Ben Denen

I am a leader of a small youth ministry that is under-staffed and under-resourced in a small Lutheran church (LCMS).  I work 45+ hours per week while being paid for 29, and I love every minute of it!

One might wonder what a leader of an unspectacular youth ministry would have to offer.  Well, if you work in youth ministry in America, odds are you work in a ministry similar to mine.  I find that most of the ministry blogs and youth ministry “help” sites are written by leaders of large ministries with a completely different list of issues than those that I face.  Believe me, I know the grass is not greener, but working in small churches creates an entirely different list of challenges and rewards.

So…what is with the title?  I have discovered that there are all kinds of youth ministry “playbooks” out there.  There is the mega church playbook.  There is the para-church playbook.  There is the campus ministry playbook.  And there is my playbook:  small denominational youth ministry playbook.  Real-life, missional, revolutionary ministry requires different thinking.  This thinking is found in the margins of our playbooks.  My goal with this blog is to share ideas from my margins.  I also hope to hear your ideas so I can add them to mine.