Hannah O'Donnell provides leadership to various youth and children's ministries a three UMCs in Rapid City. (Photo courtesy of RC First UMC webpage)

"It's not just starting with one staff position. It starts before that with a spirit of collaboration that exists," said Pastor Rich Bensinger from First United Methodist Church in Rapid City, South Dakota. "That comes first, and then you start finding the places where collaboration makes sense."

United Methodist Churches in the Rapid City area have been discovering new ways to collaborate and multiply the impact of their ministries. Their pastors gather weekly to discuss ways to share ministry and support one another. Leaders in children's ministry coordinated on planning VBS—one church hosting an evening, one hosting a weekend, another hosting a weekday—to make the most of resources and community engagement. Recently, these congregations joined forces with UMCs in the Northern Hills to raise funds for one of their clergy families during a time of great need.

Another example of this creative collaboration has come in the form of shared staffing. Hannah O'Donnell is working to unite and care for children, youth, and families across Rapid City, South Dakota, by sharing her gifts and talents with three UMC churches in the Rapid City area: Canyon Lake UMC, Rapid City First UMC, and Open Heart UMC. Hannah helps coordinate a unique ministry at each church alongside a team of volunteers.

Hannah's impact in Rapid City began with Mom's Morning Out (MMO) at Rapid City First UMC in 2021. The MMO program has since grown to 90 kids enrolled, with many more on a waiting list. Hannah has also helped expand the program to include a homeschool class where homeschooled students can come together and socialize with similar students.  

"I know that childcare is super expensive, and I am glad we can offer something more affordable," said Hannah.  

Due to MMO's success, Hannah was determined to provide more space and time for parents to bring their children. Since MMO was at capacity, she knew she needed to find a different solution. Hannah partnered with Open Heart to create a new program called TotsZone.  

Youth from First and Canyon Lake UMCs in Rapid City shared in a joint Christmas party for youth group this year. (Photo courtesy of RC First UMC Facebook page)

Like MMO, TotsZone is a safe place where children can socialize and play and is an excellent resource for parents in the community. With the addition of TotsZone, Hannah could add two more mornings where parents had an alternative to traditional childcare. That program currently has 18 children enrolled after just one year.   

Seeing the blessing and impact of this collaboration laid the groundwork for another door God would open to harness the power of the United Methodist connection. 

When Hannah began at Rapid City First UMC in 2021, the youth group was in a unique situation. After COVID-19, they struggled to get back together and regroup. Hannah was able to help them start fresh and grow together from the experience. After learning more about the youth programs around the area, she started dreaming about ways to connect with the students.

"I had noticed how all the clergy in the area talk and gather. I thought, 'What if we had more joint opportunities for teenagers,'" said Hannah.

Hannah had been thinking about this concept for a while when a trustee from Canyon Lake UMC reached out to her and asked if she would be interested in being the Youth Coordinator. Canyon Lake had also gone through some challenging seasons in their youth group due to the pandemic, changes in church leadership, and graduating 22 seniors in 2022. "It just blew a huge hole into us," explained Rev. Scott McKirdy, senior pastor at Canyon Lake UMC. 

Hannah jumped at the invitation and was excited to find ways to connect the two youth programs.

Each week, Hannah prepares lesson plans and materials for the youth groups. She typically spends her Wednesday nights teaching at Rapid City First while a team of volunteers and congregation members share the task of teaching at Canyon Lake.   

"Hannah is just so brilliant at helping us to delegate, to do shared ministry, and to bring new lay leadership up into those youth positions," shared Pastor Scott. 

A joint service project was another shared activity between the youth of Rapid City First and Canyon Lake UMC. (Photo courtesy of RC First Facebook)

Once a month, the two programs combine to share a lesson or an activity, switching sites between the churches. Hannah mentioned that the youth were a little skeptical about meeting each other for their first event, their Christmas party, but they realized that they knew a lot of the other students from school or activities. Both groups now look forward to their joint gatherings each month.   

"[The youth] had a joint youth group last week where they were packing soup packets, and they did a joint Christmas party," said Rev. Stephanie Eliason, associate pastor at CLUMC. "They really enjoyed seeing other faces and people who aren't just members of their church or just friends from school, but now they've got more connections with them as well. I think that's been really great." 

New ways of doing ministry are not without their challenges.  

"You have to be willing to color outside the lines," said Pastor Scott. "You have to be willing to take your youth ministry out of an old format and be open to it becoming a new way of doing things." 

Some of those challenges are simply logistics. "When you're trying to spread part-time hours across three churches, it becomes a challenge," explained Pastor Rich.  There are times she can't be at something at our church because she's doing something at another church, and that's all good, and we've had to adjust. We all know what's going on and see the benefits far outweigh the challenges, and Hannah is really good at managing expectations."  

"You're always going to be able to find challenges with it," said Pastor Stephanie. "But to look for the positives is always really important." 

"I love that we share Hannah because she's bringing in ideas that other churches are thinking of that we might not consider. She's able to be that bridge and really have that connection across the churches, which has always been important but is maybe even more needed today." 

"A lot of people will say, 'connection is apportionments.' But it goes way beyond that," added Pastor Rich. "Here in the local areas, we can collaborate in a lot of refreshing and unique ways. When you start with, 'we are not in competition with each other,' you realize that, through collaboration and cooperation, we can amplify the effect of the different ministries. 

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Other examples of collaboration and connection in action in the Dakotas Conference are conference-sponsored youth events led by the Conference Council on Youth Ministry (CCYM). The next event is Winter Connection, which will occur January 24-25 at three locations across the Dakotas: Rapid City and Mitchell, S.D., and Fargo, N.D. Check out the Winter Connection page to learn more and register your youth group!