What is your Ministry Culture?

If “vision” is where your ministry is heading, then “culture” is the way your ministry is behaving. The culture of your ministry is lived by the people rather than the direction they are headed. The activities you as a group build the ministry culture but culture is in the people not the activities. So what do we mean by ministry culture?

Firstly we are talking about spiritual culture not pop/youth culture: Sometimes people think that youth ministry is built on the latest fad or being up to date with pop culture. For example, having a Facebook group may be a useful ministry tool but your youth ministry won’t grow just because you are on Facebook. We want to look at the spiritual culture in the lives of the people in your ministry.

Types of Ministry Culture: Let’s face it you ministry can’t do everything. When you take a particular focus in your ministry, the activities you choose develop a culture within the people. The old say “what you reward gets repeated” is true with ministry. Here are a few examples of how a particular focus can create a ministry culture:

1. Bible focus – groups that focus on the Scriptures develop a ministry culture that develops disciples who understand the Word of God. An example of a culture that develops when your ministry has a bible focus is that members bring their own bible to the meetings.
2. Discussion focus – groups that are based on discussion develop a culture where everyone wants their say. Usually discussion focused groups thrive on the culture of being known. An example of a discussion based culture is that people feel “ripped off” if they haven’t had a chance to say something during the meeting.
3. Prayer Focus – groups that focus on prayer can develop a more reflective culture. The prayer focus develops disciples who are open to God speaking to them in the silence. A prayer culture can develop around a ritual or series of prayers. An example of a culture that develops from a prayer focus is that the group will light a candle or have a “sacred space” or focal point in their meetings.
4. Charism Focus – often a group will develop its ministry culture around the particular charism of the ministry. A Legion of Mary group will have a devotional ministry culture and everyone will bring their rosary beads, that’s culture. A St Vinnies group will have an action based culture and include visitation as part of their program. A youth ministry such as Lifeteen will develop it’s culture around the Sunday Eucharist and Catechesis. Your ministry culture might be past down from a previous generation. A good indicator of this Charism based culture would be seen in things that you think are “normal” for Catholic’s but not many other people “do them”.

So what focus do you take in your ministry location? As an Intern or Ministry leader how is the focus you are taking creating a culture in the ministry? Your ministry culture may not be right or wrong, you just need to be aware of the culture you are developing. The key culture you want to develop is a focus on discipleship and a connection with the Church. In the book Essential Church, Thom Rainer states that young adults drop out of the Church because they don’t see a connection with Church as essential to their life. In your ministry are you creating a culture that helps young people to see the Church as essential in their lives?

Next week we will talk more about developing the culture, so until then reflect on the ministry culture in your location. Please leave a comment.