4 Items That Belong On Every Youth Minister’s Schedule

We’ve all gotten that look. The look as you walk into your office and people wonder, “Where has he been the last couple of hours?”  You know you’ve been working, but to them bowling with middle school students seems like something you should do on your own time.

In order to do relational ministry you need to make sure you are constantly building relationships and growing as a leader. Unfortunately, that doesn’t become a priority for many of us. Between emails, meetings and paperwork it’s a wonder if we can ever squeeze in any of those items that help us do our job better.

In the end, many of us put investing in ourselves and others on the back burner. Between busyness and worrying about what others think we forget to prioritize:

Hanging out in the community

Probably one of the worst times to be behind your desk is in the mid to late afternoon when teens are leaving school. There is usually a soccer, basketball or lacrosse game that you should attend.

Trust me, I struggle with this. I’m trying to get that last thing done before I go home. My mental energy is drained; however, if I can swing by and be present I can:

• Show the teens that I care about more than their attendance at church
• Interact with parents who never leave the car during pick up and drop off
• Learn about the culture that surrounds the teens I’m trying to reach

It’s hard because you have so much to do, but your presence in their lives can be just as powerful, if not more, than any talk you are preparing for the weekend.

Meeting up with volunteers for coffee or a bite to eat

Your volunteers are busy so asking them to come out for a meeting on a weeknight can seem like a burden. If you are worried about burning your team out try going to them.

See if they have a few minutes to meet at their office. Bring them a cup of coffee or bring them lunch. If they can get out of their office during the day treat them to a bite to eat.

Try to schedule at least one meeting a week, put the costs in your budget as professional development and make interacting with your team a priority.

Yes, you won’t be able to do this for everyone of them, but it’ll make a huge difference in their commitment. They won’t see their sacrifice as one sided and instead see it as a partnership.

Learning through books, podcasts and webinars

I love ministry books. I’ll read them on vacation, when I’m traveling and even on a Saturday afternoon. But, I also dedicate time in my schedule to read. In fact every morning I start my day either:

• Reading a few pages
• Listening to a podcast
• Watching a leadership video

Doing anything that inspires and fuels my creativity. As leaders we need to constantly be growing. Once we stall on that growth we will limit our capacity to:

• Problem solve
• Inspire others
• Cast vision

Make your learning a priority by making sure it’s on your schedule.

Praying and dreaming

As spiritual leaders we need to make sure we are constantly connecting with God. While you should always invest in your personal prayer time as employees of the church you need to make sure it’s a part of your work day.

You might:

• Start out your work day with a devotional
• Find time to go deeper into scripture
• Make your big decisions after some prayer time in the chapel

You need God to do your ministry and while He could send you an email it’s probably better that you make time to during your work week to interact.

To succeed in youth ministry you need to put what matters most first. Yes, you’ll miss an email and have to work a flexible schedule, but the investment is worth it.

What other items to we forget to put into our work schedules that should be there?