by Chase | Leadership, Ministry
Ministry is busy, yaâll.
Iâm sure that you operate like I do and are always looking for ways to maximize your time. We operate with a sense of urgency because we know that the need in our community is great and the time is short.
How can we avoid unnecessary tasks and focus on what is most important?
There are plenty of opinions for the most effective way to organize your week. I want to look at one of the most dangerous.
There is a popular teaching that encourages student pastors to divide their week into thirds.
According to this teaching a youth pastor will need to spend a third of his time with students, a third with parents, and a third with volunteer leaders.
- 1/3 of your time with students
- 1/3 of your time with parents
- 1/3 of your time with volunteers
Doesnât that sound nice and predictable?
I bet that this method was first outlined in a Precious Moments Bible.
As you know, ministry is far from predictable. This method is as realistic as reaching Narnia.
Sure, you need to invest quality time in each area: students, parents, and volunteers. No one will argue this. But ministry is not as simple as investing a third of your time in students, parents, and volunteers.
This method misses the vast majority of work a student pastor handles.
- What about time for professional development?
- What about time to plan for the upcoming event?
- What about time spent investing in local schools?
- What about time to invest into your staff?
- What about time to prepare for your student worship talk?
- What about time to prepare expense reports?
Ministering to parents, students, and volunteers is paramount but your time will never be neatly divided.
How should a youth pastor manage his time?
Iâm glad that you asked! Below are three keys that I have taken to heart as I strategically plan each week.
If you are a type A personality like myself, you will think that these three keys are too loose and too open-ended.
Operating within these truths allows you the freedom to structure your time as precisely as you want.
Three Keys For Managing Your Time
Stop re-inventing the wheel each week. After being in your current role for a couple months you know what to do. Many youth pastors go into the office on Monday without a clear idea of what they are doing each week. It isnât that we forget what is important, we fail to develop weekly systems.
If nothing else gets done, what are the most important tasks that must take place? These items are the ânon-negotiablesâ for your ministry.
Your list will likely include:
- Contacting leaders
- Preparing talks
- Encouraging parents
- Following up with visitors
Put these items on your calendar as recurring systems.
Make sure that you are investing in these key areas before being distracting by your other to-dos.
Recognize Your Current Context
A weak volunteer team may need more than one-third of your time this week. An open door to be on a local school campus will consume more than one-third of your time.
Pastors minister to the specific needs of their people â not a hypothetical group. You must recognize the needs in your specific context. How you manage your time will be different from the youth pastor at the church down the street.
Maximize Your Current Season
Student ministry looks different in July than it does in September. Each season, holiday, and break allows time for you to shift your focus to maximize your time in a specific area.
The summer months are a perfect time to catch up on administrative work such as updating volunteer handbooks, recruiting leaders, and outlining sermon series.
The fall is a great season to reconnect with students and parents as they get back into the routines of the school semester.
Get to know the rhythms of your church, leadership, and community and start building on the momentum that is already present.
What are some practices you have used to manage your time?
by Chase | Leadership, Ministry
Student ministry is one of the greatest callings within the church!
Who would want to be in charge of buildings and grounds when you can plan a summer beach camp?
While there are ample opportunities to do some incredible good in student ministry, there are some pitfalls that we must navigate to ensure that we are being effective in our calling.
Every student pastor wants an effective ministry. No one would argue with that! However, effectiveness doesnât come from exuding more energy. It comes from making the right decisions at the right moment. It takes us saying no to distractions, yes to the right opportunities, and prioritizing people over projects.
[Read: 7 Deadly Sins of Student Volunteers]
Are you committing any of these deadly sins? Be honest with yourself, and then take the necessary steps to get back on track with Godâs mission.
