Why Intentionality Matters to Your Ministry

It was the end of an evening of ministry and I was chatting with teens waiting for their parents to pick them up. One teen told me that he had so much foun that night, so I said, “That’s great, have you ever asked your friends to come?” He looked at me with a little confusion on his face, and asked, “Wait, we can bring our friends?”

I had to work hard not to show the frustration I was feeling. I wanted to shout, “Of course!” But it wasn’t his fault. I really couldn’t remember a time when I told the teens, “Bring your friends next week.” I had just assumed that because teens liked the program that they would tell everyone.

Many of us crave a ministry where teens are going deeper with a relationships with Christ. We desire a place where teens are connecting with their peers and men and women who care about the next generation. We dream about a ministry that is relational; yet, forget that in order to make that happen we first need to be intentional.

To create a relational ministry you need to be intentional about:

Sharing the responsibility of leadership with others

You only have the ability to invest in a few people at a time. Even if you are in a small church you cannot have a significant relationship with everyone.

Not only do you need help from others but you need people who can assist with:

• Training and developing new volunteers
• Assist with administrative work behind the scenes
• Introduce you to parents and teens you might not know 

You need leaders who are going to give you the ability to reach more teens and parents, even if you physically cannot. Take time in your schedule and budget to start investing in the men and women who will help you reach and do more.

Increasing the investment you make in leaders, programs, parents and teens

Relationships are meant to grow and whether you like it or not they change. To keep up with the change and keep your ministry relevant you need make sure you are growing as a leader. Attend conferences, read books and embrace as much wisdom as possible.

You should advocate for a budget that focuses on long term development. Allocate a higher percentage of your budget towards things like:

• Meetings and trainings for your volunteers
• Better communication tools to reach parents, and teens
• Software that can assist with administrative and backend work

Remember the more you pour into your ministry the more you will get out of it. Make sure you do the research and work with others when deciding what will help your ministry grow.

Revisiting the question, “Why are we doing this?”

It’s easy to get stuck in a program, curriculum or culture if you forget THE WHY? To determine whether or not your ministry should continue to engage in a certain system or opportunity you need to make sure you spend time analyzing and assessing it’s success.

I recommend doing this on a biannual to annual basis. Sit down with your team to do a basic S.W.O.T. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. Look at what you are investing and whether the outcome is matching your expectations. Know the Why and you’ll never find yourself wasting your time.

If your ministry lacks intentionality you’ll lose people, waste resources and move yourself towards burnout. Don’t assume that others know and continue to grow your investment. The more intentional you are behind what you do the more lives you’ll be able to change.

Where do you struggle to be more intentional about your ministry?

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