Investing in your leaders
Invest in your youth leaders to see their effectiveness in ministry grow.
Youth leaders are some of the best people in the world.
To clarify, I’m not talking about paid youth ministers like you and me (sorry gang!). I’m talking about our volunteer youth leaders— those amazing men and women who week after week, selflessly give their time and energy to see young people come to know Jesus and grow as his disciples. These are the real champions of youth ministry, and I stand in awe of them. I can personally attest to the huge impact youth leaders have in the lives of the young people as they point them to Jesus in word and deed. They often are the heart and soul of our ministries.
A good return, however, usually requires a good investment. This is certainly true when it comes to youth ministry. When youth leaders are loved and invested in by their church leadership, their value and effectiveness in the ministry grows exponentially. They develop skills more effectively, they are more thoughtful about the ministry, they last longer in the ministry, and are themselves more invested in the ministry as a result of the investment made in them.
In order to ensure see this kind of growth in our leaders we need to invest in them on two levels: individually and as a team.
Investing In Youth Leaders Individually
They say that a team is only as good as its individual players and although it may be cliched, most of the time I think it’s true. Even the Michael Jordan’s of the world need a team of well-functioning individuals around them if the team is going to be sustainably successful.
In a youth leadership team, each individual on the team will have a different set of experiences, skills and insights into the ministry, along with different personal styles, needs and convictions. So, when it comes to growing these individuals as Christian leaders, no two leaders are going require the same thing at the same time. Each individual needs their own leadership development plan.
Meeting one-on-one with each of the youth leaders is a great way develop each individually as a leader. It is a strategy that took me WAY too long to try out in my ministry, but once I started, the benefit was immediately observable. I can tell you now with absolute conviction— it’s a strategy that I will never neglect again!
Once a term I would organise to meet up with each of my leaders for about an hour or so. I’d buy them a coffee and we’d use the time to talk about how they’re going and how they’re growing, both as Christians and as youth leaders. I would tell them how I’ve been encouraged by their ministry and point out where I could see growth. Together we’d reflect on the things they did in the previous term and identify one or two goals for growth to work towards in the term ahead. We’d spend time in prayer for each other, the church and the ministry. This time spent together was an invaluable investment in the relational trust between us, which paid dividends when it came to our effectiveness as a team.
Practically speaking, this investment becomes harder to make personally, the larger your leadership team is— there’s a finite amount of meetings you can have in any given term! If this is the case for you, I highly recommend establishing a leadership structure where you as the youth minister invest in the lives of a senior level of leaders, empowering them to be the ones who make the investment in the next tier of youth leaders.
Investing In Youth Leaders As A Team
Despite the quality of each individual, the team still needs to be able to work together well in order to be sustainable and effective. Here are three ways to invest in your youth leadership team.
Invest in team chemistry
The youth leaders should spend time together regularly, without the youth around, to develop their trust and chemistry as a team. Sharing meals together and spending time socially as a team (and significant others), works towards building relational trust among the team members, which also helps to build a sense of buy-in to what the team is trying to achieve together. A team who genuinely loves each other and enjoys being together will result in a more welcoming youth ministry space that youth want to be a part of.
Invest in regular training
All successful teams spend time training. Training is where youth leaders learn WHAT effective youth ministry looks like, HOW to engage in it skillfully, and, most importantly, WHY we do youth ministry in the first place. Training can be developed by each individual church, or you can get in contact with your local ministry support advisor to run training for you. Either way it requires an investment of time and money to ensure good quality training.
For small churches with fewer leaders, it’s a great idea to band together with other local churches for training. This makes the most out of the investment to see a high return in a wider sphere of youth ministry.
Invest in team morale
An effective way of investing in team morale is by the way you speak about the team to the wider church. You should regularly give updates to the church community about how youth ministry is going, and how thankful you are for the team of leaders God has assembled for the task. In your conversations with people, be sure to tell stories about how God is working through members of the team. At the end of the year show your thanks to the team by writing them a personalised card with a small token of your appreciation. All of these things help boost morale, and inspire youth leaders to give their best to youth ministry for the glory of God.
Our volunteer youth leaders really are the heart and soul of our youth ministries. How will you invest in them to see effective ministry grow?