8 Deadly Sins of Student Pastors
1. Being Busy Without Being Effective
Most of the student pastors I know are not lazy. Sure, there are a few bad apples that can give student pastors a bad reputation, but most student pastorsâ wives would let you know that they actually overwork. A huge sin for student pastors is to be busy with areas that donât matter without being effective in your call to serve students and parents. Stop wasting so much time on logos, T-shirts, and other areas that you can outsource and start being effective in what you were called to accomplish. Energy and productivity do not equal effectiveness. Â
2. Failing To Develop Your Leaders
There is a line between doing and leading. Spending all of your time doing ministry yourself will never enable you to effectively lead your ministry. There are times and situations where you must be on the front lines, but you must develop leaders to be effective ministry leaders too.
3. Failing To Share God Stories With The Church
Donât be an island of ministry. Share stories with your senior leaders and church community about what God is doing. The church needs to be encouraged by the stories of life change that are happening in your ministry! Talk with your direct leaders to see what avenue is the best to regularly share God-sized stories with the church.
4. Being a Poor Communicator
Did your mind instantly think I was going to talk about your preaching style? That is because as pastors we tend to elevate time spent in front of a large group and devalue communicating with the parents, leaders, and our staff. To be an effective pastor you must be able to lead from the platform and from the office. How well are you communicating with your ministry team, parents, students, and the church body? Are you sharing vision, communicating needs, talking about encouraging stories of transformation, and building excitement about upcoming events?
5. Tending To Everyoneâs Spiritual Fire While Neglecting To Stoke Your Own
Your role is to stoke the spiritual fires in studentsâ souls. In the rush to tend to othersâ fires, we often neglect stoking our own spiritual growth. You canât forget to stoke your own spiritual fire and lead out of your passion for Jesus! Books by Donald Whitney and Paul David Tripp are excellent encouragements for pastors.
6. Not Being A Great Team Player With Your Staff
How well are you interacting with your staff? Being a team player takes energy and effort. Itâs essential that you show up prepared for staff meetings, ask difficult questions, and invite others to speak into your leadership over the student ministry.
7. Failing To Establish Work Boundaries
My 4-year-old son has a plastic cell phone that he used to carry around the house with him and pretend to take calls, capture videos, and send pictures to his grandparents. It was cute until I realized he was mimicking me. Your family needs you to be completely present. Ministry can be and all-the-time thing if you let it, so decide ahead of time what your boundaries are and only bend them in true emergencies.
8. Putting All Of Your Energy Into Midweek Worship Gatherings
Josh Griffin recently tweeted this gem: âOur job is not to get students to show up, but to show up in studentsâ lives.â Worship gatherings are a portion of the ministry that Jesus has entrusted us with. Showing up in studentsâ lives means that we are disciplined to get outside of the walls of our church and meet students where they are. How are you investing in leaders and students outside of the designated âchurch timeâ?
Now What?
After taking an honest look at this list, how many of these sins are you struggling with?
What other areas would you add to the list?
by Chase | Leadership, Ministry
For student ministries, volunteer engagement is essential.
The days of a student ministry being led by a charismatic leader with adult chaperones is as far behind us as bellbottom jeans.
Every church ministry must be aligned around relational discipleship for the flourishing of the Gospel. Student ministries will fail to develop disciples when the student pastor is the only person investing into the lives of the students. When we fail to develop disciples, we fail to fulfill the Great Commission.
Leaders are the key to student ministry discipleship. You can say goodbye to discipleship if multiple adult leaders are not connected to students.
Thatâs a big deal! The discipleship process must involve every adult volunteer. If we want to ensure every adult is on mission we need to identify what is getting in the way of our discipleship efforts.
[Read: 8 Deadly Sins Of Student Pastors]
Are you committing any of these deadly sins? Be honest with yourself, then take the necessary steps to get back on track with Godâs mission.
7 Deadly Sins of Student Volunteers
- Showing Up Late And/Or Leaving Early
Nothing communicates a lack of investment more than showing up late or leaving early. A large portion of discipleship is proximity. Those who are inconsistent at Bible studies and worship gatherings are not developing disciples. The Great Commission doesnât say âSit in a youth room to fulfill a student-to-leader ratio.â Jesus commissions every disciple to create disciples.
