18. My Other Office
For the youth pastors out there, how many of you have ever referred to the local Starbucks as your "other office"? If you said yes, how many of you referred to the Starbucks a little further away as your "other other office"? For those who said yes, how many have referred to Starbucks as your office and your space in the church building as your "other office"?I am currently writing this post from my other office. I'm drinking my grande skinny vanilla latte listening to David Crowder through my earphones, writing a blog post while waiting for a call to say that my van is ready to be picked up.
Do you remember the first time you went to Starbucks? I do. It was very intimidating. I actually didn't want to go to Starbucks because I felt so out of place. I'm used to Tim Hortons. I walk in and order a large coffee and I know what I'm getting. Smittys, Perkins, Dennys... I order a coffee, I get a coffee. The first time I went to Starbucks I had no idea what to get so I tried to order a large coffee. I refused to used their terminology because it made no sense to me. Why is grande the medium size? That sounds huge... so huge in fact that it's GRANDE! And why is the smallest size tall? I mean, it doesn't sound bigger than grande but still, it sounds impressive. I would never call the smallest person I know "tall".
So I order my big coffee, and they won't even let that go. What kind of roast? I had no idea. Do I want a bold taste? Something smoother? I told them I wanted the one that tasted most like coffee. By now you may have realized that I'm not a hipster. I'm not a coffee snob. I appreciate that my beans were purchased at a fair price from 3rd world farmers but I don't really care how they are roasted and blended when they get here. I ended up with a Venti Pike's Roast. It was ok. It took a lot of visits to get comfortable and find I drink that I could order and enjoy. Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte. Why did I keep coming back even though I felt uncomfortable? Because that's what youth pastors do. They go to their other office and Tim Hortons doesn't have internet.
What would make a student come to your youth group for the first time? What would make them come back? If a young person has never been to church, specifically your church, they may have no idea what to expect. They may have anxiety because they don't know the language. They have no idea what is expected of them. How stranger-friendly is your group? How do you greet the stranger?
Up here in Canada many youth groups are kicking off this week (oh how I wish I was back in a ministry position now!). If you haven't yet, it's a great time to assess how welcoming you are and how well your group makes a new comer feel welcomed and wanted. What does your group do? What's worked well?
Wonderful post shared very much informative
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