Our Search to Find What’s Working
Springtide Research Institute just completed the second phase of the What’s Working project, a multi-year campaign, sponsored in part by Lilly Foundation, Inc., to learn best practices in youth ministry for connecting and supporting young people. In this blog, lead researcher Dr. Hannah Evans talks about the research process, the insights produced, and what has emerged as a clarion call for youth ministry.
The second week in October I found myself crunching through autumn leaves in a Philadelphia cemetery. The fall scenery was picturesque, but that wasn’t what brought me there. I was there to interview Emily, a 24-year-old participant in an Episcopal Service Corps program called Servant Year. This was just one of many interviews that made up the second phase of Springtide’s What’s Working research, which took me all over the country to meet staff and participants at over 10 faith-based organizations supporting young people. This year we’ll share what we’ve learned from those conversations.
Photos from Springtide’s site visit of Servant Year.
Preparation for these visits began in 2023 when we surveyed 1,252 young people ages 13-25 who had participated in at least one Christian youth-serving organization. We asked what characteristics were most important to them in a faith-based organization working with young people, and compiled the following themes from their responses: belonging, inclusivity, purpose, fun, and accountability. Armed with a preliminary understanding of what young people want from their organizations, we began the second phase of What’s Working: our search for what those qualities looked like on the ground.
We shared our findings from the first phase with organizational leaders of faith-based groups and asked them to name peer organizations engaging with young people in ways that were “working.” The organizations they nominated were the first organizations we reached out to for the second phase of our project. This convenience sampling process allowed us to capture a small piece of the larger story of young people’s relationships to religious organizations.
While I felt confident that we were listening to young people through data, I was unsure if we could uncover these themes in practice—could we get to know an organization well enough to learn whether they were “working?” Would we be able to find any organizations that demonstrated these themes in their work?
As it turned out, I had little to fear. Over and over, we spoke with people who were eager to talk about their experiences and share what was shaping their organizations’ work with young people. In every research interview we conducted, leaders and young people brought up unprompted ideas that exemplified, detailed, and expanded how we understood our themes. The insights from these interviews solidified a final list of themes: inclusivity, purpose, fun, integrity, and adaptability.
Describing Effective Youth-Serving Organizations
Our research shows that organizations succeed at connecting with the young people they serve when they integrate these concepts into their culture.
Fun
Effective youth-serving organizations bring playfulness and connection to youth formation. They invite engagement and curiosity. Games are a part of this, for sure, but fun goes well beyond just games.
Purpose
Effective youth-serving organizations guide young people in discerning their vocation and what they can offer the world. They listen to young people and give them opportunities to have ownership in the direction and future choices of the group.
Inclusivity
Effective youth-serving organizations welcome and honor young people from all backgrounds, identities, and points in their journeys. They cultivate an environment where even those who feel awkward have a place to belong.
Adaptability
Effective youth-serving organizations learn from young people about what works and what doesn’t. They notice where young people are thriving or engaged and where they aren’t, and then apply that knowledge to concrete changes that address the issues. They problem-solve creatively to meet the needs of young people with available resources.
Integrity
Effective youth-serving organizations are consistent in their relationship with young people. This means leaders give up being “cool” in favor of being real, show up fully as they are and invite young people to do the same—to embrace honesty even when it’s hard.
As we conducted site visits with exemplary organizations, these themes expressed themselves differently in each location. First Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida uses sports ministry to incorporate fun and playfulness into their work with teens. Second Reformed Church in Zeeland, Michigan approaches Bible study with curiosity and playfulness by spending time googling obscure information, such as the current monetary value of ancient gold shekels. The Place in Charlotte, North Carolina practices a peer-led leadership framework where young adults plan, coordinate, and execute monthly gatherings, while Engaging Stories in Chicago, Illinois uses a peer-to-peer model of mentorship in a week-long summer camp with teens. Through observing these different approaches in action, my imagination expanded with all the ways these themes could look—even while they stayed true to their own missions and values.
While the themes manifested differently at each of the sites we visited, one core idea remained the same: these organizations take young people seriously and believe that their experiences have value. Each leader that we spoke to prioritized listening to young people, considering their perspectives, and centering their experiences in their work. At Springtide, we often talk about the importance of listening to young people—these organizations lived that out.
As a young person who grew up in youth ministry, I can clearly recall the difference between leaders who listened to young people and leaders who didn’t. Leaders who don’t listen end up in an echo chamber with other adults and can easily become out of touch with the young people in their community. Doing this research project reinforces something I’ve long believed: There is no prototype for youth ministry. This is not cookie-cutter, plug-and-play work. When adults listen to young people, they create the best ministry for the young people right in front of them. Youth ministry workers shouldn’t be competing to have the best snacks or games—they should be striving to be the most connected to the young people they serve. The success of youth ministry depends on it.
Dr. Hannah Evans
Research Associate & National Speaker
Dr. Hannah Evans
Research Associate & National Speaker