- Only Talking With The Adults
Why are you volunteering with the student ministry? Is it to invest in students? Great. Investment doesnât end once you step into the room; that is when investment begins! Donât fall into the temptation of sitting in the back of the student room and chatting with the other adult leaders. You are serving to make a Gospel difference in a teenagerâs life. So pull up a chair and get to know some students.
- Failing To Follow Up With Students
One hour of communication per week does not sustain a friendship. Discipling students involves following up with students throughout the week. This may look different each week (attending ball games, texting students Bible verses, inviting students to events), but the key is to show up in the life of a student. When you show up outside of âchurch timeâ students will begin to see that God cares for them outside of âchurch time.â
- Never Talking About Jesus Or The Bible
Student ministry isnât all fun and games. Who am I kidding? Student ministry is awesome! The presence of games shouldnât lead to an absence of Biblical instruction. Each student ministry volunteer has a responsibility to share about the grace, love, and goodness of Jesus. Donât let the student pastor be the only voice the students hear.
- Pretending That You Have Figured Life Out
You know that being an adult doesnât bring clarity to life and an uncanny ability to live perfectly! Be careful not to project a âholier than thouâ persona in front of your students. Jesus has saved you, and the students, by grace alone. Sure you have some wisdom to share, but be sure that you are communicating that you still need Jesus.
- Failing To Grow Spiritually
The number one role of a student ministry volunteer is to be a spiritual leader. It doesnât matter what area you serve in, you must be growing spiritually. The churchâs mission is to create disciples. Only disciples can create disciples. An excellent book to gauge your spiritual health is Ten Questions To Diagnose Your Spiritual Health by Donald S. Whitney.
- Investing In The Program While Neglecting People
How many hours have you spent working on the worship set list this week? Or how much time have you spent looking at your small group lesson for Sunday? How about this one: How many hours have you spent encouraging and communicating with students this week? Preparation and study are essentials to be a great leader, but when we drift away from the people and only invest in the program, lesson, or worship gathering, our students will leave the church.
Now What?
After taking an honest look at this list, how many of these sins are you struggling with? Being able to diagnose our current level of engagement will allow us to dive deeper into our discipleship efforts!
What other areas would you add to the list?
by Chase | Leadership
Thereâs no doubt about it, words have power.
Words can be the cause of stress that robs you of your passion, joy, and zeal to serve others. That kind of stress can trick us into believing that the grass is greener somewhere else and that no one — where we are at least — will ever appreciate the work we do to encourage and equip people to make much of Jesus.
If you are on the verge of throwing in the towel or simply need a boost of encouragement, be intentional about the words you allow into your heart and mind! Fill your day with words that affirm your calling, whether thatâs through Scripture, quotes, or encouraging words from a friend or fellow ministry leader.
To get you started, here are eight quotes from ministry leaders and eight Bible verses that will remind you of the importance of your faithfulness.
8 Quotes That Will Encourage You To Keep Serving
âThe first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: âIf I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?â But the good Samaritan reversed the question: âIf I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?ââ – Martin Luther King Jr.
âIf you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.â – Mother Teresa
âThere is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.â – Nelson Mandela
âIf you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.â – David Livingstone
âWhen I cannot read, when I cannot think, when I cannot even pray, I can trust.â – James Hudson Taylor
âOur greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that doesnât really matter.â – Francis Chan
âThere are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.â – Dwight L Moody
âTo be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men.â – AW Tozer
8 Scriptures That Will Encourage You To Keep Serving
âLet us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.â – Galatians 6:9
âCommit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this.â – Psalm 37:5
âBlessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.â – James 1:12
âAbove all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.â – Proverbs 4:23
âIf it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.â – Romans 12:18
âFear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.â Â – Isaiah 41:10
âOn this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.â Â – Matthew 16:18
âAnd my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.â Â – Philippians 4:19
Now What?
What words, quotes, and Scriptures have meant the most to your ministry journey?
by Chase | Discipleship, Leadership
How was your energy level after serving at church on Sunday?
