Leading vs Doing: Part 2

This was written pre-resignation...


My last blog talked about some stumbling blocks that I encountered when moving from DOING ministry to LEADING others to do ministry. This post is going to talk about my plan to overcome those stumbling blocks.


I believe that if you are doing ministry by yourself, you are wrong. We are designed to be relational people and as youth pastors, we need to work extra hard to make those relationships happen for our students. If you are the lone ranger, you students are missing out on the vast amount of influence they can have in their lives from other adults. I know it is hard to recruit adult leaders. Some churches can do it where others don't seem to have it.


If you have a youth ministry with any students in it, you need to be building an adult leader team. Yes, it may seem easier to do it yourself but you are building for the future and that means multiplying yourself.


Here are some ways that we are changing...


Change #1 Job Descriptions. Each position in our ministry will have a job description that tells the potential adult the time commitment, the goals of the position, what the job actually is and what skills are needed. Job descriptions help the potential adult know what they are getting into and it helps you recruit for that specific position


Change #2 Relational Training. This probably the most radical of all our changes but the most needed. Each adult you recruit is different. (go figure huh). They learn differently, have different personalities and different skill sets. Relational Training is a customized training to a specific individual. When you build the relationship, you begin to understand more about that person and how they learn. In your learning you can begin to help lead them in the direction they need to go in their position. This training goes along with all the other training your doing.


Change #3 Customized Communications. Each of your students has a specific way they communicate, so do your adults. Some might email, others text and other may prefer a phone call or face to face. I need to work hard to make sure I reach all our adult leaders in the best way possible. Example, I have one adult leader who reads emails but mostly on her phone, so I need to keep my messages to her short and sweet. While I can't do this all the time, knowing it in advance can help me to make her life easier.


I believe that if I can make these 3 changes, our adult leader team will grow stronger than ever. There are many more steps to building a strong leadership team and maybe I can post some stuff in the future but if you take the lessons I have learned and apply them to your ministry, you will be better off.