I do! Especially this year.
Last year was one of my favorite years in our YL club. Our club had been exploding for years, our campaigners was full and vibrant. We had too many excellent junior leaders than we needed, we couldn’t even use them all! It was awesome. Many have transitioned into leadership training and leadership positions in their freshman year of college locally and across the country. But now… it is a bit of a rebuilding year.
For the past few years my contact work was mostly just trying to keep up with those who “came to us” because of the momentum we had in our club. This year is different, it will be a “go to them” year for sure… which is classic YL and 100% why I am here today writing this post. My leader came to me.
When it comes to contact work, I know what to do. Mostly because it was done for me. But I always want to get better and help those around me get better at contact work. Here are a couple things I am doing:
- Notice the need – If you wait until club starts to begin contact work, especially in a rebuilding year, it can be a big uphill climb. Take an honest assessment of who is a part of your club going into a new year.
- Remember our aim – We are committed to reaching every kid. But, I put extra emphasis on reaching those who no one else is reaching. In a rebuilding year it is tempting to recruit youth group kids who have no aversion to Jesus. They are loved and welcome at all times! Yet, it is much more difficult to go after kids who will be skeptical of anything related to Jesus… those are the kids I want to reach through contact work (and if you reach is wide, you will capture many in between too).
- Do it – Don’t wait for a huge strategy, other leaders to join you, for the season to start, for the school to update their website and schedules. Nothing is keeping you from just showing up, and if nothing else, just pray on the campus before or after school hours. I love strategy, bringing leaders, scheduling, etc… but don’t get hung up on this. If you wait for everything to be perfect you will be waiting forever.
- Work together – In my area we are emphasizing contact work in every school this year. Next weekend at our leader retreat we will roll out some challenges, strategies, and even incentives to encourage one another in contact work.
With this said… Who else wants to improve contact work this year? If your answer is “yes” then tell us what you are doing. Reply and let us all know.
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3 thoughts on “Who Else Wants to Improve at Contact Work?”
As a committee we are trying something new for our area to provide more exposure & for the leaders to be seen and make contact with kids. We have a pick up truck with a flatbed trailer on it with big Young Life signs parked at the High School parking lot that say Young Life Tailgate free hot dogs. The leaders hang out there before home games and the committee cooks and serves and the leaders hangout around the truck and visit with kids before they go into the game. It has been fun to meet kids and some parents too.
We really appreciate your website and helps! We are a new small town area, with no staff person. As committee chairs we are trying to cover the bases and your helps are so amazing! Thank you for the time you put in to providing these for us!
Betsy Sawyer
Mason County YL
Shelton, WA
corrected email address
Great idea Betsy! Thank you for sharing. You and your committee are my heroes! Young Life is all about the grass roots building from the ground up. Your local YL staff team (other areas and the region) should be able to help a ton, but be sure to let me know if there is any way we can help too!
Sean