Better Together
By Kate Satterstrom
It wasn’t very long after I began a new call in Oregon as the Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministries, that a stranger walked into my office and invited me to grab coffee. While this is a normal part of settling into a new job, it is only with hindsight that I can see how important this meeting would be.
I arrived to Oregon tired and worn out. Ministry is hard, and if you’re not intentional, it can easily become consuming. I purposefully left a large, East Coast town for a smaller, rural community on the West Coast. I was looking for a slower pace and a chance to breathe.
We exchanged niceties over coffee, introducing ourselves and sharing how we landed in Oregon. Eventually, we got down to the purpose of the meeting. He explained how the community was small—one high school, two middle schools—our churches were across the street from each other and historically had partnered together. His proposal: we should do youth ministry together.
With a total of three kids in youth group, I was intrigued. It took me time to get my bearings. Then came months of meeting, brainstorming, dreaming, getting all the key players on board, and writing up guiding documents. Next thing we knew, the McMinnville Youth Collective was born.
We started slow, doing one fun event together per month. Gradually, we built up to weekly youth groups, dinners, special events, beach retreats, camps, service learning trips, and lockouts. As we celebrate six years of joint ministry, we now have four churches—representing five denominations—that are part of the collective. Our roster numbers over 50 youth and the collective is known and trusted within the community. And, as a bonus, the two original churches just finished our third year of joint midweek children’s ministry.
There has been so much success in our collective ministry, but personally, there is one that stands out above the rest: ministry is better together. There is something special about partnering in ministry. My strengths and weaknesses are balanced out by his strengths and weaknesses. When one of us is sick, or on vacation, or just drained of energy, the other steps up. There is someone to brainstorm with, someone to vent to, someone to celebrate with, someone to mourn alongside, and someone to help me be my best.
We are better when we are together.
An excerpt from the McMinnville Youth Collective Statement of Purpose:
We believe we’re better together than we are apart. And this is why the McMinnville Youth Collective exists for youth ministries and churches in our community. We are called to share our financial, physical, and human resources to create a consistent, safe time and space for the youth from our churches and beyond to experience authentic community, grow in their faith, and make a difference in our world.
Practically, when we combine funds from our budgets, each dollar goes further. When we pool our supplies and equipment, we have a greater variety to choose from and use. When we create one team of our volunteers, our youth have more adults in their lives who know and care about them. When we bring all our youth together, we create the important critical mass that produces a necessary comfort level and desire to be part of something. So, from a purely functional perspective, it just makes sense to do this together.
About the author:
Kate Satterstrom is the Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministry at First Presbyterian Church, McMinnville, Oregon, Co-Director of the McMinnville Youth Collective, and a board member of the Presbyterian Youth Workers Association. She is passionate about building communities where children and youth know they are loved. Kate grew up in San Diego then attended Purdue University where she received a Bachelor of Art in U.S. history. She went on to graduate from Princeton Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity and a Master of Art in Youth Ministry. Kate moved to Oregon in 2017 after a decade on the East Coast. She loves to read, work on puzzles, and explore the PNW.