Build Your Numbers
Starting out I was consistently jealous of other churches and their attendance numbers. It didn’t matter how long the youth minister had been at that...
Two Positions I Want To Create For Student Ministry
Christopher Wesley
Jan 18, 2011
I’ve been on an interesting journey in regards to the structure of my church’s staff. When I was first hired it was as the Director of Middle School Ministry. I was basically in charge of the faith development of students in grades 6th – 8th. There was a high school youth minister and then there was someone who supervised us and oversaw the entire youth and children’s minstry. At the time youth ministry was the “it” ministry, but since then the church has grown in many different ways causing us to focus staff responsibilities on a number of different areas. This has been all good. But, because of these changes our high school minister became the Director of Adult Ministries, our supervisor became the Associate to the Pastor and I now oversee the entire student ministry (5th-12th).
I’m at the point where I would like to have a larger student ministry staff, but I know that before I hire anyone, I need to know what job positions need being filled. But I’m looking at something different from what I came into. I’m looking at creating positions for a:
- Girls Ministry Director – Granted I grew up an only boy with four sisters; however, I’ve learned from many humbling circumstances that does not make me an expert on women (in fact it might have messed me up). I need someone who serves a similar role to what I do in the development of message series and small groups; however, with girls in mind. What this does is allows us to be more specific and intentional with the relationships we build. This person wouldn’t have all the responsibilities that I have but would give us more of an ability to empower young men and women.
- Communications Director – I tweet, I’m on Facebook, I oversee the parent’s site, I send email and text updates, etc. and it does not feel like I’m being as effective or consistent as I could be. One of my goals for our student ministry is to be effective in how we partner with families, in order to do that we need to make sure we are communicating with them on a clear and consistent basis. This involves informing parents what we are doing in program, notify students of upcoming events and give families the information they need to go deeper in their faith journey. Again consistency and clarity is key and if I can have someone assisting me in this venture, there is no telling who we can reach.
Again, these two positions are different from the staff structure I walked into, but I feel as if we are in a different era of ministry. While I would like focused middle school and high school ministry, right now I feel like this is the path to travel. I know that there are other positions I would like to have one day (i.e. Director of Small Groups); it’s just right now I’m feeling a pull to equipping the ministry with these two positions. With that said I’m interested in your thoughts.
If you could create any two positions for your student ministry what would they be and why?