Every volunteer, staff member, and pastor walks through passionless seasons of ministry. We feel frustrated, burned out, under-appreciated, and we spiritually disengage months (maybe years) before we actually transition out of our role.
If you are experiencing a passionless season of ministry the cause may reside with you more than your organization or leadership. Granted, I do not know your situation. I have served in incredible organizations and some that had extreme cultural issues. But I know that our initial reaction is to blame everyone else when we are dissatisfied.
Yes, there may be sizable changes that your organization may need to make, but if you are leading from a place of spiritual passion (the zeal mentioned in Romans 12:11) you can be a spark God uses to usher in a new wave of ministry within your church.
3 Signs You Are Losing Your Passion For Serving Your Church
You Are Avoiding Relationships
Are you late showing up to serve? Are you looking to travel the quickest route to and from your car to avoid extra conversations? Without relationships, ministry fails. Avoiding others is one of the first signs that you are losing your passion for serving others.
You Are Avoiding Spiritual Disciplines
How are your spiritual disciplines going? Personal study, worship, prayer, confession, and solitude are key pillars of your spiritual life. These disciplines align our heart and mind to do passionate ministry in the first place.
You Are Cynical of The Leadership
Do you find yourself questioning every decision the leadership team makes for your specific area of service? It is one thing to ask questions, seek clarity, and present potential pitfalls, but it is another to reject their leadership or, even worse, undermine their authority. Having a cynical view of the leadership is a sign that your service is more obligatory instead of an overflow of your passion.
Now What?
Questions to wrestle with and pray through:
Is there a broken family, work, or church relationship that you need to mend? Humans are relational people. Ministry is based on our relationship with Jesus and others. Unvoiced frustrations, emotional pains, and rejection will cause us to withdraw from the people we are called to serve.
How is your personal, family, and corporate worship? Are you walking with Jesus each day? Do the truths that you teach on Sunday transform your Monday? If you fail to be invested in Godâs Word, prayer, and in a small group of others your energy, passion, knowledge, and creativity will run dry. It is impossible to point others to Jesus if you are not orienting your life toward Him.
Has your passion for the specific areas you are serving in shifted toward another group, phase, or area? Seasons of life often shift our desires to serve. It’s easy to confuse frustration with our current role and frustration with the organization as a whole. Perhaps you need to meet with your churchâs leadership and discuss how you are gifted and see what other areas you can get involved in.
by Chase | Leadership, Ministry
Small group leaders are the unsung heroes of student ministry. Without their hours of service and investment, student ministries would fail at reaching their community.
- They are the ones who ask students tough questions about Jesus.Â
- They are the ones who serve on the front lines of student ministry.Â
- They are the old-timers who are still game to stay up for a lock-in!Â
Their spiritual investment into the lives of the students at your church should not go unnoticed.
Before they lead a small group this week here are three simple ways that you can appreciate all of the work they do.
3 Simple (And Free) Ways To Appreciate Your Small Group Leaders This WeekÂ
Respect Your Small Group Leaders’ Time
Clear and consistent communication is the easiest way to respect your leaders’Â busy schedules. Get their lessons, announcements, and reminders to them via email, print, or text in a timely manner. There is nothing worse than waiting on someone to send you the lesson that you want to prepare.
Brag On Your Small Group Leaders To Students’ Parents
As the senior leader of the student ministry, it is your responsibility to create an environment of encouragement. An easy way to be an encourager is to brag about a studentâs small group leader the next time you walk by a parent in the hallway. Small group leaders are the connection point between parents and the student ministry. Build this connection and it will build your student ministry.Â
Send Your Small Group Leaders A Prayer Message
Spiritual leaders cannot neglect the importance of prayer. Take a few minutes this week to pray for one small group leader. Donât pray a quick one-liner (âLord, bless Timmyâ). Instead, intentionally pray for your leaderâs family, group, work, spiritual journey, and health. I like to send the leader a quick text and let them know that Iâm praying for them and ask if they have anything they would like for me to pray about.
Now What?Â
What other easy and free ideas do you have to encourage your small group leaders?Â
