Lets cut straight to the chase, the one small shift that can make the greatest difference in your ministry is to give ministry away. I know, not profound, not cutting edge and its not the first time you have every heard this idea. The difference between this idea being a catalyst for your ministry or just another saying you say out loud but do nothing about is what you do next.
Giving ministry away was something I always said but was so difficult for me to actually pull off. In my pride I thought if I didn’t do it, it wouldn’t get done right. My pride always holds me back from seeing what God can truly pull off. I am still really bad at it but I am trying harder than I ever have before in my 13 years of student ministry experience to pull others into the incredible chaos and allow their gifts to be championed and encouraged to have Kingdom impact. Some practical tips: Meet with your volunteers often - It will be difficult to know how to use people if you don't know them. Get with them, be a learner of their life. Development Takes Time - This may mean that that the person you have delegated to doesn’t do it as well as you might. Thats ok, coach them, give them time and a chance, invest in them and see what it could look like. Be Creative With What You Give Away - Do what only you can do and give away the rest. It could be an opportunity to develop new opportunities based on the strengths of your leaders and students. Give Feedback - Help your team with productive constructive feedback. This type of feedback gives points to work on, clarity on what needs done next time so that they can implement the action steps. Rinse and Repeat - Don’t stop once you’ve started. This is something that has to turn into a value for you in your ministry. This includes students in your ministry. How can you unleash the potential in your adult volunteers and student leaders in your ministry? This isn’t something that doesn’t take any work and on the front end will take more effort and work on your part. However, giving ministry away is essential to your role as a Kingdom builder and to help people use their gifts in a powerful way.
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Get the book here: Faith For Exiles By David Kinnamen & Mark Matlock
Generations in our lifetime: The Builders - 1927-1945 The Boomers - 1946- 1964 The Busters (Gen X) - 1965 - 1979 Millennial (Gen Y)- 1980-1995 Digitals (Gen Z) - 1996 - 2009 Digital Babylon looks like being overloaded with choices, weaponizing humor and using Emoji’s and Gifs for every moment. This is similar to God’s people in ancient Babylon where God’s people were in exile, away from home and trying to figure out how to live by God’s law in a foreign land. Digital Babylon makes all of us exiles. Young people ages 15-23 spend over 2700 hours behind a screen taking in tons of different types of media. The average person age 15-29 takes in only 152 of faith based content out of the 2700 hours. Christian Research of people age 15-29 gave the following results: X-Christians - 22% Nomads - do not go to church but identify as Christian - 30% Habitual Church Goers - theologically don’t have a christian worldview - 38% Resilient Disciples - 10% Resilient Disciples -Committed Christ Followers - developing Jesus followers who are resiliently faithful in the face of cultural coercion. Resilient disciples take in 562 hours of spiritual content online as opposed to those who are considered nomads to take in only 210 hrs of faith based content. This generation is trying to answer the following questions: Searching for Identity - Who Am I? Fighting Anxiety - How should I live in today’s world? Experiencing Loneliness - Am I loved? Harnessing Ambition - Whats my purpose? Feeling Entitled - What am I owed? Resilient disciples have a few main characteristics: Experiencing Jesus - clearing religious clutter for closeness with and joy in Christ Meaningful Relationships - being devoted to fellow believers we to be around and become Cultural discernment - understanding the culture they live in and how to live purposefully Vocational discipleship - no matter the career field they are experiencing spiritual growth to influence their workplace for Christ Mark & Dave define discipleship in three main sections: Recognizing their identity - are they rooted in their identity in Christ Aligning our values - do personal values line up with biblical values Developing skills in the way of Jesus - are the characteristics the person is developing those that Christ modeled Exiles are instrumental to God’s purposes in times of change There is so much data to go through and learn, the book would be super helpful to continue to find ways to impact this generation help them see a proper reflection of Jesus in person and online. 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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