Do you want to effectively reach your skate community?

Ministry In General:
I think there has been a huge shift away from large scale evangelistic events. People are increasingly skeptical of the church and resist the Gospel. Largely I believe the church has lost its good reputation and has to earn peoples trust before they will make any true commitment of faith. In an effort to earn that trust a buzz word you hear a lot in ministries is: ‘relevant’. I can buy into that to an extent, but sometimes in an effort to be relevant and accepted by the youth we present no message at all. We expect our faith to transfer by Osmosis. I’m all for leaving out the cheese of church so we don’t turn people off, but we must still create platforms from which to speak into peoples lives Gods truth. Yes be relevant and culturally educated, but we signed up for a counter culture kingdom and its worth joining. People won’t join if you don’t tell them about it, as well as show them it. The message still needs presenting. We are commissioned to go out into the world and share it, but I think in our Western society the pendulum has swung back the other way, to where relational ministry is more effective. People need to know you care about them before they care what you have to say. Personally I believe in balance. Jesus preached to the crowd yet discipled twelve. His ministry reached the masses, but he changed the world with twelve guys. As we step out to emulate Jesus in his ministry we should also be able to strike a happy balance of close relational discipleship and when necessary create a platform from which to preach the Gospel to an audience if need be.

Skate Ministry:
In regards to Skate Ministry especially demos often the problem is hit and run methods don’t capture and maintain true Christian transformations. They get kids excited and leave with no one to follow up. Like any other evangelistic event success is measured by the number of responses to an alter call, or hands raised during a prayer, but who are these kids left with to turn to for growth? If you come back a year later has their faith evolved? Are they plugged into the body of believers or were they left as stragglers to fend for themselves?
On the flip side churches and youth ministries which are there week in, week out, can become too introverted that they don’t effectively reach into their communities to draw the kids either. They become comfortable and motionless. They stop growing. There has to be a balance between long term relationship and outreach. I believe there are methods to do both.

Finding Balance:
In New York (www.metroministries.com) we did Sidewalk Sunday School with a truck and fold down platform to minister to children in their neighborhoods, the ‘projects’ in fact. It was a lot of fun with games and hype as well as a message, as good a quality as inside any church building, but the key factor being, we didn’t just show up once and leave, we would go every week to the same location and also visit each of the kids who attended the day before the Sunday School. It was a great method of cultivating relationships, while also sharing the gospel on a large scale, but right in the heart and on the streets of the community, with a long term view, not a hit and run mentality. It was very fruitful and struck a happy medium between outreach and relational ministry.

Skate Ministry Strategy:
I was in Tulsa to check out Sk8Fusion which is run by Larry Buxton and happens every Monday night. It reminded me of Sidewalk Sunday School in New York, because they set up portable ramps in a parking lot across the street from the church, so that in essence they were doing an outreach in the middle of the town, with a main road going right by. They were over run with kids as they had no other place to go. They took the kids inside to do the message, but none the less it got me thinking. What if you took those portable ramps and instead of hit and run demos, just find places to set up on a consistent basis and reach a skate community in their neighborhood: a portable but still relational skate ministry? It can be used at a home base church as part of their regular youth nights and also taken on the road to reach into a community as an outreach ministry. Many churches are looking for portable, storable ramps as it is, while searching for methods to connect and reach out to the youth in their neighborhoods. ‘Sidewalk Skate Ministry’ is a perfect blend and cost effective solution. Using the same format as Sidewalk Sunday School, you establish lasting relationships by showing up at the same location on a consistent basis, which builds trust and friendship, yet you not only make life more fun by bringing ramps, you transform lives by creating a platform to share the ‘Good News’.