The Youth Ministry Funnel Method: The Joys & Beefs!

If you’ve had even the smallest experience with medium-to-large church-based youth ministry, you have probably come across ‘The Funnel Method’ in some form or another.

The funnel method (for want of a better name) is a strategy that has well established roots in product marketing, education, public sector business, and charity campaigning. It has been used widely in ministry throughout the last century, but was popularised in youth work probably most notably by Doug Fields in his book Purpose Driven Youth Ministry. This book is well worth the read!

In a nutshell, the funnel method breaks up youth ministry programs based on who they are trying to reach and why, and then arranges them in such a way that one leads to another progressively. You could also think about it like a funnel collecting a wide amount of water at the top and then focusing that water as it narrows toward the bottom. Or even more crudely – lots of unbelievers go in – and some believers come out!

So the top of the funnel is there to reach as many as possible. It is wide, broad, and not very deep.  This in youth program terms is probably a crowd or community-based event with no Gospel content or teaching.

This then moves through one or more stages of deepening content and ‘narrowing’ reach. So a smaller event with an evangelistic talk, or a school CU, or a movie and discussion night.

Finally we have events/groups that are aimed only at Christians with focus on discipleship and service. So maybe a small group study, or a sunday school.

When I was a youth minister in London I set up a similar style of ministry: there was teaCosy, a broad crowd program which welcomed anybody and built relationships; then 4square church, a game based night with ‘alpha course’ style talks; then Caleb Club which was a night of teaching, prayer, worship, and games for a mix of believers and seekers; finally there was Koinos (small groups) to disciple believers.  Some made the journey right from teaCosy to Koinos, others came simply where they fitted.

There are both pros and cons (or joys and beefs) with this model.

First the pros:

• It generally works! Young people do make the journey, build relationships, repent & believe.
• It makes ministry measurable, clear, and easy to evaluate.
• It allows a wider spectrum of volunteers as they help where their gifts best fit.
• It ticks both mission and ministry boxes.
• It keeps things fresh and moving.
• It helps us think about purpose, vision, aims, and values – v-important!

Now the cons:

• It’s easily dishonest. “Come to a party… but shhh, we’re actually sneakily trying to get you into the system.”
• It’s calling people to a program rather than sending out a clear, transparent call from the first to follow Jesus.
• Its not how Jesus or the Early Church did it. (Hopefully a whole post later).
• It assumes all young people come to Christ in the same basic ways.
• It tends to make ministry too program heavy for spontaneous relationships – and can overload young people’s out of school commitments.
• It adds another degree of separation between the vision/ministry strategy of the youth ministry, and the vision/ministry strategy of the church.
• It has a heap of potential to develop in-group, out-group cliques.

So in my opinion, as someone who values Bible-based youth programs, and clear, thought-through strategies, there’s some middle ground to be had here.

I’m not going to propose a ‘third way’ here. Not yet anyway. But I will pose some questions that you should bring up with your teams and elders as you discuss structuring your youth ministry. Here they are:

• What will be the clear call/message?  & How will each program present that call differently / more or less structurally.
• What will harmonise the groups/events?   What common themes will hold them together?
• What demands are on young people’s time?  What about volunteers’ time?
• How will the strategy reflect and serve the strategy of the Church it’s based in?
• What focus will you place on relationship building in each group/event?  How will that work?
• How will you incorporate gifted young believers into the crowd programs?
• How will you expose non-believers to worshipping peers?
• How will you incorporate ministering to the whole family in these programs?
• How will you encourage movement in young people who have stalled in the journey?

So I’m not anti-funnel method.  But ministry simply isn’t that simple!  Let’s get an organic-structure going people!

Thanks for reading this far.