Closing Shop

How do you handle the ministry shutdown at the end of the evening?

Do you simply kick everyone out at a set time and it’s over? Every ministry, regardless of size and scale of programming, has to deal with the shutdown process. Maybe you deal with some of the same issues that I have. No one is passionate about cleaning up, everyone wants to be a relational superstar during the clean-up time period, the same people seem to be doing all the work and then complain about it.

I’m a firm believer that despite the program shutting down some of the best ministry happens during the time frame after the "program" has finished. About a year ago our High School Ministry met in our church office because our main services were in a movie theater. We basically had one large room full of couches, video games, AV equipment etc. Our program was from 7:30 till 9:00 and students could hang out as long as they desired up until their driving curfew. It amazed me how many students didn’t leave until 10:00, 10:30, up until 10:45. During this time frame leaders had the ability to connect with students at a deep level. They were able to pray for students and challenge the students’ relationships with God. The great thing about that office is that you could clean the entire meeting area in 15 minutes with only one or two people.

Over the summer of 06 we left the movie theater and built our first building. This greatly enhanced our ability to connect with students as we are able to offer more “stuff” for them to get involved with as well as create a higher level of ministry programming. The down side is that it would take one or two people an hour and a half to clean it all up on their own. I didn’t want to discourage the hangout time that we once had at the office but many leaders are understandably ready to leave at 10:00 in order to prepare for a long work week.

We have adopted a strategy over the past couple of months that seems to be working well for us. Maybe this will help you and perhaps you can contribute something that works well for you!

Here’s the timeline of our ministry:
4:30-6:00 Set-up
6:00-7:00 Middle School Hang Out Time
7:00-8:00 Combined Teaching for Middle School and High School
8:00-9:00 High School Hang Out Time

At 9:00, just like the old days many people are not ready to leave. Just like the old days, this is still awesome relational time! Not wanting to waste that time, we put the following timeline into practice.

9:15-9:30 Evening Recap. Four of us (myself, our arts leader, a volunteer Administrative Assistant, and a volunteer Volunteer Coordinator) get together at this time to recap the evening. We discuss every detail including set-up, the programming elements, and the hang out time. From that meeting each of us gets a task list that we will work on the following week. This meeting is great because it is weekly! We are able to recap both positive (things to keep doing) and negative (things to improve) elements. Everyone else is free to do as they please. Some people begin the clean-up process while others continue to be solely relational.

9:30-9:45 At this time we call all remaining leaders and students to come together into the large room to do a recap. At this time I ask basic questions such as “What was the God moment for you tonight?” “What was a meaningful conversation that you had with a student?” “Who interacted with (new student)?" “What is God doing in your life now?” This is also the time I share a short training tip and we pray for one another.

9:45- 10:00/10:15 This is the time we initiate the clean up sequence. It is at this time I thank everyone for being a part of the ministry and say goodnight to those that are exhausted. This goodbye time is key because I never want leaders to feel bad for leaving, they have been there for hours already! Those that remain are given direction on cleaning up. It is a beautiful thing to see students and leaders unite to accomplish a common goal, leaving ASAP to grab a bite to eat!

10:00/10:15 Optional time to eat and hangout. Although I rarely “feel” like going out after such a long day it is a lot of fun and culminates huge relational payback. We either go to Applebee’s (half price appetizers) or McDonalds. Just like the old days, we kick students out at driving curfew.

12:00 Go to sleep!

Monday – Vegetation and recovery!

I will close with these two questions:
How often do you and your volunteers get together to review the services?
Do people want to leave as soon as your programming is over or do you have to kick them out?