The road we walk must be a narrow one. It usually isn’t crowded and is walked by few.

Give up any model that aims for quantity first. Quality must be our aim. To put it bluntly, I’ve seen too many youth events that offer nothing more than a cheap night out.

We must be careful of shallow waters.
There’s a famous expression used to describe some churches: “A mile wide and an inch deep.” Events that produce nothing more than a crowd are pointless. If they bring real conversion, real Christian community, and deeper walks with Jesus—great. If not, drop them and move on to ministry that does.

Moving toward a Conclusion
One of my favorite films is the original Batman movie (the real one with Adam West, not the fraudulent later versions). In one of the more memorable scenes, Batman is running around on a boat dock trying to dispose of a bomb. As he runs from one side to the other, he exclaims, “Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb.”

In the same way, it’s very difficult to let go of the “event style” of youth ministry. But this is a bomb that we must get rid of.

How?

For some of us it’ll take a total turnaround away from what we’ve held dear in youth ministry.

We must rethink our strategic priorities.
We must reconsider where we put our time and effort in youth ministry. If you have any young people in your church, you must focus your immediate energies on bringing them to maturity in Christ. Forget about running “events” to reach outsiders as your priority.

Instead, spend time with your regulars and equip and encourage them in the faith. In our desperate attempts to win outsiders to Christ we’ve sacrificed too many Christian teenagers on the altar of the event.

Following on from this we must…

Rethink our understanding of effective evangelism.
The best evangelism is people-based, not event-based. Most of us know this. Therefore we must raise up a new generation of young people who are “salt and light” and “live such good lives among the pagans that the non-Christian will see their good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (Matthew 5:13-16; 1 Peter 2:12). Our goal must be to develop teenagers who are spiritually attractive. Do this and you’ll remove any need for an “event.”

Mix edification and evangelism.
The event-as-evangelism idea came about because of a theological position built on the premise that one youth meeting cannot be both for the believer and the non-believer. So we have separate meetings to serve both types of people (hence the intentional style of programming). This isn’t the model we see in the Bible, however, and in the end, it’s an unnecessary use of our time and resources.

We must learn to run weekly gatherings filled with Christian joy and Christian content. Our aim must be to help those who believe to grow in their faith and those who don’t know Jesus to hear about him. And instead of using the first 45 minutes of our gatherings to play silly games for the sake of the outsider, let’s fill that time with meaningful content that’s helpful and enjoyable.

For many of us, this is a foreign concept—and it’ll be tough at first. Once you get it though, you won’t go back to the old way of different gatherings for different stages of belief (or non-belief).

We must work toward refiguring the sad geometry of our churches.
One of the main problems with the event is that it has taught us to meekly accept that we’ll see a large drop in numbers in youth ministry. This is one of the cores of the event—kids come to the show, kids enjoy the show, kids leave the show. We must actively work against the sad geometry of our churches (i.e., imagine a pyramid—as the kids get older, they get fewer in number).

Strategic youth leaders see that real growth happens over a long period of time. They do everything in their power to ensure that young people grow into strong adults. They accomplish this by bridging the gap between the children’s ministries, youth ministries, and adult population.

We must leave the numbers game to others.
One of the main reasons the event style of ministry has such a strong grip on us is that it appears to be a key to winning the numbers game. We see a crowd come to something; we run to it and feel as though it was worthwhile. Just remember that it’s not a sin to be small. It’s been said countless times before, but our aim is quality not quantity.

Finally, we must see that youth ministry is hard work—it’s “fair dinkum.”
The problem with the event is that it’s just too easy, and real ministry is rarely easy. Real ministry—fair dinkum ministry—takes time and effort. It’s three steps forward and two steps back. It’s not built on quick solutions or simple formulas designed to bring a crowd. Many of us need to change our thinking, smash the mold we’ve inherited, and begin again.

This is very hard to do.

Regardless it’s my contention that God has raised up a generation of spiritually hungry young people longing for Christian community. This postmodern culture is quite possibly the easiest generation to reach in a long time. They long for meaning. They’re searching for community. They want to participate and connect with the things of God.

Fair dinkum, drop your events and move on to something more successful.