Catchy title, eh?
In a couple previous blogs, here and here, I wrote about the need for a youth ministry to have an infrastructure and systems to ensure sustainability. Well, control documents are a part of that needed infrastructure.
Perhaps I should first explain what control documents are, in case you’re not already aware of the term. Control documents are essentially management tools. They help those who serve in an organization to do their jobs both efficiently and effectively. Some examples of control documents that we’re currently developing are:
- a youth directory with names, phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, birthdays, etc.
- job descriptions for myself, my adult leaders, and my student apprentice-leaders (we currently have job descriptions for Youth Sabbath School Teachers, Discipleship Coordinator, Outreach Coordinator, Social Events Coordinator, Worship Coordinator, and Mentors)
- a youth leader’s lifestyle covenant
- a youth ministries budget
- event/project record forms
- event/project application, parental permission, and medical release forms
- an annual curriculum guide (I wrote about how I’m doing Sabbath School a little differently in a previous blog.)
- an organizational flow chart
Many of these are lacking in a typical church youth ministry, and yet they are critical to a sustainable youth ministry. Maybe you’re thinking, “Man, I got into youth ministry to hang out with the kids and have fun! I don’t want to bother with all that stuff!” But the reality is that if you don’t bother with all this stuff, the fun will eventually run out, and you’ll be looking for another job. If you want to be in youth ministry long term (and I hope you do), take the time to develop and use control documents.
The good news is that you don’t have to create all these documents from scratch. There are some awesome youth leaders out there who have been doing this for many years, have developed some great tools, and are willing to share those tools with you–for free! Doug Fields, who has been in youth ministry for over 20 years, has provided a variety of forms here. Mark DeVries, who has also been in youth ministry for over 20 years, has provided some excellent forms here. While your forms ultimately need to fit your specific context (so you can’t exactly cut-and-paste), most of the work is already done for you.
If you’d like to see specifically what we’ve done with our control documents and forms, email me, and I’ll send you copies.
What control documents or forms does your church’s youth ministry use? Anything I didn’t list above? Have you discovered other resources that have aided you in the administrative side of your youth ministry?
[image by Denis Vrublevski]
