The Glue: Relationships as the Connection for effective Youth Ministry

Of the three youth ministry books that I read over summer (so long ago now), this was one I knew the least about and yet I think I liked this one the best. I just grabbed this at an end of year sale as I thought it was on about my job, and like any creative/relational/personal job, you should really be reading up on it for ideas from others.

The basic idea is that relationships are the key to ministry. Relationships are the "big rocks" that go in your jar first. People are more important than programs, and we should be investing in them, building relational currency to help shape and grow them, and hopefully reproduce or send them out someplace else.

There were sections on yourself and your own leadership style and relationship with Jesus, on leading others, one on youth ministry essentials and planning for the future. I found this book saying things I kinda already knew, but never really articulated. This book gave me words and plans and examples of what I was kind of thinking but helped made things clearer in my mind.

In one section I directly took Mike's four big asks for youth leaders. They are for the leader to be 1) seeking their own spiritual growth, 2) to be following up the teens in their group, 3) coming prepared for the youth event/program and 4) being present with a positivity attitude during the event/program. Of these four asks, I think we were already doing pretty well, but it was helpful to have them written down in his way. Following up is one of the biggest hurdles with all the same ministry things we have about connecting with teens online in social media. But at this point in time, (during COVID-19) it really is what we have now.

There were other helpful bits I found, such as partnering with parents - an area I think we should be working in, but not doing too great and working on transitions - which I found helpful as I had been thinking about this already. There was a section on planning a youth leaders weekend away. Mike gave an example timetable for a weekend away, which I didn't follow at all for the one I ran earlier this year, but I did like how he provided examples throughout the book to help me see how he has done things.

I am writing this review during the COVID-19 thing, which makes having relationships in person very hard to do. From reading this book, I had a bit of a plan with the parents (which I was thinking about before I read this book) and I had another idea about following up and connecting more with the teens. Sadly I can't really do what I was hoping for. I kinda feel like this book obviously would be more helpful when you don't have to socially distant, as that doesn't build relationships. I think we are going through a hard time to build relationships and that is the basis of ministry, but we are doing what we can. We are reaching out to teens via zoom, Instagram, discord and YouTube in an effort to virtually engage and connect. It isn't as good as the real thing, but it is better than nothing.

Overall this book said things that you know are right, but they were clear with practical examples. Overall I found it helpful and useful to see how another Australian youth minter does their thing. My main gripe with the book is that it probably could have been half the size if he didn't use double-spacing lines for the whole book.