[This is part two in the Networking in Youth Ministry series–read part one!]
Networking face-to-face can take a lot of time. You have to arrange meetings, work around other people’s schedules, and find a location that fits everyone’s best interests. Online networking is much more simpler and slowly becoming a popular way for youth workers to connect.
It should be noted that there are a lot of great voices out there that are talking about great things that simply have not been tapped. We ask at the end of this to share some of your own websites you go to outside of social media. We really want to hear about them because they can be untapped potential. Would love to here what you have found.
- Online Youth Ministry Communities
Youth workers have a wide selection of online communities to find community and accountability in free resources, forums, and conversations about a wide variety of topics. Some of them include pastor2youth.com, youthministry.com, ysnetwork.com, and youthmin.org. Join in the conversations, submit an article or two, and utilize these resources for your own life and ministry. As you invest in these communities, the hope is to find new and deepen current relationships as well as support when life gets tough. - Networking Via Blogs
Networking in person has its limitations when it comes to find others doing ministry in the trenches and subject matter experts through out the world. Unless you live right by Josh Griffin or attend church with Tim Schmoyer, you may not be having those regular face-to-face interactions. Subscribe to your favorite blogs, leave comments and questions to posts that intrigue you, and begin to establish an online network of people. I suggest carving out a bit of time in your week at work, a solid hour, to read these blogs and reflect on them in your ministry context. If you need to, label it research to improve your own ministry effectiveness. - Make Blogging A Two-Way Conversation
We need to remember that networking is a two-way conversation, even online. If you have not already, start your own blog. There are great free and easy-to-use resources out there like WordPress and Blogspot that you can get your blog up and running in minutes. Everyone has something to offer the youth ministry world, whether you serve in a big or little church, church or para-church, no volunteers or many, part-time or full-time, paid or unpaid. Bring your voice into the conversation. Be authentic. Share the emotions you felt when you presented the Gospel message and nobody came forward or the excitement when a parent say thank you for everything you do. Whatever it is, talk about it and be you. - How Much Blogging Is Good Enough?
Before I began to network online, I would have told you that writing is not for me. If you have that same distain for writing, approach blogging as a great way to build networking connections and be diligent. Something as little as a 500 word post a week is perfect to share some of the great experiences and wisdom you have while doing youth ministry. - Engage Blogging in your Local Context
Make blogging work for you too. Make ministry announcements on your blog, post resources and ideas for your families, highlight the excellent work your volunteers are doing. This will not only provide great resources internally, but also allow others to gain new ideas and post constructive critiques to develop these ideas.
Outside of social networks, what other online resources do you know of that are great for networking?
[…] [This is part three in the Networking in Youth Ministry series. Be sure to read part one and part two!] […]