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Platoons and shepherds
Somewhere in-between the "peer ministry" and "practices" models is a two-pronged "platoons" and "shepherds" approach that Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California, has pioneered. This captures the "peer ministry" impulse while preserving the intergenerational connection with the larger worshiping body.

John Ruhlman is the high-school pastor mentioned earlier who questioned the effectiveness of "entertainment ministry" to 300 screaming kids. Through prayer, personal investigation, and discussion with other leaders at Shadow Mountain, Ruhlman began to see that the key to successful ministry (to teens or otherwise) was in adopting Jesus' own model: "Take 12; graduate 11; focus on three."

After this realization, he and his colleagues attempted, twice, to launch a small-group approach to their youth program. And twice it failed.

"So we prayed a ton about it," he says. And after a retreat with the youth ministry staff and about 40 youth leaders, it dawned on them that the missing element to success in the small-group context was student leadership.

Ruhlman immediately set up a whole new program under the cell-group model, only this time with teen leaders. Each group is called a "platoon" and has a student leader. Each platoon leader has a "coach" (adult mentor) who meets with him or her for an hour or two every week and who also attends the platoon meetings.

All student leaders must meet the two criteria for leadership: (1) they must be "sold out" for Jesus Christ, not just in word but in action and example; and (2) they must possess the "gift" of leadership. The coach and the student leader pray and study the Scriptures together during their weekly meeting, and they also plan the next platoon meeting.

Five things must happen at every platoon meeting. These include:

1. Fresh bread. "God has been baking something in your oven this week. What is it?" The participants in the group (which includes seven or more regulars and usually two or three newcomers) share a Bible passage that had special meaning during their week. "This is positive reinforcement for a daily Bible study," says Ruhlman. (It also encourages the newcomers to open their Bibles and start reading.)

2. The empty chair. Each platoon always leaves a chair—"the best chair"—empty as a constant visual reminder of the missing friend who needs to be cared for and should be sitting there. The chair reminds the group to pray for these friends, and "almost every week one or two of the people they've prayed for will show up," says Ruhlman. "When that door opens, they are so warmly embraced by the whole group. That is the opposite of what the culture offers these kids. God answers those prayers."

3. Announcements. Mundane as it sounds, this is a critical element in preserving the cohesiveness of the larger youth group. The 43 platoons that presently meet fragmented the larger group, but they continue to worship together every Sunday (before the regular worship service), and they hold monthly "entertainment-type" outreach events for unreached friends. All of these are highlighted through the announcements, preserving the interconnectedness of each platoon to the larger group.

4. Lesson. The student platoon leader "gets into the Word."

5. Prayer, care, share. Platoon leaders write down in a "platoon notebook" (published by the church) praise items or struggles and needs shared in the context of this prayer time. The group prays together; then the platoon leader will revisit the needs mentioned the week earlier, which sets a tone of nurture and follow-up in the group while teaching the student leaders pastoral shepherding skills.

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February 3 1997, Vol. 41, No. 2