There are important relationships to manage at your church and then there is your relationship with your senior pastor. No relationship may be as grand of a dance as that one is. How you interact, serve & honor them is a really important part of being a leader in your church. The plight of some youth pastors is that their senior pastor never believed in them, supported them, had their back or just plain didn’t care about the ministry to the next generation. How can you have an amazing relationship with your senior pastor, where you look each other in the eye and care for what the other is doing in a meaningful way? 1. Follow Well The senior or lead pastor at your church is constantly asking himself the question of “is anyone actually following my leading”? I am sure you can relate to that question, I know I can. I am my own worst critic and know that those inner voices have the power to paralyze me in my leadership if Im not proactive in leaning into Jesus. Your senior pastor is in the same boat. So, since you can relate, follow well. This means be supportive, encouraging, go the extra mile to show your senior pastor that you are all in to the vision of the church. The better you follow, the more trust gets established between you and the senior pastor. Trust is something that takes a lot of time to build and can be lost in an instant. Following well means to not give him a reason to not trust you. Have your senior pastors back in conversations. Stick your neck out on the line for them when you have an opportunity. The majority of the relationship struggles between youth pastor and senior pastor stem from leadership tension. When you assume a follower mentality, that doesn’t mean you are not a dynamic leader yourself, that means that you understand leadership isn’t always about being in charge. Follow your senior pastor well and I guarantee your relationship with them will change for the better. 2. Serve Well Depending on the dynamics of your specific church context you may wear more than one hat when it comes to responsibilities. The first church I served at I wore a bunch of different hats because, well, you have to to make things happen sometimes. I lead adult worship, helped out with our starting point class, did the youth ministry stuff and was involved in mens ministry on some level. You do what you need to do at your church to accomplish the mission that God has put in your heart. What I didn’t realize by wearing all of those different hats was that my senior pastor noticed and appreciated my attitude towards those roles. This servant attitude earned my extra points with my senior pastor and continued to build the trust between us in our relationship. Serving God’s church well, in turn, serves your senior pastor well. When you do this without complaining, willingly and with a great attitude you propel your relationship with your senior pastor forward exponentially. Serving well may mean doing things that aren’t in your job description. Serving well may mean you need an attitude change. Serving well may mean you need to say “no” to some things so you can say “yes” to things that have more impact long term. You are the only one who knows how you can serve your senior pastor well. When you do, you will see your relationship with them grow! (Obviously, there are leaders out there that don’t notice or don't care. These leaders need to be lovingly told and explained that the need to be aware, appreciative and grateful towards people who are serving well.) 3. Grow The quickest way to build trust with your senior pastor is to crush it with teenagers at your church. Build a ministry that helps teenagers get to know Jesus and grow in their relationship with Him. Build a ministry that makes waves In the community for the Gospel, build a ministry that develops and empowers leaders to invest in this generation, build a ministry that is vital to the long term growth of the church. When you do your job well, you reflect your senior pastor’s leadership. (Regardless of if it really is an accurate reflection) Growing your ministry to students, grows the church and in turn gives your senior pastor greater influence which should lead to a better relationship. So, GO CRUSH IT! Be Humble, Hungry and Smart! Stay on the grind, love your family well and serve your senior pastor well. Let me close by saying that there is a possibility that you are doing all of those things incredibly well and still getting no where. Don’t lose hope, keep working on building a bridge and working hard to honor the person in authority over you. If you ever need to have a conversation about this relationship and need someone unbiased, I am always available to chat! kent@studentministrycoach.com
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Starting at a new church is scary, exciting and motivating all at the same time. You want to exceed expectations, you want to make a good first impression and lets be honest you just want the students, their families and everyone else to like you. There are 7 ways to make sure the first three months at a new church set you up a great tenure.
2. Plan Something Can’t Miss In the first 3 months do some creative planning on a big event, get away or amazing night. This is an opportunity to let everyone know that you value fun and fun is a common language everyone can understand. Leverage resources from your church, go all out, make it something your students want to bring their friends to, etc. Color War, black lights, food trucks, giant foam slip n slide, water wars, mess fest, there are great ideas out there, find out what your students would love and blow it up!! 3. Create Opportunities for Parents to Meet & Get To Know You When you start, get dates on the calendar to invite parents to a meet and great. Parents need to trust who is leading their children. The more parents know you, the more trust they will give you, the more opportunities you will have for influence. Ask parents to lunch, coffee, over to your home, to the church for dessert, anything to get in front of them. 4. Every Student Matters The tendency will be to connect with the students that are easy to connect with. That is low hanging fruit. Seriously, go after those students for sure. The students that are on the fringe and on the fringe for a reason. Make sure the fringe students know that you care about them just as much as the core kids. If you do this, you will see some of those kids become more involved because they know you care. People over programs is a good rule to have. If you can spend time with students, you can find time to respond to emails later. 5. Engage With The Rest Of The Church Staff The staff you are on needs you to value what they do just as much as you want them to value what you do. The best thing you can do when you start is to sit down with each department and ask what ways you can serve them are. If they know you have their back right off the bat, they will go to battle with you when the time comes. Ministries within the church can’t function effectively if they are off on their own. Make sure your ministry isn’t a silo, its part of the church and will be part of the vision to reach that community for Christ. 6. Over Communicate Set the tone for communication early. Parents, Students, the rest of the congregation need to be over communicated to. The tension is that we think if we send to many emails or texts that they will stop reading them, which is possible. The flip side is that no one knows whats going on at all and that might be more problematic. Starting at your church over communicating will give you the option to pull back if need be. You want to be known as someone who get details to people quickly and thoroughly 7. Pray and Spend Tons of time with the Lord You can’t pour into others if you are empty. Start a habit of spending time with God. Pray all the time, carve out specific time where you can focus on your relationship with God. This is by far the best thing you can do for your church, your students and yourself. If you’re filled up, you’ll be able to pour out what God is teaching you to those around you. Leading from empty doesn’t work, don’t get to that point, stay fueled up and connected to your Savior. |
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