30 Ways to Kill Your Youth Ministry (for Senior Pastors)
1. Assume that the youth ministry is not your responsibility.
2. Assume you know all problems of your youth without taking the time of surveying them.
3. Never attempt to become a role model.
4. Preach messages irrelevant to youth.
5. Do not attend youth services and activities.
6. Give up on the youth in your congregation.
7. Never plan and work toward hiring a youth pastor.
8. Do not authorize your youth pastor with full responsibility for the youth ministry.
9. Appoint a person to communicate between you and your youth pastor.
10. Allow the influence of church members’ opinions and wishes over the vision for the youth ministry.
11. Allow people distanced from youth problems to take leading positions and/or decisions concerning the youth ministry.
12. Do not include the youth ministry in your annual church budget.
13. Deny the involvement of parents in youth work.
14. Do not allow youth representation in the decisions concerning the future of the youth ministry.
15. Blame or allow the youth to be blamed for problems beyond their control and comprehensions.
16. Never deal with change.
17. Use youth ministry techniques older then 2½ years.
18. Do not provide enough room for growth.
19. Underestimate the influence of drugs, alcohol, premarital sex and peer pressure.
20. Ignore the topic of sex.
21. Ignore technology as a ministry tool.
22. Restrict youth ministries to church activities alone ignoring fun and playing as a ministry tool.
23. Never allow youth to participate in spiritual and ministry activities like prayer, fasting and preaching.
24. Limit your youth ministry only to activities organized by your church/denomination.
25. Do not expect the youth ministry to grow beyond the limitations of your personal agenda or limitations.
26. Do not expect the youth ministry to grow beyond the limitations of your congregation.
27. Do not provide age transition mechanisms for youth to enter and exit the youth ministry.
28. Do not treat youth as if they were to remain in church for the rest of their earthly lives.
29. Do not treat youth ministry as the most important ministry of your church.
30. Refuse to be a pastor of youth.
Cup & Cross Ministries 2003 Ministry Report
In 2003 Cup & Cross Ministries was active in both the United States and Bulgaria. Through an international call for Pentecostal revival, our team was able to minister, analyze, inform and strategize with Pentecostal churches in the United States, the Philippines and India while working closely with the network of Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in North America and the Bulgarian Church of God. Cup & Cross Ministries accented on revival evangelism, leadership training, mission outreaches, church planting and the use of media accomplishing the following results:
1. Held over 50 revivals and church services in the United States
2. Organized and held a national Revival Harvest Campaign which spread in five states in the period of six months
3. Held over 1,200 church services in Bulgaria
4. Organized three new churches in the Yambol region of Bulgaria
5. Traveled collectively over 30,000 miles providing pastoral care for 17 churches in the Yambol region of Bulgaria
6. Organized and held six training seminars for ministers in the Yambol region of Bulgaria
7. Compiled, analyzed and published the official current growth statistics for the Bulgarian Church of God
8. Organized and held two ladies conferences entitled Women of Godliness in the Yambol region of Bulgaria
9. Held three baptism services for over 30 people, an adequate number of communion services, prayer meetings and holiday services for churches and communities
10. Provided timely analyses for the political, economical and social conditions in Bulgaria and their effect on the Bulgarian Protestant Movement
11. Increased the number of published monthly informative bulletins about Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Church
12. Broadcasted over 50 weekly radio Chastain programs with air-coverage in the Yambol region of Bulgaria and accented on the international media outreach providing timely information via radio, television and internet
13. Continuously provided insightful facts and analyses of the history of the Bulgarian Protestant Movement from a ministerial point of view and its effect on the Bulgarian Church in the beginning of the 21st century
14. Reprinted and distributed an adequate number of Sunday School materials
15. Studied and analyzed the growing number of Bulgarian Evangelical churches in North America and provided training strategies for ministers and churches to lay the foundation for a nationwide network and further inner-structure development
November 2002 Ministry Report
ETHNIC MINORITIES IN BULGARIA (PDF)
October 2002 Ministry Report
Bulgaria: Religious Freedom Report (PDF)
August 2002 Ministry Report
July 2002 Ministry Report
May 2002 Ministry Report
Celebrating 10 Years in the Ministry
We are excited this month, as we are honored to celebrate ten years in the ministry for His Kingdom. Although the beginning of our ministry is a humble one, today we praise the Lord, because He was both willing and able to save, deliver and call for ministry the sixteen-year-old Bulgarian boy ten years ago. We praise Him because in the hard journey of the ministry, we have never felt lonely, as He has been true to His word, “I will never leave you nor forsake you …” (Heb. 13:5).
