First Baptist Church of Beaverton, Oregon

by Willy Hughes

We should have windows this week.  New door frames are waiting for new doors.   Each week, a few of us have been putting in extra hours to keep the remodel project moving forward while endeavoring to keep costs contained.  With the framing now complete, the electricians will begin their work.  Given the scope and purpose of the building use, the electrical phase will be significant, as we will also be installing sound, video, security, data, and other low voltage needs. 

We are not ready to guess an occupation date quite yet.  However, we are excited to move into this next phase.  If you want to come over and take a mini-tour, let me know.

by Willy Hughes

OUR PURPOSE STATEMENT

Our Youth Ministry’s purpose statement, although not unique, is one that we want EVERYONE to know. 

FBCBeaverton’s Youth Ministry Purpose Statement is developed from the five purposes of the church (Worship, Discipleship, Evangelism, Fellowship, Ministry).

To know I am a Child of God and to see others as such, “Our youth ministry exists to REACH non-believing students, to CONNECT them with other Christians, to help them GROW in their faith, and to challenge the growing to DISCOVER their ministry and HONOR God with their life.”

When people know our purpose they will better understand why we do what we do.

What does this purpose statement mean for you?

• REACH:          Who am I trying to reach for Christ?
• CONNECT:     Who is my small group of believers?
• GROW:           What am I doing to show my faith?
• DISCOVER:   Where is my place of service?
• HONOR:         How does my life honor Christ?

Let’s take a more detailed look at our purpose statement.

REACH —  The Student’s Action-Step , Friendship LIST

 You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill … Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.  Matt.5:14-16 (TM)

CONNECT — The Student’s Action-Step , Get in a LIFE GROUP

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love of one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. John 13: 34-35

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. James 5:16

 GROW — The Student’s Action-Step, Develop spiritual HABITS!

 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love–like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.  Eph. 4:14-16 (TM)

 DISCOVER  — The Student’s Action-Step      Discover your S.H.A.P.E. and find a MINISTRY

 God creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.   Eph. 2:10 (TM)

 He (God) handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with His gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.  Eph. 4:11-13 (TM)

 HONOR — The Student’s Action-Step, Change your LIFESTYLE

 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.   Rom. 12:1

by Willy Hughes

Our planned values help communicate and define our purpose statement. If you imagine our purpose statement as the “cake,” our planned values would be the “icing.” We feel strongly about these values and want them to be reflected in our ministry. These values come from our student and adult leaders.

FBCBeaverton Youth Ministry Planned Values

• Relational APPROACH
• Encouragement             
• Laughter & CELEBRATION 
• Acceptance         
• Transparency      
• Involvement of STUDENTS
• Outreach oriented
• Numerical GROWTH
• Spiritual growth
• H OME LIKE
• Intimate
• Professionalism
• Strategic FOLLOW UP

Which of these values do you feel most strongly about?

We want you to help us maintain these values within our Youth Ministry. We want to continue to discover ways in which we can evaluate the effectiveness of these values. Here’s one example of some questions we might ask:

ACCEPTANCE – Do students feel accepted before, during, and after the meeting?

1. Are all students greeted in the same way without condition to dress, looks, attendance, etc..?.
2. Does the spoken message isolate students of a particular group, school, race, etc..?.
3. Do students leave the meeting with the impression their presence was appreciated by someone?
4. Is there an expressed attitude from the leadership that shows concern over a student’s personal life?
5. Do members go out of their way to meet students, learn their names and ask about their personal lives?

by Willy Hughes

One of the elements of fulfilling our purpose statements is to identify the potential audience of students. We do this by recognizing five different groups of students.

• COMMUNITY, A Community student is committed to NOT ATTENDING church.
• CROWD, A Crowd student is committed to ATTENDING church.
• CONGREGATION, A Congregation student is committed to a LIFE GROUP
• COMMITTED, A Committed student is committed to HABITS necessary for spiritual growth.
• CORE, A Core student is committed to DOING MINISTRY

When you combine our purpose statement with the potential audience of students, you’ll see our goal is to reach the community and help move them toward the core.

Which audience would you consider yourself to be a part of?

by Willy Hughes

The process we use gives us a “big picture” of our youth ministry.  The steps allow a way in which we can attempt to measure growth and maturity.  Students can see where they fit into our programs, what’s ahead of them, and what they can do to help others along the process.

We want you to understand that this process is not the only way to measure growth and maturity.  It’s also a process that’s not without error.  For example, if someone completes all the programs and classes we have set up along the climb, but never displays a faith and/or intimacy with Christ, the process is meaningless.

We want this process to encourage growth by challenging students to take the next step. 

When most people think of our Youth Ministry they think of our programs. But as you have seen, our programs only exist to support our purpose, to help reach our audiences, and to reflect our values.

PROGRAMS WITHOUT A PURPOSE WOULD TURN OUR MINISTRY INTO:  CHILD CARE

1. FRIENDSHIP EVANGELISM*     (Reach)                Daily
2. Invite & Invest Events                                                               Monthly
3. WEEKEND WORSHIP SERVICE* (Honor)             Weekly
4. New Believers Class                                                                     Quarterly
5. Thrills with Will / Dinner for 10                                             Quarterly
6. Movie Nights  “Girls Cry Out”, “Man Movie”                    Quarterly
7. Ministry Teams                                                                             Regularly.
8. NSTEP-1 [Commitment to membership]                            Quarterly
9. LIFE GROUPS* (Connect)                                                 Weekly / School Year
10. NSTEP-2  [Commitment to maturity]                                  Quarterly
11. DISCIPLESHIP TOOLS* (Grow)  Like HABITS!      Regularly
12. Family Praise & Worship                                                           Quarterly
13. Missions Team Monthly                                              Monthly, 5 months before trip
14. Bible Institute & LIFE Seminars                               Quarterly
15. NSTEP-3 [Commitment to ministry]                           Quarterly
16. Ministry Team Leader
17. STUDENT LEADERSHIP* (Discover)  
18. NSTEP-4 [Commitment to missions]                           Quarterly

*Fulfills the 5 biblical purposes