Focused Simplicity
This Sunday is the Youth Ministry Gathering for our leaders and I’m struggling putting this message together. I don’t know if it’s because time has...
I don’t know how you are but I’m not a fan of assembling furniture. I follow the directions, I make sure I have all the tools, I guess I’m just not sure if I’ve done it right when it’s done. But there is no reason to doubt my ability after all I’ve assembled the wardrobe in my master bedroom, the crib that my son sleeps in and I’ve taken apart and put together a chainsaw and it still worked. But my problem is when the instructions to assemble something is either too vague (i.e. IKEA) or too complicated. If the instructions are too vague I’m able to figure it out if there is a picture, but if they are too complicated I just get overwhelmed. Unfortunately, this problem goes beyond assembly of furniture and is evident with how we communicate to students.
- Doing Too Much – I use to be the culprit of this in our ministry. When I first started my team for our worship program was me and our band leader. The program would start with him playing the songs, I did the hand motions, then lead a game, then gave a message. At the end of the night I felt I had just ran a marathon. Either cut the amount of components in the program or find more ministers.
- Too Much Prep – There are so many great and wonderful games out there that someone else has created and would probably love if you used their idea. Too many times I try to reinvent the wheel. Not only do the instructions for the game become too complicated but so does the prep work. I once spent 4 hours filling water balloons with pudding…I made 8.
- Over Delivery of a Message – Ever feel like there is so much to say in such little time. I don’t know if there is really a set time of how long a message should be. I really think it comes down to how well you engage the crowd; however, if you cannot sum up your message in a sentence you probably have way too much in there. There is nothing worse when you give too much in a message.
Believe it or not doing less leads to more impact. Many times we work our ministries like a flashlight and not like a laser beam. We need focus on the main point and make sure the fruit outweighs the labor. Sometimes it comes down to trial and error, but if we slow things down and try to focus on the big items in our jobs we can become more efficient and effective.
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